Behind the Scenes: How a 102-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor sparked a powerful moment at the Breslin Center
MSU's pre-game tribute to Jaxon Kohler’s great-grandfather was weeks in the making.
Before Michigan State tips off at the Breslin Center, the Spartans pause for a tradition they observe at every home game – honoring a veteran at midcourt alongside the playing of the national anthem. Usually, it is a meaningful but familiar part of the pre-game program. The veteran is recognized, the crowd applauds, and the night moves on.
But this time, on this night, the veteran standing at center court was related to one of the Michigan State basketball players standing on the court. He was 102 years old. He was a World War II veteran and one of the last living survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“To meet a guy that’s one of 12 that were there at Pearl Harbor," Izzo said Friday evening, sitting at his desk after MSU's practice. "When you watch those documentaries and everything, it was bone-chilling. It really was.”
(Photo credit: Marvin Hall/Spartans Illustrated)
Earl "Chuck" Kohler had traveled across the country from California. And standing there with him were his son, his grandson, and - lined up for the national anthem wearing the Michigan State uniform - his great-grandson, Spartan senior forward Jaxon Kohler.
For a few minutes on Jaxon's senior night - the last home game of his career - the Breslin Center was not just honoring military service. It was honoring family, legacy, sacrifice, hard work, and the long path that led one family from wartime service to center court at one of college basketball’s most storied arenas.
The public saw the emotion. What most of the arena did not see, however, was how much planning, care, and heart had gone into making it happen.
According to Jaxon’s father, Jeff Kohler, the idea had been in motion for roughly six weeks. It began quietly, was kept mostly under wraps, and ultimately became one of the most memorable moments ever experienced inside the Breslin Center.
“I’ve been in that arena various times for four years,” Jeff said. “That might have been one of the top five loudest reactions that I remember.”
What made the night so striking was not just the ovation. It was everything around it.
It was the secrecy. The logistics. The coordinated travel. Tom Izzo's whiteboard in the film room. The tour through the Breslin Center. The precision of the Michigan State staff. The television producer who jumped in on the fly. The flood of reaction afterward. And, maybe most of all, the private family exchange that came later, once the public moment was over.
This is the behind-the-scenes story of how it came together.
