Members of Naperville North’s school community, and especially the golf team, lost one of their beloved teammates and friends on Jan. 6 when freshman Michael Gustafson passed away. Gustafson succumbed to a malignant brain tumor which he had been fighting for a very long time.
Despite having had little time to do so, however, Gustafson had an amazing impact on the community that he left behind. Friends remember him as an incredible person who always remained positive.
In fact, the North golf team, which he loved dearly, was successful this year due in large part to Gustafson’s attitude and the team chemistry he helped to inspire, according to senior and golf team captain Raymond Knoll.
“He worked hard when he was at the golf course and that rubbed off on all of us and helped us focus a lot more,” Knoll said.
Gustafson’s resilience while he fought cancer was a source of inspiration for his peers.
“Michael was just an incredible person, positive all the time given the situation, and I had the pleasure of playing golf with him and the stuff he said really blew me away and just the way that he looked at life was incredible,” Knoll said.
Sometimes, comments Gustafson made were simple statements that really sounded like teenage sentiments but were so meaningful that they resonate with Knoll even today, inspiring him to appreciate life as it is.
“I kind of live my life by this quote of his,” said Knoll. “‘Life sucks sometimes, but it doesn’t suck all the time.’ It’s incredible knowing that a kid like him can be so positive knowing that he wasn’t going to live very long.”
This attitude of Gustafson’s was a reflection of his personality and character. He brought this great attitude onto the golf course with him every time he competed with the Huskies.
“He showed up to practice pretty much every day,” said Knoll. “Some days he couldn’t even get out of bed and the cancer was just taking over his body, but every single day he just wanted to be at practice. He wanted be with the guys.”
The success and team unity that the golf team achieved are part of the legacy that Gustafson left behind.
“Going into the season we didn’t really have the best team dynamic and given that we had Mikey with us really brought us all together,” Knoll said.
The golf team has become a better group of friends both on and off the course, and a lot of that is thanks to Gustafson. In fact, team bonding is incredibly important for any athletic team to be successful, and in many ways, North’s golf team owes its second place finish at state to Gustafson.
“I give him all of the credit for us being as successful as we were,” said Knoll. “If he wasn’t a part of our team I don’t think we could have come together like we did and worked hard like we did and come second in state.”