DAVIS, Calif. -- Oddly, both of their UC Davis playing careers ended against Sacramento State. Kelsey Fischer's final golf tournament in an Aggie uniform came as an individual entrant at the Sacramento State Invitational in the spring of 2009. Her husband, Patrick Michelier, competed in his final down as a defensive lineman during that fall's Causeway Classic football game at Hornet Stadium.
In fact, both of their workplaces sit in the immediate vicinity of the rival university. Michelier currently serves as a chief resident in orthopedic surgery at UC Davis Medical Center, just a short jaunt from Hornet Stadium. Fischer is even closer: she serves as an associate at the personal injury law firm Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood Campora. As the crow files, her office is not even a full mile from the Sacramento State campus.
And yet, in all other ways, the two never left UC Davis. Now seven years married, the former golfer and football player remain avid contributors to Team Aggie, and frequent EVO Pro network participants for the department's student-athlete outcomes program. Fischer and Michelier are among the few who contribute to both areas at such a young age.
"EVO has made us feel like we're still connected to the athletics department, that we can still be involved," Fischer said. "We're not giving to the degree that we want to be. We're not those people yet, although we hope to be someday. Yet we still get to have ties to the athletics department, and to the student-athletes directly, which is something really special."
Both alums cited their experiences as student-athletes in their respective personal statements when pursuing higher education. For her admission to Cal's Hastings College of the Law, Fischer drew from an opportunity to serve on a Title IX committee, that doing so allowed her to witness firsthand "the law coming to life." She knew early on in her academic year that law school was in the cards, plus the Big West All-Academic honoree took on such leadership positions as serving as an officer for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Fischer knew other Aggie peers moving on to law school, and a connection made while working at El Macero Country Club – the Aggie golf team's home course – led to an internship at the very firm she now practices.
Meanwhile, Michelier similarly invoked his football experience in his interviews for medical school. In fact, it likely set him apart from the other applicants. While he was a solid student as an undergrad, Michelier admits his grade-point average was not as high as other medical school hopefuls, especially at a program as competitive as UC Davis. Even the opportunity to interview with a medical school came at almost the literal 11th hour, as he received the phone call just a day before.
"The interview was at 2:30 in the afternoon the next day. Someone must have canceled and I was local," said Michelier. "Like good athletes do, I owned the moment and did really well in the interview." To his credit, the former Davis Senior High standout posted strong grades in his final two quarters at UC Davis, during which he loaded up on coursework to prepare himself for a physician assistant program. Furthermore, Michelier's character has never been in doubt: he was a three-time recipient of the Club Fred Scholar-Athlete award, named in honor of legendary assistant Fred Arp and bestowed upon a football player who "best exemplifies the concept of Aggie Pride."
Michelier also remembers flourishing in the final two years of medical school when, as he says, he found himself treated less like a student and more like an employee. He graduated as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical school honor society. "As an athlete, you get comfortable at taking feedback, at getting yelled at, at being up early and staying late. These are things that a lot of people don't understand. So that's where an athlete can lean on those experiences and really shine."
Along those lines, in joining the orthopedic surgery department at UC Davis, Michelier became part of a miniature athletics alumni network. Jon Eastman, a defender on the Aggies' 1999 NCAA quarterfinalist men's soccer team, is a protege of Dr. Chip Routt and now one of the top pelvic trauma surgeons in the country. Also among the UC Davis Health orthopedics team is Ellen Fitzpatrick, a pin hitter for the university's final Division II women's volleyball teams.
Avreeta Singh, a record-setting Aggie libero who served as a SAAC officer along with Fischer, worked as a resident with Michelier until she earned a Harvard fellowship at Boston's Massachusetts General. Oddly, she now works alongside Dr. Avi Goodman, also a UC Davis graduate and the husband of standout distance runner Kaitlin Gregg – forming yet another connection back to the Aggie athletics family. Michelier even attended UC Davis football games in a professional capacity: as a second-year resident, he took part in a sports rotation, and covered Aggie games as a member of the medical staff.
Fast forward to February 19, 2019, when both Fischer and Michelier took part in the Aggie EVO networking event, held at the Pavilion immediately prior to that night's men's basketball game against Long Beach State. The Aggie couple found themselves among an impressive throng of UC Davis alumni, but among the few who hailed from the department's Division I era. The only other young alumnus was former men's water polo player Austin Beckwith, also a Team Aggie regular who attends most EVO Pro events on behalf of Five Star Bank.
Fischer was the only woman among the EVO pros, and although most of the participants had no interest in a law career, she found herself serving as an example for many of the current student-athletes. "They were still asking questions about what I would do as a young woman in the profession," she recalls. "They were using my experience, even if it didn't fit for them. And they had a ton of energy, which was really fun to see."
Since that night, Fischer has spread the word about the EVO Pro events, encouraging other young alumni to return to campus and take part. Additionally, thanks to an invitation from head coach Anna Temple, she had the entire women's golf team visit her law offices as part of her continued EVO Pro outreach efforts. It's worth also mentioning: while Fischer found herself as the only female pro at the 2019 networking event, the 2020 edition featured a pro panel in which half were women.
For his part, Michelier also enjoyed sharing his journey to student-athletes at the networking event, providing insights that he did not get during his pre-EVO playing days. "I think their understanding of the process in pursuing a graduate, doctoral or medical degree was much better than the understanding I had at the end of my college career," said Michelier, who also took part in an ICA Career Night in 2013, years before EVO entered the Aggie Lexicon.
Of course, while the two may have attended the EVO event as a united front, the competitive side of any student-athlete still exists in each of Fischer and Michelier when it comes to contributing to the department. When the annual Give Day rolled around, Fischer asked her husband how much she should give to women's golf – knowing full well how much he had already donated to football. When Michelier suggested a smaller number, Fischer was not about to be outdone, and made sure she at least matched his generosity to her former sport.
"There is some way to pit us against each other, you guys just need to figure it out," said Fischer, offering a challenge to the athletics development staff for future campaigns like Give Day and the recent Champions Adapt.
Of course, their most invaluable contributions are in their example: Fischer and Michelier are model members of the local community, early in their careers in law and medicine, respectively. For a department whose focus centers squarely on student-athlete outcomes, they certainly have establish a high standard.
"We currently owe the athletics department more than we have given back, in terms of life experience and connections," said Michelier. "We both leaned on our athletic careers in our professional pursuits, so it's nice to give back in any way we can."
ABOUT UC DAVIS:
With the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.
UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.
Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.
