FEBRUARY 2022

SPORTS
Taking His
Talents to
New York
Walled Lake Western
grad Joey George was
a special football
player at U-M
BY STEVE STEIN
Joey George is ready to tackle the investment
banking world. After joining the University of
Michigan football team as a preferred walk-on
in 2018 and working his way up to becoming a valued
special teams player this past season, George will
head to New York City after he graduates in May.
The 21-year-old will be an investment banking analyst
with RBC Capital Markets after having a virtual
internship with the company last summer, bringing
to fruition his nearly lifelong passion for business
and finance.
George is confident his transition
from the world of football to the world
of investment banking will be seamless.
“That’s because there are parallels
between the two,” he said. “There are
pressures you need to deal with and
overcome, and you need to communicate
with people with different perspectives.”
George juggled both worlds during
his internship. On a typical workday,
he’d do his football workout from 6:30-
8 a.m., then begin his internship duties
for RBC Capital Markets at 9 a.m., “and
I worked as late as needed,” he said. “It was a transition
going from one to the other, but a good transition.
It was good for life balance.”
George has had to balance football and academics
at U-M for four years. The rigors of being in a bigtime
college football program have been matched
by the rigors of being a student in U-M’s prestigious
Ross School of Business.
George has succeeded on the football field --
he’s a two-time letter-winner -- and he’ll continue
to achieve success in academics when the two-time
Academic All-Big Ten honoree graduates from U-M
this spring with a degree in business administration.
It’ll be a different looking George who goes to New
York City. “I weigh about 280, 285 pounds right now
Joey George official
team photo
Joey George gets ready to go to work against Wisconsin during U-M’s 38-17 win October 2.
because of football,” he said. “I don’t need to be that
heavy anymore, especially for a 6-footer. So I’m going
to cut to about 240, 245 pounds.”
George was a standout football player at Walled
Lake Western High School. He started for three years
on the offensive line for the Warriors, playing mostly
at center, with 118 pancake blocks in 32 career games.
PHOTOS COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
He was a Division 1-2 honorable mention
All-State choice as a senior.
A classroom standout in high
school, he was named to the Michigan
High School Football Coaches Association
“Dream Team” Academic All-
State Team as a senior.
George could have gone to a small
college and played a lot more football
than he did at U-M, but he’s happy
with his decision to head to Ann Arbor,
especially for the football experience
and academics. “It was a nobrainer
decision for me to go to U-M for
many reasons,” he said.
One of the reasons was he was able to attend university
for a year with his older brother Jonathan,
24, a Michigan graduate with a double major in biomolecular
science and political science. Jonathan
just completed his first semester at the Harvard Law
School after a year at the Vanderbilt Law School.
Family factored into another reason Joey went
to U-M. “U-M is only about 35 minutes from home
(Walled Lake). I know my mom has liked that,” Joey
said.
Indeed, she has. Ban George and Joey’s father,
Paul George, went to every U-M home football game
the past four years. They also were at the Big Ten
championship game vs. Iowa in Indianapolis on December
4 and the NCAA semifinal game vs. Georgia
in Miami on New Year’s Eve.
U-M beat Iowa in its first Big Ten championship
game appearance but lost to eventual national
champion Georgia in the semifinals in its first playoff
game. “Watching my son play football for U-M was a
humbling and exhilarating experience as a parent because
Joey was relentless when it came to football,”
Ban said. “He worked so hard, and he never gave up.
It was wonderful to see him get what he wanted.”
While Ban obviously is proud of what her son was
able to do on the football field at U-M, she’s equally
as proud of his work in the classroom in Ann Arbor.
“It’s not easy to be a student-athlete at U-M,” she
said. “It’s incredible what Joey has accomplished
there in four years.”
Education is extremely important in the George
family, Ban said. “So is hard work. We’ve instilled in
our three children (Jacob, 18, is a freshman at Michigan
State University) the values of hard work and the
rewards of hard work,” she said.
Ban certainly has benefitted from education and
hard work. An immigrant from Iraq who came to the
U.S. in 1992, she had three jobs while going to college
and now is the director of pharmacy for the 103
Kroger stores in Michigan. Paul George is a retired
business owner.
Joey George played a few snaps on the defensive
line for U-M this past season in addition to his consistent
work on the Wolverines’ kickoff return team.
It was a senior season to remember.
“The camaraderie and brotherhood were fantastic,”
he said. “It was exciting to go into the football
building every day with your friends and teammates,
who all had a common goal.
“People outside our team didn’t believe in us. But
we knew we had all we needed to succeed right in our
building.”
36 CHALDEAN NEWS FEBRUARY 2022