Remember those commercials about being like Mike?
Nancy Justis Reaches 25-Year Milestone As Daughter Nicole Waits In The Wings

FAME has its own real life version of "I want to be like Mike " as 16-year-old Nicole Justis has already told her Northern Iowa SID mom Nancy that she wants to become a Sports Information Director.

"Hopefully, she hasn't seen just the glamour of it all, but understands all the hard work," says mom, a 25-year sports information veteran. "She wants to attend UNI and work as one of my student assistants. That'll be a kick. She doesn't listen to me at home, so I'll have to assign her to one of my assistants!"

Nancy initially was surprised at Nicole's career plans but realizes there's no holding back a young person with a dream. "Believe it or not, she wants to be an SID. Not that I've tried to talk her out of it, but she's grown up with me being gone all the time, and grumpy at times. Her response back is that she doesn't plan on doing it her whole life, which I guess is good."

Nancy took four-week old Nicole to her first athletic event while she was still on maternity leave. "She's gotten to travel with me occasionally, going to Cal Poly for football games, to Texas for men's basketball, and to Europe, no less, one summer with me with the men's basketball team.

"She's a great communicator -- writer and oral," Nancy says. "In sixth grade, she gave a D.A.R.E. speech in front of the entire school, and I was so impressed. She didn't hardly have to look at her notes, had eye contact with the audience and spoke up."

Nicole says her mom's long-time association with sports helped spark her interest in SID work. "I want to do what my mom does because I've grown up being around sports and I absolutely love it. I've also seen all the people my moms been able to meet and develop relationships with through her job. I also like the idea of traveling to see different places."

So what does Nicole tell her friends about her mom's job? "That she travels with the teams and is in charge of all their media information. That she writes media guides and programs and puts out press releases," Nicole says.

And what does she like most about sports information? "Being directly involved with athletic teams and being able to work with coaches and athletes," Nicole says.

Finally, Nicole reminds us of what drew us to the profession in the first place. "Because of my mom, I've also gotten to know some of the athletes and coaches, and I see how important their sport and team is to them. I see how hard they work and I get to be there during the best of times for their team. It's a lot of hard work, but with lots of rewards and lots of fun. That is why I want to be an SID."