John Michels


John Spiegel Michels is a former American football offensive tackle in the National Football League, and current Interventional Pain Management Physician at Interventional Spine & Pain in Dallas, Texas.

High school career

Michels attended La Jolla High School, where he was a three time letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he was a two-way starter and was named First Team All-American and Western League Defensive MVP as a defensive tackle, and First Team All-San Diego County as an offensive tackle. In track and field, he was the 1991 Western League Champion in the discus.
Michels was named as one of San Diego's 100 all-time greatest prep football players by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

College career

Michels played college football at the University of Southern California and was a First Team All-Pac-10 and a Second Team All-American offensive tackle, after being converted from a defensive end. He helped to lead the Trojans to a victory over Northwestern University in the 1996 Rose Bowl. After his senior year at USC, Michels was selected as a starter in the 1996 Senior Bowl All-Star game.

Professional career

Michels was drafted in the first round, 27th pick overall, of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. When then-starter and fellow Trojan Ken Ruettgers went down with a knee injury, Michels took over the left tackle duties. He started 9 games in his rookie season, helping the Packers win Super Bowl XXXI. He was named the Green Bay Packers 1996 Co-Rookie of the Year and earned NFL All-Rookie honors.
In 1997, he returned as the starting left tackle, starting the first five games of the season before injuring his right knee against the Detroit Lions. He was sidelined for the rest of the season and replaced by that year's first round pick Ross Verba. After having his best training camp as a professional in 1998, he again injured his right knee and spent the year on injured reserve. Unable to recover from his knee injury, he struggled in training camp in 1999 and was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for defensive end Jon Harris. Michels only lasted a couple of weeks in Philadelphia before his knee injury ultimately ended his career.

Personal

Born John Spiegel Michels, Jr., Michels is the great-great-grandson of Joseph Spiegel, the founder of Spiegel Catalog, which was one of the most important firms in the mail-order industry, and arguably the first.
From 2000-2002 he served as the Youth Director at Canyon Hills Church in Mission Viejo, California.
In 2008 Michels received his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He completed a residency in Diagnostic Radiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and a fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Radiology and the American Board of Pain Medicine.
He currently practices at Interventional Spine & Pain in Dallas, Texas. He has a passion for utilizing conservative therapies and minimally invasive procedures to alleviate pain and improve human performance. He looks to have a medical career that helps prevent, treat, and rehabilitate injury so that people can perform at their optimal levels and live out their passions, pain free.