I recently had a chance to interview Cathedral Prep alum, Mr. Max Easly. Easly was born on Feb. 4, 1993. He graduated from Our Lady of Peace school in 2007 and then went on to become a member of the Cathedral Prep class of 2011.
Easly chose to attend Cathedral Prep for many reasons. “I chose Prep because there was no way I was going to end up at the school in Millcreek,” he said. “I’ve been a Rambler for as long as I can remember.” This is a common theme for many Prep students. He was also drawn to Prep because of Prep’s spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood, values of faith, and of course the Cathedral Prep lacrosse team.
After his time at Prep he chose to attend Ohio University. After a semester he transferred to Gannon University. When asked about his plans after high school, Easly said, “I wanted to go to a big school and have the prototypical college experience. I ended up transferring to a smaller school to play lacrosse because I missed the sport that much.” He said that this was one of the best decisions of his life. After his education at Prep, he wasn’t intimidated by the college experience.
Lacrosse has always been a large part of Easly’s life. He started playing in 2006. When he came to Prep he played sparingly as a freshman on the JV team. After that though he started on varsity in his sophomore year. The rest is history. He held the single game points scored record for many years until it was broken last year. His favorite lacrosse memory was beating Chartiers Valley his junior year. This allowed Prep to earn their first playoff berth. The goalie for Prep had an end-to-end goal that made the whole team “lose their minds.”
Even after graduating Easly has found a way to stay involved with the Cathedral Prep lacrosse program by being a coach. I have known Coach Max for about a year now, and he is a dedicated and passionate coach who is always willing to talk to the players and help them anyway possible. In fact he is so dedicated to the program, he said that if head coach Nate Reichel didn’t hire him, he couldn’t see himself coaching anywhere else. Looking towards the future though, Coach Max says that his dream career is being a sports and information director for a college program or a pro team.
Every interview should end with questions that tell of a person’s character. Easly was asked what three words best describe him, and instead of coming up with three different adjectives, he opted instead for a three word slogan. “Plans will change,” he said. “God will ultimately guide you to where he believes you will thrive.” He believes that though life might change directions on you, if you follow God you will be okay. This not only shows his innovation as a person to go with a slogan, but also his faith as a Christian. Finally, if Max could be any animal, he would be an elephant. “I’m a little guy physically; it would be cool to be a beast,” he said.