During the PVIL years, Michael W. Ashley (Mike) was an outstanding student-athlete at Kashmere Gardens High School in Houston, Texas.  As an eighth grader in 1957, he played on the varsity football team because there was no Junior High team.  For five years, 1957 – 1962, Ashley’s honors were numerous; his honors included All-City, All-District, All-State, and MVP on both the basketball and football teams.  He was the only tenth grader on Kashmere’s Co-State Basketball Championship Team of 1959 – 1960.  His coaches, during those great years, were Melvin Jones, Weldon Drew, and Billie Matthews. Ashley attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on a football scholarship in 1962. He was inducted into the Kashmere Alumni Hall of Fame in 2009.