About Me

2005 Grand Valley State University Sports Hall of Fame Inductee.

http://gvsulakers.collegesports.com/genrel/090805aaa.html

To view a video recap of my career at GVSU and to watch my induction to the Sports Hall of Fame speech please go to the Downloads page.

Charlie Mandt (Troy, Mich.) finished his career as one of the best all-around players in Grand Valley State men's basketball history. Mandt played in 117 games during his career, the second-highest total in Laker basketball annals. Charlie was a prolific scorer and shot blocker for the Lakers, ranking in top 10 of every single-season and career categories. Mandt ranks second all-time in blocked shots (163) and sixth all-time in points scored (1,448), and field goals made (604). Charlie holds three of the top six single-season totals for blocked shots. Mandt scored 406 points, pulled down 178 rebounds and blocked 45 shots as a junior, followed by a 539-point, 201-rebound and 53-block shot senior season. Charlie was named honorable mention all-american following his senior campaign and the 87 wins he was a part of during his career ranks as the top four-year career total in Laker history. Grand Valley State won one GLIAC regular season title, two GLIAC Tournament titles and qualified for the NCAA Division II National Tournament twice during his career.  His senior year in 1992 Charlie was awarded the Player of the Year for the GLIAC.

After 4 years of playing ball for Grand Valley, I still had nearly 2 semesters of classes left to complete my degree. Instead of finishing, I went to Atlanta for a tryout with the Atlanta Hawks. I didn't make the team but I ended up playing for some semi-professional teams that summer in the USBL and the GBA.  After some brief success in the semi-pro leagues and the bankruptcy of the GBA I went back to GVSU to complete my final two semesters for my degree in Communications and a minor in Philosophy.

I spent the next 10 years playing basketball all over the world in countries like China, Korea, England, France, Mexico, Latvia, Lebanon and Qatar. I retired my pro-basketball shoes 3 years ago and now own a software company called LeagueUSA, Inc. with my brother, Marc. www.leagueusa.com.  Its still sports related.  Using the skills learned at GV I helped build our customer base to over 3000 organizations, which is currently the largest user base in the recreation management industry.

I also have been dabbling on the otherside of basketball... the referree side.  I've worked High School Varsity basketball games for the last three years.  This is why you see a Cobb County School Directions page on this site.  It is an easy reference for me to check to make sure I remember how to get to games I need to referree.  I haven't made the leap into college games yet as I have been very busy with LeagueUSA and college games will require a lot of travel.  But I hope to be able to do college games soon.

There is another site that I have done with a friend of mine, Corey Sanders.  It is www.basketballoverseas.net.  It is intended as a free service for basketball players who are considering playing ball overseas or are still new to the game.  It is a valuable source of information of what to expect, what you need to do to prepare and possible pitfalls of playing basketball overseas.