Allen Park Cabrini, Lake City, Marine City
Honored in “Legends” Program
In an effort to promote educational athletics by showcasing some of the great teams of past years, the Michigan High School Athletic Association instituted a program called “Legends Of The Games” in 1997. In December, 1976 champions Allen Park Cabrini, Lake City and Marine City were honored at halftime of the Class C Girls Basketball Final. (1976 Class A Champion Marquette had been honored in a previous year.)
In 1976, the path to an MHSAA title was only four years old, but only Class B champion Marine City had yet to take an extended journey. Marquette, Lake City and Allen Park Cabrini had all advanced to the Semifinal round of the tournament a year previous then returned to win titles that fall.
For the girls from Marine City, it was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, as more than 30 years later, the team remains the only Marine City squad to reach the big dance.
While Marine City was expected to have a solid season in the fall of 1976, a millage failure in nearby Algonac altered the complexion of sports in the district. In 1974, Algonac had advanced to Class B Quarterfinals of the girls tournament. With the tax defeat, the district shut down the varsity sports program, and three players from Algonac High School, Doreen Grote, GiGi Yax and Brenda Venhuizen moved to Marine City. Rivals were suddenly teammates and, with the influx of talent, local expectations for the team soared.
Yet, with less than a month to go before the season, the Mariners still lacked an important ingredient – a head coach. Len Goulding, who had coached freshman football and basketball, was approached as a candidate for the position. However, he was reluctant. He had never coached girls before, and although he knew he would inherit talent, he would also inherit the pressures of high expectations. Ultimately, he accepted the job.
It was a match made in heaven.
“The first day of practice was scary,” recalled Yax, “with the three Algonac girls at one end of the gym and everyone else at the other, which now only seems natural. But at the time it was anything but. The way we all came together as one was unbelievable. Coach Goulding made it an easy transformation.”
Indeed Goulding turned what might have been a disaster in the making into a team that met, and perhaps even exceeded, everyone's expectations.
Much to his delight, he found an unselfish squad with a tremendous work ethic, willing to take instruction.
“I always had a pretty good rapport with the athletes,” said Goulding. “They blended well, really willing to sacrifice for the good of the team. They made it easy.”
The blend of talent was unstoppable during the regular season. A determined squad from Marysville put up a challenge before falling by the wayside in double overtime. The tournament was much the same until the Semifinal game with unbeaten Jenison, which was making its third consecutive appearance in the Semifinal round.
For the first time, the Mariners were in a fight for their basketball lives, as a see-saw game headed to overtime. Grote scored twice in the extra period for a game-high 25 points and Venhuizen sank four straight clutch free throws to seal a 64-57 win.
While the team as a whole recalls the drama and tension tied to the Semifinal win, the 52-38 victory over Three Oaks River Valley in the Final at East Kentwood High School is remembered as the final leg of a sweet journey.
“I remember cutting down the net after we won,” recalled Venhuizen. “We each took a turn and cut a string at a time.”
“I don't remember much of the game but I remember the celebration afterward,” noted Yax. “Parents, family and friends watching us cut down the net. (Pulling) Coach Goulding into the shower. The feeling that we finally achieved our goal of winning state.”
At Lake City, meanwhile, Coach Linda McGiness and her squad put together an outstanding season in 1975 before running into a powerful Flint Holy Rosary team in the Semifinals, bowing out with a 62-40 loss. But, the foundation had been set.
“It was a great year,” recalled McGiness. “We had one senior on that team, my sister Terri, so we thought we might have a chance to come back. In fact, the girls made a pact or a promise among themselves: ‘We'll be back.’”
Among the returnees was Abby Currier, described by McGiness and her teammates as a shy pioneer in the world of women's athletics.
Currier's brother, Bob, was a small forward on the Lake City squads that had advanced in 1972 and 1973, and earned all-state honors in Class D in 1973. The court at the Currier home was lighted, and served as a training ground for Currier and her teammates.
“It was the only place we could work on our game outside of practice,” recalled Shelly Armstead Marcusse. “Guys from those teams, including Abby's brother, as well and our classmates, helped us develop our game.”
The Trojans battled through a tough schedule in 1976 and again advanced to the final round. After downing a strong contingent from Mio in the Quarterfinals, the team once again found itself face-to-face with Holy Rosary.
After opening up a 17-7 lead in the opening minutes, the Trojans clung to a 24-23 lead at the half. During the intermission, McGiness reminded the girls that they needed to control the tempo of the game and stay out of foul trouble. However, the lead slipped away in the third period of play. Trailing 41-37, McGiness switched her defense from man to zone, igniting a comeback. Trailing 55-53, Currier was fouled with five seconds remaining and the senior calmly sank two free throws to tie the game and send it into overtime.
“How we ever did it, I'll never know,” said McGiness, now coaching the 8th-grade girls at Lake City. “The girls had the skills; I just had to get the strategies. I was only third-year coach, and I guess the chemistry worked for us.”
Lynne Smith, who had been held scoreless since the first quarter, and Currier each scored in the extra frame, allowing the team to advance with a 59-57 win. A 58-48 victory over Perkins on the following morning gave the school its first-ever MHSAA title in any sport. The girls returned home in their “old yellow school bus greeted with a police escort to a huge reception” from the delighted community.
Like Lake City, 1975 meant defeat in the Semifinals for Allen Park Cabrini.
“The previous year, we lost in the semis with a senior-laden team,” recalled Carol Valchine, the starting point guard in 1976. “We sat up that night and the other juniors and I vowed to each other that we'd work hard every day and push each other to be the best that we could be. That emotional promise we made to each other was the overriding goal of our 1976 team.”
The late Ken Quire filled the role as head coach of both the boys and girls basketball squads for the Monarchs. Running a disciplined offense with each player filling a role, Cabrini was led by seniors Janet Goschinski, Barbara Schulte, Anne Sommerville, Karen Suda and Traci Syer. Valchine was the lone junior among the starters.
“It was a group that supported each other with friendships that prevailed both on and off the court,” recalled Martha DeLisle.
“Ken Quire was a very good coach,” said Joyce Burns, a freshman brought up for the tournament. “He got the most out of all of his players. They wanted to do their best for him. The team was very close and made me feel a part of them. They were very welcoming.”
Cabrini rolled through the regular season with a single loss that came against Farmington Our Lady of Mercy, the runner-up for the Class A crown in 1974, 1975 and 1976.
Tournament time was much the same. The Monarchs coasted to an easy victory over Lake Fenton in the Quarterfinal, 53-27, thanks to lockdown defensive play by DeLisle and Karen Suda and a 26-point performance by Goschinski. Against Kalamazoo Christian in the Semifinal, Goschinski scored 20 points in the 50-34 win. Valchine added 11 points while Suda scored three and added whopping 16 rebounds.
In the MHSAA title game against Mason County Central, the road was a little rougher for Cabrini, at least for the first two quarters of play.
After opening up a 12-6 lead in the first quarter, the Monarchs were outscored 13-10 in the second and held a slim 22-19 lead at the half. Coach Quire made his displeasure known at the half.
“I let 'em have it loud, as loud as I could yell,” said Quire at the time. “The team wasn't executing the offense like I knew they could. I always yell at them anyway. They expect it, but they know I do it for their sake.”
The girls responded immediately with 12 unanswered points to open the third quarter. The Spartans’ outstanding guard Glenda Gruno, broke the run with a bucket with a minute remaining in the period, but the damage was done. The Monarchs ran off with a 48-35 win and the Class C crown.
Goschinski ended with 20 points, while Valchine tallied 16 points, including three of her eight field goals during the 12-point rally. The junior added seven assists and three steals, but most importantly, she held Gruno to 15 points on the day.
“The weekend of the Finals, I remember being amazed at how many of our families, friends, classmates and teachers came to support us,” said DeLisle.
“I remember my sister presenting each of us with a red rose after the final game,” added Karen O'Rourke. “She made sure my parents were at that game, and she generated excitement in the family for the event.”
— Ron Pesch
Ron Pesch is the historian for the MHSAA
