Johnson Family Reunion: Tuesday will Bring Together Officiating Brothers, Coaching Cousins
By
Mike Dunn
Special for MHSAA.com
December 12, 2025
GAYLORD – What a night it will be.
The Big North Conference game this Tuesday between visiting Traverse City Central and host Gaylord has a coaching connection that will be a draw in itself. Central is led by former Gaylord hoops standout Luke Johnson, while Gaylord is coached by Luke’s cousin Justin Johnson – another past Blue Devils hoops standout who graduated in 1995 with school records for single-game, single-season and career 3-pointers.
Luke graduated in 1997 as Gaylord’s all-time leading scorer with 1,571 points and went on to play four years at Central Michigan University. He coached the boys at Elk Rapids for 14 seasons and is now in his second year coaching in Traverse City, where he is also an assistant principal at Traverse City East Middle School. Justin, owner and operator of the local Bulldog Painting business, is in his first year as the Blue Devils’ head coach after serving previously as the JV coach.
The cousins were Gaylord teammates on the storied 1994-95 team that captured the District title with a thrilling come-from-behind victory at the old Petoskey gym. They will be facing each other as head coaches on the hardwood for the first time – and Justin’s son Carter, a junior wing, is in his first year on the Gaylord varsity.
On top of that, the Johnson cousins will be coaching against each other in the gymnasium named after Luke’s grandfather Jim Mongeau. Ironically enough, the Jim Mongeau gymnasium was dedicated on December 16, 1994, the same day 31 years before.
If that was solely the storyline for Tuesday’s game, it would make for a memorable occasion.
But there is more to this story … much more.
Three brothers with whistles
As it turns out, the biggest storyline of this memorable night is the officiating crew.
Not only will Luke and Justin be facing off Tuesday with Justin’s son also competing on the floor, but the three men wearing the striped shirts with whistles around their necks will be Johnson brothers Tommy, Steve, and Dave. Tom is Luke’s dad, and Steve is Justin Johnson’s father.
Between them, there is more than 125 years of hardwood officiating experience: Tom is in his 50th year, Steve is in his 45th, and Dave in his 32nd season.
The brothers have worked together more times than they can count over the decades, though not as much in recent years. Tom has had his own crew of officials for a while. Steve and Dave have teamed with Charlie Lovelace to form their own crew.
Tuesday’s game in Gaylord will be the first time any of the brothers have worked a game coached by Luke or Justin.
And it very well could be the final time the three brothers officiate a game together. In fact, this is quite likely given the present circumstances.
Tom’s battle with cancer
Tom has inoperable pancreatic cancer and is undergoing regular chemotherapy treatments. Just the fact that he is still actively officiating this season is remarkable in one way, given his prognosis, and yet not remarkable at all for anyone who knows Tommy and the inner drive and mental toughness that is so much a part of his make-up – character traits he has exhibited since the glory days in the late 1960s when he was a star student-athlete competing for Gaylord in football, basketball, and baseball.
That inner drive and willingness to persevere continue to serve Tom well, especially during this challenging season of life.
As Steve said, “Tommy definitely has the Johnson gift of stubbornness.”
And Dave agreed: “Tommy is fighting this with everything he has. He’s gonna go down swinging, because that’s just who he is.”
Tom has been very open about his battle with cancer. He was diagnosed Nov. 13, 2023, and at one point his weight was down to 138 pounds.
Tom was at home in his favorite chair in February with wife Jenni tending to him – “My wife’s been a saint through all this and the best nurse I’ve ever had,” he noted – when he made a decision.
“I told my wife if I just sit here in this chair, I’m gonna die and I don’t want to just give in to this,” Tom said.
“I made up my mind right then that I’m gonna take the proactive approach to this. I’m gonna live till I die. People think I’m being funny when I say that, but I’m serious. I’m gonna live till I die. I’m not gonna sit out the rest of my life. It’s all in the hands of the good Lord, and He’s the One who’s gonna let me know when my time comes.”
Tom retired as a physical education teacher at Gaylord in 2007 but has continued to coach as well as officiate volleyball, basketball and baseball. Because of recent developments, Tom was initially going to give up coaching the Gaylord boys golf team last spring but opted to stay on, extending his coaching career that dates back 49 years at Gaylord and includes a long stint as the varsity boys hoops coach from 1987-97 and then 2003-07 in addition to being the freshmen football coach for a stint, the baseball coach, and, for the past 16 years, the boys golf coach.
“The golf kids were great to work with,” Tom recalled. “I had some limitations, and they accepted and adapted and it was actually a fun season.”
‘I want to be out there’
Fast forward to the present school year. It would have been easy for Tom to lay down his whistle, but he’s not ready for that. He officiated about 30 nights during the volleyball season, and that went pretty well. Now he plans to continue officiating basketball as long as he is physically able and knows he can still call a good game.
“I just want to be out there doing one of the things God has designed for me to do,” he said. “I still enjoy it. We set a goal at the start of the school year to get through the volleyball season first and make it to Thanksgiving, and we’ve met that goal. The next goal is Christmas. And we’ll set other goals after that. But in the meantime, I plan to stay as active as I can doing things I love doing.”
Tom plans to officiate the full basketball season, as God enables him. The one date he is especially looking forward to, though, is Tuesday, Dec. 16.
“It’ll be a great night,” Tom said. “I’ve reffed numerous games at ‘The Mong’ since it opened in 1995, but this will be a very special night not just for me but for all the Johnson family.
“I only hope in the midst of it I can communicate in some way how much I have appreciated the Gaylord community over the years and how much I’ve loved being a part of this community along with my family, and especially being part of Gaylord schools for so many years.”
Tom has quite a unique history with Gaylord basketball as a player and a coach. Tom played in the final high school game in the old community center during his junior year and played in the first game at the old gym that now serves as the middle school gym. He also coached the final high school game at the old gym during the 1994-95 season and coached the first game played at the newly-dedicated Jim Mongeau Gymnasium in January of 1995 against St. Ignace.
He also coached the amazing District championship game against favored Petoskey in its old gym packed to the rafters that March of 1995, a game that many still talk about to this day. The Blue Devils, with Justin knocking down the long ones and Luke distributing and driving through the lane, narrowly edged the excellent Petoskey team that featured Trevor Huffman and John Flynn.
Brennan Fitzek hit what proved to be the game-winning shot in the waning seconds, and Gaylord made a final stop on defense to secure the hard-earned trophy.
"We had some epic battles with Petoskey in those days," Tom said. "Petoskey had some great teams with Huffman and Flynn and a great coach in Dennis Starkey, who is still a friend to this day. It was tremendous competition."
‘I was just mowing’
It was Dave Johnson, the youngest of the brothers, who first had the idea of officiating the Dec. 16 game together.
“I was just mowing my grass one day soon after Justin was hired as the varsity coach and thinking ahead about the night when Luke comes from T.C. Central to play Gaylord,” Dave recalled. “Here you have the two coaches who are cousins from Gaylord facing each other in the gym named after their grandfather and Justin’s son playing for Gaylord on top of that. Wouldn’t it be cool if we three brothers could officiate the game that night?”
Dave dismounted the mower then and there and made phone calls to Steve and Tommy to see what they thought about the possibility. Then they contacted Luke and Justin and, before very long, everything was set in motion.
“The stars all aligned,” Dave said with a chuckle. “Justin and Luke were both on board with it, and they got the approval of their ADs. Everything that needed to happen for this to come together happened. It’s gonna be a great night and a historic night.”
When the family got together for a meal in September to celebrate Tom’s birthday, all the details about the Dec. 16 game were discussed. By the time the meal was over, everything was ironed out and everyone was in agreement.
“There’s so much nostalgia and history wrapped up in this one night,” Dave noted. “You have Tommy, the son-in-law of Jim Mongeau, in his 50th year officiating. To me, this night is really a tribute to Tommy and Jen and their lives revolving around Gaylord athletics.”
It will be a milestone night in another way.
“This will probably be the final time we three brothers have the chance to officiate a game together,” Dave said. “Steve is working through a knee injury right now, and my health is not what it used to be either. But if this is our final game as an officiating crew, we couldn’t have picked a better one.”
Steve’s knee has been giving him fits lately and, for the first time in 45 seasons, has caused him to miss some games because of an injury. He is hoping to recover well enough to return to the floor in January and resume a normal schedule.
There is only one game Steve will officiate in the whole month of December, and it’s the one game he wouldn’t miss for anything.
“I know it’ll be one of the best nights of my life,” Steve said. “How great it’ll be for Dave and I to get to work with Tommy again and to see all the people there. It’ll be a night for reflecting on so many memories and making some new ones.”
Looking forward
“I’m thrilled with how this has all come together,” Luke said. “This night will not only be a great tribute to my dad but to a family that’s been involved in Gaylord athletics for 50-plus years.
“If you include my grandfather, then you’re going back 70 years or more with Gaylord. I know my dad impacted a lot of lives as a teacher and a coach over the years, and my grandfather had the same kind of legacy before him.”
Luke is naturally excited for the game itself but more excited for the moment, especially given his dad’s health challenges.
“Obviously, the circumstances with my dad create a different perspective for the night,” he added. “My hope is we can just soak in the history and enjoy the moment and not let it rush by. We likely won’t have another night like this one.”
PHOTOS (Top) Brothers, from left, Steve, Dave and Tom Johnson – here at Gaylord High School – will referee the varsity boys basketball game Tuesday between Gaylord and Traverse City Central. (2) Cousins Luke Johnson, left, and Justin Johnson are the varsity coaches for Traverse City Central and Gaylord, respectively. (3) The Johnson brothers, here during their younger days, have a combined 127 yards of officiating to their credit. (4) Tom Johnson is in his 50th season officiating, a run filled with many memories including refereeing his grandson’s game at Elk Rapids (lower left). (5) This collage, from top left, includes longtime coach Jim Mongeau speaking with a Gaylord player during the 1960s, Tom Johnson coaching a player during the 1990s, and Luke now coaching. (Photos courtesy of, in part, RD Sports Photo and Photography by Joanie Moore, with others collected by the Weekly Choice and Charlevoix County News.)
Hart Teammates Reunite After 80 Years Now as WWII Vets, Great-Grandfathers
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
June 7, 2023
Walter “Stretch” Hansen and Harold Tate were good friends and high school basketball and baseball teammates at Hart High School, graduating in 1943.
No one could have guessed that less than two months after graduation (on July 2, 1943), the two friends would head to Fort Custer in Battle Creek, the first stop on their way overseas to fight for their country in World War II.
No one could have imagined how many twists and turns their lives would take over the next 80 years – from the battlefields in the South Pacific, then back to West Michigan where they both were married with children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and now Harold even has a great-great-grandchild.
And, certainly, no one would have believed that the two young boys from Hart – who forged a friendship through high school sports long before the days of computers, microwave ovens and cell phones – would still be alive at the age of 98 for an emotional reunion last month, on May 22, seeing each other for the first time in 80 years and, to cap it off, the reunion took place in their hometown of Hart.
“It was such a great day,” Hansen said about the meeting, which was set up by Muskegon-area World War II historian Richard Mullally.
“We picked right up, talking about sports and the service and everything else.”
The conversation came easy for the two old friends, who played for Hart during a “golden era” at the school – particularly in basketball, as the Pirates won 11 West Michigan Conference basketball titles between 1940 and 1954.
Perhaps the best team during that time period was Hansen and Tate’s as seniors in 1943. That team lost only once, to rival Scottville (31-25), but more than made up for it with an 80-10 trouncing of the Spartans in the final regular-season game.
Hart then crushed Scottville and Newaygo to win the District championship, only to have Michigan’s prep basketball season stopped abruptly at that point because of World War II.
That 1943 team featured four starters over 6-0, led by the duo of Hansen and Stan Kapulak (both 6-6), Joe Mack (6-2), Lyle Burmeister (6-1) and Stanley Riley (the lone starter under 6-foot at 5-11).
“The newspapers called us ‘The Hart Skyscrapers,’” said Hansen, who will be 99 on Nov. 6. “We were taller than most college teams at that time.”
Hansen and Tate’s friendship continued to blossom on the baseball field, only to have their lives turned upside down shortly after graduation 80 years ago, when all Hart senior boys who had been drafted headed to Battle Creek as a brief staging area on their way to the battlefields of Europe and the South Pacific.
Hansen served in the Army Specialized Training Program and was part of the 52nd Signal Battalion and the 4025th Signal Battalion in the Pacific Theater.
“I had an all-expense paid tour of the South Pacific,” Hansen said with a chuckle. “The Philippines, New Guinea, Okinawa, Hawaii, all over the place.”
Tate did his service in the 24th Infantry Division and the 19th Infantry Regiment, and was stationed in Japan.
During their visit last month, Harold showed off the Japanese Samurai sword and Arisaka rifle which he had sent back from Japan to Hart. The week after their visit, both took part in Memorial Day parades – Hansen in the Lakeside parade in Muskegon and Tate in his 77th Memorial Day service in Hart.
Hansen, who still has a home on a small lake in Holton and lives at a senior care facility in Muskegon, played many years of semi-pro basketball and did some coaching. He worked at GTE and has five children and 10 grandchildren.
“I have been so blessed,” Hansen said, sorting through one of his many scrapbooks. “All five of my kids are great and I have grandkids that are just amazing, everything they are doing. I don’t even know all of their names, but it’s sure been fun watching them.”
Tate returned to Hart after his military service and has been there ever since, at first working as a carpenter with his father and then becoming a rural mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, retiring 26 years ago at the age of 72. He has lived in the same home for 75 years and has three children, six grandchildren, seven great-grandkids and now one great-great-grandchild.
Tate laments the demise of his beloved American Legion post in Hart, a town with just over 2,000 residents, as the number of members has steadily declined.
One topic that brings a smile to both of their faces is the recent resurgence of the Hart High School athletic program, which drew media attention not too many years ago for all the wrong reasons – notably a football program which went 24 years without a winning record.
That string was snapped with a 6-3 mark and the school’s first earned playoff appearance last fall.
But that was just the start.
This winter, Hart’s boys basketball team finished the regular season 22-0, the girls basketball team made it to the Division 3 Semifinals at the Breslin Center, wrestling qualified for the Team Finals for the fourth-straight year and competitive cheer placed fourth in Division 4. This spring, the Hart girls track & field team won its second-straight Division 3 Finals team title, and the boys placed fourth.
“It’s a great place to call home, a great place to live, always has been,” said Hansen of his hometown, which got its name from its central position in the “heart” of Oceana County.
And who would have imagined that these two high school teammates could still come home again for a reunion at the age of 98?
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Members of the 1943 Hart High School varsity baseball team gather together, preparing for a team photo. Among those are Harold Gayle Tate (far left) and Walter "Stretch" Hansen, at 6-6 the tallest player in the back row. (Middle) Hansen, left, and Tate reunite for the first time in 80 years on Monday, May 22, 2023, in their hometown of Hart. (Below) Hansen served from 1943 to 1946 as a Sergeant in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Tate served from 1945 to 1946 as a Platoon Sergeant in the Pacific Theater during World War II. (Top photo courtesy of Stretch Hansen. Middle and below photos courtesy of Richard Mullally.)