Matelski Logs 2,000 Points, Aims Higher
February 5, 2016
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
BOYNE FALLS – It's been one milestone after another for Marcus Matelski in 2016.
In the last four weeks, the Boyne Falls senior has eclipsed the school's single-game scoring record three times, while becoming the 36th player in MHSAA state basketball history to score 2,000 points in his career.
To top it off, Matelski led the Loggers to a 53-50 win over previously unbeaten Alanson last Friday to forge a tie atop the Northern Lakes Conference. Earlier in the month, Alanson handed Boyne Falls its first league loss in five years, a streak that stretched nearly 60 games.
Matelski, who scored a school record 50 points in Monday's win over Traverse City Christian, has been instrumental in the Loggers’ success over those five years since he started on varsity as an eighth-grader. Because of the school's enrollment – Boyne Falls has fewer than 40 students – the MHSAA allowed Matelski to play on the varsity as a 13-year-old. He scored more than 200 points that season, although those numbers are not included in his high school career totals.
A two-time Associated Press all-state player, the 6-foot-2 Matelski is averaging 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8.0 steals and 4.5 assists per game for the 12-2 Loggers. He currently ranks 11th on the MHSAA’s statewide all-time scoring list with 2,226 points and is on track to break the single-season steals record of 131 set by three different players.
Records to gloat about, right?
Matelski, though, is not the attention-seeking type.
"I don't like to think about (records) too much," he said. "That way I don't get overwhelmed by it. I just like to go out there and play."
The night he surpassed 2,000 career points, officials stopped the game for a brief presentation. Matelski's reaction? He asked his coach, Tim Smith, how long it would take because he wanted to get back to the game.
Matelski spent the post-game posing for pictures with family and friends and talking with the media. There was no celebration in the locker room.
"Marcus would not have wanted that," his friend and teammate Andrew Campbell said. "He's humble. He's an under-the-radar type of guy. You talk to him about his accomplishments and he acts like it's nothing."
Matelski's averages speak volumes. So does his team's success. In his five years on varsity, Boyne Falls is 91-10. They are seeking a fifth consecutive league title and a third straight District championship.
For Smith, Matelski is a once-in-a-lifetime player.
"Marcus could be an impact player for any school in northern Michigan, no matter the level," he said. "He's a coach's dream. What I'm most proud of is how hard he makes those around him work, including me. He demands you coach him. He demands you make him better. I haven't played many rounds of golf the last four years because he's calling me every night, saying, 'Can I get in the gym and put up 500 to 600 shots?'”
Smith describes Matelski, a National Honor Society student, as a quiet leader, a hard worker who leads by example.
"Marcus is the type of kid who will work eight hours in the mill (at the family’s lumber yard), deliver a couple truckloads of wood afterwards, go mow his grandmother's grass and then call me around 8 or 9 at night wanting to get in the gym," Smith said.
The fact that Smith is there for his players is not lost on the 17-year-old.
"We're very lucky to have a coach like coach Smith because he will not say no," Matelski said. "If I call, or a couple of the other guys call and ask if we can get in the gym, he'll be there in five minutes. That's pretty special."
Smith, who has coached for more than 20 years at four schools, is a Boyne Falls graduate. He played on the basketball team in the early 1980s with Marcus Matelski's father, Chris. Smith scored nearly 1,400 points in his three years on varsity and held the school's single-game scoring record of 43 points until Matelski tossed in 44 in a win over Alba in early January. Three weeks later, Matelski went off for 48 against Central Lake. Then 50 on Monday.
"Marcus is the most well-rounded player I've ever coached," Smith said.
"He's so athletic. The night he hit 2,000 he didn't miss a shot (at the start). He scored on a crossover pull-up. He scored on an offensive rebound. He scored on a back cut. He scored on a two-handed dunk. He scored on a 3."
Matelski needed 16 points in that mid-January contest with Harbor Light Christian to reach 2,000. A deep 3 with two minutes left in the first quarter put him over.
"We knew he was going to get it that night," Campbell said. "But in the first quarter? That was crazy. I guess if the well's not dry you keep going to it."
Matelski admitted it was a "surreal" night, one that brought out a flood of emotions as he started recalling "everything that went into" making that moment so special. At the top of his list? All the support he's received from his family, community, coaches and, of course, teammates.
"I get all this recognition for putting the ball in the hoop, but they do the behind-the-scenes work," he said of his teammates. "And I thank them for that."
That gratitude is a two-way street because his teammates contend Matelski makes them better players.
"He averages insane numbers, but it's not like he has the basketball all the time," Campbell, who also averages in double figures, said. "He gets everybody involved. Marcus expects just as much from us as coach does. He wants us to be on top of our games, too, so we can have success as a team."
Opponents try to make it difficult, double- and triple-teaming Matelski in order to slow Boyne Falls down. Alanson held Matelski to 30 points last Friday, but Leszek Wasylewski, Shea Ross and Cody Milbrandt all hit key fourth quarter baskets in the Loggers' comeback win.
"I take it as a compliment and as a challenge," Matelski said of the double- and triple-teaming. "I like to see what I can do (in those situations), to see if I can still deliver for the team."
His analytical approach to the game might be his greatest strength as a player – that and his mid-range jumper.
"I always try to get a feel for the game, try to decipher what's going to happen," he said.
The gym is Matelski's home away from home. He started playing in elementary school and was the varsity team manager as a seventh grader. His two older sisters, Kristen and Emily, played as well.
Although Matelski is known for his scoring, it's another aspect of his game that his father Chris appreciates.
"Defense," he said. "Marcus has great hands."
That partly explains why Matelski is nearing the state's single-season steals record.
Smith said Matelski plays with an even keel, never letting his emotions get the best of him.
"You can talk to anyone who has ever officiated our games and they'll tell you he's never given anybody a hard time," Smith said. "I looked at his twitter page (after he scored 2,000 points) and I couldn't believe the number of opponents who were congratulating him. A kid doesn't get that kind of respect from the people he plays against unless he handles himself with class."
Turns out, Matelski's scoring average is not all that's been heating up since the start of the new year. His recruitment is picking up, too. Most of the interest is from Division III and NAIA schools, although Division I South Carolina Upstate has been in contact.
Smith said the biggest challenge is convincing college coaches that although Matelski is playing Class D competition in the north, he has the tools, especially the athleticism, to succeed at the collegiate level.
"(Recruiters) say, 'We don't have any video of him dunking the ball,’" Smith said. "So I’ll say, 'Hey Marcus, when you get a breakaway why don't you dunk the ball.' He'll say, 'Coach, I don't want to dunk the ball if we're up 30 points.' We all know he can dunk the ball, but now we have to prod him a little, saying it's OK to showcase your stuff. You're the one who did those power cleans and squats for hours to get yourself that athletic.
“I think everyone is a little gun shy about a kid from Boyne Falls. There were those who said Chris Hass couldn't play because he basically played the same caliber of competition."
Hass, who prepped at Pellston, is now a standout at Bucknell, where he averages a team-high 18 points a game.
Hass is currently third on the state's all-time scoring list with 2,522 points, and that mark is within range for Matelski. Mio's Jay Smith (2,841) and Hastings' Mark Brown (2,789) are the top two scorers.
Boyne Falls has six regular season games remaining before a tough District that features state-ranked Bellaire.
“Bellaire is very good,” Smith said. “If we don't play anything but our best we won't win the District."
A year ago, the Loggers reached the Regional Final before losing to Frankfort. Boyne Falls has never won a Regional, which is something Matelski and Campbell have dreamed about.
March Madness is still a month down the road, though. But if this last month is any indication, there could be more special nights ahead.
Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Boyne Falls’ Marcus Matelski fires a jumper as three Ellsworth defenders shade to his side of the court. (Middle) Matelski pulls up for a shot over a Pellston defender. (Below) Matelski dunks for another two of his more than 2,000 points. (Photos courtesy of Rachel Lange.)
Longtime Coach Researches Photos to Tell Story of Grand Rapids Sports' Past
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
September 16, 2022
GRAND RAPIDS – Bob Schichtel always pauses when he comes across the ancient black and white photo long enough to ponder whatever became of the two youngsters adorned in Grand Rapids Union basketball uniforms.
The posed shot shows two players facing each other in a local gymnasium in a photo apparently taken four days after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that launched the country into World War II. Only a handful of fans today would recognize the players' striped, ultra-short shots and simple sleeveless shirts with "Union" emblazed across the front as recognizable basketball uniforms. One holds a battered-looking basketball, while the other looks on. The two players, whose uniform numbers are "4" and "9," aren't really smiling, but still seem as close as any teammates, whether 81 years ago or today.
In fact, it's the look the youngsters share that intrigues Schichtel, whose thankless, pro bono job it is to identify the two players.
"Once you start," said Schichtel, a former longtime Grand Rapids basketball coach, "it's like looking down a deep rabbit hole."
Schichtel works as a volunteer for the Grand Rapids Public Library trying to identify mostly former Grand Rapids City League basketball players from approximately 1938 through the early fifties. The online photos are mostly from the Robinson Photo Studio Collection taken in conjunction with the Grand Rapids Herald newspaper. The library says the unique collection spans some 950 basketball negatives from the entire Robinson/Herald collection that totals well over 900,000 Grand Rapids photos.
While the work – which amounts to a ton of patience combined with a detective ability – can be exhausting, it's still what Schichtel describes as a labor of love. For example, there's the shot of the two still-unidentified Union players. Schichtel looks at the photo and can't help but wonder whatever happened to the kids. Were they exceptional athletes? Did they leave their marks on Grand Rapids history, whether it was in education, politics, business, industry, the arts or another field? He doesn't even know, as in many photos from this era, whether the two entered the military and thus even survived World War II.
Schichtel has searched everywhere for the answers, but has come up short. Too many times, in fact.
Which isn't to say he'll quit looking or chalk up his research as inconsequential. Schichtel said the foremost reason he spends hours on the project is that many of the athletes he identifies deserve the recognition for achievements far beyond basketball. In many cases former City League basketball, football, baseball, track and tennis athletes became the foundation on which Grand Rapids was built. If Schichtel can uncover an old photo which depicts these youngsters during their high school careers, so much the better, he said.
"It's important to recognize Grand Rapids sports history, and I don't know if we've given enough attention to their past," Schichtel said. "They are what got us here, and I'm a firm believer they need to be recognized for it."
Figuring out that history, however, ranges from, at the least, extremely time consuming to – in too many frustrating cases – virtually impossible. The City League was formed in the late 1920s and featured original schools Grand Rapids Central, Creston, South, Union, Ottawa Hills, Catholic Central and Davis Tech. The league was eventually folded into the Ottawa-Kent Conference in 2008.
"It was a long, evolving league," Schichtel said.
The identification tools available to Schichtel are actually more numerous than most would suspect. For starters, he's formed an impressive database of information by pouring through old City League yearbooks and programs, photos from other collections and microfilm of old newspapers, And then there's also the knowledge gathered by Schichtel himself, a 1968 Grand Rapids Catholic Central graduate. After playing in many old City League gymnasiums, Schichtel went on to compile a 389-197 record in 27 years as the Cougars girls basketball coach. He uses countless City League contacts as both a player and coach to identify athletes. In all, Schichtel taught in the Grand Rapids school system for 34 years.
He also uses the game itself to identify the photos. For instance, he can pinpoint some photos simply by the styles of the uniforms worn by players. He also figures out who is who by other clues such as what the players are doing in the photo. If a player is taking a set shot in the photo, it's likely pre-World War II. The beginnings of the jump shot, or what Schichtel calls "elevation while shooting," is probably mid-1940s. In addition, Schichtel can identify photos through pure basketball athleticism. Players can look a bit awkward in shots from the thirties as compared to players from the late 1940s who were beginning to play with a more obvious flare.
Put all the information together and Schichtel, who has uncovered more than two dozen personal connections to subjects in the photos, believes he has a reasonable shot at identifying them.
Since he signed on with the project, Schichtel figures he's identified about 10 percent of the photos he's viewed. Among the City League athletes he's found shots of Central's John Lavan, who was born in 1890 and played Major League Baseball during the Babe Ruth era and became a military hero who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery; Creston basketball player Roger Wilkins, an assistant United States attorney general during the Watergate hearings; Art Spoelstra of Godwin, a former NBA player and member of the Grand Rapids Hall of Fame; and Grand Rapids native Bill Cutler, who turned a chance post-World War II meeting with then-American League president Will Harridge into a position as commissioner of the Pacific Coast League,
Schichtel said gaining information through photos on the people who became the bedrock of Grand Rapids should be celebrated.
"I think it's a great approach for the community; they shouldn't be forgotten," Schichtel said. "Who else is going to do this? Why do I do it? I see a certain, for lack of a better word, a nobility. These kids played for the love of game, and they became the “Greatest Generation.” These kids did great things. It's not just, 'Well, there's No. 58,’ in a photo.
"You want to know more about them. That's the real intrigue for me."
Tim Gloege of the Grand Rapids Public Library said the collection of photos – and their identification – is continually growing. As more people log onto the library's website, more people want to either add to the collection or have information that leads to an identification. The library estimates about 1,200 photos are searched monthly. But as time grows, many of the original photos are disintegrating. The library is in a constant state of preservation, Gloege said.
"It's a massive project, and we're working to get as many photos online as possible," he said. "The numbers (of photos) we have are rising pretty significantly as people post them on social media.
"When you think of the past and now, you need to realize these are people, kids who used to play basketball and did other things. The work is hard and very time-intensive, but it brings a whole new dimension to history."
Schichtel said he's "kind of picked the low-hanging fruit" on many of the easy photos to identify. But the work will continue.
"Yes, it can be frustrating," he said. "There are limitations if you want it to be accurate. Sometimes you look at a photo and you know it's not going to happen, and you move on. But this a chance to learn about people who made Grand Rapids what it is. That's important to me."
PHOTOS (Top) Two Grand Rapids Union basketball players stand for a photo taken Dec. 12, 1941. (2) Longtime area coach Bob Schichtel researches hundreds of photos that are part of the Grand Rapids Public Library archive. (3) Schichtel has identified these 1941 Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills basketball players as James Horn (left) and Chuch Reynier. (4) Schichtel identified Grand Rapids South High’s “Fireman Five” of, from left, Fred Esslair, Lee Morrow, Jack Carroll, Bob Youngberg and Bruce Bigford. (Historic photos courtesy of the Grand Rapids Public Library.)