Moment: 1961 Team Tips Off "Rouge Week'

April 13, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Nearly 70 years after its first championship, the River Rouge boys basketball program remains the standard at the Finals level of its sport with 20 appearances in MHSAA championship games and 14 titles.

From 1960-69, Rouge appeared in Finals seven times and won six championships – and photos and video from those six title games will make up this “Rouge Week” as part of our MHSAA Moments series.

We tip off with these from the 79-44 Class B title win over Holland Christian in 1961. The championship was the fourth of 12 earned under legendary coach Lofton Greene, following those won in 1954, 1955 and 1959.

The Panthers' 21-8 second-quarter run, keyed by 6-foot-5 freshman Willie Betts, sent them into halftime up 39-21. For the game, four players scored in double figures for River Rouge led by Jon Roman (No. 11 above and below) with 17 points.  The Panthers finished 23-2 and also included Ken Wilburn (No. 25 below), who went on to play professionally for four NBA and ABA franchises.


(Photos courtesy of The Associated Press.)

We Need Your Help with Hoops

January 17, 2013

We’re quickly making major headway in catching up our basketball scores and schedules for this winter, just in time for league races to get rolling. 

But we'd be grateful for your help filling in a number of results we've missed during the season’s first half.

Lending a hand is easy. Just visit MHSAA.com and click on the “Scores and Schedules” link here or on the top left side of the home page. That will take you to the day’s scoreboard – but also let you search for games on any day this season, or for any school that is a member of the MHSAA. (See below).

To find games that have been played but for which we don't have scores, merely search for any series of dates and click the box that reads "Only show contests with no score." 

You also can search for a specific school by clicking on “Schools” in the main menu bar. Once on a school’s page, a list of sports it sponsors and links to each schedule appear on the left side.

You must be registered with MHSAA.com to enter a score. But registration is simple and takes just a few seconds, and requires only a working e-mail address to get you started. Click here to get signed up

We’re busily adding missing games to incomplete schedules and correcting standings for leagues not properly listed. But with a little assistance filling in scores, we can again have the most complete basketball scores and schedules available. These pages also will update automatically with scores and future opponents once District tournaments begin.

See a team schedule or league standings that look complete but still aren't quite right? Email editor Geoff Kimmerly at [email protected] and let him know what needs to be fixed.