Pino's Project to Teach Lessons of 'TEAM'
February 16, 2018
By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half
NORTHPORT – Dan Stowe wondered how Northport might celebrate the 30th anniversary of its MHSAA Class D boys basketball championship.
Enter Ethan Pino.
The 17-year-old, a forward on the current Wildcats team coached by Stowe, has organized an event for Saturday night that will bring players and coaches off that 1988 squad together for a panel discussion on various topics, including the benefits of playing team sports.
It’s all part of Pino’s senior project.
“People still talk about (the state title) a lot,” said Pino. “It’s one of the great things that’s happened in Northport. It’s such a small town.”
Pino, who will be an interviewer, said he’s eager to hear team members talk about life lessons learned that season and what it took to win an MHSAA Finals crown.
“This was a great experience for them, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “I want (to hear) about the dedication they put into it and the legacy they left behind.”
Audience members will be able to ask questions, too.
The team has had two reunions since claiming the title, but the last was 20 years ago, said Gordie Wick, the coach of the 1988 squad.
“I was wondering who was going to (organize) a reunion or celebration,” said Stowe, who hit the game-winning shot to beat Beal City 80-78 in the Final. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to happen.
“When Ethan suggested he wanted a role as part of his Northport senior project it made a lot of sense. Josh (athletic director Josh Vander Meulen) is his mentor (on the project). I think this is a good opportunity to have those people that were involved in that experience congregate (at the school) for some pointed, and some fun, questions. It will give us a chance to reminisce. Everybody wins.”
Northport seniors are required to complete a project to graduate. There are 17 seniors in this year’s class. Their project topics range from females in the military to drug awareness to the farm-to-table food movement. Pino, who has played five years of varsity soccer and four of varsity basketball, went the sports route. He said playing sports has taught him valuable lessons about teamwork and commitment. Plus, he added, it’s improved his communication, leadership and social skills. And it’s opened the door to lasting friendships, too.
Pino, who hopes to attend Oakland University, was selected as the school’s student athlete of the fall.
“He wanted to focus on team sports because it’s through his experiences with his teammates that he’s been able to grow,” said Vander Meulen. “Sports are a big part of his life. Ethan’s not a boisterous student. He’s celebrated because he’s a quiet competitor who is dependable and trustworthy. He’s not looking to stand out. He’s not looking for a gold star. When you work with him, you know he’s going to do a good job and you’re going to have fun. You know he won’t let you down.”
The 30-year reunion comes at a rather poignant time. Tonight’s game with Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian Academy could be the last home game for players wearing Northport uniforms. Because of declining numbers – the high school enrollment is in the 40s - Northport may have to go to a co-op, like it does with neighboring Suttons Bay in soccer and girls basketball. There are currently nine players on varsity, but only three return next season. There is no JV team.
The Wildcats, 10-4, recently clinched the Cherryland Conference title. The team had won eight games in a row before a loss to Traverse City Christian on Wednesday. That was Northport’s first league loss in two years.
“It’s been rewarding to see how far we’ve come since the beginning of the season,” said Pino.
It’s been a hectic winter for Pino – and Vander Meulen, who has helped him pull his senior project together. There are three components to all projects – a research paper, a formal product and a presentation.
“This (projects) gives all of our seniors a chance to dive into something deeper than maybe they’re allowed to in the classroom,” said Vander Meulen.
Saturday’s event will be Pino’s product, although Vander Meulen said he believes “the planning is the product and the event is the cherry.”
“Certainly we want to pull it off and have it be a great night for everyone involved,” he said. “Planning is so important, and hopefully that’s what Ethan takes away from this. It’s the planning that makes it happen – and good planning takes work.”
Pino and Vander Meulen decided in October that the 30th anniversary of Northport’s title would be a perfect tie-in to the project.
“The 1988 team is the vehicle to drive the message of the benefits (of playing team sports) forward,” said Vander Meulen.
“In our community, they are the team, and that’s capital TEAM. And that’s what this narrative is about. If you ask anybody in our community, who lived here (at that time), they all have a story. To the modern athletes, though, they are mostly unknown so this will be a cool opportunity for our student athletes to see those former players and hear their stories from 30 years ago.”
Several of those players were also part of the school’s Class D championship soccer team in 1986. But it’s that magical March basketball run in 1988 that captured the attention of northern Michigan.
“Football and boys basketball, at least in northern Michigan, drive the dialogue,” said Vander Meulen. “All sports are important and valuable, but public interest in those two can capture a community, ignite not only a town but a region. When I watch highlights of the Buckley boys on the news you can’t see a place to sit. That’s the same energy that was once there with the Northport boys.”
After completing his research paper in late November, Pino reached out to former players and coaches about the idea and to see if they would be able to make it. Seven players and two coaches are planning to attend.
“Some are living out of town and are busy and cannot come,” said Pino. “Some we could not get ahold of. Overall, though, they were pretty excited to hear about it.”
Two dates were considered before Saturday was agreed upon.
When asked how much time he’s put in on the project, Pino paused.
“Mmm …, hours wise, I’m not exactly sure,” he said. “But it’s all good.”
Stowe appreciates the fact Pino and Vander Meulen went the extra mile.
“I think they’ve gone way over the top on this one,” he said.
And they’re still making sure everything is set for Saturday.
“Since we got back from (Christmas) break it’s been logistics, logistics, logistics,” said Vander Meulen. “We don’t want to invite people to Northport and have it be a sloppy presentation. We meet every day. In fact, I don’t know how he feels when he sees me in the hallway now because I always have a new idea. It’s ‘Ethan, we should be tackling this’ or ‘Ethan, did you take care of that?’ We hope we’re not leaving any stone unturned. We feel pretty good, but we’re still turning stones to see if there’s not more we can do.”
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) Northport’s Ethan Pino squares up for a shot during a game this season. (Middle) The 1988 Northport boys basketball team remains legendary in its community. (Below) Pino winds up during this past soccer season. (Top and below photos by Dan Duffiney.)
Gooding & King Work to Fill SW Michigan's Officiating Ranks, Schedules
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
December 12, 2023
KALAMAZOO – Cheer them or boo them, without officials, there are no games. That’s just a fact in the sports world.
Two area men are tasked with supplying those officials for Southwest Michigan schools, and it is not always as easy as it seems.
Portage’s Todd Gooding is in charge of assigning football referees for 70 schools across eight leagues, with 500 officials on his staff.
Vicksburg’s Rob King assigns officials for girls and boys basketball in five leagues and has 290 men and women on his roster to work 1,100 games throughout the hoops season.
“We have six females on staff,” King said. “We’re looking to add more. I think the girls who are playing enjoy having a female ref on the court with them, plus it shows them they can do this, too.”
Although totals were dropping a few percentage points every year, the MHSAA still registered an average of 10,317 officials annually during the decade ending in 2019-20. But the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that spring played a large part in a decrease in registered officials by 12 percent for 2020-21, down to 8,090.
The last two school years saw a bounce-back of four percent, and recruiting and retaining efforts continue. But Gooding and King – also veteran officials themselves, Gooding for 25 years and King for 24 – and their assigning colleagues across the state have the closest look at the effects of fewer officials as they work to schedule at the local level and make sure everything is covered.
Doing so gets even harder with unforeseen roadblocks.
One of those challenges for Gooding came in August when extreme heat forced most schools to reschedule or delay their football games.
“Everyone was trying to get their games in,” he said. “We were moving start times back, then we were moving days. Football is a little different than basketball or baseball because you can only play within so many days, so we were really squeezed against the schedule.
“I had a school or two reach out on Monday or Tuesday (before the Friday night game), so they looked ahead at the heat. Some of them waited, waited, waited, and then in some cases, it posed some big challenges because most of those crews had been spoken for.”
For a typical football Friday, Gooding staffs 30 or 35 games, “which is really difficult because everybody wants to play Friday night.”
Some referees in both football and basketball “double dip” by officiating games at freshman or junior varsity levels on nights other than Friday.
Gooding said at one time he hoped to go to seven officials for a football game, but with a shortage of officials, “Right now we’re just lucky to staff five in the games we have, and we’re still very short.
“Parents are a key component to a shortage of officials. A lot of it is more at the youth level, but everyone has to remember the sportsmanship aspect. Without officials there are no games, and sometimes we lose track of that, and that’s one reason there’s a shortage.”
Still, King noted that officiating provides more advantages than disadvantages.
“Everyone hears about the bad stuff, getting yelled at by fans and coaches, but those are so small,” he said.
“After a season of doing this, you learn to block out that stuff and realize it’s just part of the game. Fifty percent of people are mad at you every time you blow the whistle, so you get used to that.”
Pay raises in some leagues enticed many of those who “retired” to return, King said, but both he and Gooding agree the camaraderie developed while officiating is what makes it most special.
“It’s more about the time you spend on the floor with guys, in the locker room, driving to games, grabbing something to eat after the games, just talking about life, just building friendships,” King said. “That’s the part you remember.”
Gooding added some games stick in his memory more than others.
“My first varsity game (refereeing) was Lawton playing Saugatuck,” he said. “I show up and Channel 3 was there. I wondered what’s going on.
“Both schools were 0-8, both senior classes were 0-35. Somebody had to win, and it was my first varsity game. I think Saugatuck won, and it was close to 25 years ago.”
Another memory came as he officiated a basketball game.
“A girl from Benton Harbor (Kysre Gondrezick in 2016) had 72 points,” he said. “It’s in the record books. and you’re just one small part of that and you remember them.”
Officiating is not only for adults. Even teenagers still in high school can become referees as part of the MHSAA Legacy Program.
King recently hosted an officiating summit at Paw Paw for high school athletes.
“There are nine schools in the Wolverine Conference and six of them brought 10 to 15 kids,” he said. “Myself and another official presented on basketball. They also did something on other sports.
“We got the kids up blowing the whistles and doing some of the signals. Three reached out wanting to get involved.”
King said officiating is a great way to earn money, especially while in college.
“You’ll work maybe two or three hours at the most and make $150 to $300 depending on the level,” he said. “Your friends will have to work six-, seven-, eight-hour days to make that much money.
“You can also block your schedule. We have a software with a calendar on it. If there are days you know you can’t work because you have classes or other things, you just block those days out, so you control your own schedule.”
With training, freshmen and sophomores can work junior high/middle school games, and juniors and seniors are able to officiate at the freshman and junior varsity levels.
“Usually what we do is get you a mentor,” King said, “and you work with that mentor and make some money.”
Those Legacy officials hopefully continue in the avocation, eventually becoming the next mentors.
Officiating, like school sports in general, is a cycle that’s constantly in motion – both when it comes to filling the ranks and filling the schedule to cover games ahead.
For example, although football season is over, “I don’t know if there really is an offseason,” Gooding said. “Leagues are going to start giving me their schedules. We’ll get those into an Arbiter system. Everything’s assigned by Arbiter, a computer system where officials get their assignments.
“I’ll start evaluating the crews, reach out to the crew chiefs. They’ll let me know any changes in their crew dynamics. I’ll evaluate the year gone by, how they performed and then start getting ready to work on getting those games staffed. That will start after the new year.”
For more information on officiating, including the Legacy Program, go to the Officials page of MHSAA.com.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Todd Gooding, left and Rob King take a photo together while officiating the Division 4 Final at Ford Field in 2022. (Middle) Gooding signals during that contest between Goodrich and Grand Rapids South Christian. (Below) King officiates the 2019 Division 4 Boys Basketball Final at Breslin Center. (Photos courtesy of Gooding and King.)