A-PLUS Idea: Petoskey Throwback Night

April 11, 2012

We run into plenty of great ideas during our travels around the state. And what better way to make our vast home feel a little bit smaller than to share them.

This was one of our favorites from this winter. Petoskey's Throwback night combined two things we often promote at the MHSAA -- an appreciation for our history and lots of fan involvement.

Each season, the Northmen pick a boys basketball to designate for a "throwback." Players wear some of the school's old uniforms from that era -- this season it was the 1950s -- and fans dress to match.

Petoskey also has the benefit of playing Throwback games in its old gymnasium at Central School, which was built in 1927 and now serves as an elementary school -- although sub-varsity teams also play in the gym regularly.

It's an awesome arena straight out of "Hoosiers" or any basketball nostalgia. Fans sit in wooden seats that line both sidelines and are raised up and away from the floor. There are two old-school scoreboards -- one on the wall and the more recent hanging from the rafters.

The building, which served as the high school's main gym until 2002, also was used regularly for Districts and Regionals for decades. It's easy to imagine the 1,500 seats filled and fans howling.

"No matter who we play, that's the best atmosphere for the game," Petoskey senior Nick Godfrey said of the throwback events.

PHOTOS: (Top) Wooden seats line both sidelines at Petoskey's Central School Gymnasium. (Middle) A sideline wall announces "Home of the Northmen" above an early scoreboard. (Middle below) The stands are mostly filled for the 2010 Throwback game as then-junior Cory Starkey, in head band, drives to the hoop. (Below) A photo from a game at Central Gymnasium during a much earlier era hangs in the classroom of Petoskey High teacher Matt Tamm.

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.