Senior Standout Squires Knows Role, Relishes it as Petoskey Seeks to Rise
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 17, 2023
A year can make a big difference.
But a year of hard work can make a much bigger difference.
It certainly did for Petoskey senior Michael Squires.
“Petoskey boys basketball will ‘go down swinging’ with the Michael Squires of this world,” said second-year Northmen coach Matt Tamm. “Michael is a great teammate and even better person.
“Michael is a great young person that I have had the honor of coaching for three years.”
The first year Squires played for Tamm was as a sophomore on the junior varsity team. The second, Squire’s junior season, began to make Squires think about not returning for his senior year. He opted instead for a year of hard work before coming back to the court.
Northmen fans are glad he did. Squires is the team’s leading rebounder and strongest defender.
“After my junior year, I debated coming to play my senior year after my limited play time, but I am glad that I did,” Squires said. “The work that I put in my junior year paired with an increase in size and strength allowed me to earn a role on the team and contribute to the success we have had.”
Squires, who sports a 3.98 GPA while taking honors and advanced placement courses, is finding tremendous success on the court after a stellar fall soccer season filled with postseason honors. He’s also looking to wrap up his senior year helping his golf team reach the Finals this spring.
The Northmen are 12-5 overall and 5-3 in Big North Conference play heading into tonight’s home contest with Cadillac, the conference leader. Petoskey lost to Cadillac in the first meeting, 68-65 in overtime, as Jaden Montague hit a 3-pointer well outside of the arc with just four ticks remaining. The Northmen’s last shot in regulation was blocked by Cadillac.
A win tonight and another over second-place Traverse City Central next week could wreak havoc on the title race. Petoskey lost to Central 72-59 earlier this season, and its other conference loss was in double overtime at Traverse City West.
“Our focus is on playing good basketball,” Tamm said. “If we play good basketball, winning and losing will take care of itself.
“Cadillac is a quality opponent, and we look forward to the challenge.”
The Northmen are also looking forward to postseason play after winning their District last year. Four Big North Conference opponents, along with Marquette and Sault St. Marie, are the initial competition.
A postseason run could be in the cards again, Squires believes.
“This year I believe that the District is open for us to win, but once we reach the Regional round we will likely play teams such as Grand Blanc who are very good,” Squires said. “If we play to the quality of basketball that we have shown earlier in the season, and I know we are capable of, winning the region is something that I think we can accomplish.”
Squires’ senior-season success wasn’t exactly anticipated — due to his first three seasons at Petoskey. His freshman year featured his offensive side. His sophomore season saw most all of his playing time recorded as a substitute.
Limited playing time on the varsity as a junior led to thoughts of no more basketball. But all that changed.
Tamm has always focused on individual roles. He and Squires believe they found the right one for the 6-foot-2 standout.
“The biggest difference between this year and last year for me, I believe, was my mentality toward basketball and how I would contribute to the team,” Squires said. “As many people do, I would love to score a lot of points – but this year the realization that that’s not my role was key in my development.
“That realization allowed me to put forth all my effort into what I’m best at – defense and rebounding,” he continued. “This year I took my role of shutdown defender and rebounder more to heart and committed myself to doing what I am good at and what our team needs me to do for us to be successful.”
Tamm said Squires plays the exact role the Northmen need.
“Michael understands and accepts his role on the team,” Tamm said. “He is not our strongest offensive player — he understands that.
“But he plays excellent defense, rebounds, sets screens, slashes at the basket and dives after loose balls,” Tamm continued. “Michael does not take the ill-advised shot. … He seldom — if ever — misses a defensive assignment or box out and generally takes care of the ball and makes the right pass.”
Tamm also points to Squires’ work ethic and positive attitude as keys to his success. Squires worked closely with Mike Zenk, the Petoskey boys basketball strength and conditioning coach, and made gains.
“Michael grew, and he filled out,” Tamm said. “He shows up every day – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – and he always remained positive.”
Squires, who prides himself on playing outstanding defense and attacking the offensive boards, finds tremendous joy in shutting down the opposing team as Tamm normally assigns him the other team’s best player to defend.
“Some people find the most enjoyment in scoring points but I equally enjoy stopping someone from scoring and throwing someone off their game,” Squires said.
When basketball ends next month, Squires will turn his thoughts to his last career sports goal, and likely move on to study mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. He’s also been accepted at Michigan State and Purdue.
“Before I graduate I would like to make it to the state tournament in golf as we missed out on it last year,” Squires said. “This year we have a pretty good team, and I feel we have a good shot at making it.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. 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) Petoskey’s Michael Squires rises above a pair of Traverse City Central defenders for a shot. (Middle) Squires elevates again, this time on the soccer pitch against Traverse City West. (Below) Squires officiates during a Petoskey youth tournament earlier this month. (Photos by Billy McNamara.)
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.)