#TBT: Coldwater Names Gym for Eby
February 19, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
Friday night, Coldwater High School will once again honor its 1949 Class B boys basketball champions and their coach, Floyd Eby, as it dedicates its gymnasium during a girls-boys doubleheader against Battle Creek Harper Creek.
It was Eby and his Cardinals squad that introduced what was called “racehorse basketball” to the high school ranks in that championship season, forever changing the way the game was played, and launching one of the most storied coaches and teams – Lofton Greene’s River Rouge Panthers – to its place in basketball lore in Michigan.
Coldwater won that game at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, 49-42, and Greene told Eby, who also directed Williamston to a Class C crown in 1941, that his teams would play that style of basketball from that day forward.
That was the first time Eby and Greene crossed paths on the basketball court, and when that 1949 Coldwater team was honored in 1999 at the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals, the two got a chance to meet again. Greene was watching his old school in the Finals that day, and Coldwater had just been eliminated in the Semifinals the night before.
You can watch a feature FOX Sports Detroit produced on the 1949 Cardinals below, and to read more about that season, click here.
Michigan's Best Reach Higher at Milford
July 26, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP – Nearly 200 of the top high school basketball players in Michigan took part in the Reaching Higher experience during the last two weeks at Milford High School.
A total of 96 boys attended Reaching Higher on July 13, and 90 girls attended the July 25 session. The program, in its eighth year, again included instruction on the court and off.
Skill training and scrimmages followed presentations by speakers Carlton Valentine and Justin Jennings (former Michigan State and Purdue standouts, respectively) at the boys program and Nicole Elmblad (University of Michigan record holder) and Dave Ginsburg (longtime high school and college coach) at the girls session. An educational effort by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, the Reaching Higher experience also included classroom sessions for parents and instruction from NCAA compliance officers.
Players invited to Reaching Higher were selected by a committee of BCAM members and received the opportunity to show their skills in front of college coaches representing all three NCAA levels and the NAIA. Coaches representing 27 colleges attended the boys session, and 19 colleges attended the girls showcase.
Click for photos from the Boys Reaching Higher and Girls Reaching Higher.
PHOTOS: (Left) Warren Cousino's A.J. Crawford looks for an opening while defended by DeWitt's Tanner Reha (106). (Right) Bullock Creek's Haley Heldt (98) searches for a teammate while Dearborn Heights Crestwood's Demi Rodriguez anticipates her next move.