Unearthed Recording Will Soon Allow All to Recall Memorable 1971 CHSL Matchup
By
Ron Pesch
MHSAA historian
January 17, 2025
The box, labeled “Property of CC Athletic Department,” sat in the front closet of the Blackwells’ Detroit home for decades.
Contained within was an open reel of tape – unlabeled. Morris Blackwell has no recollection of how he ended up with it. But the lore that surrounds the content has been relayed countless times within the Blackwell family and likely among families with the last names Moreno, Rojas, Simpson, Williams, and Miller.
The details, from a game played on a Sunday night at the University of Detroit in February 1971, also may have even been discussed among those with the surname Tanana, Jonca, LeGarde, Rzonca, Bluitt, and Mei, but the memories may not have been as positive.
Now, thanks to a transfer of the tape, the complete game between Detroit Catholic Central and Detroit Holy Redeemer – a legendary battle for a Detroit Catholic League’s First Division title – can soon be watched by all.
The game was recorded using the EIAJ format – a black and white reel-to-reel standard created in 1969 for early video tape recorders by Japanese electronic manufactures. The high expense of EIJA units meant broadcast organizations and educational institutions primarily owned units. Extremely few individuals owned recorders at home, as cartridge tape systems like Beta and VHS did not come along until the mid-1970s. Hence, the family mostly ignored the box and its likely content.
“It’s pretty cool,” noted Ben Blackwell, Morris’ son, who, after a few failed attempts to transfer the unusual format, tracked down a company in Florida to move what was captured to modern-day media. ”Not perfect, but cool nonetheless.”
Detroit’s Catholic High School League
Organized for baseball in the spring of the 1925-26 school year, the “Greater Detroit Catholic High School League” played for a first league football championship in the fall of 1926, then opened its first basketball season with 12 city and suburban parochial schools participating. Since the league’s creation nearly a century ago, more than 125 schools have been members of the CHSL at one time or another.
That year, Detroit St. Leo and Wyandotte St. Patrick ended the “regular scheduled season tied for first place with identical 9-1 records,” hence a championship game was scheduled to determine a titleholder. Scheduled to start at 8:30 at the University of Detroit gym, according to the Detroit Times, “the largest crowd that ever witnessed a Catholic league game was on hand” for the title game, won by St. Leo, 13-5.
For the 1929-30 season, 25 schools made up what was briefly called the Southern Michigan Catholic High School Basketball League. “This year finds the league almost double its ’29 size when the league was divided into two divisions. A post-season game was held between the two division winners to decide the league championship. … This year a trophy will be awarded to … four divisional winners and a post-season series may be played to decide the city title,” stated the Detroit News.
Indeed, at the end of the season, winners of the Divisions 1 and 2 and Divisions 3 and 4 squared off in a “knockout” round. In the title game Detroit St. Theresa – the Division 1 titleholder and the league’s reigning champion – downed Division 4 victor Royal Oak St. Mary.
Between the 1930-31 and 1954-55 school years, using a post-regular-season playoff format, the league acknowledged champions across three divisions. For several years, playoffs were hosted at the Detroit Naval Armory – home of the University of Detroit’s cage team.
In May 1952, the University opened a new facility on campus – dedicated as the Memorial Building – and hosted its first basketball game at the facility in December of that year. In February 1953, the impressive arena served as a fantastic host for its first Detroit Catholic League triple-header championship. A crowd of 5,860 attended. Today, everyone knows the place as Calihan Hall, named in honor of the late Bob Calihan – athletic director, coach, and the Titans’ first basketball All-American – but that christening didn’t come until the autumn of 1977.
The Catholic League continued to swell in size, with 59 teams sponsoring basketball squads in 1956, broken into eight geographic sections spanning the three divisions built around enrollment and athletic success. Between 1956 and 1962 the league opted to move to a four-round playoff designed to name just one league champion regardless of regular-season Division.
By 1963, population growth, shifts to the suburbs, and hence, distance between schools, were altering makeup of the largest high school league in the country, now totaling 79 teams. The First Division included 32 squads split between four sections (Central, East, West, and AA ), 29 teams spread over four sections in the Second Division (East, West, Northwest, and Southwest), and 18 teams divided into two sections – the Third Division and the Macomb League division, according to the Detroit Free Press. At the beginning of that season, a decision was made to identify First and Second Division basketball champions – via a 16-team, three-round playoff that involved Division and section champions and various runners-up across the four divisions. (Two CHSL titlists have been determined annually through the 2022-23 school year.)
Unforgettable Seasons
By the 1970-71 school year, with closures and consolidations, the CHSL was down to a competitive and still impressive 44 teams. By the first of January, Detroit Catholic Central stood out amongst that crowd. Free Press prep guru Hal Schram had the team ranked No. 1 in his first weekly Class A rankings. Coach Bill Foley, who graduated from DCC in 1942, and who had guided the basketball team since 1952, was happy with the choice.
“Certainly we realize we’re on the spot … everyone will be shooting at us,” Foley said, talking about his Shamrocks, undefeated across five games, “but I’m certain I’ve got a squad that can live up to such a responsibility.
One day later, DCC dropped an 84-83 thriller to Detroit De La Salle on the Shamrocks’ home court. The Pilots had been quarterfinalists in the MHSAA Class B Tournament that past March. Because of the loss, the Shamrocks had fallen to No. 4 in Schram’s weekly rankings by early February. But the Detroit writer’s confidence in the squad was undeterred.
“The question you hear from all outstate precincts,” he wrote, “‘Who’s the team from Detroit who’ll give us the most trouble in the (MHSAA) March tournament?’” With the Catholic League playoffs about to tip off, Schram stated, “The answer in February remains the same as it was in December.” Detroit Catholic Central now donned a 10-1 record.
“The Shamrocks have height to burn” and remained “the best team in metropolitan Detroit,” according to Schram. “If he chooses, Foley can floor four youngsters 6-foot-7 or better. But only two of these schoolboy giants, 6-foot-8 Chris Rzonca and 6-foot-7 Rick Mei, start. ‘I doubt if any squad has two better guards than Frank Tanana and Ben Bluitt,’ Foley tells you. … Tanana has to be the best ball handler in our league.”
Foley’s Shamrocks had previously won an MHSAA Finals title in 1961, advanced to the MHSAA Semifinals in 1967, and won Catholic League First Division titles under Foley in 1952, 1961, and 1968. Most recently, the Shamrocks finished as league runners-up in 1970.
Other Catholic League entries scattered within Schram’s weekly ratings, each unbeaten, were De La Salle, No. 8 in Class A; Detroit Holy Redeemer at No. 8 in Class B, and Hamtramck St. Ladislaus, No. 6 in Class C. (Redeemer would see its 11-game win streak end on the night those rankings appeared in print, with a 69-67 loss to Detroit Benedictine, then drop another just days before the Catholic League playoffs to Detroit East Catholic. St. Ladislaus, unbeaten in regular-season action, was stunned by Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the opening round of the Second Division tournament on Sunday, Feb. 7.)
Semifinal Trials
An unexpected crowd of 7,460 showed up for the four-game opening round of the 1971 First Division Catholic playoff, hosted at Memorial the following Sunday. Three of the four contests were blowouts, with 20+ point margins. Only Royal Oak Shrine’s come-from-behind triumph over Redford St. Mary, 65-59 in overtime, provided true excitement.
During Thursday’s semifinal round, DCC survived a major scare in its game with those same Shrine Knights, who held a 9-6 win-loss record. Trailing by seven points in the second quarter, Shrine knotted the game at 32-32 by halftime, and again, 45-45, on a Mickey Evans basket with two seconds remaining in the third quarter. Despite the significant height advantage, the Shamrocks were out-rebounded by Shrine. But Tanana, DCC’s all-state guard, ripped off 12 of his game-high 22 points over the final four minutes of the contest as Catholic Central finished with a 65-57 win over the Knights.
“Before the Shrine collapse in the waning minutes,” stated Detroit News staff writer Ken Williams, “Tanana had shared the applause of 4,233 spectators with rival Mickey Evans, who finished with 18 points.”
On the other side of the bracket, De La Salle was 14-1 on the year, with its only loss delivered by DCC in their regular-season rematch, and the Pilots were favored in their game with Holy Redeemer. The Lions, however, opened an 11-0 lead, and were up by 12 points, 35-23, at the half. The Pilots bounced back, outscoring Redeemer, 20-9, in the third quarter to pull within a point, 44-43, but could not close it out as the Lions held on for a 61-57 victory to advance to the title game.
The Sunday Finale
The First Division championship game between 15-1 Catholic Central and 14-2 Holy Redeemer was scheduled for 8:30 p.m. In that evening’s opening contest, staged at 7 p.m., Orchard Lake St. Mary’s downed previously-unbeaten Hamtramck St. Florian, 57-53, for the League’s Second Division title. St. Mary’s, powered by five juniors, had twice lost to the Lancers during the regular season. The win was the school’s first boys Catholic League tournament championship since the 1943-44 season.
In the First Division title game, significantly smaller in enrollment – and height – Redeemer struggled with Catholic Central. As most expected, DCC quickly opened a 16-4 lead in the first quarter, and according to the Free Press, “with two minutes left in the period it appeared the Shamrocks would chase Redeemer off the court.”
Yet Catholic Central still struggled on the boards, and by the half, the game was tied, 27-27. Nevertheless, by the end of the third quarter, the Shamrocks had opened a five-point advantage. The final frame was an all-out battle, with five ties and four lead changes. In the stretch, “Redeemer tied the score twice, (first) at 57-57 on Morris Blackwell’s field goal with 2:11 to go, and again at the 1:47 mark at 59-59 on a basket by Brigido Rojas. A (Tony) Moreno field goal and Rojas’ free throw eventually gave Redeemer a 62-59 lead,” stated the News.
“Then the pressure built up in the final 30 seconds. CC’s Ben Bluitt cut the deficit to 62-61 on a basket and Mike Miller countered with a free throw for Redeemer at the 16-second mark.”
A fifth personal foul pulled the Lions’ starting forward, Jim Williams, from the game with 11 seconds to play. Bluitt sank both free throws to tie things up, 63-63. That set the stage for a dramatic Hollywood ending.
Adding value to the taped broadcast is play-by-play provided by a pair of unknown individuals, according to Ben Blackwell. The label on the box is a tip-off to bias gleaned from some of the recorded observations. Their comments, regardless of leaning, are extremely valuable when, “for the lack of better words,” tracking or skewing issues with the tape’s content blurs the image of exactly what is happening on the court.
“With 7,425 fans screaming in ecstasy,” penned the Free Press’ Schram, “Moreno dropped in a 15-foot jump shot with two seconds left to give Holy Redeemer a 65-63 victory over favored Catholic Central.”
Tanana led all scorers with 24 points for CC, followed by Mei with 17 and Bluitt with 16. Rojas paced the Lions’ balanced attack with 17, including making 7 of 9 at the free throw line. Blackwell added 11, Moreno and Mike Miller each finished with 10, followed by Ralph Simpson with nine and Williams with eight.
Redeemer had won its first First Division title in 1964 with coach Joe LaScola, and again in 1969 under the guidance of coach Bill McCartney, later an MHSAA basketball state championship coach at Dearborn Divine Child, then a football assistant coach under Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan before guiding the University of Colorado to a national championship in football.
It was a sweet victory for Redeemer’s current coach Stan Wegrzynowicz, the school’s football and track coach who added basketball to his duties when McCartney departed for the job at Divine Child in 1969. Wegrzynowicz, who once advised Moreno that he should skip basketball to focus on track after he had run an impressively-fast mile as a freshman, was thrilled his stocky 5-foot-8 guard had ignored his suggestion.
“As of now, the only folks who have viewed this are myself and my father,” stated Ben Blackwell of the recording. “He was over the MOON watching this footage he never really knew existed.” As they watched, the elder Blackwell was telling his son what was about to happen on the screen – more than 50 years ago – before it happened.
Soon after, a message was sent by the Blackwells to Redeemer’s other starters, who are all still around. Within minutes, three responded, asking the Blackwells about setting up a watch party.
Once that happens, Ben’s plan is to share the video of what many consider one of the greatest upsets in Catholic League championship history publicly via YouTube.
Another Surprise that Spring
Adding to the legend that school year, Holy Redeemer downed previously unbeaten Catholic Central in the Catholic League First Division baseball final, 4-0 in extra innings, in a game played at Tiger Stadium that June. Tanana – whose Major League Baseball career would span six teams over 21 years – had struck out eight and walked two, handcuffing Redeemer through four innings, but back muscle pain and a sore arm forced him to switch to first base. Lions’ senior Craig Barlow struck out 12 and walked four while surrendering just five hits across eight innings.
The 1971 pitching matchup had attracted Major League scouts to the game. One year previous, Barlow had pitched a no-hitter as Holy Redeemer downed Harper Woods Bishop Gallagher in the Catholic league title game.
“If Tanana stayed in, we would still be playing,” Morris Blackwell told the Free Press back in 1999 when the paper recalled two prep “Corner Classics” played at Tiger Stadium. “I don’t know who would have gone longer – Craig or Frank.”
Blackwell went on to play football, basketball, and baseball at Wayne State. Beginning in 1974, he hooked up with the Detroit Parks and Recreation Department, coaching baseball and softball to kids in the summer, notably at Detroit’s Clark Park on the West Side. Over the years, he has coached all three sports at college, high school, and youth levels and is still instructing kids today.
Ben Blackwell guesses the tape was passed on to his dad somewhere during his coaching years. The basketball game’s magnetic existence makes him wonder if footage of the baseball game may also have been captured.
“Dad said he has been asked probably 40 times in the past if he played in that basketball game,” Ben Blackwell said. “When he responds, ‘Yes,’ the next question always is, ‘How did you beat them?’”
PHOTOS (Top) The 1970-71 Detroit Holy Redeemer boys basketball team pulled off one of the most memorable upsets in CHSL history in a championship matchup with Detroit Catholic Central that season. (Middle) DCC’s Frank Tanana (44) puts up a shot. (Below) A screen shot from the video of that championship game indicates the full crowd surrounding the court. (Photos gathered by Ron Pesch.)
Launching Pad and Destination
November 30, 2012
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
Lamont Simpson’s “home” is a place he visits twice a week during his peak season, when NCAA Division I officiating duties have him navigating the Midwest like a person in a race for frequent flyer miles.
His travels pale in comparison to Stacey Thomas, who has lived in Latvia, Turkey and Sweden thanks to the game of basketball.
Then there’s Jim Garofalo, who authored his own cheat sheets to assist with the eight different rules books which intertwined during a period of time in his hockey officiating career, which included a trip to the Olympic Games.
So, naturally, there’s Simpson officiating an MHSAA Pre-District Football Playoff game in Detroit last fall, taking a postgame earful from a father who believed his son was the subject of a cheap shot during the game.
There’s Thomas, blowing a whistle with teenagers at the Healthy Kids Club in Detroit this summer
There’s Garofalo, ditching seven of the rules books over the last few years, and using only one now: the high school rules book.
It’s true that Simpson is at the pinnacle of his career, working Big Ten, Mid-American Conference and Horizon League men’s basketball, in addition to the WNBA in the summer, where he recently worked his eighth straight WNBA Finals.
And, yes, Thomas has her sights set on the NCAA Division I level and beyond, as her officiating career is still in its infancy.
Sure, Garofalo has achieved much on the ice both as an amateur and professional referee.
But, like so many in the officiating family, they deeply appreciate their roots and the people who helped them along the way. It’s a people business, first and foremost.
This week, continuing its "Making – and Answering – the Call" series, Second Half introduces Simpson, an officiating veteran of more than three decades. Profiles of Thomas and Garofalo will follow later this month.
It's about patience and honesty
The late June heat at the Kensington Valley Golf Course doesn’t seem to bother Lamont Simpson. The secret to his cool aura lies in his hand, a golf ball which he has identified as “Ref” in permanent marker.
Simpson is indeed a ref – permanently – thanks to a suggestion from Robert Menafee during the late 1970s, and the 1977 Detroit Redford grad has been most comfortable in the heat of competition’s spotlight ever since.
“I was at a football game at Henry Ford a year or two after high school, and Mr. Menafee, my former coach, saw me and asked what I was doing,” Simpson recalled. “He said I should try officiating. That’s the first I’d ever thought about it.”
It would be the impetus to a craft that has consumed nearly 30 years of Simpson’s life, as he now jets around the country as a top-flight NCAA Men’s Basketball official, and one of the senior officials in the WNBA, where he recently called his eighth consecutive Finals.
For all of his accomplishments, Simpson can still recall with great detail various moments that led to his current standing; mental snapshots which help to explain why he still registers as an MHSAA football official each year, and why he gives so freely of himself to anyone interested in getting a start in officiating.
“I still remember my first game, thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this,’” Simpson recalled. “In my second year I did a PSL (Detroit Public School League) playoff game, and to this day, walking into that gym is still one of my most gratifying times. There were about two or three thousand people in the stands, and I remember the butterflies.”
Fast forward to the Pontiac Silverdome in November 1992. In the waning seconds of the MHSAA Class A Football Final, a pigskin floats in the air doing its best butterfly imitation. Following a double-reverse pass, the tipped ball is finally corralled by Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Stacey Starr at the 10-yard line and carried into the end zone to give his school a 21-18 win over Walled Lake Western in one of the most frenzied finishes in MHSAA Finals history.
Simpson had a good view of the moment.
“I was the back judge, working my first MHSAA Final. My first thought is to get in position and then, ‘Oh man, the ball is tipped,’” Simpson replays in his mind. “You’re part of a game-ending situation and you don’t want to screw it up. You almost become a fan in a game like that—a moment like that—but you’ve got your job to do. Afterward, when it was all over, I just remember thinking, ‘What a football game I got to be a part of.’”
Simpson would also get a shot as a Football Final referee in 2003, and worked the 1995 Boys Basketball Final which featured Flint Northern’s team led by future MSU Spartans Mateen Cleaves and Antonio Smith. But, Simpson remembers that game for a different reason.
“It was the last time that the Final was worked with a two-person crew.” Simpson said. “I remember the great athletes in the game, and being part of history as the last two-man crew in the Finals is something to be proud of.”
Simpson is quick to point out, however, that simply having what it takes to officiate an athletic event at any level is something of which to be most proud. While it’s natural for new officials to covet championship assignments and careers beyond the high school level, Simpson stresses patience, hard work, and – in many cases – honesty with one’s own performance as the most valuable traits an official can possess.
“I work and speak at a lot of camps, and I stress that people need to work at the craft – mechanics, rules, physical appearance – and above all have patience.” Simpson said. “The thing I see in younger officials now that is so different than when I was coming in, is they don’t have the patience; they don’t want to pay their dues.”
Sometimes, even the greatest amount of patience, perseverance and hard work isn’t enough. And, that’s where honesty in self-evaluation comes in. Yes, there are egos in officiating. To some extent, it’s a prerequisite. However, humility can also lead to finding a niche in the game.
Simpson himself is an example.
“My goal was to work in the NBA, but after seven years in the CBA, I realized that it probably wasn’t going to happen,” he said. “But, you know, there was still a lot of good basketball out there to work. When I left the CBA, I did so on my own terms, and went to work on my college career. So, sometimes you weigh your options and focus on the next goal.
“The point is, work at being the best at whatever level you work. I’ve seen guys spend a lot of money at the same camps year after year, and never get that college assignment,” Simpson said. “Maybe it’s time for them to focus on a different level.”
In that respect, the very thing that drives officials and gets them in the game in the first place can by the very thing that drives them out. Passion and drive, the need to reach the next level, can keep people focused in their chosen quest; the frustration of not advancing can also lead to their exit.
True, Simpson is one of 32 officials in the WNBA, and just worked his eighth WNBA Final. He has a full NCAA Division I men’s basketball schedule. But, the father of three grown children and grandfather of five cannot express enough the fringe benefits that officiating brings at any level.
“You become a better people person through officiating. Your communication skills are sharper,” he says. “Not only what to say and when to say it, but you learn to listen. You have to be a listener in this business, and that’s a great skill to have in life.”
It also provides the opportunity to be a teacher and recruiter. It’s one of the reasons he’s closing in on nearly three decades as an MHSAA registered official. What better way to pass the knowledge forward?
“No matter where you end up, always remember where you started, and keep your friends,” Simpson said. “I return every call, every text. I still talk to the same guys I grew up with. From an officiating standpoint if we could all just bring along one person at a time, think of the effect that would have.”
Simpson does more than his share, from speaking at camps and clinics – all voluntarily, mind you – to the behind the scenes recruitment, such as the time he surrendered all of his baseball umpiring equipment to a friend under the condition that person register with the MHSAA and begin working games.
He thinks back to the suggestion from Coach Menafee frequently. “Oh, all the time,” Simpson said. “I think of the places I’ve been, the things I’ve seen, the people I’ve met and the person I’ve become. This is what being an official does.”
There’s a scenario that Simpson replays time and again when he talks of officiating, and it doesn’t pertain to his collegiate or professional experience. In fact, it’s not even about basketball.
“It’s Friday night, and you’re working the big rivalry game between two communities. You get on the field, the bleachers are packed, the bands are playing, and you’re right in the mix,” Simpson says with reverence. “That’s it right there. It doesn’t get much better than that. That’s it.”
PHOTO: Lamont Simpson officiates WNBA games during the summers, including this contest involving the Atlanta Dream and player Erika de Souza (14).
NOTE: This is the fifth installment in the series "Making – and Answering – the Call" detailing the careers and service of MHSAA officials. Click the links below to view the others.