Hodgman Family's Kzoo Tennis Connection Extending Through 4th Generation
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
September 24, 2024
MATTAWAN – To say that tennis is in Dylan Hodgman’s DNA is definitely an understatement.
The Mattawan sophomore is the youngest of four generations of tennis aficionados that began with his great-grandfather and has continued through his grandparents, father and two older brothers.
It all started during the 1950s with Dr. Bert Hodgman, an obstetrician/general practitioner who not only played tennis but started a women’s tennis team called the Hodgman Girls.
One of those “Girls” was Patty Miller, who eventually married Brad Hodgman – and the pair became Dylan’s grandparents.
Dylan’s father, Cliff, is in the process of starting a nonprofit tennis academy in Kalamazoo that will feature two divisions: Hodgman Boyz and Hodgman Girlz.
Included in the academy are Dylan and his recently-graduated older brothers Luke (2022) and Jacob (2024), who all have been part of Mattawan’s tennis success.
The Wildcats have earned Regional championships the last three years, won their fourth consecutive Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference title last fall and have competed in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals the last six years, finishing third in 2023.
Coach Matt Boven, in his 26th year leading Mattawan program, has coached all three brothers.
“I’m not surprised that they’re continuing the tradition,” Boven said. “All of them have unique ways of going about things when they play. All are so talented and hard-working and charismatic.”
Senior Nolan Ackerman, slotted at No. 1 singles the last two years, has been teammates with all three Hodgmans at various times.
“Luke is more of a slapper,” Ackerman said. “He likes to hit the ball hard. Dylan just keeps the ball in play and outlasts his opponents.
“Luke was always trying to put balls away and end the point quickly. Jake, it depended on who he was playing.”
Wildcats assistant Warner Offord III also coaches all three Hodgman brothers and noted their different styles.
“Luke likes to fish, more laissez-faire, but on the court he’s really focused, spicy-dicey with his game,” Offord said. “Jake was more serve and volley with a big serve. Both were first-team all-staters.
“Dylan is the firecracker. He’s like a right-handed (Rafael) Nadal. He likes to hit every ball hard, he likes to pounce on balls. It’s just a passion with their family.”
The three brothers and their father often play doubles together.
“It’s always been a bonding thing,” dad Cliff Hodgman said. “It teaches them about life. We work hard, we play hard, but we have a lot of fun.”
Dylan Hodgman has moved this season from fourth to second singles, where he has a 12-1 record. He finished Finals runner-up at No. 4 last fall, falling 6-4, 6-1, in the championship match to Midland junior Nimai Patel.
Jumping up two flights, “there’s better competition, harder hitters, people who get more balls back,” Hodgman said. “They have a harder serve, an overall better game.”
He was just 2 years old when he started playing tennis, but his great-grandfather started at a much older age.
While at Princeton in the 1930s, Bert Hodgman read a book about tennis, started playing and got hooked, Cliff Hodgman said.
“He started the Hodgman Girls in the 1950s,” Cliff explained. “It was kind of an elitist sport back then. His goal was to not make it like that. My mom (Patty Miller) won the city ping pong championship at Milwood Junior High, so he called her up and said come on out and try out.”
Some of those Hodgman Girls went on to compete nationally, like “my mom and her partner, Kathy Dombos (Schlukebir), who went on to the Orange Bowl and got to the finals in doubles.”
After retiring as chief of staff for Bronson Methodist and Borgess hospitals in Kalamazoo, Bert Hodgman started a tennis program in Hilton Head, S.C., open to anyone free of charge.
That is the legacy his grandson hopes to continue.
A full-time financial advisor, Cliff Hodgman has plans to build a “super training center in Kalamazoo.
“It will cost about $7 or $8 million, but we’re going to do it,” he said. “We won’t charge anyone for anything. It will be a community-based effort.”
He hopes to have it running in three years.
“It’s an extension of what my grandpa did 60 years ago, but take it to a new level,” he said.
Meanwhile, the current focus is on Dylan and the Wildcats.
This season, Mattawan is 11-2 with its most recent loss a wake-up call against Portage Central early this month.
“We have two losses so far, but when we lost to Portage Central that made us realize we’re not the same team as last year anymore,” said Ackerman, who has an 11-2 record. “We lost four of our top five players, and all four were all-staters.”
Since that loss, Mattawan has reeled off nine straight wins.
Boven said competing in the SMAC is a bonus and a challenge.
“I’m thankful we have a challenging conference where we can continue to test ourselves under pressure,” he said. “Each year, our Regional can be challenging, so our focus is to get there, and once we’re there, we can start to try to eye a possible state championship.
“Our singles have led us this season, but we’ve definitely had some great performances with some of our doubles. We have some new players this season playing doubles, but they’re getting acclimated pretty quickly and they’re improving with each day.”
Rounding out singles play are senior Connor Schultz at No. 3 and junior Alan Muresan at No. 4
The top two doubles teams are senior Caleb Goodrich and junior Gavin McCain at No. 1 and juniors Bradley Ko and Matt Engel at No. 2. A pair of seniors, Kurtis Scheffler and Jeffrey Richardson, hold down the No. 3 spot while freshman Asher Ndenga and junior Oliver Bancroft are at No. 4. Sophomore Bobby Dunning is the first varsity alternate.
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) Mattawan’s Dylan Hodgman volleys during a recent practice. (Middle) Clockwise from top left: Mattawan boys tennis coach Matt Boven, Nolan Ackerman, Cliff Hodgman and Mattawan assistant coach Warner Offord III. (Below) Dr. Bert Hodgman, middle of top row, and future daughter-in-law Patty Miller, standing far right, take a photo with their Hodgman Girls team. Below, from left, Jacob, Luke and Dylan Hodgman are part of the newest Hodgman Boyz. (Top photo and Boven, Ackerman and Offord head shots by Pam Shebest. Additional photos courtesy of Cliff Hodgman.)
Anderson's Sad Ending Last Season Driving This Fall's Championship Pursuit
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 16, 2025
ROCHESTER – Normally, this would seem like an odd photo request – especially for a shot to become the wallpaper picture on one’s cell phone.
But Rochester High School senior Chad Anderson insisted he had a method to his madness after last year’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Boys Tennis Finals.
Following a loss to Pierce Shaya of Bloomfield Hills in the championship match at No. 1 singles, Anderson had his mother take a picture of him crying.
To this day, it still serves as the wallpaper screen on his cell phone.
“It’s been my motivation since,” Anderson said.
Anderson certainly has performed like a motivated player heading into this weekend’s Division 1 Finals in Midland.
He enters as the top seed at No. 1 singles and hasn’t dropped a set this fall as he pursues what’s been an elusive individual title for himself, his family and his school.
As a sophomore, Anderson lost in the championship match at No. 2 singles. His older brother Clayton advanced to the No. 1 singles championship match in Division 1 three consecutive years from 2021-23, but lost each time to Sachiv Kumar of Northville.
Rochester also has never had a Finals singles champion in boys tennis, so Chad Anderson has that to inspire him as well.
“I’ve seen it happen to me and my brother enough,” Anderson said.
In preparing for what’s been a stellar senior season so far, Anderson went to work on a few components of his game, including making his serve-and-return more precise.
More than anything though, his big emphasis was not on improving technical aspects of the game, but working on his body.
“I put on 20 pounds to be able to hit the ball bigger,” he said. “Last year, I lost in the Finals to a guy who hit the ball stronger than me and bigger than me. I didn’t want that to happen again this year where there was just some guy overpowering me and dominating me.”
Anderson said he started playing tennis when he was 4 years old after his father, a former player himself, introduced the game to he and Clayton – who is now playing in college at Marquette.
Needless to say, there have been countless hitting sessions between the two siblings over the years.
“We can’t play without arguing,” Chad Anderson quipped. “We bicker a lot, but we push each other a lot.”
Rochester head coach Jerry Murphy, who is in his 53rd year as coach, said while Clayton had a devastating backhand and serve, Chad stands out because he has more of an all-around game.
“If he needs to come to the net, he can come to the net and feels comfortable doing that,” Murphy said. “He loves to move the ball around the court, and he wears guys out. He’s focused and does what he has to do. If he needs to out-rally a guy, he can do that. If he needs to outhit him, he can do that. The fact that nobody has taken a set off of him this year is a testament to that, and we’ve played some pretty good players.”
In addition to technical ability, Murphy said Anderson has displayed a fire on the court this year that’s become an inferno.
“He wants to do what his older brother couldn’t do,” Murphy said. “I can see that in his eyes when he plays. He’s motivated. Whether he can seal the deal, we’ll see Friday and Saturday.”
Anderson said he doesn’t feel pressure being the top seed at his flight and actually welcomes the challenge, given it’s a spot he prepared to be in all offseason and throughout this fall.
In addition to himself and his family, providing a Finals champion for the first time to a coach who has been at the helm for more than five decades would be beyond meaningful.
“It would mean so much to win it,” he said. “I’ve wanted it so bad. It would be a good thing for the program.”
If Anderson does win this weekend, he’ll need his Mom to take a new phone wallpaper photo of him celebrating instead of crying.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.