Reeths-Puffer's 'Marvin Moore Experience' On Track for Memorable Finish
By
Tom Kendra
Special for MHSAA.com
May 14, 2026
Not many high school kids have started their own non-profit organization.
But, then again, there are not many kids quite like Muskegon Reeths-Puffer senior Marvin Moore – who as a sophomore founded Rocket-Powered Positive Path Forward, Inc. (Rocket-Powered.org) a nonprofit committed to igniting young people’s confidence, fueling their potential and launching them toward brighter futures.
“I wanted to help kids not get discouraged by seeing negative things online or get down on themselves if it seems like other kids are having all of the success,” said the soft-spoken Moore. “I just want to be there for other people.”
Moore somehow finds time to grow and develop the organization while playing three sports and maintaining a 3.977 GPA, with a schedule packed with Advanced Placement classes.
He is best known as a basketball player, a three-year varsity starter and 1,000-point career scorer for the Rockets. Moore, a 6-foot, 175-pound guard, will play college basketball next year at Kalamazoo College.
“I challenged the younger guys in our program,” said R-P boys basketball coach JR Wallace, who recently completed his second year as varsity coach. “I told them: Marvin is leaving us, but he showed you how to do it, with great humility and the attitude of doing whatever he can for the team.”
Moore was also a standout receiver in football who was having a breakout season as a junior – including during a memorable win over Grand Rapids Union when he caught a touchdown pass, ran for another TD, intercepted a pass and had a long kickoff return. Unfortunately, his season was cut short by a dislocated shoulder against Byron Center – and he decided to not play football his senior year for fear of re-injuring that shoulder and jeopardizing his senior basketball season.
He is now one of the Muskegon area’s top track & field athletes, entering Friday’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Regional at Zeeland as the top seed in the 400-meter dash after a couple of big wins over the past couple of weeks.
Moore achieved one of his main goals earlier this month by winning the 400 at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association city meet.
Last week, he edged Jenison’s Kole Bassler to win the 400 at the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green meet with a personal-best time of 49.97.
He was able to post that sub-50 second time despite running it right after helping his team to a conference title in the 800-meter relay and also running the second leg of the 400-meter relay.
“He’s always been a little bit tired running the 400 in our big meets so far,” explained R-P boys track coach Don Ketner, who is also hoping for a big day Friday from senior Mason Darke, the top seed in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. “This Friday, we will finally be getting the full Marvin Moore experience, and we’ll see how low he can go.”
Ketner believes Moore has a shot to eclipse the 300 school record of 48.88, set by Jared Meier in 2008.
Moore, who ranks sixth on the school’s career basketball scoring list with 1,095 points, would love to add his name to the track school record board in the gym which has meant so much to him throughout his life.
He was first moved up to the varsity basketball team late in his freshman year, and truly emerged as a sophomore – averaging 10 points for a Puffer team which finished 19-4 and co-champion of the O-K Green.
R-P lost a loaded senior class after that season (notably current Central Michigan athletes Jaxson Whitaker and Travis Ambrose), and with the Rockets in somewhat of a rebuilding mode, several athletes transferred to other schools.
“There were some schools that reached out and asked me to go there, but I started my whole career at Reeths-Puffer and I wanted to end it here at Reeths-Puffer,” said Moore, the son of Marvin and Kathy Moore, who plans to major in accounting in college. “I wanted to stay with my friends and be there for them and support them any way possible.”
The Rockets struggled on the basketball court the past two seasons, but Moore certainly provided some bright spots. He was a three-time all-conference pick and an MLive Muskegon Area Dream Team selection this past year, averaging 20 points per game despite facing constant double teams.
Moore helped his team snap an 11-game losing streak on Jan. 24, scoring 15 of his game-high 24 points during the fourth quarter including a floater off the glass as time expired in a 65-63 win over visiting East Grand Rapids.
Two weeks later, Moore scored 37 points and almost single-handedly helped the Rockets erase a 10-point deficit against Caledonia over the final three minutes, driving for a bucket during the final seconds in a 65-62 win. He remembers a huge student section was going crazy that night at R-P’s Dan Beckeman Arena, and that excitement carried over to a school dance after the game.
“That was such a fun night all the way around and something I will never forget,” said Moore, who was awarded the prestigious Lux Esto Scholarship at Kalamazoo College.
“We had a lot of losses the past couple of years, but honestly, I will never forget so many of those Friday nights. It was so much fun playing at home and having the whole community there for us.”
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) Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Marvin Moore, middle, runs the inside lane during a meet this season. (Middle) Moore lines up for a free throw. (Below) Moore breaks away on a run against Grand Rapids Union. (Photos by Joe Lane.)
All-Time Leading Scorer Allen Ready to Set Pace for Wayne Memorial's Title Pursuit
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 20, 2026
WAYNE — Jaylohn Allen insisted making such history wasn’t one of his goals when he started his varsity basketball career as a freshman.
Given that, it made the moment all the more special last week.
During a game against Harvey Thornton (Ill.) on Valentine’s Day, Allen and the Wayne Memorial community loved seeing a 30-year-old record broken by Allen, who became the boys basketball program’s all-time leading scorer.
Allen surpassed the 1,748 career points scored by former Michigan State player Lorenzo Guess, who finished his career in 1996.
“To be the all-time leading scorer at Wayne Memorial High actually wasn’t one of my goals coming in as a freshman,” Allen said. “And honestly I didn’t really think I was going to pass it because 1,700 points is a lot of points, per se. To do that as a kid who grew up with many accomplishments and dreams I wanted to have was a joy. I thought 1,000 points was surreal, but the record meant so much more.”
Signed to play in college for Toledo, Allen certainly has meant a lot to Wayne Memorial over the past four years, and he hopes to make even more history for the Zebras over the next few weeks.
Allen is averaging nearly 23 points a game this season and is determined to try and get Wayne Memorial back to the Division 1 championship game, where it loss last year to East Lansing.
When the Zebras accepted the Finals runner-up trophy, they obviously had immediate reason for optimism given Allen and fellow backcourt mate Carlos Medlock – a Michigan State signee – were only juniors.
But Medlock threw a major wrinkle into Wayne Memorial’s title ambitions when he decided over the offseason to transfer to a prep school in Missouri.
“I found out maybe a week before he posted on social media,” Allen said of Medlock’s decision. “There were rumors about it, but I didn’t really think he was going to leave. It was a shock, but I was still ready to attack the senior season regardless of what happened and look forward to the senior season with or without him.”
Allen has certainly done that and more.
Instead of pouting or looking to leave himself, Allen treated Medlock’s departure as a chance to prove he was a worthy Mr. Basketball Award candidate this winter.
Over the summer, he worked to get in terrific shape and continued to not only hone his on-court talents, but became an even more vocal leader to younger players coming back.
“It put me into a bigger role and let people see I can score the ball even more than I’ve been doing the past three years,” Allen said. “It put a fire in me and some motivation that I could be more of the man with the ball.”
One person not surprised that Allen adapted so well without Medlock was Wayne Memorial head coach Steve Brooks.
“He’s pretty much always been the man; he just hadn’t been the leading scorer all the time,” Brooks said.
Allen said there were adjustments playing without his running mate of the last three years, especially when trying to get out in transition.
“Being on the floor and not seeing (Medlock) on the other side of the court and being able to swing it to him — it was just a connection in transition or any other core set that we had,” Allen said. “(The adjustments were) just realizing he’s not on the court and having to utilize my other teammates and making sure they are getting everything they need.”
There was a major scare in December, just before the holiday break, when Allen left a game with a knee injury after he took a charge.
“We thought he was lost for the year,” Brooks said.
But the injury was only a bone bruise, and Allen missed just 13 days and has been an unstoppable force since.
To Brooks, it’s obvious who should be Mr. Basketball.
“Mr. Basketball traditionally is for what you’ve done for your career and not just for a season,” Brooks said. “Over his career, he’s at 19 points a game. Him and Medlock both had 1,000 career points before Christmas of their junior year.”
While Mr. Basketball would be nice and the scoring record is an honor, there is one main purpose for Allen, and that is to get another shot at the Division 1 title that eluded Wayne Memorial last year.
The Zebras enter tonight’s Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship game 18-3 and carrying a 10-game winning streak.
“I want them to get there more than me,” Allen said of his teammates. “I want them to show me how much they want to be there so when it comes down to it, we’re ready for it.”
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.
PHOTOS (Top) Wayne Memorial’s Jaylohn Allen (5) makes his way through his teammates during introductions before last season’s Division 1 Final at Breslin Center. (Middle) Teammates help Allen up from the floor during the Zebras’ Semifinal win.