Behind Scenes, St Mary's Goes to Goddard
September 27, 2016
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
As a coach and athletic director at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s over nearly three decades, George Porritt has been asked plenty of times to recall details from his football program’s storied past.
That comes with coaching a program that annually has a roster full of highly-touted high school players coveted by college recruiters and has seen the best not only shine for prominent college programs but also NFL organizations (see Allen Robinson of Jacksonville).
“When was the last time a player did that?”
“What is the school record in this category?”
“How often has your team done this in a season?”
“When was the last time you lost to this opponent?”
Porritt’s answer is usually quick and consistent.
“Ask Robin Goddard,” Porritt typically says.
For the past 40 years, turning to Goddard has been a frequent option for anyone around St. Mary’s, and for that matter, other schools around the state.
It is why there will be lots of people in the prep sports community thinking of him when he has surgery on Thursday to break up kidney stones that have been bothering him during recent weeks.
Goddard each year puts together media guides with records and teams at St. Mary’s that go all the way back to the early 1900s. (See "Michigan's Football Past: A Must Read")
He can easily point out the fact that St. Mary’s won a state basketball championship in 1933, lost in the state basketball semifinals in 1919 and won its first state baseball championship in 1913. (Note: The MHSAA was not formed until Dec. 1924; previous championship tournaments were hosted by various entities around the state.)
“If he doesn’t have it in something, he finds it right away,” Porritt said. “He goes to the library and he tries to dig it up. He calls the other school and has done it for years. He keeps a great history of our school.”
Surely though, there have to be times when people raise their eyebrows at Goddard and wonder how he can possibly get accurate information from a century ago, right?
Actually, not really.
Not around St. Mary’s, anyway, even if it is hard to fathom for many others that high school sports in Michigan actually did exist before the start of World War I.
“I won’t even challenge him,” Porritt said. “I know he found it somewhere. He’ll tell other schools what their records are historically, and they don’t even know what theirs is. He has fun doing it and will go anywhere and find any way to find out the history of whatever he is looking into.”
Goddard’s importance to the school isn’t limited to being arguably the Encyclopedia Britannica of prep sports in the state of Michigan.
Also a facilities coordinator and valuable fundraiser, Goddard has spearheaded projects to put a track and lights at the football field, and was the architect of one of the most ambitious and out-of-box ideas ever seen at the school – the red artificial playing surface now on the football field.
During Labor Day weekend in 2011, Goddard flew to Cheney, Wash., to meet with officials at Eastern Washington University, which at the time had the only red-colored artificial football field in the country.
Goddard picked the brains of the folks at Eastern Washington, came home and started a fundraising effort to try and secure $600,000 to bring a red-colored artificial surface to St. Mary’s.
By the following spring, the funds were raised and construction began on the field that was ready by the start of the 2012 season.
At the time, it was the third red-colored field in the country in addition to Eastern Washington and a high school field at Canyon High School in Texas.
Goddard also helped start the annual Polish Country Fair that takes place on the St. Mary’s campus every Memorial Day weekend, which is one of the most regularly-attended festivals in the Detroit area.
Len Karschnia, an administrator and assistant coach for the both the football and basketball teams at St. Mary’s, said when Goddard gets in touch with alums who have the means to donate back to the school, there usually is no hesitation because of their respect for Goddard.
“They always trust Robin to do that,” Karschnia said. “Everything he does (is) for the kids and the school, and that is why nobody is really reticent to give back to any projects that he runs because if he tells you on Tuesday he wants $500 to put up a banner in the gym, on Thursday the banner is up and done and there is a plaque on the wall saying thanks to whoever gave it to him.”
A staple at the school since he arrived in 1976, there obviously will be a lot of prayers and well-wishes around the state for a speedy recovery from surgery.
“He is a guy that whatever St. Mary’s needs, he’ll do it and he doesn’t need any fanfare for his good deeds,” Karschnia said. “It’s all for the kids, for George and for the school. That is really his value.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Orchard Lake St. Mary's takes on Detroit Cass Tech on its home red turf in 2012. (Middle) Tucked away in the McLane Stadium bleachers, Robin Goddard watches the Eaglets' run to the 2015 Division 2 baseball championship. (Top photo by Terry McNamara.)
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.)