Menominee's Man Among Maroons
June 28, 2012
Ken Hofer walked high school football sidelines as a head coach for nearly a half-century. That, in itself, is an incredible accomplishment.
But Menominee's recently-retired and legendary coach packed plenty of success into his 48 seasons, a tenure that began in his hometown of Stephenson.
- Hofer is retiring with a record of 342-136-3 and after three straight nine-win seasons.
- His teams have made the MHSAA playoffs at the ends of the last 16.
- The Maroons won 29 straight games from 2006-2008, with back-to-back 14-0 finishes in 2006 and 2007.
- His teams won three MHSAA championships, in those two perfect seasons and in 1998.
- In three of the last six seasons, his offense scored more than 500 points.
"His impact has been felt for generations, and his legacy will continue to inspire students into the future," Menominee superintendent Erik Bergh wrote when Hofer made his announcement.
Click to read our Q&A with the longtime Maroons coach, who stepped down earlier this month.
PHOTO: Ken Hofer, center in gray sweatshirt, coached Menominee to a 41-6 win over Madison Heights Madison in the 2006 Division 5 Final at Ford Field.
#TBT: 120 Years of Ithaca Football Wins
October 2, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Ithaca football team has won 61 straight games dating to opening night 2010, a stretch that is the longest active streak in the U.S., second-longest in MHSAA history, longest to take place fully during the MHSAA playoff era, and three wins from cracking the the national all-time top 10 list.
But more than a century before the Yellowjackets began this era of invincibility, they were among those embracing the sport during its infancy in the late 1890s.
Research by the Ithaca Area Historical Society led to the uncovering of the above photo of the 1899 Ithaca High School football team and all but two of the players' names.
The Ithaca program has 376 victories dating back to the start of the 1950 season – and further research that is underway should show the team has well over 500 wins dating to its first team in 1895. Cadillac, with 512 victories, was 10th on Michigan high school football's all-time wins list heading into this season.
For some added perspective: The MHSAA was begun from a preceding organization during the 1924-25 school year. The first MHSAA playoffs were played in 1975. Ithaca's most recent varsity football loss came to Montague in a 2009 Division 6 Semifinal.