MHSA(Q&)A: Menominee football coach Ken Hofer
June 28, 2012
By Brian Spencer
Second Half
Ken Hofer has been nothing short of legendary during more than three decades as Menominee’s head football coach -- a tenure that came to an end earlier this month when he announced his retirement.
In 41 seasons -- including his first two, at Stephenson -- he won three MHSAA championships (1998, 2006, and 2007) and built a record of 342-136-3. He is one of nine coaches in MHSAA football history with at least 300 wins.
He guided more than a thousand athletes, and that influence extended to league rival Kingsford -- where his son Chris Hofer is the football coach. Ken also is known statewide as the guru of the single wing offense, a rarely-used but for the Maroons frequently unstoppable attack that does not utilize a traditional quarterback.
Hofer is a member of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association and Upper Peninsula Sports Halls of Fame. He also served as the Menominee athletic director, principal, and assistant principal. He grew up in Stephenson, where he was an all-stater in football and track and field, and later competed in both sports at the University of Wisconsin.
Did you always want to become a football coach?
I was predicted to be a coach somewhere in our (Stephenson) annual (yearbook). So I suppose I was always predetermined to coach. However, before coaching I was in the service as a Lieutenant and spent two years in Germany. After Germany, I spent another five years working for Wilson Sporting Goods before I finally came back in 1964 to coach football and teach social studies for Stephenson.
How did you decide it was time to hang up the whistle?
Well, I’m 77 years old, so age was definitely a determinant. The biggest factor was that as much as my mind said I could continue, my body said “slow down.” So I guess age and my inability to continually go full throttle and stay energetic helped me make my decision.
In your 45 seasons, what is the most helpful piece of advice you are going to take away?
The best advice I will take away is to treat young people the way I like to be treated.
What do you plan to do with your free time, now that your schedule has opened up slightly?
I am going to try and catch up on stuff that should have been done a long time ago. I’m sure that my wife will give me plenty of stuff to do, too. I also want to try to travel more and visit my kids. I now have a grandson who will be playing for Kingsford, so I will become a fan of my grandson’s at his Kingsford games.
Now that your grandson and son both have affiliations with Kingsford, will you become a Kingsford man?
No (chuckling), I will cheer for my son and grandson, but I will forever be connected with Menominee and Stephenson.
What was it like to be recognized by both the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association and Upper Peninsula Sports Halls of Fame?
It was like a utopia for coaching. When your peers give that honor it is a pretty special time. As a coach you don’t strive for that kind of accolade; however, it is definitely a special honor to receive.
What has been, in your opinion, your greatest achievement as Menominee’s head football coach?
My greatest achievement will always be working with younger people; I think that is the most important thing that most coaches would like to have, is the ability to stay young by working with these young men. You don’t always have to win to have that experience. Winning on the field doesn’t always correlate winning in other aspects of your life.
What advice can you give aspiring or current coaches who look to share similar successes as a head coach?
The biggest thing is to make sure that you treat the players like you like to be treated. Using that approach will get a great response.
Of your 300-plus career wins, is there any one that you find particularly special?
I always found that whenever I could beat Kingsford when my son was coaching (he said, followed by a bellowing laugh). My son Chris will like that one.
There are so many that I consider to be special. There were a ton of close games, too many to count. Two years ago, we had one of those close games where we played Morley-Stanwood, and won 41-40 in overtime (in a 2010 Regional Final). The young men played very hard. It was very special.
Do you think that your son will follow in your footsteps and coach for 45-plus seasons?
I think Chris has that type of coaching in his blood. He’s struggling physically with a knee injury; however he has a coaching mind that is as strong as ever. I think he’ll coach until he won’t be able to.
Fracassa's Remarkable Records Still Rule
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
June 24, 2020
As a senior at Sterling Heights Stevenson during the 2009 season, Jason Fracassa lit up the high school football world with his aerial display.
Fracassa shattered the MHSAA career totals for passing yards and touchdowns held by Mill Coleman of Farmington Hills Harrison. Fracassa also etched his name into the national record book in three career passing categories before the remarkable run ended with a 31-21 loss to Detroit Catholic Central in the Division 1 Final at Ford Field.
The numbers he posted at Stevenson indeed were staggering. And just more than a decade later, after securing two undergraduate degrees and a masters in finance from Walsh University in Ohio, Fracassa lives in Auburn Hills and continues to crunch numbers – now for a development company in Birmingham – while also planning for a Sept. 12 wedding to fiancé Kelsey Torzy.
Fracassa has always been a highly-motivated person, and that held true in the classroom and as a three-sport varsity athlete and continues now in the business world. But while driven by success, Fracassa doesn’t dwell on what he accomplished in the sports world – which also included Division II college careers in both football and baseball. What was important then remains so now, and those are the relationships he built through trust, hard work and having a little fun.
“I miss going to practice each day and hanging out with my friends,” he said. “Just walking around school and trying to set an example to the kids, that’s what was important. I’ll go to the golf course now and I’m with all of my friends. That’s what it’s all about. That was the best part. We had the best relationships, no matter if we won or lost. Playing for Coach (Rick) Bye and your friends, that’s the best memories I have.”
A four-year varsity starter for Bye, Fracassa led Stevenson to a combined 23-3 record over his last two seasons, culminated by that fourth trip in program history to an MHSAA Final.
During his junior season, Fracassa threw for 3,353 yards and 34 touchdowns over 12 games. He then took aim at Coleman’s career passing records for touchdowns (77) and yards (7,464), records that had stood for 20 years.
Fracassa and his teammates put on a show that 2009 season as he threw for 4,433 yards and 44 touchdowns. His career (10,615) and single season (4,433) passing yards remain MHSAA records, the career total by nearly 2,000 yards. Fracassa also continues to own the records for career passing attempts (1,104) and completions (656), accrued over 44 games, and he briefly held the MHSAA record for career TD passes with 97 before it was broken in 2013. The career attempts and yards and senior-season yardage all rank in the National Federation record book as well.
Fracassa credits the coaching staff at Stevenson for the success he and his teammates enjoyed. He couldn’t have imagined playing for anyone but Bye and his staff. Fracassa said he’s spoken with many of Bye’s former players, and they all agree playing for Stevenson and Bye was a phenomenal experience.
Like Fracassa, Bye – who retired after 2009 with a record of 268-94 over 35 seasons – also keeps tabs of his cronies by playing golf once a week with former assistants like Ken Fiott, Jerry Lajeunesse, Larry Zimmerman, Joe Emanuele and D.J. Hill among others. Bye is quick to point out that many of his former players, including Fracassa, keep in touch on a regular basis.
“I saw (Fracassa) at a Stevenson playoff game,” Bye said. “He calls me at least once every two months or so to see how I’m doing. I appreciate that. He was always a highly-respected kid. He’s not a kid anymore.”
Bye recalls hearing about Fracassa when Fracassa was in the eighth grade at St. Lawrence in Utica. Fracassa enrolled at Davis Junior High, Stevenson’s feeder school, for his ninth grade and tried out for the football team not knowing whether he’d make the varsity or not.
“His dad wasn’t pushy one bit,” Bye said. “(Rick Fracassa) asked if Jason was going to be on the JV. A big reason he wanted his son to come (to Stevenson) was Joe Emanuele, who was our baseball coach, and Rick knew Joe had a good program. He wanted Jason to play baseball, too.
“Jason came out and won the (quarterback) job. He proved himself. And he had to win over our seniors.”
Jason Fracassa said that was the hard part – convincing a group of seniors that a freshman could come in, start at quarterback and lead the team can be daunting.
“I knew I could compete at that level,” Fracassa said. “It was more of my getting to associate myself with the older players. That was the most difficult part. The coaches were always there to back me.”
Stevenson made the playoffs that 2006 season finishing 5-5. The next season was rough as the Titans lost a number of close games and finished 2-7. Stevenson improved substantially to 10-2 in 2008, losing to Lake Orion, 38-36, in a Regional Final.
That all built up to the memorable 2009 season, which included a tense Semifinal game against Clarkston won by Stevenson 37-35 on a Fracassa scoring pass on the final play.
Emotions also ran high the game before when Stevenson took on Detroit Public School League power Detroit Southeastern, led by Michigan State-bound and now-NFL defensive end William Gholston. Fracassa threw for a career-high 494 yards, and Stevenson defeated Southeastern, 38-32.
After a busy and accomplished prep career, Fracassa maintained a hectic athletic schedule in college first at Northwood University – where he started on the baseball team for three seasons and was a member of the football team for two.
After sitting out a term, Fracassa transferred to Walsh, located in North Canton, Ohio. There he revived his football career starting at quarterback his last two years. Walsh, then a recent addition to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, nearly upset conference power and undefeated Ferris State in Fracassa’s final game. Fracassa threw his second touchdown pass of the game to give Walsh a 42-32 lead with 9:38 left before Ferris State came back with two touchdowns, the second with 36 seconds left, to win 46-42.
Fracassa hasn’t completely abandoned football since his last game at Walsh. He and his father coached the Oakland University club team in 2018 and that team reached a championship game. Jason was the offensive coordinator, his father the head coach – branches from the coaching tree rooted with Jason’s grandfather Al Fracassa, the second-winningest high school football coach in MHSAA history and Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice legend.
Jason’s competitive juices continue to flow.
“We had a great run,” Fracassa said, “and any other year could have taken the championship trophy.”
Made in Michigan 2020
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Tom Markowski is a correspondent for the State Champs! Sports Network and previously directed its web coverage. He also covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Jason Fracassa rolls out during the 2009 Division I championship game at Ford Field. (Middle) Fracassa and fiancé Kelsey Torzy. (Below) Fracassa drops back to pass while playing for Walsh. (Middle and below photos courtesy of Jason Fracassa.)