#TBT: Searching for The Hinker Bell
September 28, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Menominee will host Escanaba on Friday in the 121st meeting between two of the Upper Peninsula’s largest high schools and proudest football programs – but with the trophy celebrating the game still missing after it first disappeared more than half a century ago.
The two teams from 1948-1962 played for the The Hinker Bell, a locomotive bell that hasn’t been seen since 1963.
A decade ago, Escanaba Daily Press sports editor (and now Second Half correspondent) Denny Grall wrote about a newfound search for The Hinker Bell. But the mystery continues, and Grall’s story below tells of many of the twists and turns that to that point that had come in trying to locate it.
ESCANABA — Another search is underway to find the Hinker Bell.
The former locomotive bell went to the winner of the Escanaba-Menominee football game for about 15 years but has been missing for more than 40 years. It came from a locomotive owned by the Bay de Noquet Company and used on the LS&I Railroad that operated in Delta and Menominee counties.
The locomotive was built in 1906 by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia and the bell was believed to have been cast in the railroad foundry, according to a 1953 newspaper clipping.
In 1948, one of the locomotive owners presented the bell to his friend, John Hinker of Menominee, an ardent sports fan who donated materials for the press box at Menominee’s Walton Blesch Field.
Hinker gave the bell to then Menominee coach Mickey McCormick and indicated proper use for the bell would be as an award for the gridiron rivalry.
Now Hinker’s great great nephew is trying to find the bell, which has not been seen since Escanaba’s current high school opened in 1963.
Tim Waters of Land O’ Lakes, Wis., who has launched the search, became interested by researching his family tree. “It is a big trophy (between 80 and 150 pounds by various estimates) and it is odd that it is missing,” Waters said in a recent telephone chat.
“One theory is that it is in somebody’s hunting camp or a home and they are using it as their own trophy,” said Waters.
“We have a pretty good investigation going on and all help is appreciated. If somebody does have it, we’re not looking to prosecute them. We’re just looking to get the darn thing back. Nobody will be in trouble.”
Waters refuted the old idea the bell was melted down. He has contacted numerous bell collectors, and they said a junk yard would have known it was worth a lot more than melted metal.
“The bell was not destroyed. We’ve come to that conclusion,” he said. “It was not put in a scrap yard.”
Waters contacted Coplan Iron and Metal of Escanaba and learned that bells were not melted or crushed and said the firm never accepted a bell with engravings matching the Hinker Bell.
Waters learned those businesses would sell them for the weight value to people who wanted them for yard ornaments/dinner bells, or to collectors.
“It is a treasure and it needs to be found,” said Waters.
Waters said the last known photo of the bell was with then EHS football coach Al Sigman and Esky players John Fisher and Phil Davidson in 1960. Escanaba beat Menominee from 1959-63 but could not find the bell in 1964 when the Maroons won. No one he has talked to remembers seeing the bell present at the first three games during the tenure of coach Jerry Cvengros.
The current Escanaba High School opened in 1963 and Bay de Noc Community College then occupied the old facility, which has since been demolished.
“Records indicate there was no report (of a missing bell) filed by Escanaba school district to the police department,” Waters said.
“The Hinker Bell is part of U.P. Michigan’s history, as is football and the railroads,” Waters said. “The people of Escanaba and Menominee deserve to have this trophy returned to their high schools.”
Waters, who has never seen an Escanaba or Menominee football game but is planning to rectify that omission this season, is hoping students at the two schools will join in the treasure hunt and talk about it with their parents and grandparents.
He has already contacted EHS athletic director Rob Ryan, who plans to thoroughly search the school basement.
He would like to find a photo of the bell to help collectors in their search. “Each bell was for a special locomotive,” said Waters.
“If they have a good picture we can pass it around and say we are looking for this bell. If they can pinpoint what this bell was on, they can help get the word out.”
He has also extended the search to the website at upfootball.com, which has generated interest but no bell. “If the bell is in the area still today, I don’t think it will take long to surface,” he said.
“If we don’t find this bell, we are going to try to make up a replacement as close as possible if the two schools are interested in that,” he said.
Waters is hoping that real estate agents, postal workers, delivery personnel, construction workers, etc., may have seen the bell during their travels and can help retrieve it.
Flint Elite Beginning to See Results as Program Continues to Grow
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
September 4, 2025
Deion Wright isn’t shy about his early feelings for the Flint Elite football program he watched as a middle schooler.
“The first couple of years it was tough,” said Wright, who entered Flint New Standard Academy in sixth grade. “There were a couple times where I was begging my dad to let me transfer.”
Wright did not transfer, and as the Flint Elite Warriors – a cooperative program between New Standard and Madison Academy in Burton – came under the direction of coach Paul Carmona, Wright and his classmates have seen the benefits of sticking it out.
That started with some late-season success a year ago, and continued in a massive way this past Friday, when the Warriors defeated Erie Mason 46-20 as part of the Vehicle City Gridiron Classic at Atwood Stadium.
“It felt amazing,” said Wright, who threw five touchdown passes in the win. “It brought back memories, a lot of memories, and I’m glad I could do it one more time with my teammates. It brought back memories from Pop Warner, and from being (at Vehicle City) last year watching the games. We weren’t invited, but I went and watched. It was a great opportunity that we were presented, and we had to make the most of it.”
The win at Atwood is the first step in what Flint Elite is hoping can be a special season. The program is in its sixth year as a co-op, and second back playing a varsity schedule after some growing pains. The Warriors previously dropped to JV only and forfeited all varsity games in 2023, and had 26 freshmen on the varsity team in 2024.
But, with seven of those freshmen starting on offense alone – four along the offensive line – the Warriors showed growth through a 3-6 season, playing several tight games and going 3-1 over their final four.
Now, 11 offensive starters and nine on defense are back for the varsity, and the program has grown to the point where it has a JV team as well.
“When I came in, it was just trying to change the culture,” Carmona said. “There were not a lot of guys that realized what it takes to win in football. But we tried to change the mentality of everyone, that they’re student-athletes first, and good kids first. We’re trying to get them to be good kids – open doors, ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘Yes, ma’am,’ – and if we can win some football games along the way, I’m happy doing that. Last year was tough for us, they were learning what it took to play varsity football. But we ended last year with a couple wins, and that got us excited for the next year.”
At the heart of this turnaround are five seniors who have seen all the ups and downs. That includes Warriors quarterback Wright, receivers Jeffrey Turner, Razach Spillers and DiGion Perkins, and running back Patrick Isaacs. Some of those seniors also have been part of the basketball turnaround for Flint Elite, as the team won its first District and Regional titles this past season.
“(Wright) has been a QB his whole life, and he was here as a freshman and sophomore when things were rough,” Carmona said. “He loves Flint Elite, and loves being a part of the New Standard Academy. I’m happy for this senior group to be able to see the other side of the stick now.”
There’s plenty of work still to be done, of course, and that starts with a Genesee Athletic Conference opener Friday night at Genesee.
“We think pretty highly of what we’re trying to do around here,” Carmona said. “I know everyone says state championship, and that’s the ultimate goal, but we wanted to build it up: win a conference championship, make the playoffs, just stuff the school has never done before. We’re teaching these kids how to win, what it takes to win and the work you have to put in. We saw that the talent was there. The sky is the limit for these young men. I’ve got guys that are trying to pursue playing football at the next level.”
Wright is one of those, and this past Friday, he received his first college football offer.
“It felt great – it came as a shock,” Wright said. “I was talking to my dad and our athletic director came up and told me. It was just a shock. I saw the pride on my dad’s face once he told me. When my teammates found out, they were really hype.”
It was a special moment for Wright on a day full of them, and those have been made even more special because of what he and his teammates have gone through, together.
“It’s great that I’m still here with people I’ve known my whole life,” he said. “It’s a great feeling knowing that I’m able to accomplish things not only with my football teammates, but people I’ve grown up with. I know their whole story. We’re a family.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Elite’s Phil Matthews carries the ball with a defender approaching. (Middle) Warriors quarterback Deion Wright throws a pass during warmups. (Below) Flint Elite takes a photo together after winning its Vehicle City Gridiron Classic matchup with Erie Mason. (Photos courtesy of the Flint Elite football program.)