10 to Remember: 2013-14 Finals
July 10, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Every championship leaves a lasting impression with the athletes and coaches who achieved it and the communities that cheered them on.
That makes picking the 10 most notable finishes from this school year's MHSAA Finals a no-win scenario. But here's one person's carefully-considered opinion:
10. Unranked Eaton Rapids finishes No. 1 for the first time
The Greyhounds capped this year’s Girls Basketball Finals with a 51-38 win over Grand Rapids South Christian in the Class B title game that closed the weekend. But that statement alone barely scratches the surface of the story. The championship was the first for Eaton Rapids, which started five seniors and entered the tournament unranked but eliminated No. 6 Ypsilanti Arbor Prep, No. 8 Flint Powers Catholic and then the top-ranked Sailors during the season’s final week.
9. Western sweeps first Finals at Michigan State
The Baseball and Softball Finals moved to Michigan State University this spring, and the Bay City Western baseball and softball teams both took home championship trophies. The Warriors baseball team, after winning its first title in 2013, became the first in Class A or Division 1 to repeat in defeating Grosse Pointe South 6-2. The softball team won its first MHSAA championship by defeating Portage Central 4-2 after also making – and leading late – in the 2013 Final before losing by a run to Mattawan.
8. Sacred Heart overcomes, comes back for first title
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart couldn’t have been favored by many in this season’s Class D Girls Basketball Final with one senior, making only its second championship game appearance and going up against Crystal Falls Forest Park and recently-crowned Miss Basketball Lexi Gussert. But the unranked Irish finished on a 14-3 run over the final three minutes to get past the top-ranked Trojans 56-53 and win their first MHSAA title.
7. Canton gymnastics finishes long championship journey
The Canton gymnastics team claimed its first MHSAA title by edging Grand Ledge by 2.4 points after finishing runner-up to the Comets each of the last three seasons. The Chiefs also had finished Finals runner-up in 1996 under coach John Cunningham, who took over the program in 1979 and has coached the sport since 1968. Grand Ledge had won 106 straight competitions including the last six MHSAA Finals.
6. Big Reds regain top spot in Class A hoops
With Mr. Basketball Deshaun Thrower and 2015 candidate Deyonta Davis setting the pace, Muskegon finished only the second perfect season in Class A in the last 24 seasons with a 91-67 Final win over Bloomfield Hills that earned the Big Reds their first MHSAA championship since 1937. Thrower had 21 points, and Davis had 26 and 13 rebounds.
5. Brother Rice sends Fracassa out as champion once more
The Warriors made coach Al Fracassa a back-to-back MHSAA football champion for the first time with a 38-21 victory over Muskegon in a rematch of the 2013 Division 2 Final. Brother Rice also finished 14-0 as Fracassa finished a career during which he built a 430-117-7 record dating to 1969. His wins rank first in MHSAA football history.
4. New Lothrop wrestlers end Hudson’s reign
The Hornets won their first MHSAA title since 2004 by edging Hudson 32-22 in the Division 4 Final at Kellogg Arena. New Lothrop’s title win also ended an MHSAA-record five-season championship run by the Tigers, who tied the Davison teams of 2002-06 for the longest string of consecutive titles.
3. Stars finish final title runs with 4
A pair of mid-Michigan athletes capped four-year varsity careers by joining the elite champions in their respective sports. Breckenridge runner Kirsten Olling became the fifth girl in MHSAA history to win four Lower Peninsula individual championships, claiming her latest and last in an LP Division 4 Final record 17:44.9. St. Johns senior Zac Hall became the third wrestler in three seasons and 18th in MHSAA history to finish with four individual championships. He defeated Greenville’s Alec Ward 12-2 in the Division 2 140-pound championship match to close this season 52-0 and his career 198-2.
2. St. Philip adds to all-time accolades
The Battle Creek St. Philip volleyball program ranks first in MHSAA Final appearances (27) and championships (19), but further cemented itself among the all-time elite by winning its eighth straight MHSAA title – good to tie Marysville’s 1997-2004 teams for the longest championship streak in MHSAA history. The Tigers did so this season by defeating Waterford Our Lady in three games in Class D, and despite graduating seven from its 2012 championship team.
1. Trenton wins one more for Turner
Trenton’s hockey team defeated Hartland 8-3 in the Division 2 Final to earn the program’s 14th MHSAA championship and first since 2010 – and send out coach Mike Turner with one more crowning achievement on the most notable career in MHSAA hockey history. Earlier this winter, Turner set the record for coaching wins. He finished 628-126-52 over 28 seasons stretching across two tenures.
PHOTO: Trenton hockey players celebrate during this season's Division 2 championship trophy.
Loy Norrix Mourning Death of Longtime Coach, Teacher Duckett: 'He's All Knight'
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
January 19, 2026
KALAMAZOO — Theophlis Duckett, known to generations of students and alumni as the more familiar “Ted” Duckett, dedicated 57 years of his life as a teacher and coach at Loy Norrix High School.
After his unexpected death Jan. 8, people will have a chance to show their respect and share memories at a community celebration of life, Saturday, Feb. 14, from 11 a.m.-noon (with doors opening at 10:30 a.m.) at the Loy Norrix auditorium.
At age 79, Duckett continued to teach three classes of physical education as well as coach the Knights girls and boys track & field teams.
“There aren’t many educators who have worked as long as he has, especially all those years in the same building,” said Andrew Laboe, Loy Norrix’s athletic director. "He connected with kids very well. He had a generational following: kids, parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents.”
Some memories of Duckett bring a laugh from Laboe, who said he and Duckett had a running joke about his years as a Knight.
“I’m 55 years old and I told him I was negative-2 (years old) when he started working here,” Laboe laughed. “I believe he was a parapro or a locker room aide when he started here.
“In the teachers union seniority list, he is listed as 1969-70 for his first year teaching.”
Laboe said in losing Duckett, the school and community have lost a great resource for his knowledge of the history of the school and the people connected to it.
“He knows everybody,” Laboe said. “He was a consistent person in the lives of the kids he taught every day. Kalamazoo is not small like a lot of small towns around us, but it’s not very big, either.
"Ted knows everybody. You could get help from Ted on everything about children, who are they related to, who they are connected to, who can we contact to help them in any situation. That’s very helpful.”
During his tenure at Loy Norrix, Duckett coached football, basketball and track.
“He’s definitely a good sprinter coach for track,” Laboe said. “He was a fixture at Loy Norrix forever. He’s all Knight.”
Duckett’s coaching tenure included developing several all-state football players. Among those were sons Tico and Todd, who continued their football careers at Michigan State and then the NFL.
Tico Duckett played for Washington while Todd was a first-round selection by Atlanta in 2002, and he also played for Washington, Detroit and Seattle.
Laboe laughs when he looks back on his first meeting with the coach.
“My first year (at Loy Norrix) was 2004,” Laboe said. “Ted came into my office the first day. I said, ‘Hi Mr. Duckett, how are you? I’m Andrew Laboe.’”
He told Laboe he already knew.
“He said, ‘I just want you to know you have one year to get all the information out of this head that you need to run this athletic department because I’m retiring in one year.’”
No matter how much Laboe got out of Duckett’s head that first year, it didn’t matter.
“I’ve been here for 22 years and he was still here. It’s crazy,” Laboe recalled.
“He’s one of a kind. I don’t think it will ever be replicated in my career. There’s not people like that anymore that are that dedicated to one school like Ted Duckett was to Loy Norrix.”
(Photos courtesy of the Duckett family and Loy Norrix High School/Knight Life.)