AD Inducted to National Hall of Fame
May 7, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Winter gets hectic so quickly that we’re forced to save some intriguing items that come our way for a sunnier day – and that day is today.
Following are news, notes and a few key links collected over the last few months, including the national Hall of Fame induction of a longtime Michigan athletic director, local recognition for another and statewide acclaim for a group of students putting their video production equipment to good use benefiting all.
Ann Arbor AD Honored Nationally
Former Ann Arbor Huron athletic director Jane Bennett was among five inducted into the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame in December.
Bennett served 26 years as a teacher, coach, athletic director and assistant principal in Michigan before spending the last decade as a principal at two schools in Montana. She served as athletic director at Huron for 15 years through 2002-03. The NIAAA reported that during her final decade in that position, participation in athletics doubled.
Bennett, who received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, began her career at Huron in 1977 as varsity softball coach and became a math teacher and the co-director of athletics a year later. She coached the softball team 14 seasons before moving into the full-time athletic director position. Bennett was co-founder of the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association and served as MHSSCA president from 1982-87.
Among other achievements at Huron, Bennett was a leader in a successful campaign to gain voter approval of a $60 million bond package, which included $20 million to improve and expand athletic facilities. She also developed curriculum for an annual varsity captains/head coaches leadership training program and composed handbooks/guidebooks for coaches, athletes and parents.
Bennett also was a valuable contributor to the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the NIAAA. She was president of the MIAAA in 1993-94 and a state conference speaker on several occasions. Bennett also served in various NIAAA leadership positions including on the committee that developed the Leadership Training Institute in 1996.
Bennett was named MIAAA Athletic Director of the Year in 1998 and received its State Award of Merit in 1997. She received the MHSAA’s Women in Sports Leadership Award in 1995 and was inducted into the MHSSCA Hall of Fame in 1995. Prior to her selection to the NIAAA Hall of Fame, Bennett was honored with the NIAAA Distinguished Service Award in 1998 and the NIAAA Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence in 2000. In 2005, she was inducted into the National Council of Secondary School Athletic Directors Hall of Fame, having served as its president in 2003 and been selected as its Athletic Director of the Year in 1998.
PSL's Ward: 'Pillar' of Detroit Athletics
Alvin Ward, the executive director of athletics for the Detroit Public School League and a member of the MHSAA Representative Council, received a 2014 Pillar in the Community Award in April from the Coast II Coast All-Stars, a Detroit-based pro basketball team that plays in the American Basketball Association.
Ward has served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal as well for Detroit Public Schools, and directs programs with a combined 500 coaches and 4,500 athletes.
Linked up
- This winter, the MHSAA Representative Council adopted a number of football practice rules changes aimed at improving player acclimatization at the start of fall and reducing head trauma and injuries. The Adrian Daily Telegram’s Doug Donnelly got responses from a number of coaches from that area of the state; click to find out why they feel these changes are important.
- Port Huron Times Herald writer Paul Costanzo let people know about our Student Advisory Council through the experience of Marlette’s Connor Thomas, one of our juniors and a great contributor this school year.
Power of Awareness
The Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation works to educate Michigan schools on sudden cardiac arrest and train personnel in CPR and the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator). The video below teaches us again about the importance of awareness.
Saginaw Heritage was awarded $5,000 in April as the winner of the Gillary Foundation’s High School AED Contest. Students were asked to create a 3-minute video emphasizing the importance of Michigan high schools being adequately prepared to respond to a sudden cardiac arrest or related event on school property.
Randy and Sue Gillary created the foundation after their 15-year-old daughter Kimberly – an athlete at Troy Athens – died after suffering sudden cardiac arrest in 2000. The contest judges were Kimberly’s sisters Emily Kucinich, Jennifer Gregroy and Katie Gillary.
As of April 1, the Gillary Foundation had raised $1.2 million and donated 650 AEDs to schools – with three lives having been saved with donated AEDs. For more, click www.kimberlysgift.org.
Concord Multi-Sport Standout Begins Senior Run to Finish Career with 20 Letters
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 20, 2026
It’s only August but Concord senior Haley Stimer has her mind on the softball season that starts in March – eight months from now.
“I don't know if we're going to have enough people,” she said. “I'm kind of worried about our numbers.”
For Stimer, having a softball season is how she will finish her career with a stunning 20 letters over her four years of high school. She enters her senior year with 15 varsity letters already on her jacket.
“It took a little bit to get into figuring out how to manage my time,” she said. “I feel like I’m pretty good at it now with communicating with teachers and coaches and everything.”
Stimer runs cross country and plays golf in the fall, plays basketball in the winter and dual-sports between track and softball in the spring. Except for a little bit of JV basketball her freshman season, she’s been on varsity teams her entire high school career.
“I guess I’ve just always played all of the sports,” she said. “When I was younger, I played basketball and softball and golf once in a while. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into my freshman year.”
With the blessing of Concord athletic director Matt Lehman and all of her coaches, Stimer has set forth a remarkable career of steady success and showing up for everything possible.
“She is one of our top athletes in each sport,” Lehman said. “I've been at Concord for 33 years, and I don't recall anyone even close to (20 letters).”
Her cross country and golf coaches often coordinate practice times. In the spring, she floats between track and softball with ease.
“They have been really accommodating with what time we need to have practices,” Stimer said of Concord golf coach Mike Bauman. “He normally bumps it back until whenever we finish cross country.
“It can be a lot to figure out,” she added. “I have to watch practice times a lot, just to be sure. The hardest is probably with golf because there are days when you have to miss the entire school day for a meet.”
The Yellow Jackets currently have just two golfers on the girls team. The season began Tuesday at the East Jackson Scramble, and Stimer and teammate Mya Barrett combined to shoot an 82 and finish among the top 10. Unfortunately, they don’t have enough girls on the team to score in dual meets.
“It’s hard to get girls out for golf,” Stimer said. “My sophomore year there were only four of us, and the other three girls were seniors. Last year I had to find three more girls that would do it and two of them were seniors, so now it's just me and one other girl (Barrett).”
Stimer has been part of some outstanding basketball teams at Concord. Over the last three seasons Concord has won 66 games, two league titles, three District titles, two Regional titles and played in the 2025 Division 4 Semifinals when she started and stayed on the court all 32 minutes in a 34-24 loss to Ewen-Trout Creek.
Stimer admitted she’s never been a fan of running, but that hasn’t slowed her down. She qualified for the 3,200 and as part of the 3,200 relay for the spring’s Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals. She led off the relay team that would finish fourth in 10:01.31, helping the Yellow Jackets finish seventh as a team at the meet.
Last fall she placed 29th at the LPD4 Cross Country Finals. As a freshman she was all-state in cross country, placing 13th with a time of 19:31.1, her personal best to date.
At one time basketball was her favorite sport, but she said she’s taking a stronger liking to golf recently. She might try golf in college. She has no idea at this point what she might want to study, although she said she is really strong in math and likes English. She finished her junior year at the top of her class with a GPA above 4.0.
Stimer, 17, has a younger brother who is going to be a sophomore this year and a sister, Hannah, who is a sophomore in college. The daughter of Bart and Kiersten said her parents and her sister often inspired her in athletics.
“I kind of followed in her footsteps because of all of the sports she did,” Stimer said.
Stimer admits there are some nerves starting her senior year. She’s on the Concord student council and National Honor Society and last year volunteered with some groups in school. Through a leadership class she helped organize a basketball camp for Concord elementary students. This year she is adding something else to the mix – she will be dual-enrolling at Jackson College, her first dive into college courses.
“I’ve taken AP courses, but not college before,” she said.
There’s a lot on her plate, she said, but she is still excited.
“I'm nervous because it's going to be a lot, I think, but I've always done it, so, I know I can do it this year too.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Concord’s Haley Stimer (1171) approaches the finish line during last season’s LPD4 championship race at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Stimer passes the ball during a basketball game against Hillsdale Academy. (Top photo courtesy of RunMichigan.com. Middle photo courtesy of Joseph Miller/JTV. Head shot courtesy of the Concord athletic department.)