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.
Mercy Stands Tall at Net, Makes Big Blocks Pay Off in Championship Win
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 22, 2025
BATTLE CREEK – Farmington Hills Mercy looked to be on its way to a sweep Saturday in the Division 1 Volleyball Final at Kellogg Arena.
So when Bloomfield Hills erased a nine-point deficit in the third set, extending the match and delaying the Silly String celebration, the Marlins were on the wrong side of a massive momentum swing.
They were also incredibly calm.
“I feel like our message was not to worry,” Mercy senior Ella Andrews said. “We were down in the Semifinals two sets and came back and reverse swept them, so I feel like our message was just to stay calm. We can trust ourselves. We’ve been working for this all season, we just have to rely on each other and feel confident in ourselves to get back and score those points to win the set.”
Mercy got back to its game in the fourth set, and put itself back on top of the state with a 25-18, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20 victory against Bloomfield Hills.
The win gives the Marlins their third Finals title and second in three years. And, for the second time since 2023, they doused their coach Loretta Vogel with water and Silly String.
“I’m going in there to talk to everybody in the locker room, and I just get drenched,” Vogel said. “It’s definitely becoming a custom here.”
Mercy entered the fourth Final in program history with a simple, yet difficult gameplan: Slow Bloomfield Hills star Kayla Nwabueze. The Harvard-bound outside hitter did manage a match-high 24 kills, but the Marlins’ long, talented front line made it as difficult on her as possible.
“Our plan was to shut down Kayla,” said Vogel, who puts Nwabueze among the best hitters she’s seen in her 49 years coaching. “Put big blocks up, make them change to something else. That worked for us. I thought the girls really got up there and put four hands in front of her. There was one time we triple-blocked. So, I think changing something up like that, giving her a different view, had an impact on her. For any hitter, that would have an impact.”
Nwabueze got some backup from sophomore Allison Stakoe, who had 20 kills and played a massive role in the third set comeback.
But Nwabueze admitted it was tough to try and navigate the Mercy blockers.
“I would say it was really frustrating,” she said. “I knew they were going to come out and try to stop me, so I just had the mentality of don’t let that happen. I feel like I got into a rut a couple times. That’s what they tried to do, to stop the player that caused the most damage, and it was smart on their part. I really tried hard to try to get past that block. It was a really big block, though.”
McKenzie and Ella Andrews led the way on that block, with Ella finishing the match with two solo blocks and five assists, and McKenzie tallying six block assists. They had a ton of help, too. Kaelyn Easton had five block assists, Saniya Tucker had four, and both Cree Hollier and Kate Kalczynski had two.
Mercy’s attack was just as varied.
Kalczynski led the way with 16 kills, including the final one on match point, while Ella Andrews had 13, Hollier had 12 and McKenzie Andrews had seven.
That distribution was thanks to their freshman setter Easton, who had 43 assists in the Final and more than 100 over the final two matches.
“Definitely just seeing open spots where the blockers were,” Easton said. “I know in this game, the middles were open a lot, were scoring a lot, especially in the last set, and the coaches were just like, ‘Get them the ball. Just get them the ball and make them score.’ Also, the outsides, they opened up the middles a lot, so really, really appreciative to all of them. I could just not do it without the passes. The passes were really, really good this weekend.”
Maya Zarow led Mercy (42-5-3) with 24 digs, while Kalczynski had 12 and Easton 11.
Bloomfield Hills (43-8-1) setter Brynn Wilcox finished the day with 42 assists. Alyssa Moir led the defense with 20 digs, while Stakoe added 14, Nwabueze had 13 and Julia Colosimo had 10.
This weekend marked the first time the Black Hawks had advanced to the Semifinals.
“I’m just really proud of our team,” Wilcox said. “Even though we may have faced some ups and downs throughout the season, we kind of leaned on each other. It’s probably one of the greatest – I’ve had the most fun of my life.”
PHOTOS (Top) Farmington Hills Mercy players raise their championship trophy Saturday afternoon at Kellogg Arena. (Middle) Mercy’s Cree Hollier (22) attempts a kill as Bloomfield Hills’ Suri Ewing (13) and Charlotte Elowsky elevate to try and block it.