Taorminas Recognized by Lake Orion for Hall of Fame-Level Contributions in Several Roles
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
October 1, 2026
LAKE ORION — Sammy and Anthony Taormina are two fantastic examples that you don’t necessarily have to be a great athlete in high school to have a Hall of Fame impact on a school and sports community.
Twin brothers, the Taorminas are 2006 graduates of Lake Orion High School who were members of the football and track & field teams (Sammy competed in both sports, Anthony in track) but neither stacked stats or accolades most all-state and future college athletes accumulate in high school.
Still, it was a no-brainer when Lake Orion athletic director Chris Bell and a committee chose the Taorminas to become part of the school’s first Hall of Fame class last week.
Simply put, there have been few who have had a bigger impact and served in more roles for the school than the Taorminas over the past two decades.
Both have been statisticians for teams, clock operators, announcers, mentors, and promoters of the school and athletic department. Sammy even has spent time inside a Dragon costume as the school’s mascot.
They regularly host a podcast called “OAA Now,” where coaches from around the league call in to chat and give insight on their teams. The two also have a blog where they regularly break coaching news.
During the spring, both have served as middle school track coaches, mostly presiding over throwers.
More importantly, both work for the district as middle school aides, with their friendliness and knowledge regularly mentoring kids to become better students and people.
“When you make an impact on someone’s life for the positive, then you know you’ve done your job,” Anthony Taormina said.
Students and communities are drawn to the Taorminas not only for how much they help, but because they have overcome obstacles and adversity during their lives. Both have navigated autism and related challenges.
“I originally did not want to be a mentor, but I became one,” said Anthony Taormina, who like Sammy is also a graduate of Oakland University and who served as a team manager for Oakland men’s basketball coach Greg Kampe.
That first Lake Orion Hall of Fame class also included 20 athletes, the 1990 wrestling team that won a Class A championship, and longtime track & field and cross country coach Stan Ford.
Despite all the great athletes inducted such as Mr. Baseball Award winner Randy Frye, Mr. Soccer winner Billy Weaver, all-state girls basketball player Bethany Watterworth and all-state running back Marques Stevenson, the most popular inductees were likely the Taorminas, who five years ago also were named Citizens of the Month by Orion Township.
During a football pregame ceremony Friday before Lake Orion played Rochester Adams, the Taorminas got the loudest ovation from the crowd, likely because both current students and alums know them well.
Sammy Taormina said they found out the news from Bell in August after leaving a doctor’s appointment.
“At first I was like, ‘Please don’t call me, I’m in the doctor’s office,’” he said. “Then I called back and he told me the news we were going into the Hall of Fame. We were just very ecstatic about it.”
Now, the two will have plaques displayed in the school halls for all to see, although students will still love seeing their real faces each and every day.
The Taorminas are as much a part of the fabric and identity of Lake Orion as the Dragon or lake itself, and plan on continuing to put kids first in everything they do for years to come in every role they serve.
“I would always encourage kids to be the best they can be,” Anthony Taormina said. “That’s all you can ask in this game we call life. It’s not a bad thing to be a manager or support staff person because you can be successful while not being a student-athlete. I’ve had a lot of students that may or may not have been athletes, but they end up helping me and Sammy out on several occasions, whether it be on the (score)book or on the (game) clock. Those type of things. I’m extremely proud of that.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
Detroit Public Schools' McEvans Selected for MHSAA Women In Sports Leadership Award
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 22, 2026
Over nearly three decades as a coach, school and league administrator, Anika McEvans has worked to provide the athletic opportunities for all children that she enjoyed as an athlete herself and later as a mother of three including two who have gone on to play at the collegiate level.
Her work in several roles, serving multiple school districts over nearly 28 years, has benefited thousands of students. In recognition of those contributions, McEvans has been named the 40th recipient of the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award.
Each year, the Representative Council considers the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics. McEvans will receive her award during the WISL Conference Banquet, Feb. 1 at the Crowne Plaza Lansing.
Currently midway through her seventh school year serving in the Office of Athletics for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, she is responsible for planning and implementation of the Detroit Public School League’s sports offerings for 72 elementary and middle schools in addition to her several responsibilities supporting the league’s 20 high schools. McEvans came to the PSL from Southfield Public Schools, where as district director she supervised more than 100 coaches, staff and volunteers.
Before that she was a building athletic director, and prior to becoming an administrator she coached multiple sports across tenures at three schools.
“Obviously as an athlete myself, and also the mother of female athletes, my children and I both were very fortunate to have amazing coaches and administrators who elevated our sports,” McEvans said. “I made it a goal of mine everywhere I go to advocate in the same way. I want any child to have what I’d want for my children.”
A basketball, volleyball and softball player while a student at Detroit Renaissance, McEvans returned to high school athletics after college first as a coach, serving as head girls varsity basketball coach at Detroit Academy of Arts & Sciences, assistant boys basketball and softball coach at Renaissance, and assistant girls basketball coach at Southfield.
She served as athletic director from 2012-15 at the former Southfield High School, and as district athletic director through 2017-18 she assisted in the merger of Southfield High and Southfield-Lathrup into Southfield Arts & Technology High School for the start of the 2016-17 school year.
Also during her time at Southfield, McEvans added competitive cheer to the school’s athletic offerings, and then brought the sport to the PSL after moving to the Detroit district office. Cass Tech, Martin Luther King and Renaissance high schools have added competitive cheer teams, and McEvans is hopeful two more schools will do the same over the coming year.
“Anika McEvans continues to create and expand opportunities so as many students as possible can enjoy all of the good that comes with participation in school sports,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “This award celebrates Anika’s leadership in this way, but also the example she sets in showing what’s possible when someone is driven to make a difference.”
McEvans received an MHSAA Allen W. Bush Award in 2024, celebrating her work often “behind the scenes” in school sports. She was selected for a Skillman Foundation Visionary Award this past year for her work “updating and upgrading the education system in Detroit and beyond.”
She has contributed her expertise to statewide athletics in many ways as well, serving on several MHSAA committees including athletic equity, junior high/middle school, scholar-athlete and as part of multiple officials and site selection committees. She also provided a key voice as part of the MHSAA Multi-Sport Task Force during the last half of the last decade and has played a leading role in providing coaches education throughout Detroit Public Schools through the MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program.
McEvans graduated from Renaissance in 1994 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in sports management and communications from University of Michigan and a master’s in business administration from the University of Detroit Mercy. She also previously served as director of business operations and then general manager for the Detroit Demolition/Detroit Danger women’s professional football franchise from 2002-06 and as assistant general manager for the Motor City Mechanics minor league hockey team from 2004-06.
Her daughter Cheyenne McEvans is currently a graduate student playing her final season of college basketball at University of Nevada. Son Cameron McEvans played basketball at Lawrence Technological University and most recently professionally in Uruguay. Youngest daughter Cierra McEvans participated on West Bloomfield’s competitive cheer team and is now a sophomore at Grand Valley State University.
“I know how for young men and women that participate in sports, that it rounds out their development, gives them leadership skills and confidence to move through the world,” Anika McEvans said. “I was telling someone the other day that because of their successes and failures on the court, I knew my children would move through the world fearlessly.
“I (also) know in my particular role (at DPSCD) and also to a certain degree at Southfield, there are still gaps in how minority students and programs are supported … (and helping fill that gap) is just my mission.”
More than 700 participants – mostly female high school student-athletes from across the state – have registered to attend this year’s sold-out WISL Conference, the 27th in the series that remains the first, largest and longest-running program of its type in the country.
The opening address Feb. 1 will be presented by Kristen Kelsay, a two-time team captain during her playing career for the Michigan State University women’s volleyball team who recently completed her first season as the Spartans’ head coach and led the team to its highest win total since 2017. MSU women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick – in her third season and leading a Spartans team that is 17-2 and ranked No. 13 by The Associated Press – will speak during the general session at the start of the Feb. 2 conference schedule.
Several workshops will be offered over the two days, with topics including coaching, teaching and learning leadership; sports nutrition and performance, and empowerment and goal-setting. Presenters are accomplished in their fields and represent a wide range of backgrounds in sport. A complete itinerary is available on the Women In Sports Leadership page.
The first Women In Sports Leadership Award was presented in 1990.
Past recipients
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2011 – Ellen Pugh, West Branch; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2012 – Janet Gillette, Comstock Park
2013 – Barbara Beckett, Traverse City
2014 – Teri Reyburn, DeWitt
2015 – Jean LaClair, Bronson
2016 – Betty Wroubel, Pontiac
2017 – Dottie Davis, Ann Arbor
2018 – Meg Seng, Ann Arbor
2019 – Kris Isom, Adrian
2020 – Nikki Norris, East Lansing
2021 – Dorene Ingalls, St. Ignace
2022 – Lori Hyman, Livonia
2023 – Laurie Glass, Leland
2024 – Mary Cicerone, Bloomfield Hills; Eve Claar, Ann Arbor
2025 – Jennifer Thunberg, Freeland