Casting Lines for Future Tournaments
August 12, 2016
By Jack Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
The MHSAA is best known to the public for the tournaments it conducts to conclude the fall, winter and spring seasons each school year.
These tournaments, the first and largest program of the MHSAA, have survived the Vietnam War, the Korean conflict and two World Wars. They have survived the technology bubble, the housing collapse, the energy crisis and the Great Depression.
MHSAA tournaments existed at the dawn of aviation and at the time of our nation’s lunar landing. Popes, presidents and governors have changed and changed again and again, and MHSAA tournaments roll on year after year.
But the sense of tradition and permanence and inevitability of MHSAA tournaments doesn’t dissuade us from asking questions about our tournaments, even some of the most basic questions. Here are two.
Question #1
I have long been and will always be an advocate for a Ryder Cup format for the MHSAA Golf Finals, and a team tennis approach to the MHSAA Tennis Finals; but 90 years of tradition is hard to overcome. Might this be a more exciting format? Could it be co-ed? Could it reverse the decline in boys tennis participation, and increase girls golf participation? Wouldn’t it be fun to try?
Periodically, the International Olympic Committee requires each of the designated Olympic sports to defend its status, to state its case why the sport should remain a part of the Olympic program. Then, after a series or votes that retain one sport at a time, the IOC drops the sport that makes the weakest case. It does so to make room for one of the previously unlisted sports that makes the best case for inclusion.
This would appear to keep the existing Olympic sports on their toes, and to keep the Olympic movement fresh and reflective of modern trends in sports.
While I would not enjoy the controversy, I can see the potential for some positive results if the MHSAA were to invoke the same policy for determining the 14 tournaments it will provide for girls and the 14 for boys.
This might cause us to consider more deeply what a high school sport should look like, or at least what an MHSAA tournament sport should stand for.
On the one hand, we might be inclined to drop tournaments for those sports that involve mostly non-faculty coaches and non-school venues, or require cooperative programs to generate enough participants to support a team, or resort almost entirely to non-school funding, or cater to individuals more than teams.
Or perhaps this process would cause policymakers to forget traditional thinking and ask: “In this day and age, should we shake off traditional notions of sport and consider more where modern kids are coming from?” That might mean fewer team sports and more individual sports, more “extreme” sports like snowboarding and skateboarding, and more lifetime sports, meaning not just golf and tennis and running sports, but also fishing and even shooting sports.
Currently, MHSAA policy states that the MHSAA will consider sponsorship of a tournament series for any sport which 64 member schools conduct on an interscholastic basis as a result of action by the governing boards of those schools.
Should the only question be how many schools sponsor a sport, or must an activity also have certain qualities and/or avoid certain “defects?” What should an MHSAA tournament sport look like and stand for?
Question #2
Bristling from criticism that his association is a money-grabbing exploiter of children, my counterpart in another state said, “If we were running our programs just to make money, we would do very many things very differently.” I knew exactly what he meant.
Because we care about the health and welfare of students, because we mean what we say that the athletic program needs to maximize the ways it enhances the school experience while minimizing academic conflicts, and because we try to model our claim that no sport is a minor sport when it comes to its potential to teach young people life lessons, we operate our programs in ways that make promoters, marketers and business entrepreneurs laugh, cry or cringe.
If money were the only object, we would seed and select sites to assure the teams that attracted the most spectators had the best chance to advance in our tournaments, regardless of the travel for any team or its fan base. If money were the only object, we would never schedule two tournaments to overlap and compete for public attention, much less tolerate three or four overlapping events. If money were the only object, we would allow signage like NASCAR events and promotions like minor league baseball games.
Those approaches to event sponsorship may not be all wrong; they’re just not all right for us. And we will live with the consequences of our belief system.
During a typical school year, more than 20 percent of the MHSAA’s 2,097 District, Regional and Final tournaments lose money. Not a single site in golf, skiing or tennis makes a single penny. In no sport did every District, Regional and Final site have revenue in excess of direct expenses.
In fact, in only three sports – boys and girls basketball and football – is revenue so much greater than direct expenses overall that it helps to pay for all the other tournaments in which the MHSAA invests.
That’s right: invests. When we present our budget to our board, we talk about the MHSAA’s investment in providing tournament opportunities in all those sports and all those places that cannot sustain the cost of those events on their own. How much is this investment worth to students, schools and society?
These two are core questions that require our focus far in advance of talk about scheduling, site selection, seeding and the myriad matters that too often hijack our time and attention.
Longtime Crew Leader Harrelson Begins 32nd Season on Chains, Amid Cancer Fight
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
September 11, 2026
First down! Move the chains.
As a member of the Suttons Bay chain gang, Jim Harrelson doesn’t know how many more times he’ll follow the referee crew’s direction on the Norsemen sideline. Similarly, he has no idea how many times he’s already moved the chains.
But, in the meantime, every time he does, it will undoubtedly be a school record. An unofficial record of course, but a well-earned and appreciated achievement nonetheless.
Harrelson stepped on the field Wednesday night sporting a down marker for the 32nd straight year. This time, it was for the Norse’s middle school contest with Onekama. Harrelson was joined by Curt Murphy and Dave Faught. Mike Gordon, another regular member of the crew, was also on hand to celebrate Harrelson’s 32nd season.
Wednesday’s chain gang team was organized – no surprise – by Harrelson. It’s something he’s done on a volunteer basis for Suttons Bay the last 16 years.
Harrelson’s crews have staffed middle school, junior varsity and varsity football games, including the home contests during the Norsemen’s three straight seasons from 2019-21 that culminated in three trips to 8-Player Division 1 Finals. Harrelson, Faught, Murphy and Gordon are in their 10th season working together.
“The chain gang was always his baby, and he was always able to go find other people to help him out,” said Doug Periard, a long-time member of the Norse football coaching staff and former school athletic director. “Somehow he managed to get some of those who might not have done much in football, to suddenly come on board and enjoy doing it.”
Harrelson, who last spring retired from a coaching career spanning 35 years, has no intentions of letting anything get in the way of holding the down marker for the Norsemen.
“I've always loved sports, and being a part of the chain gang was always big part of it,” Harrelson said. “The ADs didn’t have to worry about it, knowing it was taken care of.”
Jamie Hawkins, Suttons Bay’s principal and current athletic director, was on hand for Wednesday’s kickoff as well. Hawkins, one of the administrators who has relied on Harrelson, believes the community owes Harrelson a huge thank you, acknowledging he has marked more first downs than anyone could ever comprehend.
“Jim’s years as a coach and chain gang chief are an amazing commitment to our student-athletes, our football program, and the entire Suttons Bay community,” said Hawkins. “His time, energy, and passion have been a part of countless Friday nights and memories for generations of Norsemen.”
Harrelson, now 82, is battling cancer for the second time in his life. He was first diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2010. Early this year, he was told cancer had returned.
Working with doctors and his wife of 53 years, Brenda, Harrelson picked a six-week treatment plan this summer timing it so he could return to the sidelines for the first football game. He’s awaiting word from his medical team on the outcome of the most recent treatment.
“I haven't let it dominate my life – everybody's going to have trials and tribulations no matter what,” Harrelson said of his cancer return. “Cancer is something that thousands of people find themselves having to deal with, and I'm pretty proud I've been able to function pretty much as normal as could be even though it’s obviously right there in front of me.”
Harrelson’s coaching journey began in 1991 with softball, drawn into the role as his children made their way through the Suttons Bay school system. He went on to serve as an assistant and head volleyball coach from 1996 through 2004.
Eventually he served as an assistant or head coach for Suttons Bay in golf, cross country and track.
Among the highlights of his time on the volleyball bench was helping guide the 2001 squad all the way to the MHSAA Finals, where the team earned a runner-up finish in Class C.
A short while ago, Harrelson was honored with the Don Lukens Legacy Award at the Traverse City Record-Eagle John Lober Honor Roll Meet for his coaching of student-athletes from all four Leelanau County schools – Maple City Glen Lake, Leland, Lake Leelanau St. Mary’s and Northport (with some of that coaching was made possible through the schools becoming a part of a co-op with Suttons Bay).
Much of Harrelson’s coaching was on a purely volunteer basis – even while serving as a head coach responsible for running an entire program.
Now, Harrelson’s favorite thing is watching his grandchildren grow and compete in sports, while admiring his adult children’s great parenting.
Harrelson points to his first grandchild’s birth 15 years ago as a prime motivator during the first cancer round. The Harrelsons have seven grandchildren now, one of whom was playing volleyball Wednesday night for Suttons Bay’s middle school team – with Grandma in the stands.
And while he’s remembered fondly by Leelanau athletes and athletic directors for his coaching commitment and success, Harrelson has only one thought for his family legacy.
“I just hope if I’m remembered for anything by my grandchildren and my kids is that I handled cancer pretty well without letting it affect me in any way, shape, or form in how I behave, how I coach or whatever,” Harrelson said. “I am pretty doggone proud of the fact that I've been able to put that on the table and still be able to function.”
Periard already views Harrelson as a great student-athlete advocate and solution finder.
“It was an incredible amount of time he put in doing the stuff he did and how much he loved it,” recalled Periard. “Cross country, track, whatever he was called upon, he was there to help out. He's a jack of all trades, a great kids guy at heart.”
Harrelson’s first paid coaching job was as an assistant for track in 2006. At the time he was hired by Cody Ingils, then the Suttons Bay athletic director and now a senior assistant director for the MHSAA.
Harrelson asked Inglis a decade ago to delivery his eulogy someday upon the veteran coach’s passing.
“Jim also always wanted the best for kids at every turn, and he wanted to be a positive force in kids’ lives – and I think Jim's ultimate takeaway is he met the kids where they were and tried to make sure that they got better,” Inglis said. “Jim was able to work with elite athletes, and he was able to work with kids that had never done that sport before. And that was the beauty of his coaching, is that it applied to anybody and everybody because of his positive way of dealing with kids.”
Harrelson, who points to track as his favorite sport to coach because of the camaraderie, is ready to keep moving the down marker as he battles the return of cancer.
“What I've been experiencing is part of who I am,” Harrelson said. “It’s just the cards I've been dealt. I just want to do it with class if I can.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Suttons Bay football chain gang leader Jim Harrelson plants his down marker on the sideline during Wednesday’s middle school game with Onekama. (2) Harrelson shakes hands with referee Ed Blough. (3) Harrelson stands for a photo with Suttons Bay principal and athletic director Jamie Hawkins, far left, past athletic director and longtime coach Doug Periard, far right, and his chain gang of (from left) Dave Faught, Curt Murphy and Mike Gordon. (4) Harrelson enjoys a break in the shade. (Top and sitting photos by Meredith McNabb Photography. Others by Tom Spencer.)