1975 Class D Football Film Finds Way Back to MHSAA for All to Enjoy Again

Highlights

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

April 11, 2023

Chasing history was one of the most enjoyable parts of serving at the MHSAA for nearly 34 years. Researching information, but especially what I considered for a long time to be talking to the “old guys” (now I’m one of them) and soaking up their verbal histories of our games.

It also involved chasing down old photos, broadcasts and game films – especially those which preceded our more modern video era beginning in the 1990s.

When I arrived at the MHSAA in 1987, there was a shelf of old 16mm film canisters of an assortment of Boys Basketball Finals from the 1950s to the 70s – certainly not a complete set. The Association would shoot some game action from each quarter and the trophy presentations. They’d be sent out to the participating schools to show to the students (I remember watching a Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart game in 1967 when I was in fifth grade). Some would find their way back to the office – most would not.

Will Robinson, the legendary Detroit Public School League coach who led Pershing High School to the league’s first MHSAA titles (in 1967 and 1970) after a district-imposed hiatus from 1931-61 from statewide tournaments, would pull my chain every time we saw each other about those games featuring Spencer Haywood and Ralph Simpson, among others. We never found them.

So it became a project to try and track down as many old game films of state championships as we could.

Any conversation with someone with a history tone always included a question about the whereabouts of a game film or video. One of those recently bore fruit.

When Crystal Falls Forest Park played in the 8-Player Football Finals at the Superior Dome in Marquette back in 2017, I spent a lot of time talking with living legend Bill Santilli, who led the Trojans to the Class D crown in the very first year of the tournament in 1975, and who would later coach the school to a second state title (2007) and serve as athletic director. He said he had a box on his desk collecting dust that he didn’t know what to do with – that box contained an old video tape from that game.

I uttered four little words – “Send It To Me.”

Posing with the championship trophy after the 1975 Class D Football Final are (left to right): Forest Park tight end Bryan LaChapelle, quarterback Richard Mettlach, head coach Dick Mettlach and running back Bill Santilli. After a while the tape arrived in East Lansing, and I got our video production friends at When We Were Young Productions/Rush Media in Wisconsin on it. This winter, they found someone who could convert it and sent me a file that was recently posted to the MHSAASPORTS Channel on YouTube. You can watch the Trojans play Flint Holy Rosary by Clicking Here or watching above.

There are all kinds of old game films/videos and artifacts in attics, closets, garages, etc., in every town. Two of our Muskegon historians – Ron Pesch, the MHSAA’s history guy; and the old broadcaster, Jim Moyes, who called games on the radio for years in the Port City – can tell stories of their own about discoveries they have made. Moyes found all kinds of mementos while working on his book on the history of high school track & field in Michigan, and sitting with Ron at this year’s Girls Basketball Finals, he told a story of finding the mother lode of photographs from one of his other historical passions – silent film star Buster Keaton – who spent ten summers in the Actor’s Colony in Muskegon.

Pesch found a listing for Eleanor Keaton, Buster’s widow, using a telephone book (remember those?), made a phone call and shortly thereafter, on a vacation to California, was in her living room where he was loaned a photo album and family scrapbook containing all kinds of images from their time in Muskegon. Many of those images appear in a soon-to-be-released documentary, while the album and scrapbook now reside in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences library in Beverly Hills, Calif. You can preview the film by Clicking Here.

So if you think you have something of a state championship that could be utilized on a bigger platform and enjoyed by everyone, drop a note to [email protected]. If something needs to be converted to a more modern format, you’ll get a copy back, and the footage will be eventually viewable on the MHSAA’s YouTube channel.

To help guide your search, think in the following terms:

► Just about anything before 1990. But there are gaps during the 90s that need to be filled as well.

► Only Championship games and Semifinal games, unless something momentous occurred (like Richie Jordan’s 60-point game for Fennville against Bridgman in a Regional Semifinal in 1965, which is still an all-time tournament single-game record for boys basketball).

► For a list of what’s in the MHSAA archives prior to 2000 – Click Here. A long-term project is to get all of the games on the list and up to about 2010 uploaded to the YouTube channel. Most games from 2013-14 on can be viewed on the NFHS Network, and some games between 2010 and 2013 are available for purchase as DVDs from PrepFilms.com.

PHOTO Posing with the championship trophy after the 1975 Class D Football Final are (left to right): Forest Park tight end Bryan LaChapelle, quarterback Richard Mettlach, head coach Dick Mettlach and running back Bill Santilli.

Highlights

Wrestling, Unified Hoops Top Dot-TV Slate

February 19, 2019

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

The schedule for this week on MHSAA.tv features Unified Basketball on Thursday (Feb. 21) and the MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals over the weekend.

The Kensington Lakes Activities Association will conduct its Unified Basketball Tournament on Thursday at Novi High School. Unified Sports bring together individuals of similar ages and abilities with and without disabilities on teams together, fostering friendship and acceptance through the power of sport.

Through this partnership, Special Olympics Michigan and the MHSAA share resources and networks with the hope of expanding the reach of Unified Sports and broadening the reach of youth athletic opportunities within a school.

Thursday's event begins at 4 p.m. with pool play, and concludes at 7:15 with the championship game and awards for all participants. MHSAA.tv will stream live video of games taking place in the main gym at Novi. Here’s the complete schedule:

Pool Play – 4 p.m. – Livonia Franklin v. Plymouth-Canton-Salem; Wayne Memorial v. Belleville; Wayne Memorial v. Livonia Churchill; Wayne Memorial v. Plymouth-Canton-Salem; Wayne Memorial v. Livonia Franklin.

Bracket Play – 6:30 p.m.

Final Game & Award – 7:15 p.m.

Team Wrestling at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo takes place Friday and Saturday (Feb. 22-23), the second of six straight weekends of Winter Finals tournament coverage on MHSAA.tv, with Quarterfinals on Friday; Semifinals Saturday morning; and Finals Saturday afternoon. Here’s the complete schedule:

Friday – Feb. 22
Quarterfinals – Mat 1
                Noon – Div. 4 – New Lothrop v. Manchester
                2:15 PM – Div. 1 – Detroit Catholic Central v. Clarkston
                4:30 PM – Div. 3 – Whitehall v. Alma
                6:45 PM – Div. 2 – Goodrich v. Niles
Quarterfinals – Mat 2
                Noon – Div. 4 – Hudson v. Leroy Pine River
                2:15 PM – Div. 1 – Brighton v. Macomb Dakota
                4:30 PM – Div. 3 – Remus Chippewa Hills v. Montrose
                6:45 PM – Div. 2 – Lowell v. Cedar Springs
Quarterfinals – Mat 3
                Noon – Div. 4 – Carson City-Crystal v. Onaway
                2:15 PM – Div. 1 – Davison v. Rockford
                4:30 PM – Div. 3 – Richmond v. Shepherd
                6:45 PM – Div. 2 – DeWitt v. Warren Woods-Tower
Quarterfinals – Mat 4
                Noon – Div. 4 – Clinton v. Schoolcraft
                2:15 PM – Div. 1 – Westland John Glenn v. Hartford
                4:30 PM – Div. 3 – Dundee v. Dowagiac
                6:45 PM – Div. 2 – Gaylord v. Tecumseh

Saturday – Feb. 23
Semifinals – Mat 1
9:30 AM – Div. 1 – Detroit CC/Clarkston winner v. Westland John Glenn/Hartland winner
Noon – Div. 2 – DeWitt/Warren Woods-Tower winner v. Goodrich/Niles winner
Semifinals – Mat 2
9:30 AM – Div. 1 – Davison/Rockford winner v. Brighton/Macomb Dakota winner
Noon – Div. 2 – Lowell/Cedar Springs winner v. Gaylord/Tecumseh winner
Semifinals – Mat 3
9:30 AM – Div. 4 – Hudson/Leroy Pine River winner v. Carson City-Crystal/Onaway winner
Noon – Div. 3 – Richmond/Shepherd winner v. Chippewa Hills/Montrose winner
Semifinals – Mat 4
9:30 AM – Div. 4 - Clinton/Schoolcraft winner v. New Lothrop/Manchester winner
Noon – Div. 1 – Whitehall/Alma winner v. Dundee/Dowagiac winner
Finals – Mat 1
                3:45 PM – Division 1
Finals – Mat 2
                3:45 PM – Division 2
Finals – Mat 3
                3:45 PM – Division 3
Finals – Mat 4
                3:45 PM – Division 4

Over the remainder of the Winter season, MHSAA.tv will have live coverage of the following:

Team Dual Wrestling Quarterfinals-Semifinals-Finals – Feb. 22-23
Individual Wrestling Finals – March 1-2
Girls Competitive Cheer Finals – March 1-2
Ice Hockey Semifinals & Finals – March 7-8-9
L.P. Boys Swimming & Diving Finals – March 9
Boys Basketball Quarterfinals & Semifinals – March 12, 14-15
Girls Basketball Quarterfinals & Semifinals – March 19, 21-22

Fans can purchase a Month Pass to watch on the NFHS Network for $9.95, which allows three log-ons. Subscribers will have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country for 30 days. All content becomes available for free, on-demand viewing 72 hours after being shown live.

In addition to this weekend’s wrestling action, there will also be coverage of regular-season basketball and Girls Competitive Cheer Regionals being produced by School Broadcast Program participants.

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