Jackson Area Efforts Net New Officials
February 16, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Recruitment of new high school officials to eventually take the reins from those currently conducting MHSAA events is a challenge faced all over Michigan.
The Jackson Area Officials Association is working to restock its ranks by recruiting directly from local schools and developing them with help from veteran mentors.
Eight new officials – ages 15 to 24 – who worked a series of youth and middle school games together earlier this month, are among those who have been introduced through a program that begins with a meeting at the end of the high school basketball season between JAOA official Bill Walker and local athletic directors, coaches, fellow officials and other young adults he’s made contact with over the course of a season. From that meeting, Walker builds a list of potential candidates to become officials and then invites them to the annual JAOA Legacy Camp in June.
The camp includes two days of scrimmages between local teams, plus classroom and mechanics teaching. Similar to the MHSAA Legacy program, new officials are paired with veterans, and clinicians evaluate their work during scrimmage play. Walker then keeps in touch with the new officials during the rest of the summer, plugging them in for local youth tournaments and scrimmages, and uses as many as possible while assigning officials for youth tournaments over the winter.
All eight officials who worked the event this month are part of the JAOA legacy partnering, and some of the group already are working games at the junior varsity level – with one, a 19-year-old, recently completing his first varsity game. They come from a variety of Jackson-area schools – Parma Western, Napoleon, Jackson Christian, Michigan Center, Concord and East Jackson. Walker said the recruiting effort has a 60 percent success rate so far. (This June’s legacy camp will be the third.)
“By next season, all (eight) will be official MHSAA registered officials,” he said, noting most currently are registered. “It’s great to have these schools support this program. We all benefit from added, good officiating.”
Passing it forward
Our Battle of the Fans trip to Charlotte on Friday included a conversation about a Feb. 2 game between the Orioles and Mason, which has a pair of athletes fighting cancer. The Charlotte student section dressed in blue that night in support of junior Storm Miller, and during halftime passed buckets to raise money for Miller’s GoFundMe account set up to help pay for his care.
Mason, in turn, provided support Friday to an Owosso alum, 2012 graduate Cody Greger, who remains hospitalized at University of Michigan’s hospital with injuries sustained during a house fire in November. Fans and students collected donations to assist Greger’s family with his care.
“This event was yet another example of the values that school sports teach young people,” Owosso athletic director Dallas Lintner wrote on the school’s website. “And it stands as a testament of the integrity of the young adults that represent our schools and the (Capital Area Activities Conference.)."
100 years of hoops
A decade before the formation of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, Eastern Michigan University – then known as Michigan State Normal College – hosted what is believed to be the first organized high school basketball tournament in state history.
EMU will celebrate this anniversary Saturday in conjunction with the Eagles men’s basketball game against Toledo. Game time is noon at EMU’s Convocation Center, and during a break in play the athletic department will recognize the 12 schools that took part in that 1916 tournament – Marine City, Dundee, Milan, Mancelona, Farmington, Elkton, Royal Oak, Middleville, Lansing, Mount Clemens, Wayne and Saline.
More history, courtesy of EMU:
The game of basketball was developed by James Naismith in 1891 at Springfield College in Massachusetts. As a means of promoting the game throughout the country, physical education professor and EMU's first athletic director Wilber Bowen asked his good friend Naismith to bring the game to the Michigan State Normal College (now known as Eastern Michigan University).
The first basketball game west of the Allegheny Mountains was played at Michigan Normal in 1894 to recognize the new physical education program and to dedicate the new gymnasium on campus.
Then in 1916, Bowen, along with instructors Elmer Mitchell and Lloyd Olds (who was also credited with the introduction of the striped referee jersey), organized the first high school basketball tournament in Michigan. A total of 300 invitations were sent out to all Class B schools in the state. Twelve schools responded, and the first high school boys tournament was held on the Ypsilanti-based campus on March 23-25, 1916.
Entrance to the tournament was free and (the event was) played at the Michigan State Normal School Gymnasium. However, expenses related to transportation, room, and board had to be provided by the participating schools. The MSNC's Physical Education Department made it easier for schools to participate by making arrangements with local residents to provide food at 20 to 25 cents a meal and lodging at 25 cents a night for each player.
That first tournament saw Marine City defeat Dundee in the championship game, 23-22.
The winning team was awarded a silver shield mounted on an oak base. Second prize was a silver cup, and the third place team received a banner. Individual participation awards to all players were also provided. The Ypsilanti Press at the time felt the Normal School "went first class with the awards."
For tickets to Saturday’s game and event, which will be followed by the EMU women’s team taking on Northern Illinois, call the EMU Ticket Office at (734) 487-2282 or visit EMUEagles.com/tickets.
Following up
• Second Half’s Chip Mundy this fall wrote a story on the emergence of Ida’s football team on the way to making the Division 5 Semifinals and finishing its best season ever. A theme of that story was Ida’s philosophy of building “brick by brick,” coined by defensive line coach Gary Deland, who himself was building back after emergency triple-bypass heart surgery.
“From that very first practice in the summer to the last game as a senior, everything is built brick by brick,” Deland said for that story. “I can draw a correlation between that and my recovery, what I’ve gone through. It’s the same thing. It’s brick by brick.”
Kim Farver sent along this photo of Deland holding up a brick after the team’s 43-20 Regional Final win over Buchanan.
• We released the last batch of this year’s MHSAA-Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award winners today, and one of the highlights during the 27 years of the contest came two years ago when we caught up with some of our winners from the first 25 years – including Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood’s Abby Cohen, who has gone on to co-found a company and help develop a smartphone application, Wing, to help asthma patients monitor their lung function.
Here’s a look at a video describing the technology she’s helped create:
Marathon, Redemption Make Franklin's 1986 Softball Run Eternally Unforgettable
By
Ron Pesch
MHSAA historian
May 14, 2026
Tracy Lectka is celebrating a victory.
In Steve Fecht’s image found on the front page of the June 1986 Observer newspaper’s sports section, she is riding on the shoulders of ecstatic Livonia Franklin fans. Lectka’s arms are raised, and teammate Maria Vasseliou grabs at her jersey. The shot radiates the postgame celebration that came with the Patriots’ 1986 MHSAA Class A softball state championship – an honor that had slipped away a year previous.
Just as powerful is a photograph from the Observer’s Dan Dean from the 1985 run to the title game. Within, Lectka’s father Ron embraced his daughter, comforting the pain of what might have been.
“My Dad was a huge part of my life and taught me everything I knew,” recalled Tracy. “He coached girls softball for Redford Thurston for years. … That was the most hits and runs I had given up all year. That picture speaks volumes to say the least.
“The woman next to me was our outfielder Cherie Mascarello’s mom. She was a huge supporter of the team. Never missed a game, like my mom.”
The Spring of 1985
In just his second year of coaching Livonia Franklin, Joe Epstein had built confidence among his players stressing focus and fundamentals. Lectka, a junior, emerged as an outstanding pitcher, and Epstein featured her constantly as she tossed more than 200 innings. Among Franklin’s victories were three over cross-town rival Livonia Stevenson and the state’s top pitcher, all-state senior Lisa Bokovoy. Franklin finished fourth in the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association (MHSSCA) weekly Class A regular-season rankings.
During the tournament, Lectka tossed three consecutive four-hit shutouts, but, according to Observer staff writer Brad Emons, “was roughed up for 11 hits” in a 5-0 loss to Mount Clemens L’Anse Creuse North in the 1985 state title game. Played at Lansing’s Ranney Park, North’s star pitcher – right-hander Chris Harms (21-5) – twirled her sixth shutout of the tournament. During that Saturday lockdown, she had allowed seven hits but was “tough in pressure situations.” The Patriots had loaded the bases in the second and fifth innings but could not score.
“We just didn’t hit in the clutch,” Epstein told the Observer, “and they made it count when they had people on.”
North, 22-6 on the year, had opened the season among the state’s top-ranked teams. Harms earned second team all-state honors from MHSSCA, while Lectka was an honorable mention all-state selection. She finished the season with a 22-3 mark.
With an impressive 25-4 record, and one of the state’s top pitchers returning the following spring, Epstein vowed the team would be back.
A Shot at Redemption
With Lectka – one of three seniors – and top players Vasseliou, Cherie Mascarello, Rose Obey, Sue Ritz, Patty Wixson and Karen Schoeninger, the team was the MHSSCA’s Class A preseason favorite entering 1986. That quickly changed within the rankings when the Patriots lost their second game, 12-3, to Walled Lake Central, then dropped a double header to Garden City. A year earlier, Franklin had defeated the Cougars three times, including in a 21-inning pitching duel between Lectka and sophomore Shelly Malone, which Franklin won 1–0.
After some experimenting with the lineup, Epstein was able to right the ship. From there, things progressed with relative ease, as his team dropped just two more games against quality opponents, splitting a double header with Westland John Glenn, then dropping one of three games with a solid Plymouth Salem squad, a conference rival. The Patriots finished the regular season fifth in the final Class A rankings and eased their way through the District. They shut out both John Glenn and Belleville in the Regional to earn a trip back to Lansing for the final rounds.
Speaking just prior to their MHSAA Semifinal game with South Lyon, Coach Epstein was asked by the Observer about his squad’s chances.
The Lions, one of nine teams earning honorable mention in the MHSSCA’s rankings, were led by junior ace Andrea Nelson. They had trounced Salem, 19-4, beneath sweltering heat in their District Final. Following that win, Franklin upset fourth-ranked East Kentwood and then downed Lansing Eastern to continue the postseason run.
“I feel confident that if we beat South Lyon, we can go all the way,” said Epstein, “and I don’t go on a limb very often. … I understand there were a bunch of walks and errors (in Salem’s game with the Lions). I’ve seen some good teams have bad days.”
On the opposite side of the Class A bracket stood Waterford Kettering, a scrappy unranked squad Franklin had beat, “in an invitational tournament, 10-5,” and Grosse Pointe South, which, behind the pitching of University of Michigan-bound Lynn Vismara, had shocked both top-ranked Utica Ford and No. 2-ranked Fraser in Regional play.
“(We’re) a better hitting team than last year,” said Epstein, convinced strong pitching from other teams would not deter his crew from their quest. “And I’ve got some other kids who can swing the bat.”
Epstein’s belief would be severely tested.
The Marathon
“The game began innocently enough at 5:30 p.m.,” wrote the Observer’s Chris McCosky about Franklin’s battle with the Lions. “At 8:30 p.m. in the 17th inning, it was still scoreless. Despite the run shortage, the game (had) produced high drama. South Lyon loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 12th. The Lions put together back-to-back hits in the 13th, but the lead runner was thrown out at third …
“Franklin had its chances, too,” continued McCosky. “The Pats put together three hits in the fifth, but a potential run was tagged out at third. They put runners on first and third in both the fifth and 17th and came away empty.”
Drew Sharp, writing for the Detroit Free Press, covered what happened next.
“… Amid growing darkness at Michigan State, the umpires asked South Lyon coach Jeff Gale and Franklin coach Joe Epstein whether they wanted to continue playing at nearby Ranney Park, which (had) lights or wait until 10 a.m. Saturday.”
Epstein stated he had three players scheduled to take the ACT college entrance exam the next morning and requested the game be moved and continued. Gale wanted to wait. Because the coaches couldn’t come to a solution, the umpires were put on the spot. While the choice wasn’t an easy one, they decided play would resume at MSU in the morning.
Earlier in the day, Kettering sophomore Julie Vachon ripped a long line drive just beyond the reach of the left fielder for a game-winning grand slam, sealing a 4-3 comeback win over Grosse Pointe South.
Title Time
Come daylight, all three test-takers were ready, having skipped their scheduled appointment back home. With two outs in the top of the 20th inning, Vasseliou, the Patriots’ junior shortstop. tripled in a pair of runs to end the deadlock, sealing a 2-0 victory and sending Franklin back to the title game played later in the day at Ranney.
The Lansing State Journal’s Tom Gantert beautifully summarized the Patriots’ weekend in the paper’s Sunday edition. “Livonia Franklin High softball pitcher Tracy Lectka doesn’t ask much from her teammates. Just that they score …”
Kettering’s Vachon allowed two walks, struck out a pair, and gave up just three hits during the championship game. But Vasseliou, again facing two outs, drove in Kris Roman who had led off the first inning with a single. That gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead they would not increase or relinquish.
Lectka notched just a single strikeout, but, defensively, her teammates were nearly perfect. Outside a single error, her infield scooped up everything it faced from the Captains. Only three balls tossed by the senior left the infield during the title game. She finished the day with a no-hitter, extending her streak of scoreless innings allowed to 44. Franklin ended the season with a 31-5 record and the school’s second MHSAA state championship in any sport. Ten years previous, the Patriots had won the 1975 Class A football trophy.
“‘We played awesome. I love it,” a teary-eyed Lectka told the Observer. “This is it.” It was her final game on the diamond. A year earlier, she had accepted a college scholarship to play basketball – not softball – at Wayne State.
Soon after, Sports Illustrated visited the family to snap a photo of Tracy for publication in their weekly sidebar, “Faces in the Crowd.” Over 35 years later, in mid-September 2023, the softball squad, along with that football team, were inducted into Franklin’s inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame.
Epstein, who had passed away in 2012, was also honored individually that evening. He had taught in the Detroit Public Schools from 1957 to 1966 before moving to Franklin. A long-time physical education teacher, he also led Franklin’s softball team to a runner-up finish in 1990. His wife Linda joined three others to cut the honorary ribbon for the Hall.
The induction celebration brought back wonderful memories. But it was noted that a few of the team’s achievements during their runs to the Finals were missing from the MHSAA state record book.
Happily, that has now been corrected.
PHOTOS (Top) The Observer reported on Livonia Franklin’s 1986 Class A championship, including a memorable photo. (2) Ron Lectka, far left, comforts his daughter Tracy after her team’s 1985 title game loss. (3) The cover of the 1986 MHSAA Softball Finals program sets the scene for the weekend to come. (4) The Patriots celebrate. (5) Franklin poses for a team photo after the 1986 win. (Photos gathered by Ron Pesch from Observer archives and Tracy Lectka.)