MHSAA Historian Picks 10 to Remember
August 9, 2016
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
It sounded simple and fun, the theme for the MHSAA's spring issue of benchmarks: a history of MHSAA tournaments.
It certainly was the latter, but simple? Not so much.
There’s no way to do justice to nearly a century’s worth of history in some sports. Complicating matters was the abundance of information and photographs for some, and the scant amount of detailed data and images for others.
MHSAA historian Ron Pesch was given an equally challenging task: recount a “Top 10” list from his days covering various MHSAA Finals. He shares them here and, he adds, they are in no order of favorites.
The Shot: 1986 Class B Boys Basketball Final at Crisler Arena – Saginaw Buena Vista’s Chris Coles’ desperation shot, launched at the buzzer from well beyond half court, dropped through the hoop to give the Knights a 33-32 win over defending champion Flint Beecher in a rematch of the 1985 Class B title game. The shot was Coles’ first of the second half and his only points in the contest.
The Smurfs: 1986 Class A Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome – The "Smurfs" – Muskegon Coach Dave Taylor's nickname for his small, quick swarming defensive linemen – limited heavily favored Sterling Heights Stevenson to four yards rushing and 73 yards of total offense in a 10-0 win. As a 1979 graduate of Muskegon High School, I was elated.
The Drive: 1989 Class B Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome – I slid down from the press box into the stands at the Silverdome for the end of this one. With 2:20 remaining, the atmosphere was simply electric, as Farmington Hills Harrison’s lauded quarterback Mill Coleman took the reins with his team down 27-21 to DeWitt. The senior executed a flawless two-minute drill, guiding his team to the DeWitt 9 before scampering into the end zone for the tying points. Steve Hill added his fourth PAT for the lead, then secured the victory with an interception on the next series.
King Kool: 2005 Class B Boys Basketball Final, Breslin Center, East Lansing – David Kool was a flawless 20 for 20 from the free-throw line and scored 43 points as Grand Rapids South Christian downed Muskegon Heights 67-60.
The Parade: 2004 Individual Wrestling Finals, The Palace of Auburn Hills – In 2004, I traveled to Auburn Hills to watch the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals for the first time. The pageantry of the Grand March, the skills on display, the roar of the massive crowd, and the ensuing beauty and chaos of a wrestling extravaganza of this scale is truly a sight to see.
A Marathon: 2007 Division 3 Football Final, Ford Field, Detroit – East Grand Rapids and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s ended regulation tied 14-14, and this would turn into a five overtime battle that required an extra hour of play. No previous football playoff game, from Districts up, had ever gone beyond four overtimes. After exchanging field goals, touchdowns, extra points and two-point conversions, East Grand Rapids emerged with a 46-39 victory.
Tawana Towers: 1994 Class A Girls Basketball Final at Kellogg Arena, Battle Creek – Flint Northern, coached by Leteia Hughley and led by 6-4 freshman Tawana McDonald, defeated 1993 runner-up Detroit Martin Luther King, 46-32, for the Class A championship. McDonald batted down an MHSAA-record 10 shots, pulled down 13 rebounds and added five points and seven assists in a stellar performance.
Never Quit: 2008 Division 2 Football Semifinal, Spartan Stadium, East Lansing – Unbeaten, No. 1-ranked and heavily favored Muskegon trailed Davison by 22 late in the third quarter and 16 with less than five minutes to play. In perhaps the greatest comeback in playoff history, Muskegon recovered two onside kicks and scored 19 points in the final 4:31 to escape with a 38-35 victory and its third trip in five years to an MHSAA Final.
MHSAA Legends: 1998-2008 – For 10 years, the MHSAA showcased great teams from the past with their Legends of the Game series. From a historian’s perspective it was a chance to meet and learn more about folks I had often known only from the pages of microfilm. It was quite the treat to see years fall away as coaches, team managers and players reunited, in many cases for the first time after decades apart.
The MHSAA Record Books: Online, 1994 – One of my first efforts as state historian was to expand the record books beyond their primary focus on football, basketball, track & field and swimming & diving. With the arrival of the internet, an enhanced version of the record books was brought online. Coaches and fans were quick to respond with letters and e-mails, happily listing entries that had been “missed.” Soon, five category headings in a sport grew to 20, then to 50 and beyond.
Kids: 2004 Football Finals, Pontiac Silverdome – (OK, this is No. 11 ... consider it an extra point). For the first time, my sons joined me for my annual excursion to Metro Detroit for a Thanksgiving Day football weekend. They got to see the Silverdome before the move of the MHSAA Football Finals to beautiful Ford Field. Future Big Reds, they also got to see their future alma mater win another title.
PHOTOS: (Top) An MHSAA boys basketball tournament game is played at Olympia Stadium in Detroit. (Middle) Flint Northern's Tawana McDonald blocks a shot during the 1994 Class A Final.
Century of School Sports: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 25, 2024
Notable achievements cover only one chapter of 100 years of MHSAA history we are celebrating during the 2024-25 school year.
But few states tell this part of their story in as much detail as the MHSAA does through one of the nation’s most robust record books.
The first layers of the MHSAA record book go back to the Association’s early years. Track & Field Finals records from the first quarter-century of championship meets were listed in the appendix of Lewis L. Forsythe’s book “Athletics in Michigan High Schools – The First Hundred Years” published in 1950.
Of course, those were just the start.
The MHSAA record book today, housed on the “Records” pages for each sport of MHSAA.com, is rooted in the work of longtime historian Dick Kishbaugh, who served in that voluntary role until 1994 and after a half-century of compiling data. He was succeeded by current historian Ron Pesch, whose work over the last 40 years has brought significant structure to the record book at it has continued to expand, and whose research continues to fill in otherwise long-lost accomplishments.
All 28 sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason play have at least one section of a record book – with plans for adding several more sections as time allows. The amount of data can be mind-boggling. Our softball individual record book alone has more than 3,000 listings. We have team records listings as well for most sports, and several of our head-to-head sports have pages tracking our winningest coaches, and we update those every season. Nearly all of our sports have pages dedicated specifically to records from our Finals events as well – and in fact, some of our sports’ record books are completely derived from championship performances, where we know playing conditions are similar for all (like in track & field, where wind-aided times are not allowed).
As the MHSAA record book continued to evolve, it began to be patterned against the record book produced by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). That book was printed annually beginning with its 1978-79 edition and through 2010 before the NFHS lists went completely online at NFHS.org. The first NFHS printed record book touted having more than 50,000 listings, and several were from Michigan – including the first two photos, of Central Lake baseball player Doug Smith sliding into third base in 1977 and then the 1962 Grand Haven baseball team. While the MHSAA has added categories from time to time, generally what’s collected in Michigan reflected what’s collected nationally.
The MHSAA has played a significant role in the policy-making for the NFHS record book, primarily through the leadership of longtime communications director John Johnson during his multiple terms on the national record book committee. The criteria for adding records nationally – and by relation, to the MHSAA book – remains the same today.
Every potential record book listing is scrutinized. Almost always, candidates for the record book are submitted by an MHSAA member school. Most fill out an NFHS application linked on every record book page of this website, signed by a school administrator and the athlete involved. All applications must include documentation of the achievement – perhaps a box score for a single-game listing in softball, or the team’s season stats for a single-season accomplishment, or season stats for every season that athlete played for a career record.
Over the last decade, we’ve also received more video clips – often for something like a 99-yard football run – and a few full soccer games have been watched to make sure goalkeeper saves have been counted correctly.
We also will add record book listings based on media reports, which is especially helpful for achievements we hear about from decades ago. Yes, the MHSAA record books are living documents, and we frequently add accomplishments that take several years to get to us.
We are always eager to add to our collection of history. But it’s important to keep in mind that this is not an immediate process.
Submissions stack up quickly. We currently have 108 under consideration, and another 127 requiring additional documentation.
Additions generally are made during offseasons as we are most focused on our sports currently being played during the busiest months of the school year – and on the athletes making history for us to include as our record books continue to grow.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: (1) The lead-in to Track & Field Finals records listed in “Athletics in Michigan High Schools – The First Hundred Years” shows a few of the elite performances from our earliest meets. (2) Leland volleyball star Alisha Glass celebrates with her teammates; she still holds four MHSAA records in that sport. (3) Every day this school year, the MHSAA is posting a record on its Instagram and X social media channels, and the great majority took place on that specific day. (4) Brimley’s John Payment still holds the all-Finals record for high jump, 7-foot-1, from 1989. (Glass and Payment photos from MHSAA archives.)