Honorees Examples of Excellence
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 13, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Dave Hutton had stepped away from the hockey program he’d started at Grandville High School more than a decade before when he was asked to come back and save it from extinction.
The team had struggled with low student interest – not to mention decreasing skill – and was under consideration to be eliminated in 1991. So Hutton volunteered to start over again. Order returned, the team quickly became successful and never had a losing season under Hutton before he retired from the sport in 2002.
He’s the first to say he was just one person who assisted in reviving the program. But he also served as an example – a common role he and Jim Gilmore surely shared during careers that have earned them this year’s Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Charles E. Forsythe Award
“It’s been important to me to do it properly; that’s how basically I always looked at it,” Hutton said of being a high school coach. “I was trained well by a lot of mentors, and consequently I tried to do things first class.
“When it comes down to being a coach, you set an example for fellow coaches. But more importantly, you want the athletes and parents to have a positive reaction to what you do, be proud of the program they are part of.”
The annual award is in its 36th year and is named after former MHSAA Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe, the Association's first full-time and longest-serving chief executive. Forsythe Award recipients are selected each year by the MHSAA Representative Council, based on an individual's outstanding contribution to the interscholastic athletics community. Hutton and Gilmore will receive their honors during quarter breaks of the MHSAA Class A Boys Basketball Final on March 23 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing. Gilmore will receive his award during the break between the first and second quarters, and Hutton will receive his during the break between the third and fourth quarters.
Gilmore and Hutton have made contributing to Michigan high school athletics their lives’ work over the last four decades. Gilmore served four school districts over a 37-year career before retiring in 2008. He coached and taught at his alma mater Grant High School before moving on and eventually serving as athletic director at Kalamazoo’s Barbour Hall Academy (while also assisting at Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central High School). He was the athletic director and coached at Morenci High School and then served as athletic director at Tecumseh High School. Gilmore was named to the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2004 and also served that school year as president of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
Hutton, 64, has coached the Grandville High School boys golf team for 42 seasons and also started and led the ice hockey program for 18. His golf teams have posted a 520-180-9 dual meet record, made the MHSAA Finals 20 times and won Class A MHSAA championships in 1976 and 1988. His hockey teams over two stints as coach amassed a record of 212-189-23 with two Regional titles and a Division 1 Semifinal appearance in 2001, his second-to-last season coaching that sport.
“Jim Gilmore and Dave Hutton have made long-standing contributions to their respective sports and communities. Their dedication and high regard for school athletics are signified by their decades of work,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “Their continued efforts – Dave Hutton as a coach and MHSAA Finals director, and Jim Gilmore with the MIAAA – show that for both, this is a life-long commitment. We’re proud to honor Jim Gilmore and Dave Hutton with Forsythe Awards.”
Gilmore, 65, coached football for 25 years at Grant, Barbour Hall and Morenci, and baseball for 15 seasons. He served on MHSAA site and officials selection committees for seven sports and as president of both the Tri-County Conference and Southeastern Conference. He was instrumental in renovations during his tenures at Morenci and Tecumseh and also wrote the athletic code book that established academic standards for Morenci athletes.
Gilmore also has volunteered in various capacities in his church and communities, and remains active in the MIAAA as part of the past presidents council and the awards and lifetime member committees.
“It’s something I wanted to do even when I was in high school,” said Gilmore, noting former Grant High principal, athletic director and football coach Ray Rynberg as a key mentor. “I was just watching what he did, and it was something I was really interested in as a kid. Participating in athletics, and then having the opportunity after finishing school to coach and be an athletic director, that was really something I enjoyed immensely.”
Hutton served as a member of the Michigan Golf Coaches Association Board for 24 years – and as president in 1984 and 1994 – and has directed a combined 18 boys and girls MHSAA Golf Finals. He was named Michigan golf Coach of the Year in 1977 by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association, Midwest Regional Coach of the Year in 1988 and the NHSACA’s national Coach of the Year in 2001. He also was recognized as the MIGCA Coach of the Year in 1976 and 1988 and as the Michigan High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1977 and 1989. He was inducted into the MIGCA Hall of Fame in 1993 and the MHSCA Hall of Fame in 2002.
Hutton retired from the classroom in 2010 after teaching math and science at the elementary and middle school levels at Grandville for 41 years. He also has impacted his local golf community as a United State Golf Association junior tournament director and Professional Golf Association co-chairman of “Club for Kids” for Kent County.
“There’s still this satisfaction in seeing players in either sport be successful and continue to enjoy the sport when they’ve left (high school),” Hutton said. “There are times when kids say they’ve had enough of that. But it’s nice to see, just being a part of their growth in a sport as it continues beyond, whether they play in college or even as an adult in a rec league or church league, that they enjoyed it and learned something when you were their coach.”
Hutton received his bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University in 1967 and his master’s from Michigan State University in 1977. Gilmore received his bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University in 1975 and followed with graduate studies both at WMU and Eastern Michigan University.
Past recipients of the Charles E. Forsythe Award:
1978 - Brick Fowler, Port Huron; Paul Smarks, Warren
1979 - Earl Messner, Reed City; Howard Beatty, Saginaw
1980 - Max Carey, Freesoil
1981 - Steven Sluka, Grand Haven; Samuel Madden, Detroit
1982 - Ernest Buckholz, Mt. Clemens; T. Arthur Treloar, Petoskey
1983 - Leroy Dues, Detroit; Richard Maher, Sturgis
1984 - William Hart, Marquette; Donald Stamats, Caro
1985 - John Cotton, Farmington; Robert James, Warren
1986 - William Robinson, Detroit; Irving Soderland, Norway
1987 - Jack Streidl, Plainwell; Wayne Hellenga, Decatur
1988 - Jack Johnson, Dearborn; Alan Williams, North Adams
1989 - Walter Bazylewicz, Berkley; Dennis Kiley, Jackson
1990 - Webster Morrison, Pickford; Herbert Quade, Benton Harbor
1991 - Clifford Buckmaster, Petoskey; Donald Domke, Northville
1992 - William Maskill, Kalamazoo; Thomas G. McShannock, Muskegon
1993 - Roy A. Allen Jr., Detroit; John Duncan, Cedarville
1994 - Kermit Ambrose, Royal Oak
1995 - Bob Perry, Lowell
1996 - Charles H. Jones, Royal Oak
1997 - Michael A. Foster, Richland; Robert G. Grimes, Battle Creek
1998 - Lofton C. Greene, River Rouge; Joseph J. Todey, Essexville
1999 - Bernie Larson, Battle Creek
2000 - Blake Hagman, Kalamazoo; Jerry Cvengros, Escanaba
2001 - Norm Johnson, Bangor; George Lovich, Canton
2002 - John Fundukian, Novi
2003 - Ken Semelsberger, Port Huron
2004 – Marco Marcet, Frankenmuth
2005 – Jim Feldkamp, Troy
2006 – Dan McShannock, Midland; Dail Prucka, Monroe
2007 – Keith Eldred, Williamston; Tom Hickman, Spring Lake
2008 – Jamie Gent, Haslett; William Newkirk, Sanford-Meridian
2009 – Paul Ellinger, Cheboygan
2010 – Rudy Godefroidt, Hemlock; Mike Boyd, Waterford
2011 – Eric C. Federico, Trenton
2012 – Bill Mick, Midland
PHOTOS: (Top) Grandville boys golf coach Dave Hutton appeared with his 1988 team in the MHSAA's 1988-89 Book of Champions. (Below) The Tecumseh scoreboard hangs in the gymnasium Jim Gilmore once called home; he led renovation efforts during his tenure as athletic director. (Photo courtesy of Tecumseh High School.)
Trail-Blazing Beckett Leads On
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 27, 2013
Barbara Beckett had an idea this was going to be big.
But until she arrived in East Lansing for the 1995 MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals, she had no idea how major a deal her next assignment would be.
Beckett had made the trip from Traverse City for Boys Finals weekend before, and officiated Semifinals two of the three previous seasons. But until that Saturday’s Class C Final between Ishpeming and Lakeview, no woman had ever officiated an MHSAA boys basketball championship game.
“I was pretty fearless. I was really, really driven to succeed,” Beckett said. “I was just so happy I got to be that person. It could’ve been a couple of other people. We had other women who were tremendous officials. I was very fortunate.”
Many who have worked with Beckett over the last three decades would claim the same. A 30-year MHSAA registered official, and the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA program director for the last 28, Beckett has left a long-lasting imprint on athletics not just in the northern Lower Peninsula, but statewide. She will be presented with the 26th MHSAA Women in Sports Leadership Award during halftime of the Girls Basketball Class A Final on March 16 at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
“Barbara Beckett is a demonstrated leader, evidenced by her previously being awarded the Norris Award for her efforts in recruiting and training officials,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “In that regard, she’s a trailblazer for women in the officiating family, and her influence continues to be felt. We’re pleased to honor her with the 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.
Beckett worked with Donald Gustafson and Todd Geerlings on the crew that called the 1995 Class C Boys Basketball Final. But that wasn't her first experience reffing the guys.
On top of officiating games at lower levels of the MHSAA tournaments, she also had begun reffing rec league games at the Y during the early 1980s. That might’ve come as a shock to some of those players – but she must’ve won them over, as now she helps build programs for their children and grandchildren.
During her nearly three decades at the Y, she’s developed women’s, men’s and co-ed softball leagues that have grown to include more than 1,500 players and a men’s recreational basketball league with more than 250 participants. Under her guidance, the YMCA’s Pop Warner football league has grown to become one of the largest in the Midwest with 2,500 players.
She also achieved another MHSAA first in 2000 when she became the first female selected for the Vern L. Norris Award for her work as an official.
“My purpose always has been to be an advocate for the officials and game participants,” Beckett said. “I try to be an active advocate all the time. And working for the Y too, we’re all about participation. My time 24 hours a day is actively advocating for game participants and officials.”
Beckett is a 1971 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School and a 1973 graduate of Northwestern Michigan College. She briefly left Traverse City after college before returning a few years later, and became involved with the thriving and close-knit recreational scene in her new hometown. She soon began working part-time at the YMCA, in charge of organizing its basketball program.
Her credo as program director is similar to that of the MHSAA – she creates programs for people who want to participate, and she works to give them the best possible experience in part by making sure the programs are managed by qualified officials.
But she’s also made it a priority to mentor and provide a positive influence to women and men both who are following in her paths.
“At times, it can be very intimidating to be one of the few women in our field. Barb has such an amazing relationship with those she works with and for. To tell you the truth, I can’t say if I know of anyone more well-liked and respected who does so many things,” said Heather Simpson, who coaches volleyball at Traverse City St. Francis, girls basketball at Traverse City Central and works for Beckett at the YMCA.
“I can’t imagine where I would be had I not been able to work and learn from someone like Barb Beckett. I work with young athletes currently, and I want for them to see that women can be a success in whatever they choose. We talk about choices in life. … I try each day to choose to do something positive. That’s what I learned from Barb. Women can make an impact. Women can make a difference. Barb has made such an impact in our area in the world of athletics. She has opened so many doors for so many women.”
Beckett also has worked three MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals and three Softball Finals, twice serving at the latter as umpire in chief, and was an alternate for a number of other championship games. She has officiated several Boys and Girls Basketball Semifinals and Softball Quarterfinals during her career, and continues to serve as president of both the Grand Traverse Area Umpires Association and the Northern Sports Officials Association. She also serves as an assigner of girls and boys basketball and softball officials in the Traverse City area, and was named to the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Honor in 2006.
Beckett also has served as commissioner of District 19 of the Michigan Amateur Softball Association since 1992, and has been instrumental in hosting four women’s, two men’s and one co-ed state final. She’s officiated both women and men’s MASA state finals and received that body’s Award of Excellence in 1996.
“Barb Beckett believes in how athletics and extracurricular activities can impact our kids and communities in such a positive way. So often when I am frustrated with how things are going and how everyone points fingers, she simply says to me, ‘Heather, be part of the solution, not part of the problem,’” Simpson said. “She reminds me that I can make a difference, just as she has with so many. We are in a society where it’s all about travel teams and what the scoreboard says; Barb is still old school and cares about the product she puts out there and the relationships that are formed from her work at the YMCA and in athletics. People like Barb, who care so much for those around her, get lost in the shuffle.
"Administrators call her, officials call her, coaches call her and parents call her for advice and simply just to talk. For me, she has done so many things to help me grow as a person, as a coach and a leader in our community. It's an honor to work for and with Barb Beckett. I truly think that each and every one of us could benefit from sitting in her office and just listening to her."
Past Women In Sports Leadership Award 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
PHOTO: Barbara Beckett stands between Todd Geerlings (left) and Donald Gustafson moments before becoming the first woman to officiate an MHSAA Boys Basketball Final in 1995.