Hoopfest returns Thursday to Jenison

March 21, 2012

March Magic Hoopfest will return to Jenison Field House for this weekend’s Michigan High School Athletic Association Boys Basketball Finals, marking the fourth year the event has run concurrent with the games being played at Michigan State’s Breslin Center.

A number of favorite attractions will return this weekend, including slam dunk (on lowered rims), 3-point shootout and rainbow shot areas where fans can come at any time and participate. Also returning is the Hall of History, showcasing championship games, life-size photos and display boards from throughout the MHSAA Finals’ near century-long run.

A large video screen will play a series of “Buzzer Beaters,” “Battle of the Fans” and other MHSAA-produced videos. Also, teams of boys and girls in grades 5-8 will play in the “JumpBall Jamboree” on two center courts.

Admission to the March Magic Hoopfest is $2 per person, and fans attending the MHSAA Boys Basketball Semifinals and Finals will be admitted free with their game tickets. Hours on March 22 and 23 will be 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.; the event is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 24. More than 12,000 fans attended the 2011 event.  Jenison Field House, site of the Hoopfest, also was the site of the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals for 31 years.

The March Magic Hoopfest is being conducted in a partnership between the Greater Lansing Sports Authority, a division of the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau; and the MHSAA, with vital support coming from the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at Michigan State University.  To find out more general information about the event, visit the March Magic Hoopfest Website at http://www.marchmagichoopfest.com.

“March Magic Hoopfest is a great partnership between the Greater Lansing Sports Authority, Michigan State and the MHSAA,” MHSAA Director of Brand Management Andy Frushour said. “The event gives fans at the Finals an opportunity to extend their championship weekend experience, and provides those who do not attend the Finals a small taste of the excitement.”

The Greater Lansing Sports Authority (GLSA) is a division of the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau.  The GLSA’s mission is to be the leading voice of sports tourism in the Greater Lansing area and to promote economic growth by attracting a diverse range of sporting events to the region. The GLSA strives to enhance the quality of life for area residents through the development of local sports and fitness programs for all ages, and supports the continued development and maintenance of safe, high-quality athletic facilities.

"The March Magic Hoopfest sets off a great weekend of MHSAA tournament games and helps create a multi-day event which will involve the Lansing area and thousands of visitors coming to town," said Mike Price of the Greater Lansing Sports Authority. "If you're coming to the championships, Hoopfest is a destination to visit before and after the games; and if you're not coming to the games, Hoopfest is a fun, wholesome, inexpensive, family activity."

NFHS Introduces Updated Logo

July 17, 2019

Special from NFHS

As the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) heads into the next 100 years of leading high school sports and other activity programs nationwide, it will be doing so with a new logo.

The new logo was unveiled to the membership earlier this month at the close of the NFHS Centennial Celebration. The NFHS and its 51-member state high school associations celebrated the organization’s accomplishments at the 100th Annual Meeting at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The organization will continue to be branded as the NFHS in the new logo, and the N and F are connected as has been the case since 1979. However, the entire acronym is together on one line as opposed to the previous logo with the NF and HS on separate lines. While red and blue will continue to be the predominant colors, the new logo mixes white with red and blue to suggest a flag waving in the wind. The direction of the flag is pointing upward to symbolize forward-thinking and advancement.

The new design maintains a resemblance to the shield that has been a part of the NFHS logo since 1997. However, the logo is flared at the top, and the bottom of the logo does not have definitive borders, which suggests the organization has moved past its first 100 years and is expanding its reach as the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts programs in the United States.

While the organization’s logo from 1952 had four stars to signify the four charter members of the NFHS, the four stripes within the new logo represent the four homes of the organization during the first 100 years. 

“We wanted to retain NFHS as the central component of the new logo because the organization’s national presence has continued to spiral upward in the 22 years since the NFHS acronym was adopted,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS executive director. “However, as we celebrated our first 100 years, we felt it was important to establish a new look that would signify our ever-increasing role as the national leader in high school sports and performing arts programs.”

Counting the Centennial logo that was used during the 2018-19 school year, the new logo will be 10th used by the organization since the first one was adopted in the 1930s. The new logo was created by Section 127, an Indianapolis-based design company.

The NFHS was started in 1920 and had offices in Chicago until 1971, when it moved to Elgin, Illinois. The organization moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1979, and then in 2000 to Indianapolis, where it remains today.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association is a member of the NFHS, and Michigan is one of the four founding states of the national association.