Montrose Again SBP Program of the Year
By
John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus
April 15, 2015
Capturing first place in three of five individual categories, Montrose High School repeated as the “Program of the Year” in the second annual MHSAA School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards for 2014-15.
The SBP Excellence Awards are underwritten by Herff Jones, which will award certificates and plaques to the schools which took individual honors, with the presentation dates and times to be announced.
Montrose took first place in Best Play-By-Play, Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Sports graphics, and the top two spots for Best Use of PlayOn! Sports Graphics. The program also took a second place for Best Produced Commercial/Feature and a third for Best Multicamera Production. Montrose also demonstrated during the school year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials/features during the course of productions.
Other category winners were: Cedar Springs High School for Best Multicamera Production and Rogers City High School for Best Produced Commercial/Features.
Here is the complete list by categories of the schools and students being honored in this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:
Best Multicamera Production
First Place – Cedar Springs – Sam Owen, Sydney Dryer, Bryan Taylor, Alec Lachniet, Kaci Clark – Football game vs. Grand Rapids Northview.
Second Place – Cedar Springs – Rider Swanson, Sam Owens, Darrick Liggett, Kaci Clark, Cody Hoogerheide, Krystyn Messersmith – Football game vs. Ada Forest Hills Eastern.
Third Place – Montrose – Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Amanda Ramsey, Nathan Brown, Eric Vandefifer, Brandon Smith – Genesee Area Conference Girls Competitive Cheer Finals.
Best Play-By-Play
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz – Boys Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.
Second Place – Rogers City – Casey Szatkowski – Girls Basketball game vs. Whittemore-Prescott.
Best Produced Commercial/Feature
First Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Huron Halloween of Horror Feature.
Second Place – Montrose – Alyssa Bernard, Amanda Ramsey, Alicia Town, Allia Town – Sexual Assault PSA.
Third Place – Rogers City – Megan Brege, Heather Hentkowski, Ally Streich – Rogers City Girls Basketball Season Preview.
Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics
First Place – Montrose - Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Eric Vandefifer – Girls Soccer match vs. Hemlock.
Second Place – Rogers City – Brendan Koss, Sarah Meredith – Football game vs. Rudyard.
Third Place – Rogers City – Chandler Beland, Josh Foster – Girls Volleyball match vs. Posen.
Best Use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software
First Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley, Griffin Powell, Bradley Payne – Boys Basketball game vs. Goodrich.
Second Place – Montrose – Eric Vandefifer, Trey Schmitz, Andrew Morley – Girls Basketball game vs. Lake Fenton.
Third Place – Rogers City - Victoria Bullock, Zachary Myers – Football game vs. Hillman.
The School Broadcast Program, powered by PlayOn! Sports, is a platform which schools can utilize to reach members of their community about activities taking place in their buildings, providing recognition for students while at the same time giving them hands-on opportunities to gain broadcasting experience and providing schools an opportunity to realize additional revenues for their programs.
Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.
MHSAA Remembers Late Director Bush
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 11, 2013
Allen W. Bush was a military man and had a military way about him.
And those traits no doubt were invaluable as the former U.S. Marine became a respected national voice during arguably the most transformative era in high school athletics.
Bush, who served as Executive Director the Michigan High School Athletic Association from the fall of 1968 through the summer of 1978, died Monday in Traverse City. He was 90.
Bush oversaw some of the most significant developments in MHSAA history, chiefly the addition of girls sports – MHSAA tournaments existed for nine girls sports when he retired – plus the addition of football playoffs in 1975 and MHSAA tournaments in baseball, ice hockey and skiing.
“He led the MHSAA during simultaneously one of the most stressful and most exciting times as schools responded to federal legislation promoting opportunities for minorities and females,” current MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “Al Bush was among leaders who saw the opportunities instead of burdens of those laws.”
He began his tenure at the MHSAA on March 1, 1960, as Assistant State Director of Athletics to Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe. Bush’s designation changed to Associate Director in 1963, and on July 10, 1968 he was appointed to replace the retiring Forsythe as leader of the association.
An award bearing Bush’s name is bestowed by the MHSAA each spring to an administrator, coach, official, trainer, doctor, or member of the media who has at least 15 years of experience in Michigan interscholastic athletics with unusually frequent and significant contributions to the MHSAA.
Prior to joining the MHSAA, Bush taught mathematics, coached four sports and served as athletic director at different times during tenures at Battle Creek Central, Kalamazoo University, Dearborn and Bay City Handy high schools. Bush was a graduate of Kalamazoo University and later earned multiple bachelor’s degrees from Western Michigan University and a master’s in school administration from the University of Michigan. He was captain of the football team at WMU and received its Most Valuable Player and Athletic-Scholarship awards as a senior, and later was named Man of the Year in 1975 by WMU’s Alumni W Club.
Bush also studied at Princeton University and the University of Arizona and served six years of active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and the Korean War. He was discharged with a rank of first lieutenant.
While at the MHSAA, Bush was a frequent contributor to the National Federation of State High School Associations. He served as chairperson of the committee that wrote the NFHS’s first swimming and diving rule book and also was a representative to the U.S. Olympic Committee.
A memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 13, at Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City.
A summation written by late MHSAA historian Dick Kishpaugh during 1978 said the following of Bush's service to member schools:
"Through all of these varied and complex changes, the MHSAA has met its commitment to a high standard of excellence," Kishpaugh wrote.
"Al Bush is fallible, as we all are, but he needs to make no apologies. The accomplishments speak for themselves."