Mourning Those Who Contributed Much
April 14, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This weekend was a sad one for those who work in Michigan high school athletics or have appreciated the contributions from three who gave significantly to our games but died after long fights with cancer.
Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart's Keisha Brown, Grand Haven's Robin Bye and Haslett's Jamie Gent left memorable legacies in their passing – Brown on Thursday, Gent on Friday and Bye on Saturday.
Following are just a few details of their contributions to schools and sports, followed by a handful of Twitter posts celebrating their commitments.
- Brown in 2006 became the first and only female coach to lead a boys team to the MHSAA Basketball Finals, guiding the Irish to the Class D Final before they fell to Wyoming Tri-unity Christian. She also served as principal and athletic director at Sacred Heart and coached the boys basketball team to a 114-30 record before taking over the Alma College women’s program, which she coached through this season. Click to read the memorial column from the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun’s Jim Lahde.
"RIP Keisha Brown. What a truly inspiring human being that battled cancer with courage and strength. My thoughts are with her family.” – Oakland Press reporter Drew Ellis, formerly of the Morning Sun
“Rest in Peace Keisha Brown #TrueWarrior. Words cannot express my sadness #HeartBroken.” – Alma College Sports Information Director Mike Hanson
- Bye worked in the Grand Haven school system for 34 years, including the last two-plus as athletic director after formerly serving as an assistant and a girls basketball coach. He also had been a middle school art teacher in the district, and last year received its “Spirit of Grand Haven” award for commitment and dedication to Grand Haven schools. Click to read the story on his passing from the Muskegon Chronicle’s Scott Brandenburg.
“Thinking of the Bye family tonight. Robin will be missed. As a person and an AD, he made me want to be better a person/coach. God Bless.” – Grand Haven boys basketball coach Steve Hewitt.
“I will miss Robin Bye. He made a big difference for the youth in our town, more than an athletic director; an inspiration.” – Grand Haven parent Pat McGinnis
- Gent began his career at Haslett in 1967 as a middle school teacher and high school coach in three sports. He was head coach of the track and field, boys basketball and football varsity teams at different times and began his second stint as the school’s athletic director in 1991. He also was an MHSAA registered official for more than 15 years and a mentor to many both in the Lansing area and statewide through his contributions to the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. He received the MHSAA’s Charles E. Forsythe Award in 2008. See below for a video posted that year in honor of Gent as he retired as athletic director, and click for Dick Hoekstra's piece in the Lansing State Journal posted today.
“Sad to hear of the passing of Jamie Gent, long time Haslett HS athletic director. Really great guy, very kind hearted.” – former Haslett athlete, current White Pigeon teacher/coach Kurt Twichell
“Jamie Gent was one of the best ADs I had the privilege to know. A great loss tonight for the Haslett community.” – Chelsea football coach Brad Bush
PHOTOS: (Clockwise from left) Former Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart boys basketball coach Keisha Brown comforts one of her players after the Irish fell in the Class D Final in 2006. Jamie Gent, left, receives his Charles E. Forsythe Award from Negaunee's Jim Derocher during the 2008 Boys Basketball Finals. Grand Haven athletic director, Robin Bye, is recognized as an assistant coach on the 1981 girls basketball team inducted into the Grand Haven sports Hall of Fame.
Dexter Follows Manning to Team Championship, McCollum Makes Jump to Medalist
By
Tom Lang
Special for MHSAA.com
October 18, 2025
BATTLE CREEK – Dexter’s Avery Manning, an all-state Dream Team selection last year, entered this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Final at Bedford Valley Golf Course as the reigning individual champ on a team that finished runner-up last fall.
The script flipped this year.
Manning led the Dreadnaughts to the Division 2 team championship, while she took third individually with a 154 score.
“We came into this so strong and so ready to do it, and I’m so proud,” she said. “I’m a little sad knowing we say goodbye, but I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to high school golf.
“I was very disappointed in what I did (in Friday’s first round),” she added about shooting a 79 to open in seventh place, “but I grinded out my last six holes and so it put me into a better position and headspace to go into (Saturday) where I was just trying to stay as steady as possible and keep my position and try to keep the lead for my team. I’m proud that I stayed content, even if something went wrong.”
Dexter’s team win helped make up for last year’s runner-up finish to Farmington Hills Mercy, which placed sixth this time with a team total of 718.
The Dreadnaughts’ two-round total of 643 placed ahead of No. 1-ranked Bloomfield Cranbrook Kingswood at 659. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central and Lowell tied for third at 684 each.
“The girls played amazing today,” Dexter coach Greg Palkowski. “They really brought it to the course. We played aggressive all day long. We told them don’t hold anything back today. Just go get it done and play our style of golf. This is what we’re accustomed to, and they did it today.
“With this group, being in either first or second going into today’s final round, I’m happy with it. It would have been the same mindset (if trailing). Just come out aggressively, get off to a good start, and they did today. That really propelled us through the first nine holes, and they just played steady golf on the whole back nine.”
Palkowski had plenty of reasons to credit a total team effort.
“All five of our girls are capable of shooting the scores they got here,” he said. So, for them to come through and do what they did, especially the seniors today, Avery, Ellie (Anderson) and Millie (Truesdell) played really well. Maddy (Manning) did really well today, and our number 5, Morgan (Pomerantz), played an awesome round today. They knew they could do it; they just needed to prove it today, and they did.”
Sophia McCollum, a junior at Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, was the individual medalist, leading wire-to-wire. Yet that’s not how she would have scripted it.
“I really didn’t want to be leading after the first day,” she said. “I feel like that’s more pressure, to stay at the top. So I definitely felt a lot of pressure, but it got a lot better as it went along.”
McCollum, who tied for 17th last year, said knowing both Saturday playing partners from summer golf helped ease her mind some – as did her start on each hole.
“I got off the tee box well, and I hit almost every green in regulation,” she said. “My putting wasn’t as great. I putted fine, just not my best. But definitely, my irons and my driving were good.”
She kept the pace with a two-round total of 148 to finish ahead of runner-up Sixtine Charnelet of Kingswood (152), with Avery Manning in third. Chaille Payne of Forest Hills Northen and Megan Guerrera of Mercy tied at 155 for fourth place.
PHOTOS (Top) Dexter’s Avery Manning tees off during Saturday’s second round at Battle Creek’s Bedford Valley. (Middle) Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Sophia McCollum tees off. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)