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.
Football League Contenders Face Off on MHSAA.tv, Bally Sports Detroit, State Champs! Sports Network
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
October 6, 2021
A trio of Friday (Oct. 8) football games with likely league title implications highlight another full week of broadcasts on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network, and MHSAA media partners.
In the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference, two of the three teams sharing first place face off as Stevensville Lakeshore (5-1) travels to St. Joseph (5-1). In the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East, tied-for-second-place Dearborn Fordson (5-1) will host first-place Livonia Churchill (6-0) in a matchup that could see the latter claim a share of the league championship with a victory. Both of those games will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv, with kickoffs at 7 p.m.
This week’s Bally Sports Detroit live cable game features the leaders in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red as Caledonia (6-0) goes to Rockford (6-0). That game will be broadcast on BSD’s primary channel as well as online and on the BSD app. State Champs! Sports Network also will stream live on its website a meeting of league leaders Saturday as Warren Michigan Collegiate (4-2) hosts Harper Woods Chandler Park (4-2) for first place in the Charter School Conference East. Both games kick off at 7 p.m. on their respective game days.
Week 7 of the football regular season will see more than 175 games broadcast on MHSAA.tv, with more than 120 boys soccer games broadcast during the final full week of that sport’s regular season and more than 300 volleyball matches streamed live as that sport moves into its final month before District play begins.
See below for links to a number of notable events on the Network this week:
FOOTBALL
Oct. 8, 6:50 p.m.: Birmingham Groves at Rochester Adams
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Davison at Midland
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Stevensville Lakeshore at St. Joseph
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Utica Eisenhower at Macomb Dakota
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Portage Northern at Portage Central
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Holt at East Lansing
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Novi at Howell
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Livonia Churchill at Dearborn Fordson
VOLLEYBALL
Oct. 6, 6:15 p.m.: Flushing at Fenton
Oct. 7, 7 p.m.: White Lake Lakeland at Walled Lake Northern
Oct. 9, 10 a.m.: Bronson at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
BOYS SOCCER
Oct. 6, 6:45 p.m.: Grand Rapids Northview at East Grand Rapids
Oct. 6, 7 p.m.: Walled Lake North at South Lyon
Oct. 7, 7 p.m.: East Lansing at Okemos
Click the links below to see all three sports’ listings in full:
Football – Volleyball – Boys Soccer
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.
More than 400 MHSAA member schools are participants in the School Broadcast Program, now in its 13th year, producing games using traditional hands-on student crews or via Pixellot cameras installed at stadiums and gymnasiums across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.