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.
MHSAA.tv Schedule Includes Boys Soccer Matchups with League Title, District Seeding Implications
By
Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties
September 28, 2021
With the boys soccer season drawing to a close over the next two weeks, MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network will feature a number of matchups in that sport that will impact league championship races and possibly the seeding of the top two teams in each District, the latter to be announced Sunday (Oct. 3).
A pair of games appearing on MHSAA.tv this week will have significant impacts on the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference title race. On Tuesday (Sept. 28), league leader St. Joseph (11-0-2) hosts Stevensville Lakeshore (4-4-2), and on Thursday (Sept. 30) second place Richland Gull Lake (13-1) hosts tied-for-third Portage Northern (7-4-3). Also Tuesday, Ottawa-Kent Conference White leader Grand Rapids Christian (9-4-1) takes on East Grand Rapids (6-2-5) in a matchup of the only two teams undefeated in league play, and Oakland Activities Association Red co-leader Troy (10-0-3) faces third place Rochester Hills Stoney Creek (9-3-3).
The majority of regular-season games will be played by the end of next week, with District play to begin Oct. 13. Seeding of the top two teams in each District bracket – determined by Michigan Power Rating (MPR) – will be determined from results through Saturday (Oct. 2) and announced Sunday (Oct. 3) on the MHSAA Website.
Week 6 of the football regular season again will see more than 150 games broadcast on MHSAA.tv, in addition to the weekly live streams by MHSAA media partners Bally Sports Detroit and State Champs Sports Network. On Friday, Bally will travel to East Grand Rapids for its annual rivalry matchup with Lowell; game time is 7 p.m. with the broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit PLUS, online and on the BSD app. On Saturday, State Champs will stream live the 1 p.m. matchup of Madison Heights Madison at Warren Fitzgerald.
See below for links to a number of notable events on the Network this week:
FOOTBALL
Oct. 1, 6 p.m.: Clare at Marquette
Oct. 1, 6:45 p.m.: Paw Paw at Edwardsburg
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Clarkston at West Bloomfield
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Sterling Heights Stevenson at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Grosse Pointe South at Macomb Dakota
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: New Lothrop at Ovid-Elsie
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Climax-Scotts at Adrian Lenawee Christian
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Detroit Catholic Central at Warren De La Salle Collegiate
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Cadillac at Traverse City Central
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Centreville at Cassopolis
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: St. Joseph at Portage Central
Oct. 1, 7 p.m.: Central Montcalm at Reed City
VOLLEYBALL
Sept. 28, 5:30 p.m.: Plymouth Christian Academy at Auburn Hills Oakland Christian
Sept. 28, 7 p.m.: Lake Orion at Clarkston
Sept. 29, 6:30 p.m.: Cadillac at Petoskey
BOYS SOCCER
Sept. 28, 6:30 p.m.: Stevensville Lakeshore at St. Joseph
Sept. 28, 6:45 p.m.: Grand Rapids Christian at East Grand Rapids
Sept. 28, 6:55 p.m.: Troy at Rochester Hills Stoney Creek
Sept. 30, 6:40 p.m.: Portage Northern at Richland Gull Lake
The MHSAA.tv schedule total includes more than 300 volleyball and more than 100 boys soccer matches this week. 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.