The Right Stuff at the Right Time
October 19, 2012
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
MHSAA Championship history is filled with unforgettable moments for participants and spectators alike. Every now and then, the contest on the biggest stage delivers the cliche’ finish of everyone's dreams: close game, final seconds, trophy on the line, someone’s gotta win, someone’s gotta lose.
For the three teams out there, it’s as exciting as it gets. Yes, three teams. For every classic crunch-time moment, there are officials who have earned the right to share that moment with the participants.
Following, benchmarks reflects on two such moments from the viewpoints of those in stripes.
Ford Field, Detroit, Nov. 24, 2006
Muskegon (13-0) vs. Warren DeLaSalle (11-2)
At Stake: MHSAA Division 2 Football Title
Officials: Referee Charles Sprang (3rd MHSAA Final); Umpire Mike Wallace (1st); Linesman Troy Miller (2nd); Line Judge Reginald Smith (1st); Back Judge Trenton Withrow (1st)
THE MOMENT: DeLaSalle trails 32-30 with time running out, when QB Brian Lewis completes a slant pass to Don Fowler. Fowler is into the clear and headed for the end zone when he is hit by Muskegon’s Ronald Johnson at the 4-yard line, and stretches for the end zone. The ball pops loose, Fowler’s knee goes down, and Muskegon’s Bobby Miller recovers the ball in the end zone within a few furious seconds. The Big Reds get the ball, the undefeated season, and the championship.
Withrow: “They were in a hurry-up on the last drive and the game, which was fast-paced the entire time, got even faster. When the receiver got into the open, I knew I had to get back to the goal line and keep my eyes on the play. That was the first thing on my mind; if I don’t get to the goal line, I can’t make that call.
“Immediately after I made the call (correctly, a fumble and touchback), I just remember chills down my spine, the DeLaSalle kids trying to argue that he was down, and hoping I got it right. We don’t have the luxury of replay. It was a bang-bang call; knee coming down, lost ball, goal line right there.”
Smith: “As the play took place, I was telling myself not to rush, but be precise in my call. Just move in to box the play with Trent and watch for the ball at all times as the play developed.”
Sprang: “I did not see the fumble as I was about 60 yards up field. I got to Trent and said, ‘What do you have?’ Trent said, ‘Touchback.’ Mike Wallace asked, ‘Are you sure?’ Trent never wavered and said, ‘He never got in the end zone with the ball. It was out at the 1.’ I asked again, ‘Are you sure?’ Trent said, ‘No doubt.’ Trent, as I saw on film, was in perfect position. That call was the game and he nailed it.”
Miller: “It was great that Reggie and Trent spent very little time communicating and they had the same ruling. Being on the Warren DeLaSalle sideline, I explained to the head coach what we had and there was really no reaction, as I believe he saw exactly what Trent had seen, and knew that Trent was in great position.”
Wallace: “I just remember seeing the play from a distance as I was the umpire. I saw the call and just said to myself, ‘I hope that was the right call.’ I didn't have any doubt, but just didn't want a call missed at that point in the game. The call was so smooth, as if he had made the call a hundred times.
“Moments afterward I just remember telling him ‘That was a heck-of-a-call,’ and I was not even sure if he got it right or not.”
Withrow: “I’ll never forget when Mike came running down the field, he said, ‘That’s why I’m glad I’m the umpire; so I don’t have to make that call.’
“Chuck and I discussed it, and he just wanted to make sure of what I saw; I told him exactly what happened, and then he repeated the signal.”
Sprang: “At every opportunity, we talked about ‘staying in the game.’ Muskegon had a two touchdown lead twice in the game and DeLaSalle fought back each time to either tie or go ahead. I am not sure if Mike Wallace had a crystal ball, but he said, ‘One play is gonna win this game, be ready.’”
Miller: “I remember walking up the tunnel going back to the locker room and walking past a reporter from one of the Detroit papers and having him say, ‘Nice job guys, that was a great call.’”
Sprang: “I knew at that point Trent had it right and the replay only confirmed it. When I saw the replay, it sure was a great feeling to see that ball pop out at the 1-yard line and Trent on the goal line with his bean bag. He made four other guys on the field that day look very, very good.”
Withrow: “Looking at the replay, I was surprised my bean bag came out, because I didn't remember that during the play. It’s a reaction, and I just relied on mechanics. If you do all the right things mechanically, you’ll be in position to make the calls, and it certainly paid off at that moment.”
Wallace: “In the locker room it felt like we just went 15 rounds with Apollo Creed and we were still standing. We knew that we all worked hard, concentrated and nailed it. Maybe it was just that one call, but it was an incredible feeling of success that you strive for when you officiate.”
Breslin Center, East Lansing, March 27, 1999
Muskegon Western Michigan Christian (25-2) vs. Detroit City (22-3)
At Stake: MHSAA Class D Boys Basketball Title
Officials: Dick Kalahar (4th MHSAA Boys Final), Mike Robillard (2nd), Tim Belt (1st)
THE MOMENT: Game tied, clock ticking down, as Muskegon Western Michigan Christian’s Nick Bultema uses a screen and goes airborne to launch a last-second three-point shot. The ball is tipped by Detroit City’s Michael Williams, but momentum takes his body into Bultema’s before the shooter reaches the floor. Foul. 0:00 on the clock. Bultema makes the second free throw, and secures the title.
Kalahar: “I was the trail official, and as the clock was winding down I was looking for a three-point shot, as Detroit City’s defense on the inside was very good. As the player (Bultema) attempted the shot, a very big Detroit City player tried to block the shot. The WMC shooter was still in the air after releasing the ball, when the Detroit City player contacted the shooter and drove him into the table at press row.
“I made a foul call on the Detroit City player just before the horn went off. Before I went to the table to report the foul, I met with Mike and Tim to confirm the foul was called before time ran out. We all agreed there would be three shots given to the WMC player.”
Robillard: “I knew going into the game I was with two outstanding officials, and we would handle any situations that might occur. As the game was getting into the final minutes I was hoping for overtime because both teams had competed so hard and the game had such a great flow.”
Kalahar: “I reported the foul and explained to the table what we were going to do. I also called both head coaches together to explain what the call was and how we would proceed. Both coaches were gentlemen.”
Robillard: “As the end of the game approached, our crew communication was outstanding. We knew we had to be out on the perimeter and protect the shooters. So when the left-handed shooter pulled up behind the three-point arc, both Dick and I had him booked in. It was Dick's primary, but I was doubling back to protect the backside of the shooter. As soon as the defender ran into the shooter, Dick nailed the whistle.”
Kalahar: “Experience always helps. Trying to anticipate what might happen as well as good concentration in a game like this comes with experience. Having two good partners is also a key.
“As we entered the locker room, much to my surprise, Jack Roberts, Nate Hampton and Tom Minter of the MHSAA office were there. I will always remember their support. Our crew then talked about the game, and felt we gave the teams a good game. Mike or Tim told me they thought the last call took courage and they were proud to be a part of this crew.
“I had some very anxious moments the first time I saw the replay. As officials, we always want to get the call right, especially in a game like this. I've seen it many times, and to this day I believe the right and fair call was made.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Warren DeLaSalle's Don Fowler loses control of the ball just before reaching the goalline during the 2006 Division 2 Final at Ford Field. (Middle) Muskegon Western Michigan Christian's Nick Bultema is about to be engulfed by a teammate moments after sinking the winning free throw during the 1999 Class D Final at the Breslin Center.
NOTE: This is the fourth installment in the series "Making – and Answering – the Call" detailing the careers and service of MHSAA officials. Click the links below to view the others.
Johnson Family Reunion: Tuesday will Bring Together Officiating Brothers, Coaching Cousins
By
Mike Dunn
Special for MHSAA.com
December 12, 2025
GAYLORD – What a night it will be.
The Big North Conference game this Tuesday between visiting Traverse City Central and host Gaylord has a coaching connection that will be a draw in itself. Central is led by former Gaylord hoops standout Luke Johnson, while Gaylord is coached by Luke’s cousin Justin Johnson – another past Blue Devils hoops standout who graduated in 1995 with school records for single-game, single-season and career 3-pointers.
Luke graduated in 1997 as Gaylord’s all-time leading scorer with 1,571 points and went on to play four years at Central Michigan University. He coached the boys at Elk Rapids for 14 seasons and is now in his second year coaching in Traverse City, where he is also an assistant principal at Traverse City East Middle School. Justin, owner and operator of the local Bulldog Painting business, is in his first year as the Blue Devils’ head coach after serving previously as the JV coach.
The cousins were Gaylord teammates on the storied 1994-95 team that captured the District title with a thrilling come-from-behind victory at the old Petoskey gym. They will be facing each other as head coaches on the hardwood for the first time – and Justin’s son Carter, a junior wing, is in his first year on the Gaylord varsity.
On top of that, the Johnson cousins will be coaching against each other in the gymnasium named after Luke’s grandfather Jim Mongeau. Ironically enough, the Jim Mongeau gymnasium was dedicated on December 16, 1994, the same day 31 years before.
If that was solely the storyline for Tuesday’s game, it would make for a memorable occasion.
But there is more to this story … much more.
Three brothers with whistles
As it turns out, the biggest storyline of this memorable night is the officiating crew.
Not only will Luke and Justin be facing off Tuesday with Justin’s son also competing on the floor, but the three men wearing the striped shirts with whistles around their necks will be Johnson brothers Tommy, Steve, and Dave. Tom is Luke’s dad, and Steve is Justin Johnson’s father.
Between them, there is more than 125 years of hardwood officiating experience: Tom is in his 50th year, Steve is in his 45th, and Dave in his 32nd season.
The brothers have worked together more times than they can count over the decades, though not as much in recent years. Tom has had his own crew of officials for a while. Steve and Dave have teamed with Charlie Lovelace to form their own crew.
Tuesday’s game in Gaylord will be the first time any of the brothers have worked a game coached by Luke or Justin.
And it very well could be the final time the three brothers officiate a game together. In fact, this is quite likely given the present circumstances.
Tom’s battle with cancer
Tom has inoperable pancreatic cancer and is undergoing regular chemotherapy treatments. Just the fact that he is still actively officiating this season is remarkable in one way, given his prognosis, and yet not remarkable at all for anyone who knows Tommy and the inner drive and mental toughness that is so much a part of his make-up – character traits he has exhibited since the glory days in the late 1960s when he was a star student-athlete competing for Gaylord in football, basketball, and baseball.
That inner drive and willingness to persevere continue to serve Tom well, especially during this challenging season of life.
As Steve said, “Tommy definitely has the Johnson gift of stubbornness.”
And Dave agreed: “Tommy is fighting this with everything he has. He’s gonna go down swinging, because that’s just who he is.”
Tom has been very open about his battle with cancer. He was diagnosed Nov. 13, 2023, and at one point his weight was down to 138 pounds.
Tom was at home in his favorite chair in February with wife Jenni tending to him – “My wife’s been a saint through all this and the best nurse I’ve ever had,” he noted – when he made a decision.
“I told my wife if I just sit here in this chair, I’m gonna die and I don’t want to just give in to this,” Tom said.
“I made up my mind right then that I’m gonna take the proactive approach to this. I’m gonna live till I die. People think I’m being funny when I say that, but I’m serious. I’m gonna live till I die. I’m not gonna sit out the rest of my life. It’s all in the hands of the good Lord, and He’s the One who’s gonna let me know when my time comes.”
Tom retired as a physical education teacher at Gaylord in 2007 but has continued to coach as well as officiate volleyball, basketball and baseball. Because of recent developments, Tom was initially going to give up coaching the Gaylord boys golf team last spring but opted to stay on, extending his coaching career that dates back 49 years at Gaylord and includes a long stint as the varsity boys hoops coach from 1987-97 and then 2003-07 in addition to being the freshmen football coach for a stint, the baseball coach, and, for the past 16 years, the boys golf coach.
“The golf kids were great to work with,” Tom recalled. “I had some limitations, and they accepted and adapted and it was actually a fun season.”
‘I want to be out there’
Fast forward to the present school year. It would have been easy for Tom to lay down his whistle, but he’s not ready for that. He officiated about 30 nights during the volleyball season, and that went pretty well. Now he plans to continue officiating basketball as long as he is physically able and knows he can still call a good game.
“I just want to be out there doing one of the things God has designed for me to do,” he said. “I still enjoy it. We set a goal at the start of the school year to get through the volleyball season first and make it to Thanksgiving, and we’ve met that goal. The next goal is Christmas. And we’ll set other goals after that. But in the meantime, I plan to stay as active as I can doing things I love doing.”
Tom plans to officiate the full basketball season, as God enables him. The one date he is especially looking forward to, though, is Tuesday, Dec. 16.
“It’ll be a great night,” Tom said. “I’ve reffed numerous games at ‘The Mong’ since it opened in 1995, but this will be a very special night not just for me but for all the Johnson family.
“I only hope in the midst of it I can communicate in some way how much I have appreciated the Gaylord community over the years and how much I’ve loved being a part of this community along with my family, and especially being part of Gaylord schools for so many years.”
Tom has quite a unique history with Gaylord basketball as a player and a coach. Tom played in the final high school game in the old community center during his junior year and played in the first game at the old gym that now serves as the middle school gym. He also coached the final high school game at the old gym during the 1994-95 season and coached the first game played at the newly-dedicated Jim Mongeau Gymnasium in January of 1995 against St. Ignace.
He also coached the amazing District championship game against favored Petoskey in its old gym packed to the rafters that March of 1995, a game that many still talk about to this day. The Blue Devils, with Justin knocking down the long ones and Luke distributing and driving through the lane, narrowly edged the excellent Petoskey team that featured Trevor Huffman and John Flynn.
Brennan Fitzek hit what proved to be the game-winning shot in the waning seconds, and Gaylord made a final stop on defense to secure the hard-earned trophy.
"We had some epic battles with Petoskey in those days," Tom said. "Petoskey had some great teams with Huffman and Flynn and a great coach in Dennis Starkey, who is still a friend to this day. It was tremendous competition."
‘I was just mowing’
It was Dave Johnson, the youngest of the brothers, who first had the idea of officiating the Dec. 16 game together.
“I was just mowing my grass one day soon after Justin was hired as the varsity coach and thinking ahead about the night when Luke comes from T.C. Central to play Gaylord,” Dave recalled. “Here you have the two coaches who are cousins from Gaylord facing each other in the gym named after their grandfather and Justin’s son playing for Gaylord on top of that. Wouldn’t it be cool if we three brothers could officiate the game that night?”
Dave dismounted the mower then and there and made phone calls to Steve and Tommy to see what they thought about the possibility. Then they contacted Luke and Justin and, before very long, everything was set in motion.
“The stars all aligned,” Dave said with a chuckle. “Justin and Luke were both on board with it, and they got the approval of their ADs. Everything that needed to happen for this to come together happened. It’s gonna be a great night and a historic night.”
When the family got together for a meal in September to celebrate Tom’s birthday, all the details about the Dec. 16 game were discussed. By the time the meal was over, everything was ironed out and everyone was in agreement.
“There’s so much nostalgia and history wrapped up in this one night,” Dave noted. “You have Tommy, the son-in-law of Jim Mongeau, in his 50th year officiating. To me, this night is really a tribute to Tommy and Jen and their lives revolving around Gaylord athletics.”
It will be a milestone night in another way.
“This will probably be the final time we three brothers have the chance to officiate a game together,” Dave said. “Steve is working through a knee injury right now, and my health is not what it used to be either. But if this is our final game as an officiating crew, we couldn’t have picked a better one.”
Steve’s knee has been giving him fits lately and, for the first time in 45 seasons, has caused him to miss some games because of an injury. He is hoping to recover well enough to return to the floor in January and resume a normal schedule.
There is only one game Steve will officiate in the whole month of December, and it’s the one game he wouldn’t miss for anything.
“I know it’ll be one of the best nights of my life,” Steve said. “How great it’ll be for Dave and I to get to work with Tommy again and to see all the people there. It’ll be a night for reflecting on so many memories and making some new ones.”
Looking forward
“I’m thrilled with how this has all come together,” Luke said. “This night will not only be a great tribute to my dad but to a family that’s been involved in Gaylord athletics for 50-plus years.
“If you include my grandfather, then you’re going back 70 years or more with Gaylord. I know my dad impacted a lot of lives as a teacher and a coach over the years, and my grandfather had the same kind of legacy before him.”
Luke is naturally excited for the game itself but more excited for the moment, especially given his dad’s health challenges.
“Obviously, the circumstances with my dad create a different perspective for the night,” he added. “My hope is we can just soak in the history and enjoy the moment and not let it rush by. We likely won’t have another night like this one.”
PHOTOS (Top) Brothers, from left, Steve, Dave and Tom Johnson – here at Gaylord High School – will referee the varsity boys basketball game Tuesday between Gaylord and Traverse City Central. (2) Cousins Luke Johnson, left, and Justin Johnson are the varsity coaches for Traverse City Central and Gaylord, respectively. (3) The Johnson brothers, here during their younger days, have a combined 127 yards of officiating to their credit. (4) Tom Johnson is in his 50th season officiating, a run filled with many memories including refereeing his grandson’s game at Elk Rapids (lower left). (5) This collage, from top left, includes longtime coach Jim Mongeau speaking with a Gaylord player during the 1960s, Tom Johnson coaching a player during the 1990s, and Luke now coaching. (Photos courtesy of, in part, RD Sports Photo and Photography by Joanie Moore, with others collected by the Weekly Choice and Charlevoix County News.)