Paying Tribute with Diamond Donation
May 14, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Rochester Adams and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood baseball players and coaches both had loved ones on their minds when they took the field at Comerica Park earlier this month.
And they paid tribute to those loved ones over their hearts and across the backs of their jerseys.
Together, the teams raised more than $3,500 for the Coaches vs. Cancer research initiative.
Instead of its usual brown and yellow, Adams wore jerseys of light blue with a green ribbon as the middle “A” in its name across the front in honor of those suffering with lymphoma, including 2011 graduate and former standout Matt Williams.
Cranbrook-Kingswood wore dark blue jerseys with a pink ribbon as the “A” in Cranbrook and with lime green writing on the back as the Cranes remembered longtime coach Jack Sanders, who died in 2012 after also battling lymphoma.
Sanders’ was among names adorning the backs of jerseys, along with other cancer victims the players and coaches knew.
Adams won the May 1 game, 18-3. Click to read more from the Oakland Press’ Keith Dunlap, who leading up to the game detailed both Williams’ fight and Sanders’ longtime contributions.
Net finder
Lake Fenton’s Jordan Newman will finish her high school soccer career later this spring as the top goal-scorer in MHSAA girls soccer history.
The Blue Devils’ senior forward broke the career record on April 28, scoring her 169th goal against Perry to pass the mark set by Newaygo’s Jaleen Dingledine from 2004-07. Newman also is a four-year varsity player.
Click to read more on her record run from the Flint Journal's Eric Woodyard.
5 K, 1 IP
The MHSAA doesn't keep a record for most strikeouts in an inning. But if it did, there’s a great chance Brighton’s Garrett Russell would top the list.
Against Ann Arbor Pioneer on April 5, Russell struck out five batters in an inning.
Yes, five.
Here’s how:
Russell struck out the first two batters of the inning swinging, leaving one out to get. He then struck out that third batter as well, but that batter reached first base because the third strike turned into a wild pitch.
The fourth batter of the inning was the only one to not strike out – he walked, putting runners on first and second base with two outs. Those runners advanced to second and third base, respectively, on a wild pitch thrown to the fifth batter of the inning.
That fifth batter then struck out swinging (which made it four strikeouts in the inning), but that third strike turned into a passed ball – and that batter ended up on first base, loading them for the sixth hitter of the inning.
But Russell found enough for one more K, striking out that sixth hitter swinging on a 2-2 pitch.
His line for the inning: 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 bases on balls, 5 strikeouts.
Brighton went on to sweep the doubleheader 12-4 and 11-1.
Family ties
Basketball clearly runs in a pair of families who have come through Corunna High School.
This winter, brothers M.J. and Mikhail Myles both scored their 1,000th career points – M.J., a senior, on Jan. 3 and Mikhail, a junior, in the team’s District Semifinal on March 5.
On Feb. 18, senior Payton Birchmeier became the fifth player in girls program history to score her 1,000th point – despite scoring only four points as a freshman before suffering a season-ending knee injury in her first high school game. She became the first Corunna girl to score 1,000 since her sister Megan finished accomplishing the feat in 2010.
Payton Birchmeier went on to play her final three seasons also on varsity, and M.J. Myles also was a four-year varsity player. Mykhail Myles has played three on varsity with next season still to play. The Myles' stepsister Klarissa Bell this winter finished an outstanding career at Michigan State University and won the Miss Basketball Award as a senior at East Lansing High School in 2010, and stepbrother Devlin Bell also was a Trojans standout.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rochester Adams players congratulate each other during their May 1 game at Comerica Park. (Middle) The Adams' first baseman and a Cranbrook-Kingswood base runner await the next pitch. (Photos courtesy of Rochester Adams baseball.)
In Memoriam: Vic Michaels (1954-2025)
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 30, 2025
The hearts of the MHSAA and countless others in the school sports community are heavy after the unexpected death Monday of Catholic High School League director Vic Michaels, also a longtime and devoted member of the MHSAA’s Representative Council. He was 71.
Michaels was inducted into the CHSL Hall of Fame in 2024 as a “Legend” – a title carrying prestige that certainly described his contributions to school sports on a statewide level as well.
After a decorated 17-year career as a coach, teacher and administrator at Center Line St. Clement, Michaels joined the CHSL office as associate director in 1995, and then assumed the role as leader of the league in 2003 when then-director Tom Rashid left to become associate director at the MHSAA.
Michaels also joined the Representative Council in 2003, representing non-public schools and serving as the Council’s secretary-treasurer. But his impact was much more far-reaching than titles could explain. As MHSAA executive director Mark Uyl told the Detroit Free Press in coverage of Michaels’ 2024 CHSL recognition, “I’m not sure there’s been anyone who’s been more important to the MHSAA over the last 40 years than Vic Michaels,” and called him one of the key builders of the MHSAA over its first 100 years as that milestone was celebrated in 2024-25.
Especially over the last decade, as numerous Council and MHSAA staff members have retired or move on from school sports, Michaels has supplied vital context and institutional knowledge especially as a long-serving member of the Executive Committee, which considers eligibility decision appeals and other issues that must be addressed on a frequent basis. He provided a calm voice of reason and advocacy, not only for students he represented from nonpublic schools but for athletes, coaches and administrators from all 1,500+ high schools and junior high/middle schools that make up the MHSAA membership. And serving as treasurer, he filled another crucial role in making sure the MHSAA stood on solid ground financially even amid the challenge of COVID-19 and while expanding its numbers of sponsored tournament sports and students served.
Michaels attended Detroit St. Phillip High School, and after St. Phillip closed, was part of the final graduating class at Detroit St. Ambrose in 1972. He attended and played college basketball at Detroit Institute of Technology and earned his teaching certificate from University of Detroit Mercy.
He coached junior varsity at Dearborn St. Alphonsus and Redford St. Mary before beginning a tenure in 1978 at St. Clement where he taught, served as athletic director and assistant principal and won more than 300 games as the school’s boys and girls varsity basketball coach, earning statewide “Coach of the Year” awards leading both programs during the 1980s.
Michaels and his wife Linda were married 46 years, and he also is survived by his sons Marc and Brad, their wives and grandchildren.
As the CHSL noted in its memorial to Michaels, “Vic dedicated his life to Catholic education, interscholastic athletics, and the young people entrusted to his care. His leadership of the CHSL was marked by integrity, vision, humility, and an unwavering belief that athletics are an extension of the classroom — meant to form the whole person in faith, character, discipline, and service. … His decisions were thoughtful, his counsel wise, and his love for the educational athletics unmistakable.”
PHOTO MHSAA Representative Council member Vic Michaels, far right, with the assistance of MHSAA Student Advisory Council member M'Khi Guy from Muskegon, presents Warren De La Salle Collegiate coach Dan Rohn the finalist trophy after the 2023 11-Player Football Final at Ford Field. (Photo by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)