Powerful Voice for High School Sports
December 19, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Paul Carey was home from the U.S. Army only a few months and just shy of 25 years old when Beal City embarked on its first trip deep into the MHSAA boys basketball tournament.
On the call for local radio station WCEN from gyms at Saginaw Arthur Hill and Lansing Sexton, Carey served as the voice of the previously “laughable” Aggies as they reached the Class D Semifinals before falling just six points short of playing for the title.
“All of Beal City emptied out. They’d never had anything before,” Carey recalled during his annual Thanksgiving weekend visit to the MHSAA Football Finals at Ford Field. “When I got home, within the next two weeks I got a letter from every citizen of Beal City thanking me for broadcasting their games. That’s the kind of appreciation that meant so much.”
During 42 years on the airwaves, Carey was best known as a voice of the Detroit Tigers bounding out of transistor radios all over Michigan, thanks to WJR’s powerful signal.
But for the state’s high school sports community, his legacy is similarly memorable as the voice of the longtime football and basketball scoreboard show and a voter for various all-state teams and wire polls over the decades.
Now 86 and retired since 1991, Carey remains a regular during the first day of the Football Finals, taking in games he broadcast for the MHSAA during the late 1970s and that continue to hold his eye as they have for more than a half-century.
“It was a passion of mine. High school sports always has been,” Carey said. “I think because my dad was a high school coach, and teacher initially, and my brother was a high school coach and teacher, I just grew up in families that appreciated coaching and athletics. I was not a great athlete, but it kept my hand in following sports that way.”
Now, the scores
Carey partnered with Ernie Harwell for Tigers radio broadcasts from 1973-91, including during the march to the 1984 World Series championship. He was named Michigan Sportscaster of the Year six times and to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
But Carey’s early career included sitting on top of a car, plugged into a phone pole, for a Sacred Heart football game at old Fancher Field just a few blocks from his family’s Mount Pleasant home. Among many more accolades are a Distinguished Service Award from the Michigan High School Coaches Association and a place in the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Fame.
In fact, the start of his weekly announcing of statewide football and basketball scores preceded his baseball career by 16 years and ended two months after he announced his final professional out.
The Michigan High School Scoreboard show was a staple of WJR’s late Friday nights from 1957-91. Carey would read every score he could collect from a variety of sources, often organized by league and with state rankings and context mixed in.
His idea came from something similar read by Len Colby for Kalamazoo’s WKZO. Carey’s brother Terry was coaching at Niles during the second half of the 1950s, and he and other coaches would get together to listen to the Friday night scores from the southwestern part of the state.
Carey, who left WKNX in Saginaw for WJR in 1956, explained to then-sports director Bob Reynolds that the station’s strong signal could provide for a truly statewide scoreboard experience.
Carey then connected with Edgar Hayes of the former Detroit Times, who gave the OK for Carey to call the paper on Friday nights to get scores from the Detroit metro area. For the rest, Carey relied on wire services – there were three at the time – who relied on newspapers from all over Michigan to call in scores over the course of an evening.
Before every Friday during high school football season – and later Tuesdays and Fridays during boys basketball season – Carey typed up lists of games based on schedules in the newspaper, with spaces to add scores. More than a few times, Carey raced down a back ramp at Tiger Stadium after a Friday night game, back to the WJR studio, with 15 minutes to prep for the show’s 11:30 p.m. start.
“If the Flint Journal, the Grand Rapids Press, the Traverse City paper didn’t call in scores to the AP, then I was out of luck too. And that happened all the time,” Carey said. “I would call back occasionally, say, ‘Did you get anything more?’ It was a rat race.”
The show originally was set for 10 minutes and then extended to 15. American Airlines sponsored a record show that followed, and Carey’s scoreboard show had a sponsor only once in 35 years. Finishing up on time was expected, even with more than 200 scores to read.
But Carey said he always went 20 minutes, sometimes 25.
“Because I wasn’t done. I just kept right on going,” Carey said. “Jay Roberts did the all-night show most of the time, and he was patient with me. He didn’t say too much on the air about ‘that guy ahead of me took all of my time.’”
Carey continued the “rat race” until his final scoreboard show, Dec. 20, 1991. He retired from WJR at the end of that calendar year. And it's important to note: Carey was never paid a dime extra for doing the program. .
“I think Paul is really just a sports fan, and that came across to the listener on his broadcasts,” MHSAA historian Ron Pesch said. “Paul would gather as much as possible off the wire. He'd interject if scores were missing from sections of the state. Press polls from the Free Press, News, AP and UPI were big, so he could point out close calls and upsets.
“He provided immediacy, or the closest thing to it in the days before cable TV and the Internet, and because of his scoreboard show, you could get the results before the morning paper. For listeners, he brought life to something as simple as game scores.”
First team all the way
Carey, who resides in Rochester, also served as the engineer on Tigers broadcasts for 16 years, through 1990. He broadcast Pistons games on the radio for six seasons and did the first broadcast of a Central Michigan University football game, in 1949.
Harry Atkins, covering Detroit’s teams while with The Associated Press for 29 years including the last 21 as its sports editor for Detroit, took note of his colleague's hard work – and especially that Carey was one of few broadcasters who was a journalist in addition to a voice.
That made Carey's other major role in high school sports a natural fit.
Atkins split The Associated Press all-state selection panels for football and basketball into 11 regions, and Carey represented the Detroit area for a number of years. He also was a longtime voter in those sports' weekly polls.
“Paul is just that kind of guy. He thought it was important and he made time in his busy schedule to do it,” Atkins said “And it had an impact on the other 10 voters on the All-State panels, too.
“Some of them were from small out-state newspapers or radio or TV stations. Yet every one of them knew who Paul Carey was. And when he spoke, of course, with what often is called "The Voice of God," those voters paid attention.”
And he still does, as well.
At the end of each fall, Carey still puts together a compilation of the three high school all-state football teams – Associated Press, Detroit Free Press and Detroit News – and files them with years of research and results.
“It’s important to me. Nobody sees it but me, but I get a certain kick,” Carey said. “Once in a while I’ll see a kid playing at Central, Western or (Michigan) State or Michigan, and they’ll say he came from Clawson. I’ll go into my all-state collections, say that would’ve been 2009 he played, and I find a name.”
In addition to the Football Finals on WJR, Carey was part of the Baseball Finals broadcasts into the early 1990s, continuing to contribute even after his retirement from his fulltime gig.
He spent high school games over the years sitting next to legends like the Free Press’ Hal Schram and remembers when current Free Press longtime scribe Mick McCabe was just a rookie. One of Carey's final broadcasts was a 1992 Baseball Final with his nephew Mike Carey, who continues to broadcast MHSAA championship games to this day.
“I am eternally grateful to Paul Carey. His contribution to high school sports in Michigan has been great and significant,” Atkins said.
“We are lucky to have him.”
PHOTO: Paul Carey (left) and nephew Mike Carey broadcast the MHSAA 1992 Class D Baseball Final between Hillman and Athens for PASS.
Century of School Sports: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 31, 2024
As part of our school year-long celebration of a “Century of School Sports” and the MHSAA’s 100th anniversary, we’re connecting every season with members of Michigan’s sports media, our historian and longtime communications staff to present some of what they remember most from their time covering our games.
Below is our second installment, covering several of their winter sports memories.
Never Underestimate How Much These Moments Mean
Jack Doles, WOOD TV (Grand Rapids)
In one of my first years covering sports for WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Allendale High School went on a deep run in the 1991 basketball tournament. Joe Modderman was the star player for Allendale. He played his heart out, but the team ended up losing (in the Class D Final, 62-48 to Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard). During our postgame interview, Joe got very emotional. I saw just how important this game was to him. Joe ended up playing at Iowa State and eventually Grand Valley, so he knew he had a lot of basketball left to play. His tears were for his teammates, who had played their final game.
I still bump into Joe and we talk about that moment we shared afterward. It was a great lesson in how impactful those moments are.
Memorable All-Time Matchup, Unforgettable Scores
Tim Staudt, WILX (Lansing), in 53rd year of broadcasting
Picking one from the winter is easy – the District-opening game of the 1977 state basketball tournament at Don Johnson Fieldhouse and Lansing Everett’s Earvin Johnson versus Eastern’s Jay Vincent. Everett won 63-41 after losing 70-62 to Eastern in Jenison Field House before 10,000 fans the previous Friday to end the regular season. Both those scores I still remember to this day.
‘C-O-O, L-E-Y, Cooley, Cooley, Cooley High’
Mick McCabe, Detroit Free Press since 1970
March 28, 1987, Crisler Arena
Detroit Cooley 82, Detroit Southwestern 77, OT.
This time it was in the bag. Losers in five consecutive state championship games, Southwestern was certain to win its first state championship against a Cooley team that seemed to have no business playing in the state finals. After all, Southwestern had already beaten Cooley twice and the second victory came only a month earlier when the Prospectors destroyed Cooley by 35 points in the Detroit Public School League title game. Yes, 35 points!
But behind the play of sophomore Michael Talley (23 points) and senior Rafeal Peterson (22 points), Cooley took control early and led by 11 points at halftime The Cardinals led by eight heading into the fourth quarter and thought they had the game won before Doyle Callahan scored for the Prospectors an instant before the buzzer to force overtime. Southwestern scored the first basket in overtime and it would have been the perfect time for Cooley to call it an afternoon. But Peterson countered with the biggest basket of the day to tie the score and kept Southwestern from extending its lead. Instead, Southwestern had consecutive turnovers, missed a shot and committed a foul as Cooley took a five-point lead with 38 seconds remaining as chants of: “C-O-O, L-E-Y, Cooley, Cooley, Cooley High” reigned down from the Crisler rafters. It was the first of three straight Class A state championships for Cooley and Talley, who as a senior went on to become the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball Award winner.
Future U-M Teammates Face Off to Finish High School Careers
Greg Miller, formerly of 9&10 News (Cadillac)
The girls basketball Class C state championship game in 2011 pitted future college teammates Nicole Elmblad (St. Ignace) and Madison Ristovski (Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett) in a shootout for the ages. Ristovski scored 30 points, while Elmblad put up 33 points to go along with a 19-rebound effort, as the Saints pulled away in the fourth quarter to earn a 65-54 victory. Elmblad scored 14 of her 33 points in the deciding quarter to lead St. Ignace to the championship. It was a great back-and-forth matchup of two evenly-matched teams led by two outstanding athletes. The following year, the pair began to play as teammates at the University of Michigan and were both part of some of the winningest teams in program history.
Coles' Shot Goes the Distance
Perry Farrell, MHSAA.com and formerly of Detroit Free Press
I didn't cover the event, but Saginaw Buena Vista's Chris Coles made a shot from about 65 feet in the Class B state boys championship basketball game to defeat arch-rival Flint Beecher 33-32. It is the greatest shot in Michigan high school basketball history. And being a graduate of Buena Vista it was one of the highlights of our school.
Competitive Cheer Finals Atmosphere has Few Rivals
Geoff Kimmerly, MHSAA Communications Director and formerly of Lansing State Journal
I moved to the MHSAA during the 2011-12 school year after more than a decade at the Lansing State Journal, where among other areas of coverage we produced team-by-team previews for all of our area varsity sports – including the addition of a competitive cheer preview as that sport began to gain popularity and participation in the mid-Michigan area. But before leaving the LSJ, I had never covered a competition.
The new job, and a new venture of covering all of our MHSAA Finals for our previous Second Half website, brought me to the Grand Rapids Delta Plex on a Friday night in early March, 2012. I had covered Finals in several other MHSAA sports – although 2011-12 would also see my debut at lacrosse, swimming & diving, gymnastics, cross country, hockey and bowling championship events – so I’d been around some of the larger and loudest crowds for high school competitions over the previous decade or more.
But WOW. The Division 1 crowd, which reached into the Delta Plex rafters, was as charged as anything I’d seen at Ford Field or the Silverdome, or Breslin aside from the oft-recalled Detroit Renaissance/Wyoming Park boys basketball game in 2004. Coming close on atmosphere were some of the Team Wrestling Finals I’d experienced. But this night had people seemingly piled so high I thought they might roll out of the stands onto us. Dads were leading full sections in chants, and when their teams took the mat they were even more electric, and all of that took the typical emotions of a season-ending event to another level.
And of course, the competition was outstanding. Southgate Anderson won its first of what would be three straight Division 1 titles (and if you still don’t credit this as being a sport, try to do anything these athletes make happen on the mat). I was definitely a little awestruck by the whole evening, and left with a whole new appreciation for how another of our sports energizes its community.
Vikings Find Stride at Tournament Time
Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal
Watching Lansing Everett defy the odds and make an improbable run to the boys basketball state Semifinals at Breslin Center in 2016 is one of the most notable things I observed from the winter sports season. Everett lost 10 regular-season games that year and at that time had become the first team in a decade to reach the state Semifinals despite double-digit losses in the regular season. Everett wound up falling to North Farmington in the Semifinal in what was its second-straight appearance in the final four in Class A.
Never-Ending 2008 Hockey Championship Game Ends with 2 Champions
John Johnson, MHSAA Communications Director from 1987-2020
On the ice that night, the busiest championship weekend the MHSAA has known came to an end with the longest game in the history of the Finals. Marquette and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s skated for 109 minutes and eight overtimes before administrators ruled the game a 1-1 tie and awarded co-championships in the name of safety for two exhausted teams who had earned victory. Ironically, the contest was just 1:32 from ending (in regulation) when Tim Hooker of St. Mary's knotted the score at 1-1. His tally equaled a power-play goal by Marquette’s Mike Peterson in the second period.
Coming home at the end of the weekend, and feeling like everything was wrapped up as I got closer to Lansing, I’ll never forget my phone blowing up with calls from folks wondering about what was happening with hockey. And then rushing into the house to punch up the audio of the game on the computer, I listened to a very hoarse John Kreger announcing that co-champions had been declared.
Evans’ Game-Winner Still Unbelievable
Lorne Plant – State Champs!
I had the opportunity to get to know then-head coach at Detroit Rogers Steve Hall when I did a State Champs! feature on Brenda Gatlin, who was the first woman to be head coach of a PSL boys basketball team in the (19)80s at Cass Tech. Just so happened, Steve Hall was a player on her team. That took place during the 2002-2003 basketball season, which was the first winter season in the State Champs! era. Two years later, Detroit Rogers had won the state championship the previous two years, so you can only imagine how hard it is to try and win three in a row. As far as I could tell, only two teams had won Class D state titles three times in a row. Chassell did it in the mid 50s, and Detroit East Catholic did it in the late 70s and early 80s. It had been a while. Strange that what only happened three times in 79 years has happened three more times in the last 20 (Class D/Division 4 state champions by a single team three times in a row. No one's ever won four in a row, but I digress).
Back to the '05 final, when the ball went out of bounds with three seconds left in OT and the ball was given to Rogers down a point, I settled in for the final shot. Then the refs overturned the call and gave it to Bellaire, and I thought to myself, "You had a nice run, Steve." And then, the freshman Eric Evans made one of the most incredible plays I've ever seen. He stole the ball and in the same motion threw it up towards the basket and it went in, I couldn't believe it. I will never forget that play.
1 Reporter's Take on Boys Basketball “Games of the Decade”
Brad Emons, Detroit Free Press (formerly of Observer & Eccentric newspapers)
March 6, 1986: In a Class A District Semifinal before an overflow crowd of 2,000 at Alumni Arena, host Wayne Memorial (18-3) took eventual state champ Romulus (25-2) and Mr. Basketball Terry Mills to two overtimes before falling, 93-92. The 6-foot-9 Mills, who later starred at Michigan and played 10 seasons in the NBA, scored 37 points, including 11 in the second OT. The Eagles, who also featured DI players Steve Glenn (Austin Peay) – who added 19 points – and Juan Street (Bowling Green), went on to defeat Detroit Southwestern for the state title at U-M’s Crisler Arena, 72-65. Wayne, which gave up an average height of five inches per man, had three players foul out. The Zebras got a team-high 27 points from Mark Robinson, while Spence Williams and Rod Sommons added 18 and 14, respectively.
March, 18, 1978: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s capped a perfect 27-0 season with a 67-52 Class D championship win over Detroit St. Martin dePorres at U-M’s Crisler Arena. Just a day earlier at MSU’s Jenison Field House, St. Mary’s ousted Mio Au Sable and the state’s all-time career scorer Jay Smith (2,841 points) in convincing fashion, 77-52. In the Quarterfinals at Corunna, OLSM thwarted Saranac and 6-8 MSU recruit Ben Tower, 71-53. The Eaglets’ starting lineup featured Dominican Republic native Evaristo Perez (MSU), Jim Paciorek (Michigan), Barry Bugaj, Dave Kay and Gregg Williamson. After the Semifinal win over Mio, St. Mary’s coach Bob Shoemaker lauded the play of Paciorek saying, “They couldn’t stop Jim even with a blow torch.”
Avoiding Pin, Mason's Jackson Becomes Championship Hero
Rob Kaminski, MHSAA communications coordinator since 1999
During my quarter-century here with the MHSAA, Team Wrestling has always been one of my favorite tournaments. The venue, whether Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek or Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, is the perfect size for the event, and the crowds are raucous and enthusiastic with the Finals often packed to the rafters.
At one time, the format always began with the lightest weights wrestling first, finishing with the heaviest weights. The format then changed, with the starting weight being drawn right before the competition began, so there was a greater emphasis on strategy: which wrestlers would coaches send out for each weight class?
Such was the case in 2003 at Kellogg Arena. The Division 2 Final between Mason and Lapeer West not only featured two schools always near the top of their sport at the time, but also one of the top individuals in MHSAA history in Lapeer West’s Roger Kish, already a three-time individual champion who ruled the 189-pound weight class.
When 215 was drawn as the starting weight for the Final, the stage was set for a potential dramatic finish as Kish would face Mason’s Tom McDiarmid in the last bout of the meet. However, thinking that Kish would have an easier time against Mason’s 215-pounder and possible getting six points for a fall, Lapeer West sent Kish out for the first match of the dual against Mason’s Kody Jackson. An audible murmur filled the arena, as fans from the other divisions began to take notice of the strategy while also wanting to see one of the best wrestlers in MHSAA history. It seemed as though the first matches on the other three mats might as well have been taking place on Mars, as everyone focused on the D2 circle.
Kish did win the bout, 26-15, but the deafening roar from Mason’s crowd – and other non-partisans in the arena – for Jackson’s effort was something I’ll never forget. The young man had stayed off his back, avoided a pin, and Lapeer West got two points less than it had gambled for.
When it came time for McDiarmid’s turn at 189 to end the meet, Mason trailed 27-25. McDiarmid then took care of business with a 14-1 major decision to give Mason the title, 29-27, and send the crowd into a frenzy.
A week later, Kish and McDiarmid did indeed meet, this time in the MHSAA Individual Finals at 189, where Kish posted a 26-11 technical fall to secure his fourth MHSAA individual crown, and second straight at that weight.
#11 Never Forgotten
Jack Doles, WOOD TV (Grand Rapids)
The last story I'll share deals with a high school athlete who played multiple sports at Grandville high school and left a legacy, not with his play, but his actions.
Ryan Fischer played football and hockey at Grandville. He was a captain and the unquestioned leader of the team. Ryan was also beloved by his classmates, because he was an active listener and friend to everyone in the hallways. Sadly, Ryan died unexpectedly during the (2014) hockey playoffs (on the morning of the team's Division 1 Semifinal against Detroit Catholic Central). The team wasn't sure if they could play, but as they waited outside the Fischer home, Ryan's father brought his jersey to the team and told them Ryan would want them to play.
Grandville lost in the (Semifinal), but they fought and made a community proud. At the end of the game, the team took a knee to say a quick prayer, and then Detroit Catholic Central joined them. An incredible level of sportsmanship. Not long after the Fishers buried their son, they started a scholarship in his name. The scholarship is given to the athlete that embodies Ryan's values and spirit. In a story we did, his brother Connor told us his goal was to win that scholarship. He did, and now he serves in the United States Army. Meanwhile, the Grandville and Wyoming communities hand out an award each year called the 11.
Ryan wore number 11. His legacy lives on around West Michigan and beyond.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: (1) Earvin Johnson brings the ball upcourt for Lansing Everett. (2) Nicole Emblad gets a shot up for St. Ignace. (3) A Grandville teammate of Ryan Fischer wears his jersey for the Division 1 Semifinal after Fischer died that morning. (4) Southgate Anderson competes at the 2012 Competitive Cheer Final. (5) Mason's Kory Jackson (red) and Lapeer West's Roger Kish wrestle during the 2003 Division 2 Final. (Middle) Detroit Cooley celebrates its 1987 Class A boys basketball championship. (Below) Marquette and Orchard Lake St. Mary's hockey players shake hands after their record-setting championship game. (MHSAA file photos.)