Rivaling for a Cause
January 25, 2013
It’s impossible to include all the perspective we gain from every “Battle of the Fans” visit.
But this anecdote, although it didn't make Tuesday’s story about our Frankenmuth trip, tells of another great example for what student cheering sections can accomplish.
Frankenmuth and Millington are heated rivals, to say the least, separated by 13 miles and made more competitive by plenty of championship-deciding matchups over the years.
But for their boys basketball game Jan. 10 at Frankenmuth, student section leaders from both schools almost completely on their own set up the game as a cancer awareness night, complete with Frankenmuth students in black shirts and Millington’s wearing pink.
The idea was the brainchild of a of Frankenmuth section leader, who then received help from a local bank and contacted Millington to get the ball rolling.
Battle of the Fans has shown us the obvious – these student sections need strong leaders – but also the special things they can accomplish with additional initiative.
“Never Forgotten”
Two more rivals, Fennville and Saugatuck, met late last month for their second “Never Forgotten” boys and girls basketball games with proceeds going to the Wes Leonard Heart Team for the purchase of AEDs.
Players wore jerseys with names on the backs of friends and family members who had died, and those jerseys were then given to family members after the games. Officials Ace Cover, Chris Dennie and Kyle Bowen also donated their game checks to the Heart Team, as did the winner of that night’s 50-50 raffle.
Leonard died from sudden cardiac arrest after making the game-winning shot in a basketball game March 3, 2011. The two schools played their first “Never Forgotten” games last season.
More support for less specialization
I’m asked once a year at least about sport specialization – that is, athletes focusing on just one sport, often from an early age, and if it pays off some way down the road.
Most of my evidence to support my belief in the well-rounded athlete has been anecdotal, based on conversations with people at the high school and college levels over the years. But a British study published this fall in the Journal of Sport Sciences by University of Birmingham researchers provides some interesting empirical findings.
The study of 1,006 people from the United Kingdom showed that those who participated in three sports at ages 11, 13 and 15 were “significantly more likely to compete at a national rather than club standard” between ages 16-18 than those who had practiced only one sport.
In other words, the study found that those who played more sports at earlier ages played at a higher level during their high school-age years, which seems to contradict the one-sport focus philosophy.
Click for more perspective on the study from Chris Kennedy, the Superintendent of Schools in West Vancouver, British Columbia.
PHOTO: The boys and girls teams for Fennville and Saugatuck pose together after their "Never Forgotten" games Dec. 21 at Fennville High. (Photo courtesy of Al LaShell.)
Hudson Paying 50-Year Tribute to Winning Streak Record-Setters, Supporters
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 14, 2025
It’s a little over two hours’ drive from Mount Pleasant to Hudson. But the November 1975 bus ride seemed to take forever.
The Hudson football team had just lost in the Class C state championship game to Ishpeming, ending a national record 72-game winning streak, and was on the way home.
“It was a really long ride,” said Ray Curran, an assistant coach for the Tigers. “A quiet ride.”
After the game, Hudson head coach Tom Saylor let his players know they had played hard and he was proud of them, but there were plenty of tears.
“We tried to tell them it wasn’t the end of the world,” Curran said.
For nearly everyone except maybe a few coaches, it was the first, and probably last, time they rode the bus home after a loss.
Hudson’s streak still stands today as the record for consecutive wins by a varsity football team in Michigan. From Week 2 of the 1968 season until the Class C Final in 1975, the Tigers never tasted defeat.
As disappointing as it was to lose, what happened on that bus ride home had a huge impact on the program for years to come.
“When we got close to town, we started to see fire trucks and cars lining the streets,” Curran said. “We lost, but the fans still showed up for us. We had tremendous community support from parents and families and community members. I think that made a lot of the players feel like everything was going to be okay.”
Everything was okay. In fact, Hudson went 9-0 the next season, although the Tigers failed to qualify for the MHSAA Playoffs (which had a field of only four teams in each classification, 16 teams total, at the time).
To mark the end of that incredible 72-game win streak, Hudson is inviting back everyone who had a part in those undefeated teams during the 1960s and 1970s – players, coaches, cheerleaders, band and members of the flag corps are all expected to take part in the ceremony before Friday’s final home game of the regular season at Thompson Field in Hudson.
Bill Mullaly, who played for Hudson during that streak and has become a historian for the Tigers, said this celebration will be the last one.
“This is it,” Mullaly said. “It’s been 50 years, and this is the last one we are planning.”
Curran went to see Saylor a few weeks before he died, at the family’s request. Saylor had been in declining health and had dementia. Curran said when they got together, they talked football.
“We were talking about some of the games, some of the players,” he said. “He definitely remembered. It was a good visit.”
Hudson’s football team this season is undefeated, ranked No. 1 in Division 8 and gearing up for what the Tigers hope is another historic playoff run. Head coach Dan Rogers said the record streak remains an important piece of the community’s history, and the celebration Friday and recent passing of Saylor have brought it all back to the forefront.
“It’s definitely a big part of the community,” Rogers said. “I grew up here, and I’ve heard stories about it. You don’t live it, but you are part of it. I think it has helped mold our community, and it has been a way to identify the community. The streak is definitely alive and well.”
To commemorate this season, current Hudson players will be wearing a throwback uniform Friday – black and white jerseys with orange pants and the same design of socks the players in the 1970s wore. The helmet sticker will be the same one used during the streak.
“It’s all been very positive, all season,” Rogers said. “Some of the kids have grandpas that played in the streak, which is great. They weren’t around, but I think it’s my job to pass all of that along to a new generation. We have embraced it.”
Rogers said he’s gone back and talked to former players and coaches, and Hudson plans to pattern much of its pregame routine on the Tigers’ during Saylor’s regime.
“We have people coming back who haven’t been to a Hudson football game since they played here,” Rogers said. “They had a lot of cool traditions back then. We want them to be proud.”
One of the current assistant coaches is Chris Luma, who played on that 1975 team. Luma was Hudson’s head coach before Rogers took over six years ago. He and Saylor were close. Luma will speak at Saylor’s memorial service later this month.
“It just seemed like with Tom you were learning life lessons along with how to win football games,” he said. “He installed discipline in all of us. What he had us go through was the things you needed to know to go through life.”
Mullaly also played for Saylor.
“He didn’t put Hudson on the map, but he took it to another level,” he said. “He was a great coach and a great man. His legacy is with Hudson football.”
Rogers said after Saylor died, more RSVPs started coming in for Friday’s event.
“It’s brought it to another level,” he said. “There are people flying in from all over the country to be a part of it. This is the final one. After this, it’s only the stories.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) A wall in the Hudson press box tells of the football program’s rich history. (Middle) Tom Saylor, top, was the longtime coach of the Tigers dynasty, while Tim Decker (18) was among standouts during the streak. (Below) Hudson players come together for a quick photo on a game night this fall. (Wall photo by Doug Donnelly. Saylor photo courtesy of Todd Saylor; Decker photo courtesy of Jackson Citizen Patriot/Hudson Historical Museum. Current team photo by Rachel Stiverson.).