Special Year Thanks to No Specialization
August 7, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As we embark on another sports-filled school year Monday, we can look to a recent Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central grad for the value of a school year filled with sports.
As specialization at the highs school level continues to be debated, Bryce Windham will start his college baseball career this fall at Division I Old Dominion University – after playing baseball but also football and basketball for the Falcons.
The MHSAA has long advocated athletes taking on as many sports as they have interest instead of focusing on just one in pursuit of a college scholarship – a position that’s received plenty of public backing of late, be it from stars of the U.S. women’s soccer team after their World Cup championship run or former Lansing Waverly multi-sport athlete John Smoltz during his enshrinement in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Enter Windham – who easily could’ve been excused for focusing on baseball, or even basketball as his dad is the St. Mary’s varsity boys coach. Instead, Bryce quarterbacked the football team to last season’s Division 6 championship – breaking Ithaca’s national-best 69-game winning streak in the Final – before being named Class C Player of the Year by The Associated Press in basketball and earning a Most Valuable Player honor at the baseball state coaches association all-star game at Comerica Park this spring.
All three of Windham's teams reached at least the MHSAA Quarterfinals.
“His participation in football and basketball helped land a Division 1 baseball scholarship to Old Dominion. They were able to see his athleticism in basketball and toughness in football, and ODU’s coach loved it,” dad and hoops coach Randy Windham said.
“He probably would’ve given up football, and that ended up his greatest memory by winning a state championship.”
Click to read about Windham’s multitude of accomplishments as reported last month by the Monroe Evening News.
Honors Abound
National coaching honors were bestowed on a trio of Michigan coaches over the summer:
- Retired Trenton ice hockey coach Mike Turner – the winningest hockey coach in MHSAA history with a record of 629-126-52 from 1974-81 and then 1995-2014 – was named National Coach of the Year in Special Sports by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. His teams won 11 MHSAA titles and finished runner-up four times. “I was there when the MHSAA added hockey as one of their sanctioned sports and crowned their first MHSAA state championships in 1975. At that time there were 60-70 high school teams participating, and now there are 170,” Turner said. “It has been great to be a part of the advancements made in the sport of high school hockey, with more teams participating, more player development, and more opportunities that exist for players after high school.”
- Traverse City Central boys track and field and cross country coach John Lober won his second national coaching honor of the 2014-15 school year, named the NHSACA Coach of the Year for track and field to go with a previous honor earned in January from the National Federation of State High School Associations. He has coached the Traverse City Central boys track and field team since 1977 and also the boys cross country team since 1989. His 1992 track team won the Class A championship, and he has coached 17 individual MHSAA Finals champions. He was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
- Ann Arbor Pioneer assistant girls swimming and diving coach Liz Hill was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for all girls sports by the NHSACA. Hill, a former All-American at the University of Michigan and standout sprinter at Pioneer, began assisting her husband Denny Hill in 1983 before becoming his fulltime assistant a few seasons later. Together they’ve led the Pioneers girls to 15 MHSAA team titles, the last two as co-head coaches.
Michigan Mourns
Fremont and the high school athletic community statewide mourned the death July 21 of longtime coach Rich Tompkins, who led Fremont’s boys cross country teams to six MHSAA cross country championships including three and a runner-up finish during his last decade of coaching before retiring in 1997.
The Muskegon Chronicle reported that his boys and girls cross country teams and boys track and field team combined for 45 league championships, with his boys cross country team winning 116 straight duals from 1977-88. Tompkins was executive director of the Michigan High School Coaches Association for more than a decade and served on its board for more than two decades.
Click to read more from the Chronicle on Tompkins’ legacy.
Officials in the News
The Monroe County Officials Association took to the county fair to encourage passers-by to “Be the Referee” – and received 47 sign-ups from people interested in the avocation. Visitors to an MCOA booth at the fair were told in some detail what is involved with being an MHSAA official, and those who then signed up to find out more about officiating football, basketball, baseball or softball (sports the MCOA trains for and schedules) will be invited to an orientation session where they will become eligible for one of 20 complimentary registration fees for this school year.
The West Michigan Officials Association marked a decade of support at the start of this summer for the Visually Impaired Sports and Activity Day, sponsored by the Helen DeVos Children’s Foundation. The WMOA has contributed nearly $18,000 to the event over the last 10 years as well as taking part in the event, which includes a number of sports and other activities.
The Saginaw Athletic Officials Association sent along this photo of five members who worked 2013-14 MHSAA Finals, from left: Mark Jarlock (baseball), Tom Behmlander (softball), Scott Helmka (football), Dale Brown (softball and football) and Mark Schoenow (football). The Baseball Final was Jarlock’s first; the other officials had worked Finals in the past.
PHOTO: (Top) Monroe St. Mary quarterback Bryce Windham unloads a pass during last season's Division 6 Final win over Ithaca at Ford Field.
Care for Students Drove Forsythe Honoree Isom's Work for Nearly 40 Years
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 10, 2025
For 39 years, Kris Isom poured herself into education and educational athletics as a teacher, coach, class advisor, athletic director, league president and advocate statewide as a remember of the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
To celebrate nearly a lifetime of contributions – including several that continue to impact this state’s student-athletes – Isom has been selected as the 2025 honoree for the MHSAA’s Charles E. Forsythe Lifetime Achievement Award.
The annual award is in its 48th year and named after past MHSAA Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe, the Association's first full-time and longest-serving chief executive. Forsythe Award recipients are selected each year by the MHSAA Representative Council, based on an individual's outstanding contributions to the interscholastic athletics community at the local, regional and statewide levels. Isom will be honored during the MHSAA Boys Basketball Division 4 Final on March 15 at Michigan State University’s Breslin Student Events Center.
Isom retired at the close of the 2023-24 school year after 38 at Adrian Madison and one at Clinton, where she attended high school and then began her teaching career before moving to Madison and becoming a pillar locally and statewide for nearly four decades.
In addition to serving as part of the MHSAA’s Council from 2008-23, Isom served as the president of the Tri-County Conference for more than two decades, on top of all the daily responsibilities that come with serving as a school athletic director. She also was one of the few athletic directors who also coached every year at some level, leading teams in basketball, volleyball, sideline cheer, softball and track & field.
“What I miss the most is the interaction with the kids. The coaching of course, but then everyday them coming into the office or giving me a hug or asking me what’s up,” Isom said. “It’s not always the athletes you intermingle with; it’s the kids in need, and even today when I see them or run into them, I get a hug or thank you, and that makes it all worth it.”
Isom has been recognized several times in the past for her contributions. She received the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award in 2019, after previously being honored with an MHSAA Allen W. Bush Award in 2016 to recognize her behind-the-scenes contributions to school sports. She also was named Region 6 Athletic Director of the Year in 2000 by the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA).
During her time at Madison, she saw several of her school’s athletic programs enjoy success. Among recent highlights, Madison’s competitive cheer team finished Division 4 runner-up in 2022, the girls track & field team won a Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals championship in 2017 and finished runner-up in 2016, and the 2016 volleyball team reached the Class C Semifinals with her daughter Rachel a contributor.
Kristen Isom indeed was a significant contributor to MHSAA work from a behind-the-scenes point of view, as she was a frequent host of District, Regional and Quarterfinal competitions and also MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program (CAP) sessions at her school. She also has been a longtime member of the MIAAA and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
“For nearly four decades, Kristen Isom served as an excellent example of how to navigate the daily challenges of athletic administration while making a difference in the lives of her students and an impact on educational athletics on a larger scale as well,” said MHSAA executive director Mark Uyl. “She often showed a way forward as the MHSAA worked through complex topics, and always with the best interests of students first and foremost.”
A graduate of Clinton High School, Isom received her bachelor’s degree in science and teaching certification in physical education and health in 1984 from Michigan State University. She earned her master’s in elementary education in 1986 from Eastern Michigan University and also has completed graduate courses from Fresno Pacific University.
In addition to the MIAAA and NIAAA, Isom also has been a member of the Michigan Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (MAHPERD) and the Michigan State University Alumni Association. She’s been active with the Clinton United Church of Christ and Land & Lakes Ladies Club in various service efforts, and participated in local Meals on Wheels and roadside cleanup projects.
Isom is married to her husband Jerry, and she’s also maintained her real estate license for 30 years and is continuing in that work.
“Obviously (the Forsythe Award) being a high achievement, and being nominated by your peers, it doesn’t get any better than that. They know everything that goes into this job,” Isom said. “I think, like my daughter said, most people said you got paid to go watch games – that’s a perception many people have and that’s OK, because everybody’s job has ups and downs.
“But to have done something 38 years, at the same place, there must have been something you’re doing right, and you must have enjoyed it. And it’s hard to find that. It kinda makes you feel like everything you’ve done was worthwhile, that you made a difference in someone’s life.”
Past recipients
1978 - Brick Fowler, Port Huron; Paul Smarks, Warren
1979 - Earl Messner, Reed City; Howard Beatty, Saginaw
1980 - Max Carey, Freesoil
1981 - Steven Sluka, Grand Haven; Samuel Madden, Detroit
1982 - Ernest Buckholz, Mt. Clemens; T. Arthur Treloar, Petoskey
1983 - Leroy Dues, Detroit; Richard Maher, Sturgis
1984 - William Hart, Marquette; Donald Stamats, Caro
1985 - John Cotton, Farmington; Robert James, Warren
1986 - William Robinson, Detroit; Irving Soderland, Norway
1987 - Jack Streidl, Plainwell; Wayne Hellenga, Decatur
1988 - Jack Johnson, Dearborn; Alan Williams, North Adams
1989 - Walter Bazylewicz, Berkley; Dennis Kiley, Jackson
1990 - Webster Morrison, Pickford; Herbert Quade, Benton Harbor
1991 - Clifford Buckmaster, Petoskey; Donald Domke, Northville
1992 - William Maskill, Kalamazoo; Thomas G. McShannock, Muskegon
1993 - Roy A. Allen Jr., Detroit; John Duncan, Cedarville
1994 - Kermit Ambrose, Royal Oak
1995 - Bob Perry, Lowell
1996 - Charles H. Jones, Royal Oak
1997 - Michael A. Foster, Richland; Robert G. Grimes, Battle Creek
1998 - Lofton C. Greene, River Rouge; Joseph J. Todey, Essexville
1999 - Bernie Larson, Battle Creek
2000 - Blake Hagman, Kalamazoo; Jerry Cvengros, Escanaba
2001 - Norm Johnson, Bangor; George Lovich, Canton
2002 - John Fundukian, Novi
2003 - Ken Semelsberger, Port Huron
2004 - Marco Marcet, Frankenmuth
2005 - Jim Feldkamp, Troy
2006 - Dan McShannock, Midland; Dail Prucka, Monroe
2007 - Keith Eldred, Williamston; Tom Hickman, Spring Lake
2008 - Jamie Gent, Haslett; William Newkirk, Sanford Meridian
2009 - Paul Ellinger, Cheboygan
2010 - Rudy Godefroidt, Hemlock; Mike Boyd, Waterford
2011 - Eric C. Federico, Trenton
2012 - Bill Mick, Midland
2013 - Jim Gilmore, Tecumseh; Dave Hutton, Grandville
2014 - Dan Flynn, Escanaba
2015 - Hugh Matson, Saginaw
2016 - Gary Hice, Petoskey; Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2017 - Chuck Nurek, Rochester Hills
2018 - Gary Ellis, Allegan
2019 - Jim Derocher, Negaunee; Fredrick J. Smith, Stevensville
2020 - Michael Garvey, Lawton
2021 – Leroy Hackley Jr., Byron Center; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2022 – Bruce Horsch, Houghton
2023 – Karen Leinaar, Frankfort
2024 – Sean Jacques, Calumet
PHOTO Retired Adrian Madison athletic director Kristen Isom presents the Division 4 finalist trophy to Ewen-Trout Creek in 2022. (Photo by Andrew Frushour.)