Century of School Sports: Good Sports Are Winners Then, Now & Always
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 12, 2024
The above photo came to us two years ago this fall, from a now-retired athletic director, who was especially taken by these 10 runners from eight schools huddling together before their races during the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway.
Representing Bloomingdale, Bridgman, Centreville, Coloma, Constantine, Parchment, Schoolcraft and Watervliet, these racers had competed against each other all season, and for some several seasons. But during these moments before what would be the most high-profile event of their athletic careers, they joined together for support, motivation and camaraderie.
Sportsmanship is one of the MHSAA’s core values – the “4 S’s” – of educational athletics. It has served as part of the bedrock of this organization from its beginning 100 years ago, and should remain so as long as school sports are considered a valued part of the educational experience.
Two weeks ago, we covered in this #MHSAA100 space the history of the MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit – first conducted in 1997 – and our latest statewide tour concludes Thursday in Grand Rapids. But those sessions welcoming student leaders every year are just one of many efforts the MHSAA has made to continue teaching sportsmanship through athletics over the last century.
An essay, “Athletics – Why and How” by Grand Rapids Union athletic director John Truesdale, was included with the November 1925 edition of the Bulletin of the Michigan High School Athletic Association and addresses how the creation of the MHSAA from its predecessor organization played a part in immediately improving sportsmanship in school sports during that first year:
“Because of (the creation and fulltime nature of the MHSAA), the standards of sportsmanship are more nearly approached. Bickerings have been reduced to a minimum. Better understanding exists between schools. The conducting of games has become the exhibition not only of skill, strength and wisdom, but of sportsmanship, obedience to accepted rules, and consideration of those who for the moment are in the position of enemies, although friendly.
“In fact, athletics in Michigan are in position now to accomplish the purpose for which they were designed – the building of character. … It is entirely reasonable that each, the player and spectator, emerges from a contest a better citizen because of his experiences.”
High Schools change over entire student bodies every four years. Freshman eventually become seniors, and when they leave take their parents and others who have spent a portion of time in the school sports space, to be replaced by the next classes of athletes and families playing, cheering and altogether carrying forward our time-cherished activities.
And as such, the lessons of sportsmanship are constantly in need of renewal.
After both arrived during the mid 1980s, retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts and retired Communications Director John Johnson embarked on a mission to transform sportsmanship in Michigan school sports – and in doing so, made the MHSAA a national leader in that work, which continues today.
These MHSAA sportsmanship campaigns from the last 30 years should ring at least a few bells for those who have spent time around our games:
“Good Sports are Winners” – Beginning in 1989 and over the following two decades, the MHSAA (and with help from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and multiple sponsors) annually distributed 100+ page sportsmanship kits to member schools which included materials to assist in promoting good sportsmanship, including letters to be sent out to various stakeholders, public address announcements for events and other content for programs and publications.
An awards program celebrated teams best displaying these ideals from every season – Fall, Winter and Spring – with those winners receiving recognition across statewide media and MHSAA publications through the conclusion of this campaign during the 2010-11 school year.
“What Kids Wish Their Parents Knew About Sportsmanship” – This six-minute video produced for the start of the 1999-2000 school year featured students addressing adult behavior at their events. The video was designed to be shown as preseason meetings, booster clubs, school board meetings and similar athletic department or school gatherings.
“Battle of the Fans” Fast forward to 2012. The MHSAA’s Student Advisory Council, in an effort to affect sportsmanship especially among peers, created a statewide competition to promote positive cheering from the growing number of student sections across the state.
The “Battle of the Fans” continued for 10 years (skipping 2021 due to COVID-19 precautions) and annually recognized not only a champion but additional finalists with banners during the Basketball Finals at Breslin Center. The contest was almost entirely video and social media-driven, and during later years of the competition included multiple rounds that required sections to complete challenges to advance.
The BOTF program also was recognized nationally and copied by other states after seeing what Michigan’s student leaders were capable of influencing.
And that work continues.
The following was created this summer by the Student Advisory Council based on 10 pages of notes from their experiences at 2023 Sportsmanship Summits.
One of the most revealing truths in studying the 100-year history of the MHSAA is that many issues of the day then and now are remarkably similar. It’s not that there haven’t been improvements along the way. But rather, the process of educational athletics is ongoing as generations of students take their turns and continue on – and the work to keep sportsmanship at the heart of competition remains of great importance.
To that end, let’s allow Truesdale to close this latest history lesson.
“Let us then, in this year of 1925, demonstrate to the people as a whole that victory is not all we seek.
“Let each of us, whether superintendent, principal, coach, player or spectator, emphasize the point that to win is welcome, that to demonstrate superiority is one goal we are after. But let us not lose sight of the fact that the means employed are of great consequence, and that the results we seek are not championships alone but victory of the player and the team and the school over the temptations of unfair tactics.
“Championships will be forgotten but character is lasting.”
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
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
PHOTO A group of Southwestern Athletic Conference runners huddle up before their races at the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway, including Bloomingdale’s Jaden Barnes and Joe Stocchiero, Bridgman’s Andrew Mabry and John Sanderson, Centreville’s Logan Weis, Coloma’s Boden Genovese, Constantine’s Ethan Glick, Parchment’s William Winter, Schoolcraft’s Dante Pilot and Watervliet’s Daniel Mandujano. (Photo by Alan Bobalik/Bloomingdale cross country.)
Fighting Irish Stand Together
February 7, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
ANN ARBOR – The day Bridget was taken off her ventilator, all of Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard gathered in the school’s chapel to pray for the 12-year-old member of their family who soon would finish her fight against a rare form of brain cancer.
Senior Adam Olszewski had never seen anything like it. He’s been around the school through the careers of multiple siblings and understands what makes his school a special place. But “her story touched everyone,” he said. “That’s the closest I've ever seen the Richard community.”
The saddest days at Gabriel Richard have only a slight connection with the Fighting Irish’s student cheering section, a finalist in this season’s MHSAA Battle of the Fans II.
But the collective camaraderie present as the school and community mourned signifies the solidarity that has made cheering at the “The Greenhouse” a decade-long tradition and regular part of student life.
“People who come through Richard or are around the Richard community, they say they see something different in how people interact with each other, how close we are,” Olszewski said. “It’s on a different level.”
And that togetherness was easy to recognize during the MHSAA’s Battle of the Fans visit Tuesday for the Fighting Irish’s boys basketball game against Madison Heights Bishop Foley.
Gabriel Richard – which finished sixth in the selection of five finalists for last season’s inaugural BOTF contest – was the third stop on this year’s tour. The MHSAA also has visited reigning champion Frankenmuth and Vandercook Lake, with trips coming up to Zeeland East and Buchanan before Facebook voting begins Feb. 19. The champion will be announced Feb. 22 on Second Half.
Olszewski’s memories of the Irish’s cheering section go back into the early 2000s. His oldest brother Jeff led it as well before graduating in 2008, and even before his family played a part, Adam remembers seeing mentions of the section in the local newspaper.
That recognition through the years has meant a lot to Gabriel Richard, which has 515 students and is much smaller than three Class A schools also sharing the city – Huron (1,810 students), Pioneer (1,670), and Skyline (1,645) – and its local media spotlight.
But in another obvious way, Gabriel Richard is different than its three larger counterparts. It’s a Catholic school, drawing students from multiple Catholic feeder schools, and in turn, multiple communities that border Ann Arbor.
Developing togetherness would seem to be difficult with students coming from various places each day. But the opposite has been true.
As Olszewski explained, the students at Gabriel Richard can find their own niches – sports, or drama, art or other interests. The classes also have retreats each year that bind them tighter.
At a school Gabriel Richard’s size, everyone knows everyone else at least by name or face, and at one point Tuesday the cheering section chanted for a cheerleader by name, at other times did the same for individual players, and Olszewski jokingly scolded individuals throughout the section as he led the cheers and kept the group organized.
The Irish cheerers can be found just about everywhere, even when multiple teams are playing on the same night. On Friday, a spirit bus will take students to the school’s hockey game before bringing them back to watch the boys basketball team. The section has shown up plenty of other places from Comerica Park for the Catholic League baseball final to the school’s powder puff football games.
“We’re definitely bonded,” senior Aaron Tishkoff said. “As a student section, we pride ourselves like that. … I had a friend ask, why can’t we do this at our school? People just won’t do it. And we’re like, we've always done that. That’s just what we do at basketball games.”
“When I got here, the first few (games), it was a lot different,” said senior Blaise Stearns, who transferred from another area school midway through last year. “Everyone comes here and just has fun. You get more close with everybody.”
A major bonding point is the school’s annual "Masquerade for Mott," a fundraiser for C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan. In its fourth year, the event includes nearly two weeks of fundraisers and cheering section theme nights, with the main event next Tuesday’s boys basketball game at Detroit Catholic Central – which joined with Gabriel Richard last year to create a fundraising competition.
A friend of Olszewski’s died last year from a heart condition, and he visited Mott to present the check from the 2012 "Masquerade." On Friday, the cheering section will have a “Zebra Night” in honor of Bridget, who was a big fan of the Gabriel Richard football team and whose favorite animal was a zebra.
Although Bridget’s older brother is an underclassmen at the high school, most of its students didn't know her. But they did know her story and felt bonded by being part of Gabriel Richard – and coming together in her honor again Friday will mean a lot.
Like they have this week for “Superhero Night,” “Beach Night,” and “’70s Night,” they’ll join together to have a good time for a good cause. The message is simple: This is fun. This is what we do. And this is what we'll continue to do when the next class takes over leadership at the front of the crowd.
“It’s a positive attitude, especially if they see the senior guys like us having a positive attitude. It’s really easy for them to follow,” Wolf said. It’s been a tradition here for so long. It’s not that hard for us to do. Kids know it’s Friday night, we go to a basketball game. That’s what we do; we go and have fun and we participate in the student section.”
Subway is a sponsor of this season's Battle of the Fans II contest.
PHOTO: (Top) Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard students follow leader Adam Olszewski as they ride the "roller coaster" during Tuesday's boys basketball game against Madison Heights Bishop Foley. (Middle) "Moses" emerges from the top of the Gabriel Richard student section. (Photo courtesy of Todd Sexton.)