Phil Baldwin
BORN: APRIL 4, 1942, MONTGOMERY, AL
DIED: November 19, 2017, MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI
One of nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Baldwin, Phil received
his start in the sport of boxing as a member of the Muskegon Catholic
Youth Organization. At the age of 16, he won the state of Michigan's
novice title at 135 pounds.
In February of 1960, Baldwin earned the Michigan Golden
Gloves open crown at 147 pounds at the Civic Auditorium in Grand
Rapids. It was the beginning of an event-filled year, as Baldwin
rapidly climbed to the top of the amateur boxing world.
In April 1960, Baldwin, boxing as a member of the Chicago
Tribune's Golden Gloves team, helped the West defeat the East in a
boxing exhibition before a crowd of 15,000 at Madison Square Garden. One week later, the Muskegon Heights High School senior won the national
AAU 147-pound championship at the University of Toledo with a decision
over Roy McMillan of Toledo. The win marked Baldwin's 27th victory in
29 amateur bouts. The victory also marked the first AAU crown in 31
years for a West Michigan boxer.
One month later, the southpaw joined 78 amateur hopefuls in San
Francisco to battle for a spot on the United States Olympic team. Baldwin emerged victorious and was added to the 21-man preliminary
roster for the 1960 Rome Olympics. In July, he was sent to Fort Dix,
New Jersey, for intensive training with Coach Julius Menendez. In early
August, it was announced that Baldwin was named to the 10-man Olympic
squad. On August 17, the team boarded a plane for Rome. However,
Baldwin was forced to stay behind in New York with pneumonia. He
rejoined the team a week later for the Olympics.
Baldwin received a
bye in his first bout. In the second round the 5-7, 147-pound 18-year-old TKO'ed Rene Grun of Luxembourg in the third minute of the first
round. Baldwin defeated Max Meier of Switzerland two days later to
advance to the quarterfinal round. In his next match, he dropped a
split decision to Jim Lloyd of Great Britain. During his Olympic
adventure, he became acquainted with fellow US teammate Cassius Clay
(Muhammad Ali). The two remained close friends throughout their lives.
Donna and Doris Cook
DONNA:
BORN MAY 24, 1928, MUSKEGON, MI
DIED OCTOBER 16, 2006, MUSKEGON, MI
DORIS: BORN JUNE 23, 1931, MUSKEGON, MI
Members of the short-lived All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the Cook
sisters displayed their baseball abilities on diamonds across the
Midwest between 1946 and 1954. The AAGPBL was to be the
inspiration for the popular movie "A League of Their Own."
Donna began her professional career on May 26, 1946, just
days after graduating from Muskegon Heights High School. As right
fielder for the Muskegon Lassies, she saw action in 78 games for the AAGPBL club, stepping to the plate on 231 occasions. The Lassies drew
just under 90,000 cash customers to Marsh Field in 1946 - their first
season in the league. Moved from outfield to the pitcher's mound, Donna
recorded a 14-8 win-loss mark with a 1.42 ERA in 1947, as the Lassies
posted a 69-42 record en route to the regular season league
championship. The 1947 Lassies established a Marsh Field attendance
record by drawing 140,000 fans.
The AAGPBL controlled the movement of players between teams,
and staffing of two new franchises in the spring of 1948 caused Muskegon
to lose Donna Cook. It was the first of numerous moves for the Muskegon
Heights southpaw, as she was added to the roster of the Chicago
Colleens. Donna saw action with the Fort Wayne Daisies, the Grand
Rapids Chicks, the Battle Creek Belles, the
Muskegon Belles, the South Bend
Blue Sox and the Rockford Peaches before retiring following the 1954
season.
Doris Cook, Donna's younger
sister, joined the Springfield Sallies in 1949 at the age of 17. A
traveling developmental squad of the AAGPBL, the Sallies entertained
crowds across the country, playing exhibition games before major league
baseball contests. An outfielder and pitcher, Doris joined the league
circuit in 1951 as a member of the recently relocated from Muskegon to Kalamazoo. Doris remained with the club until the 1953 season, before moving
to South Bend in another relocation of talent by the league. Paired
with her sister, Donna, for the first time in her professional career,
Doris retired from the league following the 1953 season.
Morris G. "Moose" Lallo
BORN: SEPTEMBER 25, 1924, MONTREAL, QUEBEC
DIED: SEPTEMBER 1, 2020, POMPANO BEACH, FL
In 1944, Lallo began his professional hockey
career as a member of the Boston Olympics of the Eastern Hockey League. Slowly, the 5-foot-9½, 200-pound defenseman climbed the
ranks of organized hockey to the International Hockey League. Lallo skated
five seasons with the IHL's Grand Rapids Rockets, earning all-star accolades
during the 1954-55 season.
In the fall of 1960, the veteran defenseman joined the
Zephyrs, an IHL expansion franchise in Muskegon, serving as player-coach. Lallo notched a career-high 24 goals in 58 games in 1961-62, his second year
with the club. Muskegon earned the Huber Trophy that season, presented to
the league's regular season champion, as Coach Lallo guided the Zephyrs to a
43-23-2 record. In playoff action, Muskegon notched an 8-1 mark en route to
the Turner Cup, signifying the winner of the IHL's playoff championship
series.
Before the start of the 1964-65 season, Lallo stepped
down from his coaching duties to concentrate on his final season of play. His playing days spanned nearly 1,100 games over 21 seasons, including 598
IHL contests. The Montreal native returned to the coaching ranks the
following year, guiding the Muskegon club (renamed the Mohawks) to a second
Huber Trophy, after a disappointing sixth-place finish in 1964-65.
His
1967-68 squad tallied a 43-17-12 regular season mark, and another 8-1 record
in post-season play to gain their second Turner Cup. Named coach of the IHL
first team all-stars five different times, as well as second team all-star
coach on two other occasions, Lallo garnered the March of Dimes Man of the
Year award in April 1973.
Lallo parted ways with
the Muskegon franchise in March of 1978. In his 17 seasons at the helm, his
teams compiled a 600-443-93 regular season record. Muskegon made the
playoffs in 13 of those seasons, notching a 50-50-2 post season mark, two
Turner Cups and seven Huber Trophies.
He retired from hockey following the 1980-81 season, after
three seasons as coach of the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL.
Bob Ludwig
BORN: SEPTEMBER 25, 1927, MUSKEGON, MI
A 1945 graduate of Muskegon High School,
Ludwig lettered in football and baseball for the Big Reds. A starting
halfback for Coach C. Leo Redmond's gridiron squad in 1944, Ludwig helped
pace the team to an 8-0-0 record and a mythical state championship.
On the baseball diamond, Ludwig compiled a 17-1 varsity
record as a pitcher for Coach Harry Potter. Among the victories were two
no-hitters and five one-hit contests as Muskegon rolled to 55 consecutive
wins. His only loss came against conference rival Grand Haven, ending the
unbeaten streak. When not on the mound, Ludwig's talents as an outfielder
and solid hitter kept him in the Big Red line-up on a continuous basis.
Following graduation, Ludwig enrolled at Michigan State College (now
Michigan State University). In his
freshman season, the Muskegon native played football and baseball for the
Spartans before signing a contract to play baseball for the Chicago Cubs
organization in May 1946. Sent to Hutchinson, Kansas, it was the beginning
of a seven-and-one-half year stint in the minor leagues that spanned 806
ball games.
A solid hit-and-run man, Ludwig showed some power with a pair of home
runs on opening day in 1948 for the Cubs' Double A club in Shreveport,
Louisiana. However, a broken ankle sidelined the 5-11,
180-pounder for much of the 1948 campaign. Assigned to Macon, Georgia, the
following year, he saw action in 125 games, batting in 47 runs in 438 at
bats. Promoted to Nashville of the Double A Southern Association for the
1950 season, Ludwig batted a solid .276 in 445 at bats before suffering a
skull fracture late in the year. He returned to Nashville in 1951 and
rebounded with his finest season as a professional. Playing third base, he
led the league with 213 hits in 664 at bats, en route to a .331 batting
average and a place on the Southern Association All-Star team.
Promoted to Triple "A"
ball in 1952, Ludwig saw action in 114 games for Springfield, Massachusetts
of the International League. Despite a career average of .290 in 437
minor league games, Ludwig was unable to crack the Cubs roster. Unsuccessful in forcing a trade, he retired from professional baseball in
1953.
Dan Raymond
BORN: MARCH 30, 1891, GRANT MI
DIED: JULY 24, 1986, LUDINGTON, MI
A founder and past
president of the Muskegon Motorcycle Club, Dan Raymond was a pioneer in the
area of motorcycle sports. His tireless efforts established Muskegon as a
mecca for the nation's top motorcycle hill climbers.
In August 1920, Raymond, along with seven friends, founded
the Muskegon Motorcycle Club. The group negotiated the purchase of Mt.
Garfield, and more than 30 acres of level territory at its base. In 1921,
they celebrated their purchase with the first annual motorcycle hill climb. Raymond and his fellow riders entertained a crowd of around 50 spectators.
The popularity of the sport grew rapidly and Mt. Garfield
was selected as the site for the American Motorcycle Association's 1929
National Championship Motorcycle Hill Climb. An estimated crowd of over
10,000 attended the event. Since that time, the Muskegon Motorcycle Club
has hosted more than 30 national championships at the Mt. Garfield site. Crowds for the annual event reached upwards of 15,000 during its heyday in
the mid-60s.
As a competitor, Raymond was best known as a Jack Pine
champion, earning five crowns between 1928 and 1933. Sanctioned by the AMA
as the run for the national road championship,
the Jack Pine
was an extended
and strenuous test of the reliability and endurance of both the rider and
the motorcycle. As a measure of his achievement, Raymond compiled 988 of a
possible 1000 points during the 1929 competition, in which only 41 of 91
riders that gathered from seven states completed the cross-country trail of
over 500 miles.
The Grant native
continued on his roll with a Jack Pine co-championship in 1931, as well as
individual titles in 1932 and 1933. In 1934, he won the Muskegon Motorcycle
Club's hill-climbing championship. A serious accident in 1940 curtailed his
days as a competitor, but he continued to champion the cause of motorcycling
as a legitimate competitive sport and a desirable form of recreation up
until
his death in 1986.
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| Special to Kathy Van Antwerpen Teitsma for sharing the images from 1939! | ||||
Steve Sluka
BORN: FEBRUARY 22, 1909, NEWARK, NJ
DIED: MAY 6, 1995, GRAND HAVEN, MI
A three-sport star at Grand Haven High School, Steve Sluka was outstanding
in football, basketball and track for the Buccaneers. Captain of the
football and basketball teams in his senior year, he helped the Bucs to the
Class B mythical football crown in the fall of 1926, followed by the Class B
state basketball title in the spring of 1927.
Sluka enrolled at Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) in
1928, earning a freshmen numeral in
football, basketball and baseball. He transferred to the University of
Illinois, where he again earned freshman numerals in the same three sports.
After graduation from Illinois, he received his master's degree from the
University of Michigan in 1938.
Steve began his teaching career at Hemlock High School near
Saginaw in the fall of 1938. Head coach of the basketball and baseball
teams at Hemlock, he moved to Morenci for the 1941-42 school year. In the
fall of 1942, he returned to Grand Haven to teach. Following his service in
World War II, Sluka came back to Grand Haven High School and took on the
head coaching duties of the Bucs varsity basketball and baseball teams. His cage squad won one Class B district crown in his 10-year period as
basketball coach.
But baseball was Sluka's first love. He coached the sport
for a total of 32 years in Michigan, compiling a 380-244-2 overall record,
including a 340-231-2 mark at Grand Haven. His 28 years at the helm of the
Buccaneer program included a 31-0 season in 1961 and a state record 56
consecutive wins spanning the 1960-62 seasons. In 1971, he was recognized
as the Midwest region's National High School Athletic Coaches Association
baseball coach of the year. He retired from coaching in 1973.
Athletic director at Grand Haven from 1950-1972, Sluka served
on the state committee that established the format for the state's first
official baseball championship tournament in 1973. In 1981, he earned the
Charles E. Forsythe award (the Michigan High School Athletic Association's
highest honor) for his years of service to high school sports.
