by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
A 6-foot-9 center for Shelby High School, Paul Griffin led the Tigers to state Class C basketball crowns in 1971 and 1972. An All-State selection as a senior, Griffin averaged 26.9 points and 25 rebounds per game in his final year of prep play. After graduation, he...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Muskegon High School’s Paul Dekker was a standout end with All-State credentials on some otherwise disappointing Big Red teams in Harry Potter’s first two years as head coach. Dekker was the archetype physical specimen for a football end – big,...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
An outstanding all-around athlete at Shelby High School, Dave Whitsell earned letters in football, basketball, baseball and track. After graduation from the University of Indiana, Whitsell logged 12 seasons and 161 games as a defensive back with five NFL teams....
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
A football and baseball star at Western Michigan University, Secory gained fame as a professional baseball player and as a National League umpire. An all-around athlete, Secory tried out for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League before signing with the...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Drafted by the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League, Bryan McLay began his professional career with the Cincinnati Mohawks of the International Hockey League in 1957. After three seasons with various eastern teams, he returned to the IHL in 1960 with the...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
After returning home from a 58-month assignment with the Canadian Army during World War I, Jim Henderson left Canada in pursuit of a job. In November 1919, he joined the staff of the Muskegon Chronicle as a reporter. It was the beginning of a 43-year career as a...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Former head coach for the Flying Dutchmen of Hope College, Russ DeVette was a football and basketball star at Muskegon High School in the late 1930s. After earning letters at Hope College in basketball, football, baseball and track, DeVette attended the University of...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
A member of the Muskegon Heights High School state championship basketball teams of 1956 and 1957, Ed Burton netted a school record of 1,143 points for the Tigers during his three-year varsity career. A Scholastic Magazine prep All-American as a senior, the 6-foot-6...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Over a span of 26 years, Elmer Walcott guided the basketball squad at Western Michigan Christian to a 299-163 regular season record. In post-season play, Walcott’s teams notched an impressive 101-22 mark en route to six visits to the state cage finals. His 1958,...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Jack Tighe enjoyed a lengthy baseball career as a player, coach, scout and successful manager at all minor league levels, plus a brief stint in the majors as pilot of the Detroit Tigers in the late 1950s. His long association with baseball spanned 46 years –...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
A graduate of Manistique High School in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Harry Potter pursued a college career at Western Michigan University (then called Western State Normal). In the mid-1920s Harry was a three-sport star at Western in football, basketball and...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Local product Kenny Lane gave the Muskegon area its most legitimate contender for a world professional boxing title in the lightweight division during the 1950’s and 60’s. A crafty southpaw with lightning speed, Kenny honed his skills under the watchful...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
A member of the Muskegon Heights High School state championship basketball team of 1954, M.C. Burton netted a school record 1,141 points for the Tigers during his three-year varsity career (this record was later broken by his younger brother Ed). In the fall of...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
The winningest football coach in the long history of Muskegon High School, C. Leo Redmond tallied a 156-29-13 gridiron record and six mythical Class A football state championships in his 22 years of Big Red service. The captain and starting center of the undefeated...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
The only coach in the history of Michigan high school sports to win at least 200 football games and 400 basketball games, Oscar E “Okie” Johnson led Muskegon Heights High School to six mythical Class A grid crowns and three Class A cage titles over his 37...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Gus Cohrs established a coaching standard at Grand Haven High School that may never be equaled. His basketball teams were 242-84 (.742) from 1922 to 1939, including seven state championships. In football, the Buccaneers were 51-42 from 1922 to 1933 against a...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
One of the 13 founding members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association, North Muskegon’s Sally Sessions earned her greatest fame as an amateur and professional golfer, but she was also a gifted athlete in other sports. Despite her diminutive stature, she...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Sonny Grandelius was a versatile backfield threat for Muskegon Heights High School’s successive state champion teams in his junior and senior years of 1945 and 1946. A quarterback in 1945, Grandelius switched to fullback in ’46 and was a first team All-State...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Muskegon High’s Earl Morrall ranks with Bennie Oosterbaan as one of the area’s finest football stars. Finishing his high school career with a unanimous selection as an All-State quarterback, Earl earned similar honors at the collegiate level by being...
by jesper | Feb 10, 2024 | Traditional
Bennie Oosterbaan, a gridiron legend at the University of Michigan, was arguably the finest athlete produced by the Muskegon area. A three time football All-American at U of M from 1925-27, Bennie, along with Alabama’s Don Hutson, was selected by renowned...
