by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
A native of Burlington, New Jersey and a 1978 alumnus of Cedarville University in Ohio, where he played varsity tennis, Ken Erny was initially hired by Fruitport Faith Christian following college graduation to teach history and begin a soccer program at the school....
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Two decades previous, the Hall of Fame honored Michael Knight with its Distinguished Service Award for his work in helping to establish Muskegon’s Winter Sport Complex. Twenty years later, Knight might not recognize the facility, now known as the Muskegon Luge...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Cal Van Singel and Jon Russell have been fixtures on the Muskegon-area airwaves for nearly two dozen years, calling more than 1,100 high school football and basketball games in total. The duo are very well-respected for their promotion of all area schools and both...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Jon Russell and Cal Van Singel have been fixtures on the Muskegon-area airwaves for nearly two-dozen years, calling more than 1,100 high school football and basketball games in total. The duo are very well-respected for their promotion of all area schools and both...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Many would argue that Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame president Gene Young should have been honored with the Hall’s Distinguished Service Award long before 2018. After all, he joined the board of directors a mere five months after the Hall was formed in...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
A Michigan High School Athletic Association basketball and football official for more than 40 years, Mike Robillard spent much of his free time mentoring new officials, coaching, and volunteering with youth clubs in the Greater Muskegon area. A past president of the...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Jerry Harris devoted almost 50 years of his life to Muskegon Heights schools, and more accurately, to the thousands of children who have walked those halls in the past. He first came to Muskegon Heights in 1968 as a teacher but quickly became involved with the Tiger...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Dick Topp helped put Muskegon-area golf on the state map in recent years, leading the charge to bring the prestigious Michigan Amateur championship to his beloved Muskegon Country Club in 2005 and 2013. A Holland native and past president and board member of the Golf...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Cyndi Blair founded No More Sidelines in 2006, a program to provide children and young adults with various special needs the opportunity to participate on athletic teams and have opportunities afforded to mainstream children. Blair, the mother of five children and the...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
One of the most well-known and respected media personalities in Muskegon area history, Moyes was the long-time owner of the Bear Lake Tavern in North Muskegon but is even better known for the trademark “Hello sports fans” introduction he used throughout...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Pete Gawkowski has invested thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to better the sport of baseball in the Muskegon area, most notably refurbishing historic Marsh Field. A 1969 graduate of Muskegon Catholic Central High School, he played football, basketball, and...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Heeres never married and has no children, but he became a father figure of sorts to thousands of Whitehall High School students through 48 years of service as a teacher and coach. His sports background started in his prep days at Western Michigan Christian High...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Barney Sutherland, who taught social studies and coached at Reeths-Puffer High School for 38 years before retiring in 2001, continues to work at R-P as an event manager. Sutherland is truly a Rocket legend who earned the Distinguished Service Award, presented...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
For 45 years, kids’ smiles were Earl O’Brien’s only reward for the endless hours he spent coaching, refereeing and organizing youth sports leagues. For O’Brien, that was always more than enough. “I didn’t do the things I’ve done my whole life for an...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Jack Crowell fell in love with boxing while watching Pete Petroskey work Kenny Lane’s corner during a 1963 title fight on a hot August afternoon in Saginaw. In a dozen or so fights over the next decade, Crowell proved he could punch and developed “a decent left...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Mark Jastrzembski has given more than 20 years of his time to many area groups, particularly the West Michigan Speedskating club and the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex. Fitting the job description of the Distinguished Service Award to a ‘T’, Jastrzembski...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
For almost 40 years, Jerry Porter was “Mr. Bowling” in Muskegon County. Elected to the Greater Muskegon Bowling Association board of directors in 1969, Porter worked his way up to GMBA president in 1979. In 1982, he became the organization’s...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Most Little League baseball fields in the older parts of towns do not look as beautifully manicured as Sheldon Park in East Muskegon. Of course, most fields do not have an individual like Ralph Burr to work on like a second front lawn. Burr has often single-handedly...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Times were when doctors with black bags full of stethoscopes, band aids and ointments, stalked the sidelines at high school football games. Times were when they volunteered their services to help out the young athletes in their communities. They performed team...
by michelle | Feb 16, 2024 | Gene Young Service Award
Times were when doctors with black bags full of stethoscopes, band-aids and ointments, stalked the sidelines at high school football games. Times were when they volunteered their services to help out the young athletes in their communities. They performed team...
