by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Maybe it shouldn’t have been a complete surprise that Dan Bylsma took over as coach of a floundering Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team on February 15, 2009, and less than four months later led them to a Stanley Cup championship. After all, Bylsma always has been good...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A very good way to start a fight, or at the very least a heated discussion, is to gather some former Muskegon professional hockey players and fans together and ask them what was the greatest single team in Muskegon’s 50-year professional hockey history. One thing that...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A Muskegon Heights kid who delighted in exceeding expectations, Trinity Townsend led the Heights’ Quiz Bowl team to state prominence, but it was on the track where he left his biggest mark. Townsend was a 400-meter state champion who went on to become a four-time...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A prep star at Muskegon St. Mary, Fred Storck was a reliable bat and a popular player throughout an 11-year baseball career. Storck started his professional career in 1946 as a pitcher in the Cleveland Indian organization, but would ultimately find his niche in the...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
The Muskegon area is known for its high school football excellence, but girls volleyball isn’t far behind. Fruitport, North Muskegon, Whitehall and Grand Haven are among the area schools that have made long runs in the annual state tournament, but one small school was...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Jack Sprague cut his racing teeth on the dirt tracks at nearby Thunderbird Raceway and Winston Speedway before motoring on up to the top of the auto racing world. A native of Spring Lake, he won championships at both of those local tracks before heading off for...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Taking the reins of a storied basketball program is a job suited for very few. During his 33-year tenure as Western Michigan Christian High School’s head varsity boys basketball coach, Jim Goorman proved he was one of those rare individuals capable of building upon...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Tom Kresnak was one of the top offensive linemen to ever come out of football-rich Muskegon County. The force up front for two of the first great teams at Muskegon Catholic Central, Kresnak helped lead Coach Ed Farhat’s Crusaders to consecutive 8-1 records in...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Glenn Meyers’ amazing skill with a bow and arrow took him from the small town of Fremont, to college at Division I Arizona State and, ultimately, to the Olympic Games. Meyers learned the art of archery from his father, Earl, but said he didn’t get serious about the...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Dusty Fairfield made tiny Ravenna a state football powerhouse during his 17 years as the Bulldogs’ head coach. Fairfield took over a dormant Ravenna program in the late 1980s and wasted no time putting it on the football map, advancing to the 1988 Class C state finals...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Muskegon Heights High School is known statewide for its outstanding basketball tradition. One of the most memorable stretches in the Tigers’ storied history came in 1978 and 1979. The Tigers, under the direction of newly-minted head coach and former standout Heights...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
An outstanding high school athlete at Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic where he played football for coach Dick Soisson, Mike Holmes, like his mentor, racked up over 200 victories as varsity football coach on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Fresh off a standout four-year...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Cathy Fitzpatrick was the dominant female sprinter in the Muskegon area in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and arguably the top female sprinter in the entire state at that time. She captured an amazing seven top-four state meet finishes in individual events during her...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
As a 6-foot-6 senior, VanDyke led Muskegon Western Michigan Christian to a Class C state championship in 1958, the first for that basketball-rich school. It was the first of four state titles for the Warriors’ head coach Elmer Walcott, a 1988 MASHF inductee....
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Widely regarded as the top horseshoe pitcher to ever come out Muskegon, Smith won 13 Michigan Horseshoe Pitchers Association state titles between 1962 and 1982. He competed in 25 state tournaments and placed in the top three on 21 occasions. Smith was known for his...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A 1991 graduate of Ravenna High School, Place was a three-sport star in basketball, volleyball, and softball, earning 11 varsity letters and all-state honors in volleyball and basketball for the Bulldogs. Her biggest achievements came on the basketball court, where...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Annese led Muskegon High School to three state championships and a 92-15 record during his nine seasons as head football coach from 2000 to 2008. The son of Nick Annese, longtime coach at Corunna High School, Tony played college football at Alma before starting his...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Gruhl began a lengthy career in the International Hockey League with the 1979-80 season, skating with the Saginaw Gears, and quickly established himself as a goal scorer. He led the Gears in scoring with 53 goals and 93 points in 75 games. A second season in Saginaw...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A 1956 graduate of Muskegon High School, DeHoog picked up tennis at a young age when there were limited high school sports opportunities for females. As a member of the Muskegon Tennis Club, Rosemary had earned a reputation as one of the top players in the state by...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Named senior vice president of ESPN Audio in 2007, Davenport joined the network in 1985 as an associate producer. A graduate of Hesperia High School and Western Michigan University, he previously worked as a production assistant at ABC Sports. An all-around athlete at...
