by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A four-time Michigan High School Athletic Association champion, twice in the two-mile in the Class B Lower Peninsula Cross-Country championships and twice in the 3200 at the MHSAA Class B Track & Field Championships, the 1995 Fruitport High School graduate moved...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A three-sport star at Orchard View High School, Marie Thomas went on to become one of the best to ever play at Grand Valley State University. Thomas was the leading scorer and rebounder at GVSU for three consecutive years from 1992 to 1994, when she averaged a...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Nate McLouth took his baseball talents from a small-town, where he led his Little League team to the state finals, all the way to the major leagues. A three-sport athlete, McLouth quarterbacked Whitehall High School to a West Michigan Conference football title in...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Roger Locke and Dick Locke were brothers and both standout football players at Muskegon High School, part of the Locke family that Big Reds historians still talk about to this day. Dick and Roger took the lessons they learned at Muskegon and went on to bigger fame as...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Dick and Roger Locke were brothers and both standout football players at Muskegon High School, part of the Locke family that Big Reds historians still talk about to this day. Dick and Roger took the lessons they learned at Muskegon and went on to bigger fame as...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
An elementary school teacher, George Bitner began his coaching career at Holton in 1965 then moved on to Spring Lake, taking over the boys golf program in 1968. In 1980, he started the girls golf program at Spring Lake. With a “KISMIF” coaching motto – kept it simple,...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
The first teams from the Michigan Community College Athletic Association to win back-to-back national titles, MCC’s Cross Country squads were guided by veteran coach Roelofs ‘Rudy’ Bartels, who started his coaching career in 1945. A Muskegon Heights...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A 2000 alumnus of Muskegon Catholic Central High School, Martin played wide receiver in the National Football League for nine years and five different teams. The highlights of his NFL career were the three years he played for the Green Bay Packers, from 2006 to 2008,...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
An outstanding athlete at Grand Haven High School, Kent lettered in football, and baseball and, as a diver, co-captained the Buccaneers’ swim team before heading off to Western Michigan University. At Western, he again excelled in the pool, winning both...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Johnny Mitchell did not pick up the discus until 1981, but the Muskegon High School standout’s combination of physical talent and work ethic soon was producing statewide and national honors. The Michigan High School Athletic Association’s (MHSAA) Class A...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A star on the hardwood at Muskegon Heights High School for Tiger Coach Dorothy Gill-Jackson, Cheryl Day led the Heights to the state quarterfinals as a senior in 1984 and earned first-team all-state honors from the Associated Press. Averaging 20 points and 10.3...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Matt Brink was an all-state performer in wrestling and football at Fruitport High School, but it’s on the mat where he reached legendary status. He was a three-time Michigan High School Athletic Association state champion at 275 pounds for the Trojans, first as...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Robin Bouchard starred for the Muskegon Fury and the Muskegon Lumberjacks, calling the Port City home for 13 of his 16 professional hockey seasons. A gifted and prolific scorer, in March of 2010, Bouchard broke the modern-day goal-scoring mark for minor league hockey,...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Mike Ribecky is one of the rare individuals who possesses Hall of Fame credentials as both a player and coach. The 1973 Muskegon Catholic Central graduate was a standout 6-foot-3, 220-pound two-way lineman with the Crusaders. An Associated Press first-team Class B...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A four-sport star at Oakridge High School, Calvin Johnson went on to play point guard at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire despite his smallish stature at 5-foot-10, 150 pounds. A 1977 graduate, he earned Associated Press first-team All-state honors on the basketball...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
Todd Herremans’ combination of tremendous size, speed and athletic ability led him from the small town of Ravenna all the way to an 11-year career in the National Football League. A four-sport athlete and Class President, Herremans earned Division 6 All-State...
by michelle | Feb 17, 2024 | Traditional
A 2013 graduate of Grand Haven High School, Cole is widely considered to be the best female athlete to ever come out of the Lake Michigan shoreline town. An equally dominant force in both basketball and volleyball, in an era of specialization, she powered the...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 16, 2024 | Traditional
Click here to watch video from the 1951 Muskegon vs. Muskegon Heights game Earl Morrall, one of the greatest football players to ever come out of West Michigan, was one of seven members of the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame’s inaugural induction class in 1987. But...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 16, 2024 | Traditional
Dave VerMerris started the area’s first high school soccer program at Western Michigan Christian in 1968. He went on to coach the Warriors to a 333-154-40 record, four state championship appearances and state titles in 1988 and 1995. He taught the nuances of the game...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 16, 2024 | Traditional
Rob Peel is the fastest swimmer in area history. And in the 1990s, he was among the fastest swimmers in the United States. A Spring Lake High School and Hope College graduate, Peel made his biggest splash in swimming’s answer to the 100-yard dash — the 50-meter...
