by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Jerry Fitzpatrick, better known as a coach and athletic director at Muskegon Mona Shores High School, was one of the greatest track and field athletes ever produced in the Muskegon area. Specializing in the sprints and the long jump, Fitzpatrick was a standout at...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Ed Douma learned the basics of basketball at Muskegon’s Western Michigan Christian High School under the school’s great cage patriarch Elmer Walcott. Douma not only became a standout player, but also went on to an illustrious coaching career at both the...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
From 1954 to 1986, Roger Chiaverini established a reputation as a consistent winning football coach for five Michigan high schools with a 31-year total of 179 wins, 82 losses and 10 ties. His .793 winning percentage with two Muskegon area schools (Muskegon and...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Beginning with a Class A state championship in 1954, the Muskegon Heights Tigers emerged two years later as one of the most dominant basketball teams in the history of the state tournament. The 1955-56 and 1956-57 squads captured consecutive Class A basketball...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
One of the finest three-sport athletes ever to hail from Hart, Fred Stevens went on to become a sports legend at Western Michigan Normal (now Western MIchigan University) in Kalamazoo. From 1936 to 1940, Stevens was without argument Hart High School’s finest...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
The name Tom McShannock is indelibly linked to the great tradition of sports at his alma mater, Muskegon High School. His long career, beginning with his remarkable prep years as a three-sport athlete for the Big Reds, followed by some solid athletic accomplishments...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
One of the finest running backs ever to come out of the Muskegon area, Orchard View High School’s Curtis Adams set school records at prep and college levels before embarking on a five-year career in the National Football League. A 1981 graduate of Orchard View,...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Already a high school coaching legend in the Muskegon area, only a prolonged career as an active coach delayed Pete Kutches’ induction into the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame. Kutches’ credentials as a winning football coach at several local high schools rank...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
One of the most productive hockey players in the history of professional hockey at the L.C. Walker Arena, Gary Ford scored 337 goals and 878 total points in ten seasons with the Muskegon Mohawks from 1967 to 1979. Gary signed his first professional contract with the...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Among the numerous Muskegon-area gridders whose careers landed them in the National Football Leaque, Jerry Collins’ credentials were based more on determination than high-profile press notices during his prep and collegiate years. Despite a fine career at Western...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
A February 1945 graduate of Muskegon High School, Bill Bos was best known here as the city’s “Mr. Tennis” in the 1950s. He helped rescue the game of tennis from near-oblivion in Muskegon and made it one of the most popular forms of recreation for the youth in this...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
The prevailing question of the day when Muskegon’s Big Reds would suit up for football games back in 1927 wasn’t whether they would win, but by how much? Muskegon, which ranks in the top 10 in the nation in most football wins, has fielded a football team...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Football fans at Reeths-Puffer High School still talk about their Rocket. After all, Johnny Williams was the most electrifying runner in school history before taking his talents to the University of Wisconsin and the NFL. Williams starred on the gridiron in 1977-78...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Gene Visscher was one of those rare athletes who made as big an impact on the sidelines as he did on the hardcourt. That’s because Visscher returned to the two colleges where he played basketball to take up the coaching reins. Visscher, a Muskegon High School...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
There are those who say John Huizenga was born with a bat and ball in his hand. After all, it seemed like Huizenga was playing baseball every spare minute from the time he was big enough to toddle around the bleachers at Marsh Field. He was a three-year starter for...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
When it came to girls athletics in the 1970s, Annette Bohach set the standard. She was an all-state basketball player at North Muskegon and one of the top softball players in the city. But where Bohach towered well above the rest of her peers was in track and field. ...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Considered one of the finest athletes ever turned out by Muskegon High School coach C. Leo Redmond, Paul Soper led the Big Reds to state titles in football and basketball during the 1936-37 season. Soper lettered in football, basketball and track at Muskegon. ...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
A three-sport performer for the Muskegon Heights Tigers, Russ earned All-Lake Michigan Athletic Conference honors as a defensive tackle in 1970, averaging 14 solo tackles a game as a senior. A member of the National Honor Society, he was recruited by a handful of...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
Co-captain of the Muskegon Big Red football team in 1949, Jim Neal earned Associated Press first team all-state honors at center as a senior. Following graduation, the 6-2, 205-pounder joined high school teammate Paul Dekker at Michigan State University. Neal became a...
by Maxwell Dinesen | Feb 11, 2024 | Traditional
A Muskegon pharmacist by day, Dick Dolack spent his spare time rolling up countless hours as a referee for various sporting events. Ultimately, he embarked on a 25-year career as a field judge in the National Football League. Dolack began his journey in 1952 as a...
