sport: April/May 2012

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Pin-spiring Taylor Massa, St. Johns Matmen Chase Championships, Perfection

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Repeat As “B” Kings, Earn Place In History

Overcomes Autism, Answers His Critics

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contents

FEATURES 08 TWICE AS NICE

Sexton’s Repeat Title One For The Ages

BY JACK EBLING

12 MASSA-IVE TALENT

St. Johns Mat Superstar Has Life In Balance

BY RYAN ARMBRUSTMACHER

16 CHAMPIONS, TWO

Wohlfert Takes Winning Drive To MSU

BY RYAN ARMBRUSTMACHER

18 KATE THE GREAT

Selfless Laverty Leads Greyhounds

BY MARK MEYER

20 POSITIVE PROOF

Ianni Doesn’t Know The Meaning Of…Can’t

BY ANDREA NELSON

24 MY SPORTS TRIP

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Crown Them All

Lansing’s Boxing Home Builds Champs And More

BY CHIP MUNDY

Augusta, Georgia 2012

BY MIKE MAJOR

30 TIER OF JOY

Mid-Michigan Hosts USA Hockey Showcase

BY MARK MEYER

DEPARTMENTS eb-servation

05 Red And Ready

Redwings, Big Reds Rule The State

BY JACK EBLING

your shot

06 Alma Master

Randy Lewis Tees It Up At Augusta National

BY MIKE MAJOR

spartans will

34 Super Mario

Impemba Paid Dues For Dream Job

BY ANDREA NELSON

finish line

36 Role Player To Role Play NCAA Tournament Provides Rare Media Opportunity

BY TIM BOGRAKOS

Volume #4 • Issue #3 APRIL/MAY 2012

APRIL/MAY 2012

3

assists

EDITOR Jack Ebling Jack has covered sports and more as a writer and broadcaster in Mid-Michigan since 1978. A three-time Michigan Sportswriter of the Year, he was a 2006 inductee into the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame. He is the author of two new books, Tales from the Detroit Tigers Dugout and Heart of a Spartan, and is the columnist for a popular website (michiganstate.247sports.com). The former English teacher and coach spent nearly a quarter-century as a beat writer and columnist for the Lansing State Journal and won 21 major writing awards. A two-time graduate of MSU, he has lived in Greater Lansing for 37 years. With his wife, Robin, he has helped raise two remarkable young adults, Zach and Ali.

CONTRIBUTORS Mike Major Born and raised in the Lansing area, Mike was always a huge sports fan, participating in baseball, football, basketball and golf in his youth. He served as the head boys basketball coach at Lansing Sexton from 1989-2005. Since leaving the coaching ranks, sports photography has filled that void. Mike can often be seen photographing area youth sports, watching Major League Baseball or playing a round of golf.

Andrea Nelson Andrea is a senior at Michigan State University, studying journalism with an emphasis in sports and public relations. She is a member of the Honors College and Tower Guard and has a true passion for sports. Andrea helped Frankfort High win backto-back state titles in girls basketball in 2005-06. Today, she combines her love of basketball and football with caring for her two dogs and helping with her family’s prize-winning alpacas.

She is also an assistant editor of sport.

Publisher Camron Gnass Sport Community Publishing Editor Jack Ebling Assistant EditorS Andy Flanagan Andrea Nelson WRITING Ryan Armbrustmacher Tim Bograkos Jack Ebling Mike Major Mark Meyer Chip Mundy Andrea Nelson COVER Photo Luke Pline PhotographY Tim Bograkos Bob Every Camron Gnass Michelle Hoffman Alan Holben Jamie Ianni Mario Impemba Mike Major Matthew Mitchell MSU Athletic Communications Terri Shaver MAGAZINE Design & LAYOUT Traction www.projecttraction.com Editorial Office 617 East Michigan Avenue Lansing, Michigan 48912 (517) 455-7810 www.SportLansing.com

Greater Lansing Sport Magazine is published monthly by Sport Community Publishing with offices at 617 East Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48912. Postage is paid under USPS Permit #689.

Subscriptions: One copy of the Greater Lansing Sport Magazine, is mailed complimentary to qualified business addresses in the Greater Lansing metropolitan area. Residential, promotional, out-of-area and additional subscriptions are available for $36 per year (a saving of 40% off the $5 cover price per issue) by mailing a check to Sport Community Publishing or paying online at www.SportLansing.com. When available, back issues can be purchased online for $10 each.

Postmaster: Address changes should be sent to: Sport Community Publishing, 617 East Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48912.

4 APRIL/MAY 2012

Copyright Š 2012 Sport Community Publishing All rights reserved.

eb-servation

Red And Ready Redwings, Big Reds Rule The State

BY JACK EBLING

Taylor Massa and Denzel Valentine are different athletes in so many ways.

Massa is as good a high school wrestler as Mid-Michigan has ever produced. He finished his St. Johns High career 223-0 and won his fourth Division 2 state title in what some call the ultimate individual sport. He is headed to the University of Michigan and, likely, to the 2016 and/or 2020 Olympics.

Valentine, a once-in-a-decade floor leader, finished second for Michigan’s Hal Schram Mr. Basketball Award in 2012, then led Lansing Sexton to its second straight Class B state championship with a rare, team-first approach. He is headed to Michigan State and, eventually, to the NBA. But Massa and Valentine share attributes, too – and not just red-white-and-black attire.

Men among boys? Like Little League coaches.

Relentless? Only on days that end in “y”.

Driven? More than a ’98 Taurus.

Still, their greatest similarity could be the unbridled joy they bring to nearly everyone – other than their defenseless opponents. Like Olympic gymnastics favorite Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, Massa and Valentine represent the best of what this area has to offer. And all three stars have plenty of help.

Freelance writer Ryan Armbrustmacher presents Massa’s amazing tale and reminds us how a champion’s will and spirit often results from, then spreads to those around him – in this case, to everyone in a Redwings program with six individual state champs under the direction of Coach Zane Ballard.

That commitment to excellence is also seen in a sidebar on Massa’s St. Johns teammate, Jordan Wohlfert, a two-time state titlist who has earned a scholarship to MSU. The Sexton story is just as spectacular in its own way. With “71-47” – the score of the Big Reds’ loss to Detroit Country Day in the 2010 final – emblazoned on their minds, Coach Carlton Valentine’s team was a roundball wrecking machine, beating DCD in the semis for a second straight year. The following night, it smothered Stevensville-Lakeshore 67-32 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score suggested.

Being a relatively young guy, my frame of reference for Michigan prep basketball only extends back to 1967. Thus, the call went out to my ol’ friend, Earle Robinson, who has been following the game a lot longer than I have – back to the peach-basket era. For once, we agreed: “We’ve just seen the best prep hoops team this area has produced.”

Alan Holben’s photo story gives us another look at a special group, one that compares with any we’ve seen in Greater Lansing, including the best from Sexton, Everett, Eastern, Okemos, Waverly and Holt. Over the past five decades, the Big Reds belong in the same paragraph statewide as Detroit Pershing in 1966-67, Flint Central in 1980-81 and Flint Northwestern in 1984-85.

Another program with a strong tradition, Eaton Rapids softball, is in pursuit of its eighth straight 30-win season this spring, led by star pitcher Kate Laverty. Former Lansing State Journal sports editor Mark Meyer profiles the Greyhounds and their all-for-one approach.

Mid-Michigan was also the site of the USA Hockey Tier II 18-Under Championships at the end of March and the beginning of April. Meyer was there, too, and helps us understand what an event of that magnitude, another showcase for the Greater Lansing Sports Authority, means to the competitors and the community.

Neither means more to an athlete than perseverance. Basketball center Anthony Ianni is proof of that fact. Battling autism and dealing with all sorts of dire projections, he was blessed with refuse-to-lose parents and enough support in just the right places to become a state runner-up at Okemos High and a Big Ten champ at MSU, as Assistant Editor Andrea Nelson explains.

She also tells the Spartans Will story of MSU alumnus Mario Impemba, best known as the play-by-play voice of the Detroit Tigers on Fox Sports Detroit. Impemba cut his broadcast teeth in East Lansing and still follows his alma mater closely, even when he’s describing Oakland University basketball.

Every Spartan had to appreciate the dedication and non-stop energy of another off-the-bench player, Tim Bograkos, the hero in an unforgettable win at Kentucky in 2002. Now with the MSU Alumni Association, Bograkos had the “Trading Places” experience of becoming a member of the media at the 2012 NCAA Tournament’s West Region games in Phoenix. He takes us along with a Finish Line back-page guest column.

But if you really want to reminisce, don’t miss Chip Mundy’s piece on the Crown Boxing Club, a Lansing institution for more than 35 years and a lab for building highly successful fighters. Courage…Respect…Opportunity…

Wisdom…Nation – that explains Crown about as well as any acronym could.

Roger Turner, Fabian Williams, Tyrone Harris and Joe Lipsey won important bouts and titles. Yet, the secret to the club’s success has been the work of people like president Bob Every and head trainer Aaron “Hawk” Easley. Taking full advantage of the generosity of the Demmer family, they built Crown into a place for more than pugilism. It has been a spot for tremendous personal growth.

One personal note about Every: No one has given more of himself to keep the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame alive and help it thrive in its new home. If you haven’t had a chance to visit a spectacular new display in the west wing of the Lansing Center, take an hour this summer – perhaps when you go to a Lugnuts game – and learn a little more about our athletic heritage.

Twenty-five years from now, don’t be surprised if Massa and Valentine have plaques and jerseys mounted on those walls. Don’t be shocked if St. Johns wrestling and Sexton basketball are represented there, too. Maybe then we’ll realize what we’ve just seen. H APRIL/MAY 2012

5

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your shot

PHOTOGRAPHED BY MIKE MAJOR

Mid-Michigan’s Randy Lewis, the pride of Alma, hits a tee shot at the Augusta National during a practice round for the 2012 Masters. At age 54, Lewis fulfilled a dream by qualifying with a win at the U.S. MidAmateur Championship last September. He shot 81-78--159 in his two rounds.

Alma Master

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Twice

Sexton’s Repeat Title One For The Ages

8 APRIL/MAY 2012

BY JACK EBLING

When Coach Carlton Valentine and four senior players reached the interview platform at Breslin Center, the Sexton Big Reds faced their first real problem of the weekend.

After repeating as MHSAA Class B Boys Basketball Champions with a string of impressive efforts, there were five people to answer questions and only four chairs available.

The first suggestion? Jeff Cain, Bryn Forbes, Anthony Clemmons and Denzel Valentine would squeeze together and occupy three seats. And why not? They had shared everything else – 6 a.m. private workouts, the basketball at every opportunity and the glory of back-to-back state titles – about as well as any group ever could.

Scheduling as many Class A teams as possible, including the best that Michigan had to offer, Sexton finished with a 27-1 mark and was unbeaten in the Capital Area Athletics Conference, again the toughest league in the state.

“Regardless of class,

Nice

this was the No. 1 basketball team in the State of Michigan.”

CARLTON VALENTINE

“Regardless of class, this was the No. 1 basketball team in the State of Michigan,” Carlton Valentine said. “We played the toughest schedule. We played Romulus, which was No. 1. We played Detroit Pershing, which was No. 1. And we played Lansing Eastern in front of a sold-out house of 4,500 people.”

Eastern, East Lansing and Okemos would have finished 1-2-3 in a lot of Class A leagues. After all, the fourth-place Chieftains made it to the state quarterfinals. But in six games against the Big Reds, none of those schools could come within single digits.

APRIL/MAY 2012

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twice as nice Neither could Sexton’s eight opponents in the state tournament, losing by a combined 240 points. A terrific Lansing Catholic team came the closest, playing a great game and losing by 10. The last three challengers – No. 9 Dearborn Heights Robichaud, No. 3 Detroit Country Day and No. 7 Stevensville-Lakeshore – fell by 19, 15 and 35, respectively.

After being demolished by Country Day in the 2010 title game, the Big Reds removed the Yellow Jackets’ stingers with a second straight semifinal swatting. And in a final that could have had a running clock in the third quarter if Sexton had wanted one, Valentine’s team staged a clinic with its starters playing an average of less than 21 minutes.

That included the best perimeter threesome in the history of Greater Lansing. Valentine, the coach’s son, was a Mr. Basketball runner-up and should contribute immediately at Michigan State. Clemmons earned a scholarship to Iowa.

And Forbes, the team’s leading scorer, should be one of the best recruits ever at Cleveland State, a program that just sent a No. 1 draft pick to the Miami Heat.

When Clemmons went down with a scary back injury in the second quarter of the title game, his teammates tried to help him up, then put on a show. Valentine had 15 points on eight shots, grabbed 11 rebounds and dealt seven assists.

Forbes had 19 points, more than triple the total for any opponent, and added seven assists. And junior big man Jalen Hayes didn’t miss a shot in a 12-point, three-block contribution.

The score was 32-10 at halftime and 57-21 after 24 minutes. The Big Reds finished with 19 assists and allowed just 11 baskets. They held a team that was 24-2 to .224 shooting from the field and 0-for-15 long-range accuracy.

In its semifinal win over Muskegon Heights, Lakeshore shot .571 on its 3s.

Fifteen players saw at least two minutes of action in the final. And in 20 years, if they all tell people they were an important part of one of the biggest blowouts in MHSAA championship history, who can argue? They can also say with a straight face that they were part of the city’s first repeat state titlist since Sexton in 1959-60 and the best team Greater Lansing has produced. Sorry, Earvin.

“We were trying to go down in history,” Denzel Valentine said after his team’s 74th win in three seasons. “We were playing for each other after grinding all these years. To win back-to-back state championships with these guys is amazing.”

Before they left their gym and boarded a bus to Breslin for the sixth and final time, the Big Reds stood in a circle surrounding the red-andwhite “S” at center court. There, they reflected

All The Right Stuff Sexton center Jalen Hayes slams one home in a near-perfect performance in the Class B Final.

on all they had done and realized they were 32 minutes from a place in history.

“We’re OK for Lansing,” Carlton Valentine said, tongue-in-cheek. “But we were playing for more than a state championship, more than a repeat. We were playing for the program.

There’s no ‘I’ in team. But there’s an ‘I’ in win.

No one person, no one player, no one coach, no one administrator is bigger than the program.”

Somewhere, his high school coach, the legendary Morgan Wootten of famed Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha, was smiling. In Spokane, Wash., his college coach, MSU’s Jud Heathcote, was saying, “Way to go, V!” And a few feet away, the widest smile in the place belonged to Chris Ferguson, a part of Sexton’s glory more than 50 years ago, the guy who got Valentine started in coaching as an assistant at East Lansing and an aide with the Big Reds the past few seasons.

It was the 70-year-old Ferguson, one of five quality assistants on the staff, who had grabbed Valentine near the end of the third quarter and reminded him to empty the bench as soon as he could. With a legacy assured, the rest was all about lasting memories. Ferguson remembered that. And Valentine listened. For a selfless team that listened all season, it was the only appropriate ending. H

Photography ALAN HOLBEN

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St. Johns Mat Superstar Has Life In Balance

BY RYAN ARMBRUSTMACHER

Almost everybody rolls out the welcome mat for St. Johns High wrestling stalwart Taylor Massa.

Well, almost everybody.

12 APRIL/MAY 2012

Sharing a wrestling mat with Massa has proven to be about as inviting for opponents as a migraine headache.

At least you can overcome a migraine. Good luck dealing with Massa’s domination.

Massa has been the centerpiece of a budding wrestling dynasty in St. Johns, with an amazing six individual state champions and three runners-up this season – three seniors, four juniors, a sophomore and a freshman.

And after his fourth undefeated season, his sights are set on bigger things on and off the mat.

College stardom beckons as Massa will enroll at the University of Michigan in the fall. Olympic glory could follow in the 2016 Summer games.

When it’s time to call it a career in wrestling, Massa will pursue excellence in whatever field he chooses. He’s considering a major in pre-med.

But before moving forward, it’s appropriate to reflect on a high school wrestling career as good as any the state of Michigan, let alone MidMichigan, has ever seen. The Massa resume:

• A 223-0 career record, 44-0 as a senior (the last four – pins in 1:31, 1:01, :47 and 2:35).

• Four individual state titles at different weight classes (145, 152, 160 and 171).

• The top performer on three Division 2 state championship teams for St. Johns, a school that had zero state sports titles since 1939.

Some things in sports just seem automatic: A Mariano Rivera save…a Duke NCAA Tournament bid…a Taylor Massa pin.

So what sets him apart?

“Taylor has a love, knowledge and commitment that is second-to-none to the sport of wrestling,” said St. Johns coach Zane Ballard, who stepped down March 22 after 10 seasons to spend more quality time with his family. “He has great and reachable goals for himself and doesn’t believe anyone can beat him.”

Massa also realizes there is more to learn, no matter how dominant he has been.

Photography MIKE MAJOR

He has no shortage of friends.

Teachers enjoy having him in their classroom. Coaches and teammates embrace his contributions.

Complete Control Taylor Massa gives another helpless opponent a mouthful of mat en route to four straight individual state championships.

“As good as he is, and with everyone he has learned from over the years, he always listens whenever anyone else gives him advice,” Ballard said. “If he does not agree with advice that he is given, he will explain why. That attitude helps everyone out.”

It’s only fitting Massa stars in a sport where competitors stay grounded. The foundation that has been set by parents Rodger and Rhonda is readily apparent by the humility their son shows.

“I try and be as modest and humble as I can with everything,” Taylor said. “I hate kids that are super cocky.”

Just like any elite athlete Taylor has endured blood, sweat and tears on his rise to the top.

Tears actually came first.

“The first competitive matches I can remember for Taylor were in Fowlerville when he was 5,” said Rodger, who wrestled in college for Ferris State. “Taylor lost his first two matches and ran up to the bleachers crying.”

Such failures only made Taylor stronger.

How else can you explain an eighth-grader

going toe-to-toe with some of the top high school senior wrestlers in the country?

That’s exactly what happened in Greensboro, N.C., at the prestigious Super 32 event in 2008.

The 14-year old Massa had come a long way from his failures in Fowlerville.

Hoping to win maybe a few matches at the Super 32, Taylor jumped out of the gate with eight consecutive victories.

Next up was childhood idol Colin Palmer, a senior from Cleveland. Taylor lost 5-3 in a hardfought battle. It would be his only loss en route to a third-place finish.

Nebraska noticed and showed interest first. It wasn’t long before several other schools started calling.

The foundation set forth by Taylor’s parents became crucial at this juncture.

How else could a high school freshman balance the challenges of academics, sports, recruiting and social life?

“One thing I love about Taylor is that some of his teachers didn’t even know he

was a wrestler until he was well into high school,” said Rhonda, a Missouri native.

“Taylor doesn’t gloat about it. He is not that way.”

The recruiting only heated up as Taylor’s stock rose throughout high school. Being ranked the No. 1 national wrestling recruit by InterMat for the class of 2012 was exciting.

The challenge of making the correct college choice was stressful.

Massa needed to make a decision prior to his senior season and the clock was ticking.

Oklahoma State? Columbia? Michigan State?

Michigan? Enter Sean Bormet and Donny Pritzlaff.

When the University of Michigan brought Bormet and Pritzlaff on to become assistant wrestling coaches in June of 2011, Massa’s decision became easy. There was a comfort zone with that duo Massa had gained over the years on the wrestling circuit.

He decided to commit to Michigan in October of 2011.

“You have them (Bormet and Pritzlaff), the APRIL/MAY 2012

13

massa-ive talent

Operation Takedown Massa prepares to drop and pin another opponent as St. Johns rolls to a Division II repeat state championship.

facilities and academics, and what a great person (head coach) Joe McFarland is,” said Massa, who will redshirt his freshman season.

“And then the guys I’m going to be able to work out with, I knew it was the place for me.”

Olympian hopefuls such as Josh Churella, Jake Herbert and Jimmy Kennedy are training for the 2012 Olympic games in Ann Arbor and could serve as great mentors for Massa.

With a first-rate academic and wrestling education in store, Massa’s rock-solid foundation just got stronger.

“When I saw the reactions of Rodger and Taylor when they brought the new coaches in at Michigan, I was not surprised in the least that he selected them,” Rhonda said. “If he’s not happy where he’s going, he’s not going to be nearly as successful so I am very comfortable with his choice.”

Count the Wolverine staff in that comfort zone with the Massa’s college selection.

“Family is so important to him,” Bormet said of Massa. “He wants other wrestlers to be great, and he wants to be on a successful team.

He’s a proven performer at every age level and constantly challenges himself to get better.”

The same traits that made Massa a champion wrestler were instrumental in attaining a 3.76 GPA in high school.

“He has a very businesslike approach to it,” said Jake Parker, Massa’s World History teacher.

“Taylor is an extremely disciplined and goaloriented person. He knows what he needs to do, and he does it.”

Becoming a good student didn’t just happen.

“Honestly, he is fascinating as a student,” said Ashley Bowen, Massa’s English teacher. “I think Taylor will admit that school is not always easy for him. But he is, especially in the last two years, committed to academic excellence.”

Massa was grappling with another tough decision during his freshman year of high school.

He liked football but enjoyed wrestling more.

If Massa wanted to become the best he could be, he needed to focus on wrestling only. A shoulder injury in football his freshman year made the decision easy.

“He was so tough to bring down, it seemed like it usually took 3 or 4 guys,” said friend and former football teammate Austin Koneval.

“I remember one game he had three carries and scored three touchdowns. He could have been a really good football player, too.”

Fate brought Rhonda Crumrine and Rodger Massa together in 1988.

Rhonda had Rodger at hello when she mentioned she was a high school wrestling cheerleader.

Yes, wrestling is in the genes. We see that again with his brother, Logan, 44-2 as a freshman and a state runner-up at 119 pounds after an overtime loss.

“It has been an awesome experience and an amazing ride. It went by amazingly fast,” Rodger said of Taylor’s high school career. “I remember we used to have those kids in the basement wrestling and they’d bump each other’s noses and cry.”

Rhonda and Rodger may shed a few tears of pride as they send Taylor off to college. Clearly they’re proud of Taylor the wrestler. They’re prouder of Taylor the person.

“My parents have always pounded in school and education, education,” Taylor said. “If I don’t take care of that, nothing I am able to do in wrestling really matters.”

Only time will tell what is next for Taylor Massa.

College stardom? Olympic glory? Dr. Taylor Massa?

It’s safe to say Massa’s presence will be welcomed wherever he goes.

Well, almost everywhere. H

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Flair Jordan St. Johns standout Jordan Wohlfert, often overshadowed by Taylor Massa’s brilliance, is a two-time state champ and Big Ten recruit in his own right.

CHAMPIONS, TWO Wohlfert Takes Winning Drive To MSU

BY RYAN ARMBRUSTMACHER

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It doesn’t matter to the St. Johns wrestling star if it’s a task in school or another mat challenge.

“I give extra points if the students write above and beyond on an essay for tests,” said Brooke Samec, Wohlfert’s American and World History teacher. “Well, he would do that up to three pages because he wanted to be the best and get the most credit. The boy wants to win!”

So it all makes sense.

The 3.8 GPA. The wrestling championships and 218 career wins.

The full ride to Michigan State.

“We’re so proud of him as a wrestler and glad that he does take school so serious, too,” Jordan’s father Dale said. “We’ve never really had to get on him at all.”

Wohlfert has two individual state titles (152 and 160 pounds). He has also been an integral part of St. Johns’ three consecutive Division 2 championship squads.

“I don’t know if it has all totally sunk in yet,” said Wohlfert, who plans on majoring in sports medicine at MSU. “Maybe someday it

will. But for now I am excited to get to MSU and help turn things around.”

The Spartan wrestling team has had only one team finish better than seventh place in the rugged Big Ten since 2001. But MSU claimed seven consecutive Big Ten wrestling titles from 1966-72, as well as a national title in 1967, so it is not a program devoid of tradition.

“Jordan comes from an outstanding program in St. Johns and will bring a strong following from there,” said Tom Minkel, the MSU head wrestling coach since 1991. “I have no doubt that he’s going to have a very successful career here.”

At this point it’s uncertain if Wohlfert will redshirt his freshman year at MSU. A redshirt season would be about the only thing that could slow him down.

“I think MSU is an excellent fit for Jordan.

He will fit into the line-up and make an excellent contribution to the team,” St. Johns wrestling coach Zane Ballard said. “Being a Division 1 wrestler is much more than being a great wrestler. You need an absolute passion for the sport, a burning desire to succeed. I think Jordan possesses both of those qualities.” H

Photography MIKE MAJOR

If you stand in the way of Jordan Wohlfert when he’s in competition mode, you’d best be ready.

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08 Kate Laverty PITCHER

Selfless Laverty Leads Greyhounds

BY MARK MEYER

13 Jaime Lightner

SHORTSTOP/PITCHER

12 LIBBY PRIESKORN

OUTFIELDER

16 Bailey Baker

FIRST BASEMAN

14 Erin Binkowski

PITCHER

03 Kasidy Coats

C AT C H E R

As she hobbled around the pitcher’s circle, trying to shake off the undeniable sting of a line drive to her shin, Kate Laverty knew what it felt like to take one for the team.

Photography MIKE MAJOR

Strangely enough, the Eaton Rapids senior didn’t seem to mind.

Laverty, a captain and four-year varsity player for the state-ranked Greyhounds, has helped the program extend a string of consecutive 30-win seasons to seven, win its fifth straight Division 2 district title and establish a school record for victories with 36 last year. In the spirit of the late John Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success,” Laverty embodies the notion that the star of the team is the team, and that ‘we’ supercedes ‘me.’

Naturally, she then congratulated teammate Erin Binkowski for making solid contact with the ball and her right leg.

“We like to have fun, but at the same time we know we’re out here to play our very best,” Laverty said following a preseason scrimmage in mid-March. “Unity is a big part of what we’re all about. We’re always working together… we’re in it for the team, not just one person.”

The Greyhounds had a typically strong run throughout the 2011 season, winning the CAAC Gold division with a perfect 10-0 mark and the Softball Classic at Ranney Park in Lansing. If not for a third straight setback in the regional finals, the year-end achievements could have been even more impressive.

Head coach Scott Warriner enters his eighth season with a record of 225-60 and thinks it’s only a matter of time before his team can break through the regional barrier and reach the state quarterfinals.

“Sometimes getting over the hump is not the easiest thing to do,” said Warriner. “We’ve been a consistent team; we just haven’t played our best game in the regional championship three years in a row now.

“What’s the magic formula? I’m not really sure, but I’m experimenting and I’m trying things so that we indeed are playing our best game at the right time. We’ve played well in the districts but the regionals have been frustrating.”

Warriner’s lineup will be young (six sophomores and a freshman) and deep (he has 17 players on the roster, up from the usual 13 or 14). In addition to Laverty – who was 17-1 as a pitcher and batted .461 with a team-leading 55 runs scored and six triples – key returnees include junior pitcher Erin Binkowski (18-5 record, 2.08 earned run average in 141 innings; team-leading .519 batting average, eight home runs and 60 runs batted in), senior catcher Kasidy Coats (.404, 14 doubles, 43 RBI), sophomore first baseman Bailey Baker (.474, 30 runs scored, 29 RBI), sophomore shortstop/pitcher Jaime Lightner (.393) and sophomore outfielder Libby Prieskorn (24 RBI).

Binkowski, who set a school record for lowest earned run average (1.33) during her freshman season, was the MVP of last year’s Softball Classic when she shut out Bath 5-0 and allowed only two hits. Binkowski was also the winning pitcher in the team’s district championship victory over Portland.

“Erin is a very talented pitcher, but she’s every bit as big a threat at the plate,” Warriner said. “She’s a very powerful hitter.”

Binkowski and her Greyhound teammates prepared for the start of the conference season by spending a week in Cocoa Beach, Fla. Warriner and assistant coach Pat Reinecke coordinated three-hour practice sessions for six days as part of the team’s annual spring break trip, which not only serves as a teambuilding experience but also helps keep the players sharp at the beginning of the season.

“We started it for a couple of reasons,” said Warriner, who has led the school’s wrestling program for the past 21 years. “One of my selling points to the kids and their parents was that we couldn’t afford to take a week off at this point in the season, so why not go someplace where we can have some fun and work on our game.”

Warriner knows that the trips wouldn’t have happened without fund raising and commitment from the players and their families.

“I’ve been very lucky to have girls who have been very, very committed and teams with great leadership,” Warriner said. “The younger girls coming up see that commitment level and they want playing time, and they want to be part of that success.”

Former Lansing Community College softball coach Bob Every saw firsthand the type of players who have been developed in the Eaton Rapids program. Catchers Niki Pierpoint and Tiffany Cupp were named junior college AllAmericans while playing for Every at LCC. In her four years at Eaton Rapids, Cupp hit 19 home runs to go with 165 RBIs. “Both players were outstanding and represented the type of teaching and coaching that Eaton Rapids athletics is known for,” Every said. “Niki’s father, Tom Pierpoint, did a lot of great things with the youth programs and helped a lot of kids develop their skills in softball.

“Tiffany was among the best players I ever coached. I truly believe she could have played Division 1 softball if she had wanted to. She was that good.”

Hounds In Good Hands, With These All-Staters Nine Eaton Rapids softball players have earned MHSAA All-State honors over the past six seasons:

2011 Samantha Schaeffer SHORTSTOP

HONORABLE MENTION

Kate Laverty LEFT FIELD

HONORABLE MENTION

2010 Amber Sawyer LEFT FIELD

FIRST TEAM

Ashley Milheim SHORTSTOP

HONORABLE MENTION

2009 Amber Sawyer LEFT FIELD

FIRST TEAM

2008 Kristen Warriner CENTER FIELD

HONORABLE MENTION

2007 Andrea Reinecke PITCHER

FIRST TEAM

Tiffany Cupp CATCHER

FIRST TEAM

Morgan Heintz FIRST BASE HONORABLE MENTION

2006 Tiffany Cupp CATCHER

FIRST TEAM

Bryanna Warriner SECOND BASE

HONORABLE MENTION

Laverty would like to play college softball as well, but first things first.

“I like to set small goals and work up to them,” she said. “I’d like for us to win our league, win the district and get past regionals.

Last year was a really good year, and I expect nothing less, but a lot more.” H APRIL/MAY 2012

19

Ianni Doesn’t Know The Meaning Of…Can’t

When Anthony Ianni was 5 years old, the only people who expected him to live a normal and productive life were his parents.

They heard it all. Anthony couldn’t do this, Anthony couldn’t do that. Anthony would never play sports, Anthony was destined to live in a group home.

The 6-foot-9 Izzone darling did end up in a group home – a big group home of about 45,000 students. He was adopted by the Green and White.

“Even when I wasn’t playing, dressed up in a black velvet jumpsuit, every time I went out there I cherished,” Anthony said. “It’s a privilege to play in Green and White, and every day I stepped out on the court being a Michigan State Spartan means everything in the world to me. It was my dream as a kid to be here. It was my goal to be on scholarship and play for Coach Izzo. And I was able to live that.”

The velvet jumpsuit, shiny head and unforgettable smile have been a staple on the MSU men’s basketball team for the last three years. But to understand how Anthony Ianni found his role as a Spartan, you have to dig a little bit deeper.

When Anthony was 3, his parents, Greg and Jamie, noticed that when they gave their son an instruction, he would come back to them with something completely different. In preschool he couldn’t stay engaged in an activity for any period of time. The initial diagnosis was that Anthony had Attention Deficit Disorder, but a mother’s intuition is rarely wrong.

20 APRIL/MAY 2012

“Anthony and I spent every waking minute together, and I just knew in my heart of hearts that wasn’t what it was,” Jamie said. “I think it was because I had spent so much time with him and I knew all of his behaviors, all of his tendencies. I thought, ‘No I just need someone else to tell me.’”

The second diagnosis would prove to be the correct one. Anthony had Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), a form of autism that affects a child’s basic communication skills.

If nothing else, it was an answer.

“I think when we found out it was a relief because at least we knew,” MSU Senior Associate Athletic Director Greg Ianni said. “But we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We knew they gave us this diagnosis with this fancy name, but it was almost impossible to connect the dots because there wasn’t a lot of information on it.”

One thing was clear: nobody expected Anthony to live a normal life. Nobody, that is, besides his parents. Greg and Jamie had their own expectations. Anthony would play sports if

he wanted to, graduate from high school, earn a college degree and put his degree to good use.

No one said it was going to be easy.

PDD caused Anthony to have language problems, and it was hard for him to understand sarcasm. Growing up, he had to learn that there could be several different meanings for one word. When Jamie told her son that Meijer was getting a new facelift when it was under construction, he couldn’t stop laughing.

“Mom,” he said innocently, “Meijer doesn’t have a face.”

“The kids at the high school used to say, ‘Mrs. Ianni. what foreign language is Anthony taking?’” Jamie explained. “And I’d say ‘English’, because it was a foreign language to him at times, particularly with idioms and sarcasms.”

Today, the Okemos native can usually tell when someone is joking or being serious. But it wasn’t always that simple.

“If somebody was being sarcastic with me and I took it the wrong way, I would get really upset about it,” Anthony said. “If a teacher asked me what was wrong and I told them what was up, they’d say, ‘Oh I think they’re joking. You don’t have to worry about that.’ But I would get frustrated.”

Anthony’s parents felt his frustration every step of the way but never considered turning back.

“You don’t quit on people,” Greg said. “You just don’t quit, you stay with it. That’s what we did. We’d go to bed at night, we’d cry, we’d pound the pillow, but we’d get up the next day and get right back after it. The amazing thing is how he grew out of a lot of those things through maturity and learning.”

Anthony never felt different from the other

Photography MATTHEW MITCHELL/MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

BY ANDREA NELSON

kids his age. He did realize that he was a little wilder and had to be at the center of attention.

Other than that, Anthony never differentiated himself from his classmates.

Then again, what is normal these days?

“I’ve always tried to say to Anthony, ‘I don’t know what normal is,’” Jamie said. “For anybody to say, ‘I just want my kid to be normal,’ which we all kind of said at one point, none of us are.

We all learn differently, we all have our struggles and you can’t sit back and feel sorry for yourself.”

Anthony never felt sorry for himself. It was never an option. Then again, Anthony didn’t even know others had expected him to fail until his parents told him the story when he was a freshman in high school.

“When they told me, I was just sitting on the couch, going, ‘Wow, people actually said that!’”

Anthony explained. “It made me feel like I have something to prove to people. It just made me have that mentality of ‘OK, if you challenge me, I’m going to win.’ And that’s been my mentality for more than a decade now. To write somebody off at the age of 3 or 4, that’s basically giving nobody a chance at all. Whenever I think about that, it makes me wonder how many people in the world have been written off like that.”

Luckily for Anthony, he was born into a family that wouldn’t take no for an answer. PDD made it hard for Anthony to adapt to changing life conditions. He liked and needed structure in his life and often had “wigging out” moments when something didn’t go according to plan.

But Jamie understood that nothing in the real world is perfect and made sure her family didn’t change the way it did things to accommodate Anthony. She was determined to APRIL/MAY 2012

21

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Younger Days Anthony Ianni wouldn’t take no for an answer until he played for Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans.

center has helped his parents just as much as they’ve helped him.

“I look at him and think I strive to be a better person because he’s such a good person,” Jamie said. “He doesn’t see economics. He doesn’t see color. He treats everybody the same regardless of where they come from, whatever they do, however they act. He has taught me to view people and places and things for what they are.”

“I’ve had two heroes in my life, my dad and my son,” Greg said. “I learn from him every day.”

Anthony isn’t done teaching others. The sociology major will throw his graduation cap in the air this May and hope to follow in his dad’s footsteps by pursuing a career in sports administration. He has high hopes. But he also wants to give hope by sharing his story.

“One thing I want people to know is that there is actually hope in the world,” Anthony said.

“I think that’s something that a lot of people underestimate. People never gave me a chance.

I had a lot of doubters in Okemos, and I wanted to show them. I wanted to show people what I could do, what I was made of and that I wasn’t just some schmoe walking through the hallways that wasn’t doing anything with his life.”

By developing into the successful young man he is today, Anthony has done just that. And with degree his hand, he dares one more person to tell him he can’t. H

Photography JAMIE IANNI

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help him adapt because he was going to face changing situations for the rest of his life.

The Iannis will be the first to admit they made mistakes when raising Anthony. But when something worked, they stuck with it. And their hard work and dedication obviously paid off.

“I’m very blessed to have such terrific parents who have always had my back. They’ve been my backbone,” Anthony said. “They’ve kept me up all these years through high school, elementary and middle school. They were the ones that pushed me to be my best. Some parents would’ve just agreed with the teachers that wrote me off, but they never gave up on me.”

It’s a good thing they didn’t. Anthony graduated from Okemos High School with a full-ride scholarship to play basketball at Grand Valley State University.

He averaged about 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks per game as a senior at Okemos and helped his team to the Class A State Final as a junior. But his performance in those games at Breslin Center was just a preview of the years to come, as he returned after two years at GVSU to play for family friend Tom Izzo.

“Not many people could do what he has done for us,” Izzo said. “He hasn’t played much but has been the captain of out our scout team.

He’s all about Michigan State. And I respect that more than anyone knows.”

Anthony wasn’t Draymond Green or Derrick Nix, but he understood his role and knew what was expected of him. Plus, all he wanted to do was win.

“I hate losing,” Anthony said. “I hate it.

Even when I was young, if I lost a game of touch football at recess, I would come back from recess crying because we lost. That’s how much I hated it. I care way too much about the program and us winning than to worry about myself or anything else that was going on.”

Greg said Anthony’s winning attitude made him the ultimate teammate on a very special basketball team. He received one of the loudest cheers when he checked into games in the closing minutes but didn’t care if he touched the ball. Anthony always had bigger goals in mind. And no Spartan stood more often or cheered his teammates louder than No. 44.

“My goal as a player was not just to get better but to help others get better,” Anthony said. “I wanted to make Derrick Nix better. I wanted to make Adreian Payne better. That was my goal. I figured they’re not going to guard any tougher individual in their lifetime than me. People might laugh at me when I say that.

But Jared Sullinger, as good a player as he is, doesn’t bang with the likes of Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne in practice every day.”

Anthony’s teammates aren’t the only people he’s been able to impact. The senior

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CROWN THEM ALL Lansing’s Boxing Home Builds Champs And More

BY CHIP MUNDY

26 APRIL/MAY 2012

COURAGE

RESPECT

OPPORTUNITY

The sounds of boxing are unmistakable.

Rat-ta-tat-tat, rat-ta-tat-tat, rat-ta-tat-tat.

The rhythm of boxers rapidly pounding speed bags permeates the building on Ballard Street on the north side of Lansing that houses Crown Boxing.

And the sounds of trainers, like Crown head trainer Aaron “Hawk” Easley: “Put ’em together, put your punches in combinations,” Easley will yell as boxers and aspiring boxers spar in a ring that tells all visitors that, yes, this is a home for boxing.

But a blind person would know that.

Crown Boxing is the longest-running boxing club in Michigan and in March celebrated its 35th anniversary. Boxing might be on the decline in America, but it’s alive and well at Crown.

“This is the nicest gym in the entire state of Michigan,” said Bob Every, president of Crown Boxing. “But it hasn’t come without a lot of hard work. We’re not people with silver spoons in our mouths. We’re opportunists. Hawk is an educated person who knows some people. I’m an educated person who knows some people. And we’ve just parlayed our experience together and come up with this. The beneficiary of all this is the community of Lansing and the Mid-Michigan area.”

“They were using it as a storage facility.

They’ve never charged us a dime in rent, a dime in utilities, to have these kids from the north side of Lansing and Mid-Michigan to work out.”

It’s not just a training ground for aspiring boxers. It’s a training ground for life and provides a cheap place for youngsters to gather on cold winter nights. That is where people like Every and Easley come into play.

WISDOM

N AT I O N

“I think it’s important to be a positive role model for the kids and be that consistent person here for them to open the place up to and to be here for the kids to talk about life,” said Easley, who has been with Crown Boxing since 1991.

Every and Easley are careful with the youths and won’t just throw them into a ring at the first opportunity.

“Of all the kids who come into the gym, probably 65 or 70 percent of them stay around long enough to get involved in an amateur boxing contest,” Every said. “It’s not for everybody, and we don’t allow the kids to get in the ring for several weeks after they get here.

We want to know that they are physically fit and able to do that because boxing can be a very dangerous sport. And then we want to make sure that their confidence level is at the point when they get in there they have the confidence to be in the boxing ring.”

That is when they learn just who wants to box and who doesn’t want to box.

“Some kids like it and continue on, and some kids say, ‘This isn’t for me, I guess,’” Every said. “It’s all fine and dandy when you don’t get hit on the jaw and you’re being Rocky on the bags and stuff. When you get to the actual contact part of it, you find out which kids are interested and which kids aren’t.”

Photography BOB EVERY/DANE ROBISON

THE BEGINNINGS Courage. Respect. Opportunity. Wisdom. Nation.

The Crown name stands for more than what is earned by a champion boxer. It’s an acronym for the five words listed above.

Every, a native of St. Johns, began boxing in 1963. When he quit fighting, he decided to start a club. And he wanted it to have a catchy name.

“We thought if we embodied those words with the name, maybe we’d be more identifiable with the kids,” he said.

For the first 12 years, Lansing Community College was the home of Crown Boxing. After that, Crown was at the Caravan Youth Center. And for the last 20 years, it has been on the building on Ballard Street across from the Demmer Corp.

“This used to be an old truck terminal building used by the Demmer Corporation,” Every said.

Teaching Time The Crown Boxing Club has developed fighters of all ages and backgrounds. It has been one of Lansing’s most productive classrooms.

APRIL/MAY 2012

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THE TOP CHAMPIONS Crown has had many state champions, but three rose to a higher level and won national titles: Roger Turner, Fabian Williams and Tyrone Harris.

“The thing that’s a little bit different now with boxing compared to the past is that now there are a lot more national tournaments to go to,” Easley said. “They don’t quite hold the significance that they did back when it was just a select few, but we’ve had a number of national champions that have won some of what you would call lower-tier national titles.

We’ve had a lot of success.”

Turner, Williams and Harris did not win “lower-tier national titles.” They rose to the top of the amateur ranks. And one night in 1987, Turner became the first Crown boxer to win a national Golden Gloves title. Two bouts later, Williams became No. 2. Turner won his title at 147 pounds and Williams at 165. In the bout sandwiched between those two, Roy Jones Jr. won the national Golden Gloves championship at 156.

Turner turned professional in 1988 and enjoyed a fine career. He finished 29-5-0 with 17 knockouts and won the North American Boxing Federation welterweight title in 1992 with a 12-round decision over Tyrone Moore in Lansing. Turner lost the title in his next bout to Luis Ramon Campas at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the site of the biggest fight of his career three years later.

On April 4, 1995, Turner fought Felix Trinidad for the International Boxing Federation middleweight title but lost on a TKO in the second round. He retired two fights later.

Williams also turned pro in 1988 and was 12-4-1 with nine knockouts. Two years later, Williams defeated Ulysses Boulware in Las Vegas for the NABF middleweight title and successfully defended it once before losing to Israel Negron on a 10th-round knockout in Lansing.

Harris won his Golden Gloves title at 125 pounds in 2000. He turned pro in 2004 and went 24-9-0 with 16 knockouts. A southpaw, Harris fought for the vacant International Boxing Association lightweight title and lost in 2007. But he won the Global Boxing Union lightweight championship in California later that year and the vacant United States Boxing Association lightweight title in 2008. He has not fought since October 14, 2011, when he lost for the fourth time in a row.

Another prominent Crown fighter who was successful professionally but did not win a Golden Gloves title was Joe Lipsey, who had a 25-1 career record with 20 knockouts. Lipsey’s

Hammer Time Crown Boxing title contender Joe “The Sledgehammer” Lipsey enters the ring ahead of trainer Bob Every for another big bout.

lone loss came in his final bout. Legendary boxer Bernard Hopkins knocked out Lipsey in four rounds in an IBF middleweight title fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Lipsey had fought as an amateur in Illinois but got to know Turner through national tournaments. Through their friendship, he began training at Crown.

“It was the right place for me, and they moved me along fine,” Lipsey said. “It was good in Lansing because it was a place where you couldn’t get caught up in the bright lights of a big town.”

A TRAGIC NIGHT The night of March 15, 2008, easily was the darkest night in Crown Boxing history. Juan Contreras, 12, of Lansing was critically injured during a bout at Chenery Auditorium in Kalamazoo. Contreras was in a coma for months. As Every said, “He’s never going to be the same again.”

It was just the second amateur fight for Contreras, and Every said he was winning when the injury occurred.

“He was one of our really good up-and-coming boxers,” Every said. “He was winning when he got hit, and it wasn’t a hard punch. But he was kind of stunned, and the referee stopped the

bout. He then collapsed, they took him to the hospital, and he suffered brain damage.

“It’s one of the things that happens in sports occasionally that you hope never happens to you. And in the 30-some years we’ve had a club, we’ve never had a medical issue like that. The flip side is that we believe that there was some sort of neurological damage to him in a sledding accident prior to him coming to the club that we were never informed about.

He was involved in an accident where he was knocked unconscious. And we think that may have been the thing that triggered what happened to him.

“But you never want this to happen. It’s a total sad thing.”

The family of Juan Contreras filed a lawsuit against Crown Boxing, and a settlement was reached out of court.

“MUCH MORE THAN BOXING” Crown doesn’t just attract kids of high school age or younger. On a few occasions, professional hockey players like brothers Kip and Kelly Miller, Brian Smolinski and Jim Cummings have visited Crown. Most recently, Justin Abdelkader of the Detroit Red Wings has worked out there.

“They’re looking to figure out how they can

be a little more offensive-minded with their hands,” Every said. “Obviously, it’s tough for me to teach them the same kind of thing they will go through because they’re on skates, and I’m not really sure what the balance is there and the stability.

“I think Justin just wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to be anybody’s punching bag and that he can show his teammates that he’s willing to stand up to anybody and be a total player and be a grind guy. Basically, I’m trying to show them how to be a little more efficient with their blows.”

Recent Michigan State University Brandon Laverty went there at first just for the workouts.

But it didn’t take long before he wanted to get in the ring for real.

A former basketball and football player at Auburn Hills Avondale High, Laverty was looking for a place to get a good workout, so he tried Crown.

“It started as a workout thing, but within the first year I began to want to start competing on the amateur circuit, and I became pretty good at it,” he said. “It became a real big part of my life, and there are tons of kids who come in from the surrounding area. I help them with school and try to be a positive influence on their lives.

“Hawk has been a very positive influence in my life. He does well with the kids and always accepts any kid who comes into the gym. It’s much, much more than boxing.” H

Kings Of The Ring Bob Every, left, and Aaron “Hawk” Easley, right, flank their latest collection of Crown students.

Mid-Michigan Hosts USA Hockey Showcase Photography mICHELLE HOFFMAN

BY MARK MEYER

30 APRIL/MAY 2012

If you’re a hockey fan in Michigan and you follow the sport semi-seriously, there’s no denying that Detroit – with its winged wheels of Stanley Cup fame – has more than solidified its “Hockeytown” sobriquet.

But for one week at the end of March, many roadways and flight paths were filled with players heading to Greater Lansing. USA Hockey rolled into the Summit in Dimondale and Suburban Ice in East Lansing with 36 teams from 30 states, all vying for a national championship in the Tier II division of the 18-under age group – a showcase event with an immediate economic impact on the area.

APRIL/MAY 2012 31

tier of joy

Seventy-one games over five days featured entries like the Maine Moose, Alaska Wolves, Utah Golden Eagles, Florida Jr. Panthers, New Jersey Freeze and Tri-Cities (Wash.) Jr. Americans. Most arrived Tuesday and several didn’t check out until Sunday, including those from Dallas, Chesterfield (Mo.) and Oklahoma City. They all went home with championship hardware and a satisfying close to a season that began for some last August.

The Niagara (N.Y.) Junior Purple Eagles fell a step short of their ultimate goal, losing 3-2 to the Sylvania (Ohio) Maple Leafs in an overtime semifinal. Yet, Jeff Dungan, whose team traveled the five hours across Canada to get here, left knowing it was well worth the trip.

“It’s always a special time when you come to this,” Dungan said. “This is the third time my son has played (in the national finals), and we’ve enjoyed every minute of every one of them.”

To qualify for the finals, the Purple Eagles won the eight-team New York state tournament in Cheektowaga, a suburb of Buffalo. The Tier II state title run was preceded by a four-month high school season (for 13 of the 19 team members) and a September-October travel schedule of about 40 games. All told, the Junior Eagles played roughly 70 games, many more than a collegiate season and almost as many as an NHL team.

“We have a number of kids who have been playing together for several years, and one of our guys has played in six national finals,” said Dungan, who has been a youth coach for the past 10 years but will likely step down after this year, his son’s last in Tier II competition.

Mid-Michigan has quickly built a strong fan base among state and national hockey officials for the way in which it can handle a wave of teams, families, friends and fans over the course of several days.

Mark Tabrum, director of the coaching education program for USA Hockey in Colorado Springs, Colo., has visited many rinks and arenas and attended too many tournaments to remember during his coaching days at Colorado College, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and with a junior program in Indianapolis.

His weeklong stay in mid-Michigan convinced him that the Summit-Suburban Ice tandem, in conjunction with the Greater Lansing Amateur Hockey Association and the Greater Lansing Sports Authority, is as qualified and prepared to handle this type of event as any in the country.

Coast-to-Capital The Lansing Capitals, one of 36 teams from 30 states, kept battling in the USA Hockey Tier II National Championships in Lansing.

“When it comes to these events, people come in to do site visits, and these types of facilities (Suburban Ice and the Summit) sell themselves,” Tabrum said. “When you walk in the door it’s a nice, clean building. A two-rink complex is a positive, and the people involved are tremendous.

They’ve done everything imaginable.

“So when you come in to run the event, they do all the legwork. It makes the tournament run so smoothly. In the future, if they decide to bid on another event, they have a track record.

People are going to recognize the group, the people involved, the facility, and then they’ll have a leg up on others.”

Suburban Ice program manager Jessica Johnston and general manager Jeff Mitchell have helped to coordinate two other national events within the past two years: a girls hockey Tier II event in 2010 and the U.S. Junior National figure skating finals this past December.

Johnston, a Michigan State University graduate who has worked at Suburban Ice for the past seven years, credited some 50 volunteers for making this year’s tournament a success.

“The days are long, but it’s worth it,” she said. “When you have all of these states and different teams coming here, you know it’s an important event, and you want to put your best foot forward.”

Lansing’s host team, the Capitals, were winless in three games. But according to head coach John Bowkus, the experience is something that will pay off in the future.

M I C H I G A N

“There haven’t been a lot of Lansing teams that have made it to nationals in a while, so it gave them an opportunity to see what it’s all about,” Bowkus said. “Of course, they wanted to do a better job of representing GLAHA. But all things considered, they handled themselves well.

“We started the season with low numbers and played our first couple of tournaments with 10 skaters and a goalie. But as time went on we jelled as a team and won the Little Caesars playoff. We just didn’t quite have it at nationals.”

At the same time Lansing was playing host to the 18-U Tier II finals, there were other USA Hockey national tournaments in Buffalo, Ashburn, Va.; Wayne, N.J.; Green Bay, Wis.; Marlborough, Mass.; Frisco, Texas, and Tampa, Fla. Upon their return to Colorado Springs, Tabrum and other USA Hockey officials will sit down to evaluate what they saw and heard, on the ice and off, throughout the various tournaments.

“We’ll get back to the national office, reconvene as a group and go over things that happened – good, bad or indifferent,” Tabrum said. “How was the competition? Were there any issues with the ice surface? Were there any issues with coaches? With the officials?

“All things considered, the tournament here went very smoothly.”

Mid-Michigan’s version of Hockeytown would have it no other way. H

S T A T E

U N I V E R S I T Y

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A book that captures the winningest back-to-back seasons in MSU football history. Relive the glory of the great victories and greatest moments of 2010-12. See how – and why – a team transformed from tribulations to trophies. Meet the players and coaches who've taken the program to a new level. + FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY FROM EVERY GAME + WEEK-BY-WEEK COLUMNS AND COMMENTARY + PROFILES OF THE LEADERS ON AND OFF THE FIELD + A LOOK AT WHAT MAKES THE PROGRAM UNIQUE + RICH MEMORIES FROM PAST SPARTAN STANDOUTS

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jack Ja ck k Eb bll in ingg Jac has Jack ass ccov o ere ov ed spor sp ts and mo more re as a a writerr and broadcaster e in Mi M d-M d-Mich ich higa igan n since e 1978 1978. A th hree re -tiime re e Mic ichig higan Sp Spo p rtswri writer ter of the e Year ear,, he he was was a 2006 6 in i ductee into the Great atter Lan Lansin sing Area Sp sin Sports Hall al of o Faame. m Hea art of o a Sp pa par a tan n is hi h s seve ve enth bo book, ok, fo ok follo lll win w g Spa S rtan Cham Sp mpio pions, ns JJU ns, UD: D A Magi agical ca Jo ourn urrney, Ma Magic M ent Mom ents, s, Gre reeeen n Glo G ry y an and Tales fro om the the Det Detroi ro t Tige roi ig g rs Dug Dugout out,, volu out volu ol mes mes I and II II. A two-t -time im ime me gradu duaate off MSU, he MS e has ha con o tr on tr but tri b ed mor mo e than 1225 piec piec i ess for na natio tional tio nal pu publi blicat bli c ion cat i s and nd is the co olum lum umnistt fo for a top col olleg legiate webs leg e ite te e (mi (m chigan ansta state. te.247spo orts ts.co .co c m). ) He is is also lso th the e edit edi d or/ or column mnist ist fo f r Gre reate ater Lans at ansing in spo sport rt mag gazi az ne. The for orrmer me me er English sh tea teache c r and coa oach ch spe spent nt nearly a quarte rter-c r-century ryy as as a bea beatt writer er and nd c umn col mn nist st for the he Lan L sin ing in g Stat t e Jour ta urnal nall an and d has won 21 major writing ng awa awards rds.

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Super Mario Impemba Paid Dues For Dream Job

BY ANDREA NELSON

When Mario Impemba was a student at Michigan State University, he skipped class to go to old Tiger Stadium for a special game in 1984.

34 APRIL/MAY 2012

there. But it taught me how to live on my own.

It taught me that I could be on my own and start a career. More importantly, it allowed me to learn my craft.”

He learned it well and never looked back.

Impemba jumped on the baseball track when he became an announcer for a Class A team in Peoria, Ill. He also called games for the Quad Cities Angels of the Midwest League and the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League. And it was only a matter of time before the big leagues came calling.

The Anaheim Angels found Impemba first.

But they lost him seven seasons later when his dream finally arrived.

In 2002 he came back to Detroit for good and couldn’t be happier than being the playby-play announcer for the Tigers.

“There’s no doubt, it’s very rare that you enjoy and have a passion for your career,” said Impemba, a Sterling Heights native. “I know so many people who don’t enjoy what they’re doing for a living. So it’s neat to be able to do what you want.”

Impemba also applies his play-by-play announcing talents to FSD’s coverage of MHSAA football and basketball championship games and CCHA hockey. He’s also the play-by-play voice of Oakland University men’s basketball, describing Golden Grizzlies action for FSD and WDFN (AM 1130).

It’s a lot of fun, and a lot of games.

“We’ll end up doing about 157 of the 162 games the Tigers play,” Impemba explained.

“If you map it out from spring training to the end of the season, we have probably three or four days off a month. We’re doing games every single night. And that’s the challenging thing about baseball. Playing the volume of games that we play, it becomes a challenge physically and mentally.”

Impemba knows that the physical and mental price he pays can’t compare to the

Dream Job MSU product Mario Impemba is livin’ the life as the television voice of the Detroit Tigers. challenges of being in the military. That’s why he decided to bring Opening Day to Tigers fans in the service that can’t be in Detroit for the holiday. Impemba helps produce a DVD of the Opening Day game and festivities and provides them to soldiers anywhere in the world.

“The gratifying thing is when you get letters from our soldiers and troops saying, ‘Thanks so much for sharing the DVD. We loved it and escaped what we’re doing for 10 minutes or a half hour,’” Impemba said. “That’s important.

It allows them to come back home, even if it’s just for a half hour, to think about the Tigers, their favorite team, and see what’s going on in their city.”

It’s a luxury that Impemba is fortunate enough to enjoy every day, working alongside colorful color man Rod Allen. And there’s nowhere else that he would rather be.

His older son, Brett Impemba, was selected by the Tigers in the 49th round of the 2011 Major League draft. Brett, an outfielder from Macomb Dakota High, committed to play baseball at Oakland.

If Brett ever makes it to the majors and wears the Olde English “D”, it would be the thrill of thrills for his dad. Until then, he’s enjoying his job just fine, thank you.

“This is it,” Impemba said of his career aspirations. “Everyone has to figure out what the top rung in their ladder is. For me it’s doing Tigers baseball. It’s the team I grew up watching and love, and it’s where I want to be.” H

Photography MARIO IMPEMBA

“Back then you had to get into the lottery to buy World Series tickets, so I entered the lottery and my number was drawn,” Impemba said. “I was able to buy a couple of tickets to Game 3 of the World Series. I remember cutting class to come back to Detroit and watch the game. It was a blast.”

What Impemba didn’t know was that he was getting a sneak peak of his future. Eighteen years after that game, he came back to his hometown as Fox Sports Detroit’s Tigers playby-play announcer.

It was an opportunity that Impemba had dreamed of since he was a young sports fan.

“If it was on the radio or TV, I would watch it,” Impemba said of his love for Detroit sports.

“It’s such a great sports town, in some ways you don’t have a choice but to be a sports fan if you grew up in Detroit. We’ve had so many great teams over the years.”

But it was a long road from his departure to his return.

Impemba started his career in East Lansing, showing his versatility as a voice of Spartan women’s basketball, hockey and baseball. He loved his job almost as much as he loved MSU. “The campus itself, it was just like it became home to me,” Impemba said. “It got to the point where on weekends or on holidays I didn’t want to go home because I felt like I was at home on campus. I think that’s pretty special because a lot of times now kids just can’t wait to get away from campus to go home. But I always wanted to stick around.”

He only stuck around for four years before heading to Plainview, Texas, for his first job at a radio station. It was a long way from Detroit, but Impemba was willing to start his career anywhere to get experience.

“It was difficult because I had to start at the bottom rung of the ladder,” Impemba said. “It was 1,500 miles away from home, away from family. I knew nobody there. I had no friends

finish line

Role Player To Role Play NCAA Tournament Provides Rare Media Opportunity

I guess you could say my career had come full-circle. In the notso-distant past I was taking the court with my teammates for our open practice in Austin, Texas, where Michigan State beat Duke and Kentucky. That was the last time I’d been to an NCAA Regional.

This time was much different. I was a part of the media, sort of. At least I had a media pass which allowed me access to the inner workings of an athletic venue. I was excited. I thought about all the interviews and press conferences I could watch. Maybe I’d even ask some questions so I seemed like an actual reporter working on an important story. At the very least I would have a really good seat.

Food For Thought Ex-Spartan guard Tim Bograkos, now with the MSU Alumni Association, saw the NCAA Tournament from a different vantage point in Phoenix.

From the moment I set foot in the arena, nobody believed I was an actual media member. I think it was the pair of flip-flops I was wearing that gave me away. But the more I walked around and made eye contact with people, the more they looked down at my press pass to see where I worked.

Now let’s get the record straight: This game was being played in PHOENIX, ARIZONA! The last I checked, it was warm there, and wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt seemed like a 36 APRIL/MAY 2012

dumb idea to me. But from what I could gather from the “legit” media members’ gazes, they figured me for some kid who worked for a student newspaper somewhere.

That was cool with me. I figured none of them had ever taken a charge in an NCAA tournament before, so in my mind that cancelled everything out.

Since I had already established myself as someone who shouldn’t be taken too seriously, I figured I would start uncovering some important questions I had about the lives of the media. The first question was, “What do media guys do when they are at these practices?” They can’t sit there all afternoon and watch each team come out and shoot for 50 minutes, can they?

To answer this question, I headed to the only logical place: the media buffet. This might be the ultimate time-killer. Everyone sits there eating average pasta salad, telling old stories and catching up with old media friends. I had a great time just taking it all in.

At one point I thought maybe I should go and listen to what the Louisville players and Rick Pitino had to say. Then, I realized that I really didn’t care. I also learned that the NCAA emails everything they say. so I could just read that if I wanted (I didn’t).

After eating something I thought would give me a stomachache later in the day, I decided to knock out some work. I found my seat and set up for a live video chat with eight fans from around the country.

Working with Google, MSU Athletics and the MSU Alumni Association, we set up a few different fan experiences. This one gave fans the chance to ask questions and have a virtual conversation about the game and what I thought about it. It also provided an opportunity to interact with our fan base on a one-to-one level. Pretty cool idea, if you ask me!

After shootaround it was time to hit the Spartans locker room to do some hardhitting journalism. I remembered these media sessions. For a walk-on or non-superstar they are an hour of sitting watching your teammates getting interviewed and making fun of people.

Determined to continue separating myself from your normal beat writers, I walked right past Draymond, didn’t even glance at Austin and turned my back to Nix. I made a beeline for Anthony Ianni and the walk-on Wolf Pack (Keenan Wetzel, Joe Sweeny, Colby Wollenman and Dan Chapman).

This was the crew that I wanted to hear from to get their take on the tournament and the game. After I talked to them for 20 minutes about YouTube videos and other relevant topics, I wrapped up my first day as a reporter feeling pretty solid about it.

I got to the arena early on game day, thinking that was the responsible thing to do. I thought I could get an early look at the teams warming up, but I just ended up back in the media buffet room, debating whether or not the meat they were serving was chicken or pork. Either way, I didn’t eat any of it.

There’s not much to say about the Louisville game. We all saw how it turned out. The only thing I can confirm is that the media spends a lot of time on twitter and Facebook during games. So I fit in when it comes to that aspect of covering sporting events.

After the game I took a walk back to Coach Izzo’s presser to hear what he had to say. I always wanted to host a presser, and this was as close as I was getting.

Overall, it was a great experience to see basketball from another perspective. As far as I can tell, media members spend a lot of time eating average food, standing outside rooms waiting to get in, then standing in circles around players and coaches, while looking extremely interested in every word they are saying.

Playing in an NCAA tournament is much better than working one. But since my career is over, I’ll be happy to be a media member whenever needed. They are a great group of people who work extremely hard trying to provide the public as much access and info as possible. I’m glad to call most of them my friends. H

Photography TIM BOGRAKOS

BY TIM Bograkos

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