sport: February/March 2012

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Pool Pioneer Hall Of Famer Vicki Paski Helped Women’s Billiards Grow, Prosper

st. johns

east lansing

MSU’S SCOTT BESKO

SPARTAN SPORTS SIDS

From Prep Hoops Hero To Manager, Future Coach

Work OT In Labor Of Love To Help You Follow Teams

VO L •4 ISSUE O2 FEB/MAR

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contents

FEATURES 10 ANYBODY’S BALLGAME

Fascinating Matchups Loom For March Madness

BY DAVID HARNS

14 HEY, COACH!

From Star To Manager, Besko Learns From The Best

BY DENNY SCHWARZE

18 FOR YOUR INFORMATION…

MSU SIDS Are Part Of A Winning Team

BY ANDREA NELSON

22 MY SPORTS TRIP

Chicago, Illinois 2006

BY CAMRON GNASS

32 FAR FROM ROUTINE

26

Dr. Larry Nassar An Unsung U.S. Gymnastics Hero

BY MARK MEYER

Right On Cue

Vicki Paski Has Done It All As Women’s Pool Pioneer

BY ANDY FLANAGAN

DEPARTMENTS eb-servation

05 Winner Of A Winter?

Mid-Michigan Provides Amazing Memories For Early 2012

BY JACK EBLING

spartans will

34 Star Gase-ing

Former Spartan Has Risen Through Football’s Ranks

BY ANDREA NELSON

sports authority

08 Hoopfest March Magic!

Hands-on Basketball Fan Fest Returns To Jenison Field House

BY BRENDAN DWYER

finish line

36 The Baseball Guy Back To Lansing For A Double Play

BY FRED HEUMANN

Volume #4 • Issue #2 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

FEBRUARY/MARCH 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 has contributed more than 125 pieces for national publications 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 Andy Flanagan Andy has written about high school teams and athletes in MidMichigan for more than a quarter-century, starting with the Lansing State Journal in 1982. The Everett High and MSU grad helped cover Spartan football from 1987-89. An avid homebrewer, Andy works in corporate communications for Auto-Owners Insurance Company. He and his wife, Jamie, have two children.

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.

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 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

Publisher Camron Gnass Sport Community Publishing Editor Jack Ebling Assistant EditorS Andy Flanagan Andrea Nelson WRITING Brendan Dwyer Jack Ebling Andy Flanagan Camron Gnass David Harns Fred Heumann Mark Meyer Denny Schwarze COVER Photo Luke Pline PhotographY Eric Bakke Jacky Bastion Denver Broncos Camron Gnass Fred Heumann Alan Holben Mike Major Matthew Mitchell MSU Athletic Communications Vicki Paski Terri Shaver MAGAZINE Design & LAYOUT Traction www.projecttraction.com Editorial Office 617 East Michigan Avenue Lansing, Michigan 48912 (517) 455-7810 www.SportLansing.com Copyright Š 2012 Sport Community Publishing All rights reserved.

eb-servation

Winner Of A Winter Mid-Michigan Provides Amazing Memories For Early 2012

BY JACK EBLING

Can we really be that close to trading snow shovels for golf clubs and softball bats?

After one of the softer winters in Mid-Michigan history, the answer is yes. And unless you’re a skier or love ice fishing, that’s good news. So many of the sports we enjoy in January are also available in June. The opposite isn’t always true.

Spring 2012 will have special meaning here, personally and for this publication.

Two new books will be released in April for baseball and college football fans. Also, a series of new features will be introduced in Greater Lansing sport, with the first interactive opportunity beginning this month.

A second version of Tales from the Detroit Tigers Dugout ($19.95), originally published in early 2007, should be in bookstores by April 1 and will focus heavily on 2011. It helped that the Tigers signed Prince Fielder the afternoon the final changes were due, allowing for two hours of frantic rewriting.

The long-awaited coffee-table book, Heart of a Spartan ($49.95), will follow that month, with plenty of opportunities for signings surrounding the Green and White Game and at scheduled events the rest of the year. That list is filling up fast, including Michigan State alumni gatherings, but if anyone wants to arrange an appearance, that can be done through Sport Community Publishing – 517-455-7810 or www.sportlansing.com.

Subscribers to this magazine can receive a $10 discount by ordering through the website at heartofaspartanbook.com. Inscriptions will be done at the buyers’ instructions.

That 26-month project centers on MSU’s back-to-back seasons with 11 wins, uncharted waters for a powerhouse in the 1950s and ’60s and a maddeningly inconsistent program for four decades. With help from 33 memorable Spartans from yesteryear, it paints a vivid historical picture and takes readers through the past two seasons with week-by-week analysis and some of the best photography any book has offered.

If you liked the January bowl issue of sport,

you’ll love Heart of a Spartan. And if you’ve enjoyed the last few issues of the magazine, you’re going to see new ways to be part of that fun in the months ahead.

The first new feature is Sports Trips, a chance for you to share your favorite sports adventure as a participant, a parent or a passionate fan. You’ll see from the first installment by our publisher, Camron Gnass, that you probably have a priceless memory or two you’d love to share.

It’s easy to do. Just send a brief description of your favorite trip with contact information and a photo of you or your group to sportlansing.com. We’ll take it from there.

Our cover story this month is about someone who took women’s pocket billiards to new heights. From her first one-credit class at Lansing Community College to a pioneering role as a player, a broadcaster and a staunch supporter of her sport, few Greater Lansing residents have had a greater impact on any activity than Grand Ledge’s Vicki Paski. Assistant Editor Andy Flanagan presents her amazing journey, with photos from Luke Pline and her collection.

With prep basketball winding down for boys and girls, freelance writer David Harns and photographer Mike Major, both frequent contributors to sport, bring us up to speed on some of the season’s best story lines and help us prepare for March Madness. While the Sexton boys try to repeat as state champs, several schools have excellent chances to play in the semis and finals in Breslin Center.

A player who capped his career with an unforgettable performance in district games last year, St. Johns star Scott Besko, has moved on to MSU – as a manager with a

plan to follow his father in coaching. He’s learning the sport from an entirely different perspective when he could’ve kept firing 3-pointers. And if Tom Izzo ever needs to inspire his guards, he can pop in the video of Besko’s 39-point game against Waverly, as freelancer Denny Schwarze explains.

So much happens behind the scenes at Breslin, Spartan Stadium and Munn Arena that we wanted to show how MSU Sports Information allows you to follow the action.

Assistant Editor Andrea Nelson does the nearimpossible job of boiling the efforts into one layered profile of John Lewandowski (football), Jamie Weir Baldwin (hockey) and especially Matt Larson (men’s basketball).

Everyone knows about 2012 Olympic gymnastics all-around favorite Jordyn Wieber of DeWitt, the cover subject of our second issue of sport back in October 2008. But U.S. gymnastics wouldn’t be the same without Dr. Larry Nassar, an MSU Sports Medicine osteopath, whose story is presented by former Lansing State Journal Sports Editor Mark Meyer.

The incredible saga of former football manager Adam Gase is Andrea Nelson’s latest offering in our Spartans Will series. A 1999 graduate in Food Industry Management, he chased his dream and followed Nick Saban to LSU as a graduate assistant. From there, he moved to the Detroit Lions, the San Francisco 49ers and now the Denver Broncos, where he’s the position coach for Tim Tebow.

TV 6 Sports Director Fred Heumann describes his lifelong love of baseball and the career twists that brought him back to Lansing, after a stop in Flint and several more jobs in Detroit.

If March is his busiest month, April could be his favorite, when bat meets ball for real and his seven-month obsession resumes.

Finally, we offer another look at Hoopfest, the annual extravaganza in Jenison Field House in connection with the boys basketball semifinals and finals. If you’ve never been there, you owe it to yourself to stop by and have some fun.

It’s all part of the passing of winter and the breaking of spring. H FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

5

your shot

Send Us Your Photos! www.SportLansing.com Published photos will receive a poster commemorating Your Shot, courtesy of Capital Imaging.

Hydro-Dynamic Jackson High’s Colin Cogan is a stealth torpedo after just entering the water.

Photographed by ALAN HOLBEN

greater lansing sports authority

Hoopfest: March Magic!

Hands-on Basketball Fan Fest Returns to Jenison Field House

shootout, ball-handling skills challenge and more. The best part is your valid 2012 MHSAA tournament ticket gets you in for free. Others pay just $2.

Now while March Magic Hoopfest mostly offers a wide-open drop-in-and-play format, there are some additional unforgettable opportunities for local kids with a passion for roundball.

A free basketball clinic for boys and girls grades 4th through 8th will be held Saturday, March 24th from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Many of the

SLAM DUNK

FREE THROW CHALLENGE

3-POINT SHOOT OUT

HIT THE SPOT

RAINBOW SHOT

VOLUNTEER AREA

Whatever you decide to call it, what March Magic Hoopfest really is – is fun.

Held in conjunction with the Boys MHSAA Basketball State Finals, March Magic Hoopfest is a hands-on, high-energy basketball playground for all ages. Located across the street from the tournament games being held at the Breslin Center, the event will take over Jenison Field House during March 22-24, 2012. All kinds of basketball activities for all ages will be going on including a rainbow shot, three-point

legendary members of the Basketball Coaches Association (BCAM) will be the clinicians. All facets of basketball offensive and defensive skills will be taught. Another opportunity returning for 2012 is the JumpBall Jamboree.

Students who are enrolled in 5th through 8th grade, both boys and girls, may register their team online for the opportunity to play on one of the Center Courts of March Magic Hoopfest.

There will be as many as 15 exhibitions each weekend. Give your team a chance to play on the big stage!

To learn more about March Magic Hoopfest, including how to be a valued volunteer, call (517) 377-1411 or visit www.marchmagichoopfest.com. H

SKILLS CHALLENGE

MEIJER JERSEY TOSS

KIDS ZONE

MHSAA WALK OF HISTORY

8 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

CONCESSIONS

ENTRANCE TO MARCH MAGIC HOOPFEST

Call it a hoop-infused interactive fan-fest. Call it the perfect accent to the MHSAA Basketball State Finals. Heck, call it the cure for spring fever.

Photography JACKY BASTION

BY BRENDAN DWYER

2012 March Magic Hoopfest JENISON FIELD HOUSE Thursday, March 22 2 P.M. TO 7 P.M.

Friday, March 23 2 P.M. TO 7 P.M.

Saturday, March 24 10 A.M. TO 7 P.M.

Admission is $2 or FREE with valid 2012 MHSAA Basketball Tournament ticket.

www.marchmagichoopfest.com

Hoopfest Fun Returns This March! Whether you watch from the stands or take your best shot, March Magic Hoopfest is all-around fun.

2012 MARCH MAGIC HOOPFEST

Games At A Glance DEAN TRAILWAYS 3-POINT CHALLENGE

HIT THE SPOT

Just like the NBA! This 3-point challenge tests contestants’ long range shooting skills from behind the arc. See if you can sink 12 shots in 30 seconds. Top point totals will be posted each day!

This is a playground classic! Just like around the world but set to a timer. Who can get around the fastest? First one back home is the winner.

RAINBOW SHOT

SKILLS CHALLENGE

Can you sink a long-distance game-winning buzzer beater? Here’s your chance!

Can you dribble and dish the rock like Earvin Magic Johnson? Show your best ball-handling skills and bring the magic back to Jenison!

MEIJER JERSEY TOSS

HOOPFEST SLAM DUNK

Take a break from shooting hoops to do some laundry? Crazy, we know, but this time it’s fun. Take a turn at tossing some balled-up jerseys into the ‘Meijer Dryer’ and win some great Meijer products!

Everyone loves to see a great dunk. Here’s your chance to fly. Three dunks per turn.

FREE THROW CHALLENGE

Here’s a place for our future stars to play. Stay as long as you want!

The only requirement is to have fun!

We all know it’s a key part of winning close games – how many can you hit from the charity stripe? Step up and take your best shot! Top free-throw shooters will be posted each day!

KIDS ZONE GAMES

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

9

Photography MIKE MAJOR

Anybody’s

10 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

Ballgame Fascinating Matchups Loom for March Madness

BY DAVID HARNS

As winter turns to spring, the sunsets get later, the weather gets warmer, and the excitement of postseason basketball hits fever pitch. March has become synonymous with the drama, intrigue and excitement of buzzer-beaters and upsets. It produces hundreds of intriguing stories. Here is a small sampling in 2012 in Mid-Michigan: Senior point guard Tracey Edmond has been called the “straw that stirs the drink at East Lansing for a very, very good team” by Rod Watts, the boys coach at Lansing Eastern.

Edmond’s coach, Steve Finamore, agrees.

“He has improved so much over the last two years,” Finamore said. “He’s totally under the radar in terms of recruiting. As of late, he has had fantastic games, and we’ve had Division 1 schools calling about him. Word travels fast on the recruiting trail. All you have to do is play a couple of good games against good competition and word gets out. Tracey’s our main guy. He’s our motor. He’s our engine. He gets us going.”

Junior Javon Haines is right next to Edmond, helping the Trojans as a swingman who can score inside or step out and shoot the jumper, while handling the ball against the press. A two-sport athlete, Haines stars at safety for the football team. That success has left him undecided about which sport he’ll pursue in college.

“He’s a real quiet kid who does all the dirty work,” Finamore said. “He’s about 6-2 but plays a lot taller. He’s real slithery inside. He gets between guys and can get offensive rebounds.”

Across town, three seniors star for defending state champion Sexton: Denzel Valentine, Anthony Clemmons and Bryn Forbes.

“The reason we win is because we don’t have guys that do the same thing,” Big Reds coach Carlton Valentine said. “We have a lot of guys

that do a lot of different things. The three of them are friends, and nobody really cares who gets the credit. They are all good students, and all have signed to play at Division I universities.

“We are really, really relying on those guys having the experience and leading us into the state tournament this year. Forbes is a flat-out assassin. He’s a scorer. Clemmons is our team’s best defender, and he can score the ball.”

Then, there is the future Michigan State Spartan, Carlton’s son, Denzel.

“He’s Mr. Basketball hands down. He’ll get my vote,” Finamore said. “He just does it all. If you back off him, he’ll shoot a 3-pointer on you. If you get up on him, he’ll drive past you. If you play zone on him, he’ll hit the open man anywhere on the floor. He’s also a very, very underrated defensive player. Plus, he’s a great rebounder, which enables him to start their fast break.”

Valentine’s dad, a former MSU forward, couldn’t agree more.

“Denzel has been on the varsity since he was a freshman,” Carlton said. “He is our best allaround basketball player. He leads us in almost every statistical category except scoring, which he doesn’t focus on.”

Another area school is led by a couple of tough kids. Senior guard Chris Harrison-Docks is the leader at Okemos. His teammate, senior center Taylor Moton, a 6-foot-6, 275 pounder, is going to play football at Western Michigan.

“Moton is a great rebounder and shot blocker,” Finamore said. “Harrison-Docks gets all the recognition. But without Moton, they wouldn’t be as good as they are.”

Another pleasant surprise this year is Lansing Eastern. Just don’t tell that to the Quakers head coach.

“We’ve exceeded others’ expectations – other people’s expectations,” Watts said again for emphasis. “Not our expectations. They had us preseason fifth, and now we’re in position to win the CAAC Blue.

“Fredrick Edmond is our leading scorer, one of top players in the conference. He’s 6-4 and very athletic. Amari George is our No. 2 scorer.

Making Waves Waverly High’s Taylor McKay applies pressure to the defense in another win for the Warriors.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

11

anybody’s ballgame

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He didn’t play a whole lot as a junior but was a talent nonetheless. He was somebody who waited his turn and is contributing as we expected him to contribute.”

If it’s clear a team’s success must go beyond the players who grab the headlines, Sexton’s Jalen Hayes and Eastern’s Bryon Morgan get the work done under the radar.

“Hayes is a 6-7 junior who started every game for us last year and every game this year,” Valentine said. “He doesn’t get a lot of fanfare.

But he is an integral part of what we are trying to get done here at Sexton High School. The guy has four Division I basketball offers already.…

Not interest – the guy has four offers.

“He’s a quiet guy and an honors student with a 3.5 GPA. He comes to work every day. Without him, we don’t win, because he does a lot of the things that go unnoticed. He gets blocks, he gets the extra rebound, and he hustles down the floor.”

Hayes’s hustle is matched by Morgan’s. So is his coach’s admiration.

“Morgan does a lot of the grunt work,” Watts said. “He’s a jack-of-all-trades. He scores, rebounds and defends the best player on the other team.

He can play several different positions.”

The players put the ball through the hoop, but their coaches make them the athletes they are and the people they’ll become. And Greater Lansing has no shortage of quality head coaches.

“Carlton Valentine at Sexton does an amazing job,“ Finamore said. “It’s not easy to coach great players. Everybody thinks you just roll the balls out. But bringing five or six personalities together – guys who want the ball – and having them share the ball and play as hard as they can is a testament to Carlton’s coaching ability.”

Eastern’s Watts agrees.

“It’s tough to keep your team level-headed and focused and not expect things are just going to be given to you after winning the state championship,” Watts said. “Valentine’s done a great job of keeping the focus.”

Valentine returns the compliment when asked about successful local coaches.

“Rod Watts at Eastern – he’s done a great job over there resurrecting that basketball program,” Valentine said. “They lost probably the Big East freshman of the year – LaDontae Henton – and didn’t lose a beat. I respect Rod a lot. In fact, he coached my own two sons in AAU basketball.

He was instrumental in their development and I trusted him to coach my own kids.”

It’s not just boys coaches who have been successful in Mid-Michigan. As of mid-February, the East Lansing girls basketball team hasn’t lost a conference game since the 2007-08 season, a credit to Lady Trojans leader Rob Smith.

His East Lansing counterpart said that he

has gained a lot of respect for Smith while working alongside him.

“I’ve never met a high school coach more passionate and more focused than Rob Smith,” Finamore said. “He plays a lot of players. His rotation is 10 deep. And he has sent a lot of players to Division I teams.”

Watts also calls Smith one of the top coaches in the state.

“He continues to do a good job over there,” Watts said. “He lost a lot of talent, but his team maintains its place among the top teams in the state.”

His cross-town rival, Waverly girls coach Erik Kutas, considers Smith a friend and says that he loves playing against him.

“Rob is a competitor who works extremely hard preparing his team,” Kutas says. “I enjoy competing against him. He pushes his team to the limit, and I love that.”

Smith says his coaching staff emphasizes

Valentine’s Years Michigan State-bound Denzel Valentine is just one star in Sexton High’s Class B title defense.

M I C H I G A N team chemistry, defense and scouting, then lets the athletes’ talent take them to the top with a high-scoring, fun offense.

“This year’s team has had a real emphasis on team chemistry, team bonding and player/ coach relationships,” Smith said. “We do as much as we can to get the kids playing for each other. In East Lansing the parents know their role, the players know their role, and the coaches know their role. And we come together to take care of business.”

Smith’s current team is led by seniors Natalie Rose Brogan and Alex Green, plus nine juniors. If an abundance of talent can overcome a lack of experience, East Lansing will play deep into March again.

The local girls Class A District at Lansing Everett is stacked with powerhouse teams this season, with highly ranked St. Johns, DeWitt and Waverly on the side of the bracket opposite East Lansing. Unfortunately, only one team will move on to the DeWitt Regional.

That team just might be the Waverly Warriors. Kutas’ team has overcome a lot of obstacles this year with several starting lineups, injuries and suspensions. But he thinks his players can pull it together, thanks largely to the leadership of Sylvia Maxwell, Jasmine Wood and Taylor McKay. Maxwell is a dynamic, slashing scoring guard, who puts up about 17 points and eight rebounds per game. Wood holds down the lane as a 6-4 forward and a force on defense. And McKay is a solid on-the-ball defender.

But Waverly’s best player, according to Kutas, is Victoria Milton – a 5-7 junior point guard.

“She’s a complete player, she’s a leader, she’s tough, she’s dynamite,” Kutas said. “She can play any style of game. When the game is on the line, Victoria has the ball and it is up to her – it’s her game. I’d put her up against any guard in the state.”

Waverly’s youngest player on the varsity team is 6-1 freshman Breanna Mobley. Kutas says that Mobley is the Warriors’ best defender and best finisher. She’s shooting almost 60% from the field and always guards the opponent’s best player.

Kutas hopes his players can come together down the stretch, put all the adversity behind them and make a run through the tournament.

And isn’t that what the magic and the madness of March is all about? All the hard work, all the preparation, all the planning – now’s the time we get to see it in a one-and-done fashion.

Which team will leave it all on the floor?

Which team will come up just short? The underdog knows they have a chance, and the favorite knows they better watch out. After all, anything is possible when the basketball calendar flips to March. H

S T A T E

U N I V E R S I T Y

COMMEMORATIVE FOOTBALL BOOK H e a r t T

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S p a r t a n J

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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 + W E E K - B Y- W E E K C O L U M N S A N D C O M M E N T A R Y + PROFILES OF THE LEADERS ON AND OFF THE FIELD + A LO O K AT W H AT M A K E S T H E P R O G R A M U N I Q U E + R I C H M E M O R I E S F R O M PA ST S PA RTA N STA N D O U T S

RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY! Visit HeartofaSpartanBook.com for the story of Michigan State’s football renaissance.

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.

Visit HeartofaSpartanBook.com to order now!

Hey, Coach!

From Star To Manager, Besko Learns From The Best

BY DENNY SCHWARZE

14 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

Doing What’s Besko Former St. Johns High star Scott Besko is an MSU freshman manager now and is soaking up knowledge for a career in basketball.

Photography MIKE MAJOR

Time was expiring on Scott Besko’s varsity basketball career at St. Johns. The last seconds of a district semifinal ticked away, but Besko kept playing – chasing Lansing Eastern players around until he was red in the face and could barely stand. Competition had collided with frustration. Emotion began to dilute perspiration.

Besko’s opponents from Eastern understood the performance he had given. The Quakers lined up after the final horn sounded to show their respect – players with far more natural athletic ability than Besko had in his small frame. One would head to Providence on a full scholarship. Another is the second cousin of Earvin “Magic” Johnson. A third is a highly touted young point guard.

But heart is something that doesn’t earn a McDonald’s All-America moniker. It can’t be measured with a star value. Besko had played his heart out on his last night in a St. Johns uniform.

As the saying goes, he had left it all on the court.

He hopes one day he can teach other players to do the same. An unusual stay at Michigan State University might help him do that, as he learns the game from another undersized, overachieving leader.

Besko grew up the son of a coach. His father, Dirk Besko, became the varsity coach at St. Johns in 1997 and coached the Redwings for nine years.

Dirk had started as the junior varsity coach, then got the varsity coaching gig when Scott was in elementary school.

“I was at every practice,” Scott said, recalling how often he was around the team and his father.

“I just started playing about that age, too.”

The plan was in place from there, and a story that so often happens across the country in sports would happen in St. Johns – a player and a son suiting up for a coach and his father.

It didn’t turn out that way. Scott’s grandparents became ill when he was in middle school, forcing Dirk to relinquish the position of varsity basketball coach.

“I wanted to give up the game,” Scott said.

“I wanted to play for him really, really bad.”

The new varsity coach at St. Johns was Caleb Miller, who bumped heads with Besko at first.

“We had some arguments and stuff,” Besko said. “We weren’t on the same page. I hadn’t really matured and didn’t accept (Coach Miller’s) philosophy stuff.”

Besko, who also played golf and tennis, was talented enough on the hardwood to play on the junior varsity as a freshman. He had the opportunity to play on the varsity right away as a sophomore, but declined. After an injury to a varsity point guard, Besko was invited up again and played one game on there his sophomore season. The next summer, he broke his ankle in a 3-on-3 tournament at the St. Johns Mint Festival. Besko was out of commission the entire fall. And the ankle gave him problems throughout his junior season. But that was only the beginning of his injury woes.

Heading into his senior season, Besko participated in a camp at Albion College. The Friday of that week, he rolled the ankle he had previously hurt and sat out the remainder of the day as well as the next. On Sunday, Besko was determined to play, even with the ankle still bothering him slightly.

“I was sick of being hurt,” he said.

That day, Besko went up for a jump shot and landed on another player’s foot. Not only did he break his ankle, but ligaments were torn on both sides. The injury was serious enough to put him in a wheelchair for a short time. His senior season was in serious jeopardy.

Besko described the procedure that saved his prep career as “kind of a voodoo thing.”

The method that repaired his ankle

wasn’t as much voodoo as revolutionary medical science. The process is known as prolotherapy. Also called proliferation therapy or regenerative injection therapy, prolotherapy injects an irritant solution (growth hormones or other natural builders) into the region of tendons or ligaments to speed healing of tissue, re-growing of ligaments and alleviating pain.

Besko received treatments with 20-30 shots around the damaged area. A doctor at the MSU Sports Medicine Clinic explained that the same procedure was used to help former Spartan guard Kalin Lucas after he tore his Achilles’ in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

The procedure is expensive and isn’t usually covered by health insurance. But the magic had been done with just the few treatments.

“It’s voodoo because healing an injury like that doesn’t make sense,” Besko said. “I felt the best I ever had.”

Avoiding surgery, Besko returned to the court and led the Redwings to a 13-7 regularseason record. St. Johns finished third in the CAAC Red behind Sexton, the state title in 2011, and Waverly, a team the Redwings hadn’t beaten in three seasons.

St. Johns was matched up with Waverly in the Class A district opener for both schools.

The Redwings had been selected to host the district, and Lancaster Gymnasium was abuzz.

“It kind of started with the game before us that night,” Besko said. “It was Okemos vs. East Lansing. The gym was absolutely packed. We had the bleachers pulled out, and we didn’t pull the bleachers out all year. They were filled. It was a crazy environment.”

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hey, coach!

Besko wanted to take in the entire atmosphere for the first game, so he went to the top of the bleachers with teammate Bo Moore, now a senior guard for the Redwings.

“I was like, ‘This environment is crazy. I feel so inspired,’” Besko said. “I felt something in me.”

When it was Besko’s turn to take the court, the only ones disappointed were the Waverly fans – and some greedy members of the St. Johns student section.

Their chants for 40 points fell just short.

Instead, Besko put up 39, including seven 3-pointers in one of the most staggering state playoff performances by a Mid-Michigan player in memory. Miller, who directed his team to St. Johns’ first district win in boys basketball since Besko’s father was coach, called it an “incredible sight to see.”

Dirk Besko was on hand to see it, too.

“After the game I ran right up to my dad and gave him a big hug, and we both started bawling our eyes out,” Scott said, recalling

had some success,” he said. “But Scott also has a passion and love and understanding of the game. I think growing up around the game of basketball, with his dad being the former coach at St. Johns, he was just smart about soaking up knowledge and increasing his basketball IQ. It’s a natural progression for him.”

Miller, who attended East Lansing High and MSU, helped Besko get that spot as a manager.

“He knows a lot of people over in this area, made a few calls and brought me over to practice,” Besko said. “I appreciate all he did for me, even with how bad we started.”

“To get the experience at a Division 1 school and be around a Final Four program, this could be something that’ll just take him on to bigger opportunities in the coaching ranks,” Miller said of Besko.

For now, it’s working 40 hours per week with the team and coaches – on top of the basic workload of classes and studying.

“It’s seven days a week the whole season,”

“It was one of the best moments right there, just running up to my dad in the stands and giving him a big hug.”

the celebration and the flashbacks of when he almost gave up the chance for that moment he was having. “It was one of the best moments right there, just running up to my dad in the stands and giving him a big hug.”

Eastern eliminated the Redwings two nights later. And Besko would have to choose between two paths as he headed toward college.

Collegiately, he had a few looks, but they were walk-on opportunities or offers at the Division 3 level.

“East Lansing coach (Steve) Finamore just kept telling my coach, ‘Man, that kid is way too good to not be playing anywhere,’” Besko said.

That’s probably true. But Besko will have to settle for the label of being the best shooting team manager in the Big Ten. Though he misses playing, Besko says coaching is his main goal for now. He has just completed his first semester at MSU as the only freshman student manager.

“He went from playing to being a manager and that’s not easy. That takes swallowing some pride,” Spartan coach Tom Izzo said.

Miller couldn’t agree more.

“I think he was a kid who could have gone to the next level and played and contributed and

SCOTT BESKO

Besko said. “The team will get a day off, and even those days we’re in the office breaking down film.

If guys want to come in and shoot, we’re their rebounders. I knew a lot about (being a manager).

But until you’re doing it, you have no idea.”

His new head coach had another idea that doubles his hands-on experience.

“I love Scott. I love him so much I asked him if he would help out with my son’s little sixth-grade team,” Izzo said in reference to his son, Steven Mateen. “He’s doing that, too. So he’s got double duties.”

“He jokes with me that I have to make his son as good a shooter as I was,” Besko said of Izzo. “I’m able to start doing coaching things, just being able to work with kids and stuff. And I love working with kids.”

After just one semester, Izzo has come away impressed.

“He has such enthusiasm for the game,” he said of Besko. “With his father, it’s in his blood, it’s in his family, and I think he’s going to be one of the best we’ve had. He really cares about the program, the game and sports in general.”

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION… MSU SIDs Are Part Of A Winning Team

Photography mATTHEW MITCHELL/MSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

BY ANDREA NELSON

18 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

On the day that the Michigan State men’s basketball team hosted Indiana, Matt Larson took his 20-month-old daughter to daycare at 8 a.m. before heading to work at the Breslin Center.

He didn’t expect to be home until 1 the next morning – if it was a good day.

Larson isn’t a player, coach, trainer, official or journalist. You’ve probably never heard his name and wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a lineup. But you depend on him to get an inside look into the men’s basketball program more than you know.

As associate director of athletic communications, director of new media and the team’s sports information director, Larson is the middle man between the media and public, the man behind the @MSU_Basketball Twitter handle and Facebook fan page and the reason television announcers seem to know everything about MSU. And that’s just scratching the surface.

He has a hand in game programs, game notes, media guides, press conferences, arranging player and coach interviews, releasing quotes, recording statistics, conducting research, updating content on Twitter, Facebook and MSUSpartans.com, helping announcers and journalists, generating story ideas, publishing pictures and videos, writing recaps and previews and anything else he can do to help the program.

Dizzy yet?

Here’s a “typical” week for Larson when MSU plays two games at home.

“If we have a Wednesday/Saturday week, I’ll come in on Monday at 8:30 a.m.,” Larson explained. “Let’s say we have practice and interviews. I’ll leave here about 7:30 p.m.

Mondays are a 10- or 11-hour day. Tuesday would probably be about the same. Wednesday, we’ll say it’s a 7 p.m. game. I’ll be in at 8:30 a.m. until 1-ish. That’s 16-17 hours, so we’re at 36. Double that is 72.…I’d say 80-hour weeks starting the season aren’t unheard of.”

Sleep? Not really.

“I have Mountain Dew,” Larson said with a laugh.

But this is one man and one sport. The entire Athletic Communications Department is composed of six SIDs, four video producers, two full-time interns, an office assistant and an army of student interns. Together they are an in-house public relations firm that represents the 25 varsity sports at MSU. Every SID has the same responsibilities for his or her respective sport as Larson does for men’s basketball. Some are in charge of one sport. Others are at the helm of as many as five.

But it’s always a team effort.

“I think that’s one of the greatest things about our department,” said Jim Donatelli,

the women’s basketball and men’s golf SID. “Everyone has his or her hand out to help you when you’re in need or even if you’re not in need, just offering it in case you do need it.”

Most days, it’s needed. This has been especially true over the past decade as the department developed alongside the Internet and social media.

“We’ve become a jack-of-all-trades profession, and that has evolved even further over the last few years as social media has come into the picture,” said Director of Athletic Communications Jamie Weir Baldwin, the SID for five sports: hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey and rowing.

“A lot of it is marketing. You’re trying to generate interest in your programs and getting people to games, using Twitter and Facebook and those types of things to promote your program’s successes, your coaches and your athletes.”

The department has grown into its own media outlet, publishing content with print, audio and video components on a daily basis.

Between MSUSpartans.com, the coaches’ websites, Facebook and Twitter, their workload has grown exponentially. And it won’t slow down anytime soon. Now that the Athletic Communications and Sports Broadcasting departments are under the same roof, there’s not a story at MSU that goes untold.

“It becomes a daunting task because if the guys on the team don’t see me with a camera they think something is wrong,” video producer Dave Diffenderffer said. “Whenever I’m around them, I always have a camera, and they’re saying, ‘Oh, Diff, you have to record this. You have to shoot this.’ It becomes a lifestyle you have to live to cover everything and anything.”

It’s not just a job. It’s much more than that.

“In my mind, when you choose this, you choose a lifestyle, not just a profession,” said Associate A.D./Communications John Lewandowski, the department head and SID for the football team. “The motto is just kind of whatever it takes. I never worry about counting the hours. You just can’t. You’ve got to do what you need to do to make sure the job’s done right.”

As Larson said, 80-hour weeks aren’t uncommon for SIDs when they’re “in-season.” An SID’s schedule often mirrors that of the coaches and teams. They arrive at the game hours before it starts and stay long into the night. After the Wisconsin night football game last season, Lewandowski didn’t get home until 6:30 a.m.

He was back in the office later that day.

Larson spends the eleven hours before a game finalizing Izzo’s schedule, talking with television announcers, setting up the press room, filling requests for the local and visiting media and running up and down the two flights of stairs from the arena to his office more times than he wants to count.

He doesn’t mind. Larson prides himself on finding relevant statistics that allow announcers to tell intelligent and meaningful stories during their broadcasts.

“I think that there’s been too much emphasis placed on stats, and we forget that we’re still public relations people,” Larson said. “Our job is to sell our basketball program, university

Post-game Protocol MSU basketball SID serves as a liaison for all media outlets and handles all kinds of requests for the Big Ten champs.

and athletic department and tell our stories.

There are some things I can’t tell. But I listen to Coach talk an awful lot. I listen to the players talk an awful lot. And I talk with the players, so it just allows a better understanding for what they’re trying to do.”

It’s a pretty good job. Very few people would turn down the opportunity to work with Tom Izzo and his team, traveling from Hawaii to San Diego to New York to watch them compete.

But it’s not all fun and games. They work weekdays, weekends, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and weddings – sports don’t stop for anything.

“It can be tough, but that’s where you look at the sacrifices that other people in the FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

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for your information… program make,” Larson said. “I have a hard time saying my kids are more important than Coach Izzo’s kids or Coach Stephens’ kids or Coach Fife’s kids. I think it’s a balancing thing for everybody. That doesn’t mean that any of us do it well, but there are sacrifices.”

It’s not always balanced.

“When you’re excelling at doing one thing, the other pieces of your life aren’t getting the same attention,” Weir Baldwin said. “You hear you can be a career woman and have a family and you can’t. I can’t be at everything at my stepson’s school. I get to see one more of his basketball games this spring. Is that balance?

No, it’s not. The balance comes in the big picture. It doesn’t come in the day-to-day.”

There’s not a lot of sleep.

“The week of the Big Ten Championship game, from that Sunday after the last game until game day down at Lucas Oil Stadium, for the entire week I got 11 hours of sleep,” Lewandowski said.

But they come back day after day after day…after day. No matter how many hours they work, the benefits outweigh the costs.

and wrestling SID, it’s the stories he’s uncovered about athletes in non-revenue sports that have made a difference.

“They’re really thankful when you do a story on them, and that makes me feel good because you’re trying to get their story out there,” Phlegar said. “You go to a practice and they say, ‘Hey, thanks!’ You usually don’t get that with some of the other sports. That’s not to say that in football and basketball they don’t appreciate it. I’m sure they do. But it’s nice being on the side of things where you can tell more stories besides just the bigger sports.”

Big or small, SIDs work to promote all 25 varsity sports at MSU. The job isn’t for everyone.

But as with every career, if your work isn’t something you’re passionate about, there’s no reason to be there.

“Once it stops being fun, you have to get out of it because you have to realize that you’re working with sports here,” Phlegar said. “At the end of the day, you have to like what you do, and I think everybody does around here.”

After the whirlwind victory over Indiana, Larson steers Izzo towards the TV

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“At the end of the day, I have the best job in America,” Weir Baldwin said. “It’s true. I am paid to watch sports for a living.”

“I get to see the game from the best seat in the house,” Diffenderffer said. “I’m on the field. I’m in the locker room. I’m on the sidelines. I’m on the court. I’m in the dugout.

As a sports fan, sure it’s fun to see a game from the stands. But when you’re actually in the tunnel, on the field, in the locker room, that’s kind of a unique place to be, and it’s something I definitely cherish.”

Yet, it’s not the unlimited access to the team or the good seats at a game that motivate SIDs to stay at the office long after the doors are locked and the lights are turned down.

It’s the little things. It usually is.

“I enjoy getting to have relationships with Coach Izzo and the basketball team,” Larson said. “I love getting to see them as people. You do get to meet a lot of characters, but it also humanizes them.”

For Ben Phlegar, the women’s golf, baseball

announcers for a post-game interview before accompanying him to the locker room. He waits as Izzo chats with his team, then the two make their way to the press conference.

Larson is at his side, whispering statistics and storylines into his ear.

The lights are dimming and the arena is emptying, but part of Larson’s job has just begun. He’ll return to his office, upload pictures from the game to Facebook and MSUSpartans.com, tweet statistics and pictures to thousands of the program’s Twitter followers and update, update, update.

If he’s lucky, he’ll be home by 1:00. His daughter went to bed hours ago, but he’ll see her in the morning before heading back to the office.

It’s a never-ending cycle, job, career and lifestyle.

But when you get to go to a National Championship, multiple Final Fours, the Carrier Classic and be an integral part of such a successful program, the late nights suddenly don’t seem so late.

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Right On Cue Vicki Paski Has Done It All As Women’s Pool Pioneer

BY ANDY FLANAGAN

Vicki Paski’s career is one any pool player would envy.

She was the national amateur champion in 1976, the No. 2 player in the world in 1981, a charter member of the Women’s Professional Billiards Association and, as the organization’s president in the 1990s, a driving force for raising the profile of women’s billiards by forming the Classic Tour and negotiating a contract with ESPN. So when the winner of numerous tournaments casually mentions that she has played her entire career right-handed when she’s actually left-handed, you can’t help but do a double-take. What in the name of Minnesota Fats is going on here?

Paski, who grew up and still lives in Grand Ledge, is happy to explain.

“Two or three years after I started, I found out I was playing with the wrong hand. I’m lefthanded, and I thought you put the cue in your hand like this – like a pencil,” she said, putting

her left hand on her desk as if she were holding the end of the cue stick. “ Who needs this (right) one? This (left) one is doing all the work.

“That’s how I started playing. I thought that was left-handed. I was stunned when I found out I was playing right-handed.”

It certainly didn’t hurt her career. Playing right-handed was good enough to earn Paski membership in the WPBA Hall of Fame.

And last summer she was inducted into the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame.

That the longtime insurance agent had a career in pool is a story in itself.

Fresh out of high school in 1973, Paski was attending Lansing Community College and had 11 credits but needed one more to fulfill her scholarship as a full-time student. So she went to her counselor and asked about one-credit classes, stumbling upon the course that would change her life: Pocket Billiards 101.

“I took a college class that had a class tournament,” said Paski, who never played pool while growing up. “The winner of the class tournament got to play in the collegiate (tournament). I won the regionals and got to play in the nationals.

I think that’s how I got the bug, the whole competition thing.”

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 27

right on cue The class was taught at the old Velvet Rail by JeaneAnn Cardwell, who is also in the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame. In fact she’s still teaching the class. Paski shrugs off her instant success at the game.

“They would say, ‘You’re a natural,’ but I was just having a good time,” Paski recalled.

When’s the next tournament?’ I just wanted to play. I basically got involved in the administrative side of it under peer pressure.”

That was in 1990. Until then the WPBA enjoyed some success and even had some tournaments televised. But things changed dramatically when Paski took over as president.

“I would say she’s got a natural talent (for pool), but she worked hard at it… that’s what made her a great player.”

JEANEANN CARDWELL

Cardwell said Paski’s work ethic is what elevated her game.

“I would say she’s got a natural talent (for pool), but she worked hard at it,” Cardwell said. “That’s what made her a great player.”

Velvet Rail owner Joe Farhat took a liking to Paski and introduced her to professional tournaments once her collegiate career ended in 1975.

“After I got an associate’s degree, I quit college, so I couldn’t play in collegiate tournaments any more,” she said. “Joe steered me toward professional tournaments. My first one was in New Jersey and I won $35.78 for fifth place. I was so excited.”

While attending LCC, Paski also had a job at the Harry O. Culp Agency in Grand Ledge, where she is now the owner. Her mother would have preferred she spent more time there than playing pool.

“My mom at first said she didn’t like the idea of me hanging around the pool room. It was annoying to her,” Paski said. “I mentioned that to Joe, and he said, ‘Bring her down here.’

I did that, and he talked to her and explained that nothing was going to happen to me. She was fine after that.”

When Paski started playing professionally, women’s pocket billiards was essentially unorganized.

“They had pockets of activity here and there, mostly in New Jersey, Chicago and Michigan,” she said. “Then two girls from Detroit decided to start the WPBA (in 1976), because we were always going to be stuck where we were if we didn’t join together.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, good luck to you.

“That’s when my friend Shari (Stauch, fellow billiards pro and co-founder of Pool & Billiard Magazine), who also was my sponsor, said ‘OK, if we’re going to spend time doing this, let’s do it right,’” Paski said.

Paski and Stauch went to work. Using a format created by Shari’s father, Harold Simonsen, the Classic Tour that you see on ESPN today was born. They sold sponsorships and got the sport even more TV exposure. They put together the infrastructure for a regional tour. And with the help of another person on the board, they set up sites for tournaments.

Prior to that there were only a couple tournaments a year for women players. Paski said the goal of the Classic Tour was to have one tournament a month. They ended up getting enough sponsorship money to fund 12 tournaments a year.

“We were to the point where if you wanted to have a tournament and you wanted us to be there, you had to get our permission,” Paski said. “You had to get a tournament recognized by us. We were women’s pocket billiards.”

Looking back on it from her perch now, Paski said she was fortunate to play a role in the growth of the sport.

“When I first started it was such a novelty for a girl to be even playing pool,” she said.

“My friends and I got together and created a product, and they ate it up.”

Is she proud of her accomplishments?

“Absolutely—but it wasn’t all me,” Paski said.

“We set out to do something and accomplished it and left it better than we found it. We were probably proudest when we became one of the

few sports where the women had it together more than the men did. Our gross prize money was more than the men’s (tour).”

While being president of the WPBA allowed Paski to elevate the sport’s profile, it had the opposite effect on her game.

“It’s not good for your game,” Paski said with a wry smile.

A marriage and two children also took a toll on her game, she added.

“But I was ready for all that,” she said.

Paski recalls how her days would flow when she was WPBA president.

“I would work at the insurance office, then I would pick the kids up and do the kid thing after work until it was bedtime,” she said. “It was 100 percent about them at that point. When they were asleep, it was all about the WPBA.” Paski’s husband, Bob, said one time Vicki recorded the nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in a restaurant bathroom when they were out so he could play it for their kids at bedtime when she was at a tournament.

“I saw it as my responsibility to take care

of the kids so she could go off and play in tournaments and not worry about what was going on at home,” Bob Paski recalled.

“I don’t even want to think about those days,” Vicki said. “There was way too much going on then. Notice there was no practice mentioned then. My ranking was slipping and slipping.”

Did that bother her?

“Tremendously,” said Paski, who still plays in WPBA tournaments. “Not enough to change my life, but it was painful at times. Because I understand that you have to put forth more effort if you want to play well.

“I remember when I won the national championship thinking, ‘Nobody’s going to stop me now.’ I think it had the opposite effect.

I think it took the edge off. Of course there were plenty of titles to go after. But at the same time I got married, had kids and was still working. I just think that was probably not

Paski’s Passion Vicki Paski has seen and done it all in women’s pocket billiards, the sport she loves.

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good for my game, winning the national championship, like I thought it would be,” Paski said with a laugh.

“Looking back, I’m glad I at least got that.”

Paski, who never played competitive sports growing up, says she was probably attracted to billiards because the outcome depended on how she did, not on someone else.

“It was like golf in that you’re only playing against yourself,” said Paski, who works out under Steve Morgan’s tutelage at Maximum Athletic Performance. “Yes, you have an opponent, but when you’re on the table it’s just you and you.”

Then, she laughed and added: “I don’t care what anybody says, those balls only do what you tell them to do.”

Paski oversaw the sport when women were able to reach six figures in tournament winnings, but she never made that much in a year. She found that exhibitions and personal Sticking To It Paski persevered and helped her sport develop more appearances were more than many imagined it could. lucrative than tournaments.

“I used to make more more familiar with that honor than the WPBA doing that than the tournaments, and it Hall of Fame. Another is that it lends more was less stressful, too. You were going to recognition to the game of pool. get paid whether the ball went in or not,” “When I started (playing professionally), she said. “(Tournament billiards) wasn’t to we would go into some cities and they be my fortune, apparently, because I was wouldn’t even consider pool a sport,” Paski working all day.” said. “We would contact the media and Beginning in the late 1980s and continuing actually have sports editors tell us, ‘Pool’s for about seven years, Paski provided not a sport.’ It’s especially gratifying having commentary on tournaments for ESPN and pool recognized as a sport. It was a fun ride found that enjoyable. and we’re still going.”

“It was a chance to tell people what was Paski sees another benefit to her hall of going on inside our heads when at the table,” fame induction. she said. “It seemed to make it more like a “It labels success somehow. It’s why we have sport. Until we had pool on television, I used halls of fame. It’s to celebrate the journey,” to enjoy sitting next to a fan and telling them she said. “There is so much in what sports about whatever match they were watching. represents, teaching kids about discipline When I got to do the ESPN thing, I could tell and goal-setting and getting along with their way more people what was going on.” teammates. That’s what sports is all about. By Paski said she’s enjoying being a member of celebrating the high achievers we perpetuate the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame. and enforce these ideals.” H One reason is that Lansing-area people are

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Far From Routine Dr. Larry Nassar An Unsung U.S. Gymnastics Hero Shannon Miller. Kerri Strug. Carly Patterson. Dominique Dawes.

Shawn Johnson. Nastia Liukin.

Over the past 25 years, those familiar names and faces have won multiple medals for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.

But there’s someone else who deserves a perfect score for two-and-a-half decades of contributions to the sport – Dr. Larry Nassar, the national team’s medical director and an associate professor of osteopathic medicine at Michigan State University.

Kathy Kelly, in her role as vice president of the women’s artistic program, has interacted with a multitude of high-profile gymnasts, coaches, officials and administrators over the years. But few have stood out like Nassar, whose myriad contributions to the sport and to the success of the women’s gymnastics program are unmatched.

“Larry became a part of the program at a young age and each year has become more and more important,” Kelly said in a recent interview from her Indianapolis office. “The time and care he puts into the sport goes well beyond what you would expect at this level.

32 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

“I don’t know when he sleeps because it seems like he’s always somewhere or doing something to help an athlete. He’s a very, very special individual.”

Nassar attended North Farmington High and was almost forced into becoming a student trainer by his older brother Mike.

“Mike was the head trainer – the only trainer, really – and during his senior year he knew he needed someone to take over,” Nassar said. “So one day he literally sat on me, grabbed me by the arm and said to me, ‘You will be the athletic trainer here.’ So I became my brother’s assistant as a sophomore and we handled everything from football to gymnastics.

“Mike was my mentor. He taught me a lot, and I loved it. By the time I was a senior, I was the trainer for the high school. I took care of all the sports and pretty basically lived at

the high school. We had our own little training room in the middle of the men’s locker room, and getting girls in and out of the men’s locker room was always a challenge.”

During the 1978 season, Nassar gravitated toward gymnastics because of his respect for the athletes.

“Gymnastics was by far the hardest sport to work with,” Nassar said, remembering the athletes’ reluctance to wear any type of brace or support mechanism, Nassar said. “But they were also some of the toughest athletes I worked with. What they did with their bodies and what they went through was amazing to me.”

Nassar’s continued training at the high school and at the University of Michigan, where he started as a pre-med major but graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 1985. The following year he became a trainer for the national team and was responsible for the Region 5 part of the country that comprised the states of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky.

“I was single and willing to go anywhere help was needed,” Nassar said.

He quickly built a reputation as someone whom coaches and athletes could trust with

Photography mSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

BY MARK MEYER

the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries.

In 1990, he was awarded a U.S. patent for a brace that treats high ankle sprains of the ligament connected to the two bones of the lower leg. Nassar found that many of his athletes were injuring themselves when “landing short” on dismounts or similar type moves during their routines.

The brace has since prevented the recurrence of that type of injury and also gives athletes security and stability, knowing that their ankles can withstand the punishment of a grueling routine or performance.

“The types of elite athletes we deal with are very special,” Nassar said. “What they ask of themselves to do and what they require their bodies to do is extraordinary.”

Nassar has contributed to the success of midMichigan gymnastics for the past two decades.

for the past 20 years and he has been a gracious giver of this knowledge. In a nutshell…

Nassar has served as the ‘glue that has held our national team together through the most important competitions.’ ” The U.S. Olympic Committee recently took that thought a step further by asking Nassar to write a textbook chapter for its sports medicine handbook on the gymnast’s spine. He is also one of five doctors, including former speedskating gold medalist Eric Heiden, whom the USOC has asked to re-design Olympic sports medicine in this country. At their January meeting, the newly formed committee will draw up a plan so that all elite athletes not only will have access to individual care but also sports science.

The ultimate goal for Nassar and his team will be to set up 15 USOC-approved sports medicine centers of excellence around the

“The types of elite athletes we deal with are very special…what they ask of themselves and what they require of their bodies is extraordinary.”

DR. LARRY NASSAR

The MSU medical school graduate began working with John Geddert and the Twistars program in 1988 and has been the Holt High physician since 1996.

He credits Geddert, a Maryland native, for helping to increase the sport’s popularity in mid-Michigan and for placing an emphasis on education.

“We played off each other’s strong points, and it helped us to better understand the sport,” Nassar said. “John educated me about the highlevel coach, and I educated him about sports medicine. One of the first things we worked on was removing the scale from the gym. You don’t weigh your gymnasts. “(Geddert) helped me achieve the next level because I had a better understanding of the elite level coach and how their mind worked and how to interact with them. The key to my success has been to earn the respect and trust of parents, coaches and the athletes.”

Geddert, whose profile as coach has risen alongside recent World Championships allaround winner and Twistars alumnus Jordyn Wieber, had this to say about Nassar in a recent blog post at johngeddert.com: “Few professionals have given so much to so many. Few have touched so many lives with such a positive force. (Dr. Larry Nassar) has been the foremost authority when it comes to treatment and prevention of gymnastics-related injuries

country that will be responsible for the enhancement of athletes’ health.

When he’s not leading a USOC committee, working with an elite athlete, overseeing course curriculum for MSU sports medicine majors or helping out with an area youth program, Nassar devotes as much time at home as possible.

He and his wife, Stefanie, a physician’s assistant with Lansing Pediatrics, have three children: Caroline, 10; Katelyn, 7, and Ryan 5. His oldest daughter’s autism inspired Nassar to start the nonprofit Gymnastics Doctor Autism Foundation.

“Special-needs kids should not be viewed as a problem to be solved but as a potential to be realized,” Nassar said. “We need to realize potential and not see only problems.”

Kelly is thankful the Olympic program saw the potential in a young Michigan athletic trainer back in the mid-1980s.

“He has a unique ability to hold athletes together at critical times, especially when the stress level is way up,” Kelly said. “And he is the most humble, understated, decent man you’d ever want to meet. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone say an unkind word about him.”

And if his big brother hadn’t coerced him into the training room?

“I was a runner in junior high,” Nassar said. “But I wasn’t very good at it. Luckily, I found something that could connect me with the athletes.” H

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Star Gase-ing Former Spartan Has Risen Through Football’s Ranks

BY ANDREA NELSON

John Fox…Dick Jauron…Rod Marinelli…Steve Mariucci…Mike Martz…Nick Saban.

These six coaches have more in common than their passion for football. His name is Adam Gase.

34 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

Gase never played college or professional football. He succeeded as a specialized coach by learning the traits his coaches desired in players and skills they wanted to improve.

Mike Martz was a footwork guy, so Gase worked on John Kitna’s balance. But different coaches have different preferences.

“Most of the time they have a philosophy,” Gase said of his coordinators. “The guy I work with right now, he has been great at letting me kind of do things the way that I’ve done them in the past. He has his thoughts on how he wants to do some things. too. We do it that way as well, so we kind of work together.”

It’s no secret that the Broncos’ big question mark or exclamation point this past season has been Tim Tebow, Tebowmania, Tebowing and every other noun, verb and adjective used to reference the quarterback. But the hype didn’t get to either one of them.

“One thing with Tim is he doesn’t really pay attention to what’s going on outside the building,” Gase explained. “When you’re in season, you don’t have a chance to pay attention to everything going on outside, so you really don’t know what’s going on as far as what people are saying.”

Something must have worked. The Broncos went on a six-game winning streak that propelled them into the playoffs. One of those wins was over Gase’s beloved Bears, but he was happy with the outcome.

“It was a game that I really wanted to win,” Gase said. “Obviously, Coach Martz was the offensive coordinator. And one of my best friends is the quarterbacks coach, so it had a competitive aspect. You want your guy to play well in front of the guy that was your mentor.”

Paying His Dues Adam Gase has gone from an MSU manager to a coach with the Denver Broncos.

The season ended with a loss to the New England Patriots, but Gase is already looking ahead to mid-April when practice resumes. He thinks Tebow will make strides of improvement over the off-season.

“When we get back, we’ll be working on a lot of footwork things, a couple things with his release and just trying to make sure we have the timing of what we want to do offensively,” Gase said. “He got better as the year went on, and we just need to spend some more time on it.”

Time is something Gase isn’t worried about. He doesn’t plan on leaving Denver any time soon.

“It’s a great city to live in, and obviously football is a massive priority here,” Gase said.

“I work for a great head coach, a great offensive coordinator, under John Elway – it’s just hard to beat the situation I’m in right now.”

From Marshall High to MSU to the sidelines of the Denver Broncos, not many people would argue with him. H

Photography DENVER BRONCOS PHOTOGRAPHY/ERIC BAKKE

Gase graduated from Michigan State University in 1999 with a degree in Food Industry Management. But he chose to follow a career path that was just a little different.

The current Denver Broncos quarterbacks coach had to start somewhere.

That place was working for the MSU football team during his four years as an undergraduate student. When Head Coach Nick Saban departed from East Lansing, so did Gase. He followed his mentor to LSU and became a graduate assistant, learning just as much off the field as he did on it.

“You just kind of learn how to grind it out professionally,” Gase said of his time with Saban. “No matter how many hours it takes or how long you’re up at the office, it’s all about winning and how do you put the best plan together. It’s not about the amount of time it takes.”

Gase carried that mentality with him three years later when he returned to Michigan to work in the Detroit Lions’ personnel department. Walter Payton converted Gase to a Bears fan many years ago, but he was happy to be back near his friends and family – that is, when he found a break in the professional league.

“You do a lot more traveling, at least with what I was doing,” Gase explained. “In the NFL, no matter what spot you’re in, you’re going to the Combine, you’re going to the Senior Bowl. There’s a lot more traveling, especially in the offseason.”

What began as a six-month internship with the Lions turned into one year and eventually a lifestyle. He started working with running backs, quarterbacks and wide receivers in Detroit and San Francisco before landing in Denver.

finish line

The Baseball Guy Back To Lansing For A Double Play

BY FRED HEUMANN WLNS TV 6

I was at almost every Tigers home game. It didn’t matter if they played the New York Yankees or the Toledo Mud Hens. If there was a game at Comerica Park, I was there. In fact, Tyler Barnes, then the Public Relations Director for the Tigers, always assigned me the best seat in the press box – the corner window seat. He said I was the only Detroit TV reporter who actually went to the games. This was in much leaner years for the Tigers.

By the way, Tyler is now with the Milwaukee Brewers. Perhaps Prince Fielder was the player to be named later?

Baseball is in my blood. In 1968 my dad took me to 47 games at Tiger Stadium. Denny McLain didn’t make it to that many games, and he was the American League MVP! So when I got the opportunity in 2003 to return to the Lansing market, giving up my beloved press box seat and my nightly trips to Comerica Park made my heart sink. Really, that may be the only negative to returning here.

I started my television career in Lansing and at TV-6 way back in 1981, shortly after my senior year at Central Michigan University. I didn’t want to be on TV and, frankly, wasn’t very good at it.

The owner of our station agreed. I saw a memo he wrote to my immediate boss that read in part: “We HAVE TO get this guy off the air.”

His name was Harold Gross, and he thought I had a face for radio.

Painful as that was to read, he was probably right. I was no more ready for regular work on TV than Milt Cuyler was for Major League Baseball. Somehow, probably because TV-6 couldn’t find anybody else to work for $9,000 a year, they stuck with me. I left on my own a year later for the weekend sports job at Channel 10 and got a whopping raise to $15,500. I thought I’d hit the lottery.

My career path led me to Flint. And in 1987 I got my big break in my hometown. Detroit, here I come!

36 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

improbable run to the 1989 NCAA Basketball Championship, three Rose Bowls (including U-M’s 1997 National Championship Game) and had memories most will never experience that I will take to my grave.

Somehow, through bad bosses, bad breaks and bad luck, I was never happy. I was living My first day on the air, doing a locker-room my dream, working in my hometown and friends piece from Fenway Park in Boston, the editors would say, “I’ve never seen anyone living their didn’t catch then-Tiger pitcher Mike Henneman, dream seem so damn miserable.” fully nude and scratching his private parts, in I worked for three different television the backdrop of my standup. stations in Detroit and all three eventually terminated me. One station called a security guard to walk me to the parking lot. Another station threw me a party and gave me gifts but still let me go. In fact, that boss called me into the office and told me I was the best sports reporter in the city, then added, “We would rather have our sports reporter cover log-rolling at the State Fair than interview Steve Yzerman.”

That one still puzzles me. I was told I wouldn’t be happy doing that. Boy, did they get THAT one right.

At any rate, when the opportunity came to return to where I cut my teeth, I reluctantly pursued a sports director position at good old TV-6. Could I take the ego blow? Would I be happy covering Bath-Fulton basketball when the Red Wings were in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where I was used to being?

Diamond Duo Hall of Fame broadcaster After accepting the job, I remember calling Ernie Harwell and Fred Heumann share stories Tom Izzo. I’d met him in my early reporting around the batting cage. years when both of us were starting our careers.

At the time, the $9,000 I was making dwarfed his income.

I woke up to headlines in the Detroit He said, “I hope you came back here because newspapers that read: “Fred Heumann was you wanted to and not just because it was a job.” hired to cover the Tigers…Little did we know Those words rang in my ears for months. he would be uncovering the Tigers.” Ugh. Was I coming here because I wanted to or What a start.

I survived that and spent 17 years in Detroit. just because it was a job? I probably asked myself that question a thousand times the As luck would have it, that series in Fenway first year back here.

Park in September 1987 turned out to be the Then, I started getting back in touch with most meaningful baseball games the Tigers high school coaches, athletes and fans. My days played during my entire stay in Motown. in that Comerica Park press box were replaced by Obviously, I missed the team’s better years. crisp autumn days in the Spartan Stadium press I did cover some pretty good Detroit Lions box. I still sit by the window – in the corner teams and the championship years of the seat, by the way. Déjà vu, I guess. H Red Wings and Pistons. I covered Michigan’s

Photography FRED HEUMANN

For me, it’s all about baseball. Always has been. Always will be, I suppose. By far the toughest part about leaving the Detroit television market nine years ago was not watching nearly as many ballgames.

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