sport: March 2009

Friendly Foes Paul Cook & George Fox

Brad Van Pelt’s & Jenison’s Glory Days Remembered The Shinsky Ride Gives Kids A Chance With Orphanage Steve Gruber Shares Dreams With Wolf Creek Productions March 2009 $3.00 U.S.

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Lansing Hoops Hall Of Famers Recall Eastern-Everett, Other Fierce Rivalries

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SPORT CONTENTS

14 70 Years of Jenison MEMORIES Field House Was Home For Spartans And More

BY JACK EBLING

COVER Photograph Sharon Watson

18 MAN ON THE MOVE WITH MOVES

St. Johns Transfer Dan Osterman Has Work To Do Before MSU

BY CHUCK KLONKE

22 “A.J.” Means More Than “All Joy”

MSU Women’s Basketball Is Personified By Aisha Jefferson

BY ERNIE BOONE

32 The Shinsky Ride – Love & Pride

Duffy’s “Sons” Bike 2,000 Miles To Mexico To Help Fund Orphanage

BY DOUG WARREN

36 Opening The Great Outdoors

Adventurer Steve Gruber Lives Your Hunting, Fishing Dreams

BY TED KLUCK

26

Roots Of A Rivalry For The Ages Eastern’s Paul Cook, Everett’s George Fox Recall Jay-Vs.-Earvin And More

BY JACK EBLING

06 10

09 Ben Poquette

EB-SERVATION FITNESS

Variety Is The Spice Of Racing

Where Is He Now?

12

Area Calendar Has Something For Everyone

SPECIAL OLYMPIC SALUTE

Winter Games Yield Nothing But Winners Area 8 Special Olympians Learn, Earn Medals At State Level

By ANN WELLING

SPORTS AUTHORITY

More Michigan March Magic

Hoopfest Offers Fun-Filled Interactive Basketball Playground

By rita wieber

40

By James Gemmell

By BRENDAN DWYER

48

FINISH LINE

42 News + Notes

Something For Everyone

By Doug Warren & SPORT Staff

46 Last Shot SPORT COMMUNITY

I Can Still Smell The Popcorn

Contribute To SPORT Magazine

By mike robinson

www.SportLansing.com

Memories Of Jenison Field House Will Never Die

Send us your News + Notes, story ideas and Last Shot photographs.

MARCH 2009 3

Assists

SPORT CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ted Kluck A modern-day George Plimpton, Ted has written for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com Page 2. His books include Facing Tyson and Paper Tiger. He has coached prep football, trained as a pro wrestler and served as a missionary. A world traveler, Ted lives in Grand Ledge with his wife, Kristin, and their son, Tristan.

Doug Warren Doug has been a sportswriter and broadcaster since 1996. He worked for WBBL and WLAV in Grand Rapids and for WILS in Lansing. Doug also served as a columnist/reporter for Scout.com, covering the Lions and MSU. He is a dedicated stay-at-home dad and lives in Lansing with his wife, Lori, and their three children. The newest, Noah David, was born on Super Bowl Sunday.

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.

Rita Wieber Rita has worked in the health and wellness arena in Greater Lansing for more than 20 years as an exercise physiologist, a nurse and a college instructor. A former newspaper columnist, she has been running for more than three decades to support her chocolate habit.

Rita lives in DeWitt with her husband, David, and their four children.

The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine

Volume #1 • Issue #7 MARCH 2009

Publisher NBB Publishing Editor Jack Ebling Assistant EditorS Andy Flanagan Doug Warren Contributing Writers Ernie Boone Brendan Dwyer Jack Ebling James Gemmell Chuck Klonke Ted Kluck Mike Robinson Doug Warren Ann Welling Rita Wieber PhotographY Central Michigan University Paul Cook Stiver Nolan Cooper George Fox MSU Athletic Communications Terri Shaver John Shinsky Special Olympics Michigan - Area 8 Sharon Watson Wolf Creek Productions MAGAZINE Design & LAYOUT Vision Creative Printing Millbrook Printing, Co. Mailer Aldinger’s, Inc.

SPORT, The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine is published monthly by NBB Publishing with offices at 1223 Turner St., Suite 300, Lansing, MI 48906. Postage is paid under USPS Permit #979.

Subscriptions: One copy of SPORT, The Greater Lansing Sports Magazine, is mailed complimentary to qualified business addresses in the Greater Lansing metropolitan area.

Residential, household, promotional, out-of-area and additional subscriptions are available for $18 per year, half of the shelf price of $3 per issue. Subscribe at: www.SportLansing.com Postmaster: Address changes should be sent to: SPORT Magazine, 1223 Turner St., Suite 300, Lansing, Michigan 48906.

4 MARCH 2009

Editorial Office 1223 Turner St., Suite 300 Lansing, Michigan 48906 (517) 455-7810 www.SportLansing.com Copyright © 2009 NBB Publishing.

All rights reserved.

SPORT EB-SERVATION

MSU’s Man For All Seasons Larger Than Life, Van Pelt Was A Giant Of A Spartan He wasn’t the inspiration for radio legend Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy. Jack’s story was much more believable than superhero Brad Van Pelt’s.

The pride of Owosso was as versatile and valuable as any athlete in Michigan State history. If he wasn’t always a perfect 10, as his football, basketball and baseball uniforms suggested, he was The Natural x 3.

When he died of an apparent heart attack at age 57 on Feb. 17, it was more than a shock. It was a bolt of lightning from someone who could light up a room.

Van Pelt had more gifts than Santa’s helpers and a smile as bright as any you’ll see on Christmas morning. The only people unhappy to see him were opposing players and coaches.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw him in September 1969. I was an MSU freshman, living in Wonders Hall, and the greatest wonder that year was how Van Pelt could be 18, not 28.

He was a quarterback for a brief time as a Spartan. And teammate Joe DeLamielleure still believes that MSU would’ve won more games from 1970-72 if Van Pelt had stayed on offense.

Duffy Daugherty thought otherwise, after considerable lobbying by his defensive staff. At 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, Van Pelt justified that faith by becoming a two-time All-American and a Maxwell Award honoree

loved Van Pelt like a son. He even started a golf outing in Owosso so the world’s largest safety could caddie for him.

Daugherty wasn’t the only one who was blessed by that association. The stories grow more spectacular each year. In many ways, they’re approaching reality.

Longtime Flint Journal sportswriter Dean Howe remembered a phone call that said Van Pelt had grabbed 32 rebounds one night. Howe refused to print that stat. Instead, he attended the Trojans’ next game and saw Van Pelt snare 42 rebounds in a win over Davison.

As a power forward for Gus Ganakas, Van Pelt was a rugged defender – surprise, surprise – and shot 61.7 percent from the field as a junior. His sumo match with Indiana beast George McGinnis was the fiercest oneon-one matchup in the history of Jenison Field House.

B.V.P. The MVP Brad Van Pelt won the 1972 Maxwell That brings us to a tale from Award as college football’s best player.

Spartan lore. There’s a famous line from the classic Jimmy Stewart film The Man Who Shot as the nation’s top player, the first time a Liberty Valance: “When the legend becomes defender had done that. fact, print the legend.” Here goes: It’s appropriate that the Spartans’ winIt was Jan. 31, 1971, and the Spartans ningest coach and his favorite player left were visiting Ohio State, which happened East Lansing at the same time. Daugherty to be perfect in Big Ten play. Before the

Jack Ebling SPORT EDITOR

Jack has covered sports and much 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 written five books–four on Michigan State and one on the Detroit Tigers– and has contributed more than 125 pieces for national publications. 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. He became a sports radio host in 2002 and branched into news talk in 2006. Currently, he hosts “Ebling and You” weekday afternoons and co-hosts “The Jack and Tom Show” Saturdays on 1320 WILS in Lansing. A two-time graduate of MSU, he has lived in the area for 36 years and has helped to raise two remarkable young adults.

6 MARCH 2009

PhotographS COURTESY OF MSU Athletic Communications

BY JACK EBLING

game, someone broke into the visitors’ locker room and stole/borrowed a complete set of green uniforms.

Postponing or canceling the game was nixed immediately, meaning MSU’s only option was to wear the Buckeyes’ scarlet road unis. In what looked like an intrasquad game in St. John Arena, the Spartans sprung an 82-70 upset, OSU’s only conference defeat all season.

After the game, the story has it, Van Pelt supposedly spotted a student wearing one of the missing jerseys. The resulting blindside sack was never added to his career total.

But the uniforms were recovered faster than an OSU fumble.

Ganakas never confirmed those details.

And Van Pelt was always sheepish the dozen-or-so times that I pressed him about it.

But the fact is undeniable that only one man has beaten the Buckeyes in three sports and four different uniforms – three green and one red.

Actually, Van Pelt and I wore the same uniform a few months apart, a fact that those who’ve seen me try to hit a curve ball would

dispute forever. In the fall of 1972, I played the part of Benny Van Buren, the manager of the Washington Senators, in a campus production of the musical Damn-Yankees.

In an effort to stretch our budget, I asked freshman baseball coach Tom Smith if we could borrow MSU’s gear for two weekends.

The “S” over the left breast fit perfectly for “Shoeless Joe” Hardy’s team. And my character needed the biggest, baggiest uniform possible. Being three inches shorter and, incredibly, 60 pounds lighter than Van Pelt at that point, I wound up wearing No. 10 and belting “You’ve Gotta Have Heart” with a belt that barely held up my pants.

Van Pelt always laughed when I told that story. But it was no laughing matter to baseball foes when he compiled a 2.10 career ERA in two seasons with Danny Litwhiler’s Spartans, including the 1971 Big Ten titlists.

The flame-throwing right-hander was good enough to get drafted five times for Major League Baseball. After the Tigers, Angels, Cardinals and Pirates had been told “No thanks,” the Indians tried again after his rookie year in the NFL. Oh, did he ever play on Sundays! Van Pelt was selected for five Pro Bowls as a member of the Giants’ famed linebacking corps, “The Crunch Bunch.” He teamed with Brian Kelley and Hall of Famers Harry Carson and Lawrence Taylor and was named New York’s Player of the Decade for the 1970s.

We talked roughly once a year, often for columns in the Lansing State Journal. So it was no surprise that he called one summer and said, “Jack, I need your help. I’m opening a restaurant in Duffy’s name in California, and I want all the clippings and memorabilia I can get.”

We weren’t supposed to let archived articles leave the building. Van Pelt and I decided to make an exception, got clear reproductions of those pages and stories and never told a soul – till now.

Feeling A Draft Van Pelt was selected in five different Major League Baseball drafts.

His voice always sounded raspy. But his laugh could be heard a foursome away. And I never saw him happier than he was last spring, the last time I interviewed him for radio, when he took a major role in the Shinsky Orphanage fund-raiser.

I teased Van Pelt that his memorabilia was valued higher than Donovan McNabb’s and Flozell Adams’ – exactly as it should be. But he never got the coaching job he craved. And his alma mater could’ve done a better job of helping him adjust to life after football.

The restaurant in Santa Barbara? It was the only one the Daugherty family ever allowed to use Duffy’s name. When a business partner swindled Van Pelt and stripped most of his assets, it was sad in more ways than one.

The only athlete I’d compare to Van Pelt in his ability to make anything look easy was Gordie Howe. They also shared an aw-shucks demeanor that downplayed their excellence.

Whether he played in the Meadowlands or the L.A. Coliseum, Van Pelt’s heart was never far from M-52. Today, I just want him to know one thing: B.V.P. is still my MVP.

Readers should submit their story ideas, News + Notes and Last Shot photographs by the 20th of each month.

To be a part of the community, go to: www.SportLansing.com

SATU R

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RONALD McDONALD HOUSE of MID-MICHIGAN

PRESENTED BY:

SPORT QUICK HIT

Ben Poquette Where Is He Now?

By JAMES GEMMELL

PhotographS COURTESY OF Central Michigan University

It has been a while since Ben Poquette earned All-State honors at East Lansing High, set the career blocked shots mark at Central Michigan University and spent a decade as an NBA power forward and center.

At age 53, Poquette is an assistant basketball coach for the Grand Haven High varsity – a long way from the spotlight but a role “Gentle Ben” enjoys when he isn’t hanging out at the beach with his wife, Nora.

“I enjoy my view there,” he said last month. “I try to camp, fish, ski… I like to do outdoor activities.”

It was Poquette’s indoor activities that mattered for the Trojans, the Chippewas and four NBA teams. He blocked 234 shots for CMU from 1973-77 and was almost the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year as a senior with 16.5 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Poquette’s 96 blocks that year were a school record until 2003. He stands sixth on CMU’s all-time list with 713 rebounds and 19th with 1,095 points.

A second-round pick of the Detroit Pistons, Poquette played close to home from 1977-79, then signed as a free agent and spent four seasons with the Utah Jazz. A trade led to three-plus years with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But his last half-season in the NBA was with Michael Jordan and the pre-championship Chicago Bulls. He ended his pro career in Italy in 1990.

Poquette attributes much of his success to former CMU coach Dick Parfitt, the MAC Coach of the Year in 1975. The Chippewas won conference titles in 1974-75 (22-6), 1976-77 (18-10), and 1978-79 (19-9) under Parfitt.

“Ben was one of our most popular players ever,” said Parfitt, age 77 and battling cancer in Mount Pleasant. “He was ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ – just a pleasure to coach.”

Besides his coaching duties, Poquette is the pharmacy director for Forest Hills Foods in Grand Rapids.

“It’s a family business,” he said. “My father-in-law owned the grocery store, and I started working for him. It gave me the flexibility to still be involved with basketball.”

Ben makes it back to Mid-Michigan fairly frequently. His son, Lucas, is a freshman at Michigan State and plans to play on its club lacrosse team.

“I’ll be going to East Lansing quite a bit.

I’ve got to feed him and all those fun things,” said the Ann Arbor-born Poquette, who grew up as a Michigan fan despite spending most of his youth in Greater Lansing.

His oldest daughter, Nicole, played volleyball at U-M. “I’ve got to change allegiances now to Michigan State, because of my son,” Poquette said. “Actually, I’m pretty neutral. I’ll let them battle it out. I’ve got one of each in the household, and I’ve got to be careful.”

His parents and a brother live in DeWitt.

Poquette said one of the favorite memories as a pro was when he filled in for Adrian Dantley at small forward, after the Jazz AllStar broke his wrist.

“We played Atlanta when Danny Roundfield was on the team, along with Dominique Wilkins and Tree Rollins,” Poquette said. “They all tried to guard me, and no one could stop me. I scored 30 points. It was one of those fun games I could hold over an old CMU teammate, especially since Danny used to swat my shot back on a regular basis when I first got there.”

Poquette had a broken ankle and couldn’t play when Roundfield and Leonard Drake led CMU to a win over Georgetown in the 1975 NCAA Tournament. But as a senior, Poquette led the Chips to the quarterfinals of the Mideast Region, where they lost by five to North Carolina-Charlotte and Cedric Maxwell, the team that stunned top-ranked U-M. “We had them on the ropes and almost beat them,” Poquette said. “We had a tip-in

that just didn’t want to fall at the end.”

“Ben tipped it in,” Parfitt said of a Dave Grauzer miss. “I never saw a ball go so far down in the basket and still come back out.”

Parfitt also remembers Poquette running the baseline on a “Sting” play after Bowling Green had scored with two seconds left. Trying to prevent the inbounds pass, an opponent ran over Drake, who promptly hit the winning free throws.

Just over a year ago, CMU honored the 1977 Chippewas with a 30-year reunion at Rose Arena. That did him good, since Poquette doesn’t get much of a chance to hang out with his old teammates.

“It’s tough,” he said. “Everybody goes off their own way and creates a new life. Trying to keep in touch with people is tough.”

So was trying to sneak a layup past him.

Ben There Ben Poquette (50) soars to block a shot from Michigan State’s Lindsay Hairston in Jenison Fieldhouse.

MARCH 2009 9

SPORT FITNESS

Variety Is The Spice Of Racing Area Calendar Has Something For Everyone By rita wieber

Living in Mid-Michigan, there is one sure sign that spring is imminent – the beginning of road race season. Aside from a few sporadic winter races, the calendar kicks into full swing in mid-March and continues to mid-December, with almost 100 races on tap.

The Kick-Off Traditionally, longtime area runners considered the Food-N-Fitness 5K as the first race of the season. That distinction now belongs to the Ronald McDonald House of Mid-Michigan’s Run for the House 5K, held on Saturday, March 28, at Hawk Island Park in Lansing.

“In our eighth year we are hoping to grow from around 350 participants to over 600,” said Lisa Gnass, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House. “This is one of our major fundraisers. We offer something for the whole family – kids’ races, games, music and food.”

The $25 entry fee ($45 for a family) includes a high-tech, long-sleeved T-shirt. Proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House, a respite for out-of-town families visiting Lansing-area hospitals and clinics to receive medical treatment for their children.

Big Bang for the Buck With the economy in the forefront of our minds, it’s a bargain when you can get more for your money. Where else can you get so much value (a professionally timed race, refreshments, a T-shirt and a workout) AND know that you are contributing to a charitable cause? A majority of the races in the area benefit one or more charitable organization.

The seventh-annual Lap for LAP Scenic Challenge is a 5K and 8K event at Hawk Island Park to benefit the Lap Respite Center. The center provides respite services for families who care for children or adults with disabilities, chronic illness or agerelated conditions. The event on May 30 also includes a free wheelchair race and a kids run.

Several races have been coordinated as memorials, with profits donated to a cause meaningful to the family of a lost loved 10 MARCH 2009

one. Some area memorials races include the Ally Brunk Memorial 5K in Potterville, the Joshua Spalsbury Memorial Comet Chase 5K, Max’s Race, Ele’s Race, Jacob’s Race and the Kellie Sebrell Memorial DeWitt Trail Run.

More Variety A 5K event (3.1 miles) is by far the most popular distance. Not only does it attract the most participants, since it’s a reasonable distance for the masses, but it’s quicker and easier to plan. The more competitive participant has limited options for longer races in the area. Yet, the variety of the race calendar has grown over the years.

The Capital City River Run provides the area with its longest race, a half-marathon distance. Held on Sept. 26, it is perfect timing for those gearing up for a fall marathon. The Legend Trail run provides an 8K and 10-mile option, while St. John’s follows the next week with the Mint City 10-Miler on Aug. 8.

The expanded calendar for 2009 has 10 events that cover 10K and eight trail races to add to the variety.

Ins & Outs of Road Race Participation The popularity of road races proves that they are not only for serious runners. These events have grown into fun, family outings.

While the intimidation factor may still prevent some from participating, a few tricks of the trade can make you look like a pro. n Pre-registering for a race is typically cheaper. Many races have online registration. Most forms are available that way and can be accessed via www.playmakers.com (see the “calendar” tab). n Arrive at the event at least an hour in advance to allow time to pick up your race number and T-shirt and to get a good warm-up. n If you are a jogger or walker, stand further back in the crowd at the starting line. The front of the pack is reserved for competitive runners. n Enjoy the scenery. Take advantage of the water stops to rehydrate. Smile at the spectators. Thank the course volunteers as you go by. n Hang around after the event to enjoy the festivities. Most races have refreshments and an awards ceremony. Many have music or activities. Get the most for your money by enjoying the entire experience.

Mid-Michigan Road Races Date Event

City

March March 21

MSU Tower Guard Shamrock 5K

East Lansing

March 28

Ronald McDonald Run for the House 5K

Lansing

April 4

Trot for the Troops 5K

East Lansing

April 4

Run for Access to Care for Everyone 5K

East Lansing

April 5

Kappa Delta 5K (child abuse)

East Lansing

April 11

Delta Township Library Run for Reading 5K

Lansing

April 12

MSU Law 5K (Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention)

East Lansing

April 19

MSUFCU Race for the Place

East Lansing

April 25

Interact 5K

Howell

April 25

Steps for Courage 5K

Owasso

April 25

Corunna Nellie Reed Elementary 5K

Vernon

April 26

Koman Greater Lansing Race for the Cure

Lansing

April 26

Chase for Charity 5K

East Lansing

April

Date Event

City

July 19

Eaton Rapids Kiwanis Island 5K

Eaton Rapids

July 25

GO for SLO 5K

Fowler

July 25

Ionia Free Fair 5K

Ionia

July 26

Ele’s Race 5K

Okemos

August 1

The Legend Trail 8K/10-mile

Laingsburg

August 1

Sunfield IGA 5K

Sunfield

August 2

Bath Trail Run 5K

Bath

August 8

Mint City 10 mile/5k

St. Johns

August 14

Howell Melon Run

Howell

August 15

Oragami 5k

Mason

August 15

Board of Water and Light Hometown Power 5K

Lansing

August 16

Leg it for Life 5K

East Lansing

August 21

Child Benefit Fund 5K

Lansing

August 25

Two-Headed Monster Cross Country Challenge 5K

Lansing

August 29

Grand Woods Trail 5K

Lansing

August 29

Jacob’s Race 5K

Laingsburg

Sept. 5

Shared Pregnancy Baby Steps 5K

Lansing

Sept. 7

Labor Day Run for Recovery 5K

Charlotte

Sept. 12

Live Life Nspired 5K

Charlotte

Sept. 12

Run Drugs Out of Town 10K/5K

Howell

Sept. 13

Sparrow Women Working Wonders 5K/10K

Lansing

Sept. 13

Kellie Sebrell Memorial DeWitt Trail 5K

DeWitt

Sept. 19

St. Mike’s Race for Faith 5K

Grand Ledge

Sept. 19

Perry Rambler 5K

Perry

Sept. 19

Shiawassee County on the Move 5K

Owosso

Sept. 20

Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk

East Lansing

Sept. 20

Playmakers Autumn Classic 8K

Haslett

Sept. 26

Capital City River Run ½ marathon/5K

Lansing

Oct. 4

MSUFCU Dinosaur Dash 5K

East Lansing

Oct. 10

Hustle for Housing 5K/10K

Lansing

Oct. 10

Crusin for a Cure 5K

Grand Ledge

Oct. 11

Portland St. Patrick Fall Festival 5K

Portland

Oct. 11

St Johns Pumpkin Trot 10K/5K

St. Johns

Oct. 18

East Lansing Pumpkin Trot 5K

East Lansing

Oct. 24

Halloween 5K for JA

Okemos

Oct. 25

Follow the Road to Broad Business School 5K

East Lansing

Oct. 31

Westside YMCA Booathlon Duathlon

Potterville

Oct. 31

Lake Lansing North Trail 10K

Haslett

August

May May 1

Mason State Bank 5K

Mason

May 2

Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy 5K

Lansing

May 2

St. Gerard 5K

Lansing

May 9

Laingsburg Lions Festival

Laingsburg

May 16

Capital Bancorp (Local schools)

Lansing

May 25

Dansville Memorial Day Bigfoot Challenge 5K

Dansville

May 25

Lest They Be Forgotten Memorial Day 5K/10K

Webberville

May 29

South Church Famiily Fitness 5K

Lansing

May 30

Lap for LAP Scenic challenge 5K/5 mile

Lansing

May 30

Michigan Mile - Children’s Runs

Lansing

May 31

Hawk-I-Tri Triathlon

Lansing

May 31

Community Dream 5K

Lansing

June

September

October

June 5

Cooley Law School Race for Education 5K

Lansing

June 6

5K4JT

Okemos

June 6

Curwood Festival 5K/10K

Owosso

June 7

We Can Do It Women’s 5K

Okemos

June 13

Ally Brunk Memorial 5K

Potterville

June 13

Potter Park Zoo Rhino Run Mile - Children’s Event

Lansing

June 14

Pewamo St. Joseph Festival 5K

Pewamo

June 17

Twilight 5K

Lansing

June 20

Antioch’s Get Healthy Now 5K

Lansing

June 20

Joshua Spalsbury Memorial Comet Chase 5K

Grand Ledge

June 20

Michigan Brewing Company Beer Run 5K

Webberville

June 21

Father’s Day Run for Recovery

Charlotte

June 27

Max’s Race 5K

East Lansing

November

June 27

Portland St. Patrick Parish Festival 5k

Portland

June 28

Greater Lansing Kidney Walk

Lansing

Nov. 1

Spartan Trail 5K

Lansing

June 28

Eaton Rapids Area Historical Society DAM 5K

Eaton Rapids

Nov. 8

Burg Trail Run 10K/5K

Laingsburg

Nov. 14

Woldumar Nature Center Run-a-Munk 5K/10K

Lansing

Nov. 26

Lansing Turkeyman Trot 5K

Lansing

Nov. 27

Howell Fantasy of Lights 5K

Howell

July July 4

Westphalia St. Mary’s Parish Festival 5 mile/5k

Wesphalia

July 11

Elsie Dairy Dash 5K

Elsie

December

July 17

Leslie 5K

Leslie

July 19

Meridian Plumbing’s Fight Hunger 5K

Okemos

Dec. 4

Dashing Through the Snow 5K

Fowlerville

Dec. 12

Jingle Bell Women’s 5K

Lansing

MARCH 2009 11

GREATER LANSING SPORTS AUTHORITY

More Michigan March Magic Hoopfest Offers Fun-Filled Interactive Basketball Playground

By BrEndAn Dwyer

March is a basketball lover’s dream. From high schools to the college ranks, tournaments are in full swing, and the action is heating up.

Seeing all those long-range swishes and high-flying putback jams wakes something up inside you, doesn’t it? Before you know it, you’re checking the basketball for air and sweeping your driveway clear.

Before you do all that, take a moment to consider all the fun going on inside Michigan State’s Jenison Field House during March Magic Hoopfest – 40,000 square feet of basketball fun for all ages.

Jenison will be filled with all kinds of activity from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, and Friday, March 27, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. For those with MHSAA Basketball Tournament tickets, admission is free. For all others, it’s $2.

March Magic Hoopfest is proudly supported by the following sponsors:

Aside from the interactive elements and skill stations, Hoopfest features the Hall of History, showcasing championship games, life-size photos and display boards of prep basketball greats from across the State.

•

Great Prizes for Fans

•

Fans will have the opportunity to win an autographed ball from their favorite team in this year’s MHSAA Boys Basketball SemiFinals. Each team will have an autographed ball on display inside the March Magic Hoopfest. Fans will be able to purchase raffle tickets to win the ball of their choice.

Tickets are available inside the March Magic Hoopfest for $1 each or $5 for 10.

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Farm Bureau Insurance Michigan State University The Greater Lansing Sports Authority Dean Trailways & Transportation WILX TV-10 Citadel Broadcasting Vision Creative The City of Lansing Art Craft Display The City of East Lansing LEPFA U.S. Army Basketball Coaches Assn. of Michigan Greater Lansing CVB The Breslin Student Events Center

MARCH MAGIC HOOPFEST MAP

12 MARCH 2009

MARCH MAGIC HOOPFEST ACTIVITIES 3-Point Challenge

Just like the NBA! This 3-point challenge tests contestants’ shooting skills from behind the arc. See if you can sink 12 shots in 30 seconds!

The top point totals will be posted each day.

Rainbow Shot

Driveway Knockout

Are you as fast as lightning? If so, you’re good as gold. But if the player behind you makes it first, “Leave the game,” you will be told!

Around the World

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

This is a playground classic! Who can get around the world in the fewest shots? First one back home is the winner. Hurry before your passport expires!

Free Throw Challenge

U.S. Army Climbing Wall

MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo shoots 100 foul shots a day and rarely misses. Step up to the line and see how many you can sink in a row. The top streaks are recorded on the leader board.

Are you Army Strong? Take your best shot and climb 30 feet to get to the top! Up to five climbers at a time can take on the wall, race your friends and rise to the challenge!

Slam Dunk

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

Kidz Zone Games

Here’s a place for our future stars to play. Stay as long as you want! The only requirement is to have fun!

Lansing Parks & Rec Obstacle Course Playskool Mini Hoops Pop-A-Shot Junior Around the World

MARCH 2009 13

70 Years of Jenison Memories Field House Was Home For Spartans And More

BY JACK EBLING

Nothing But Nets Jenison was home for MSU hoops from 1940-89.

14 MARCH 2009

Right On Track Jenison hosted many of the world’s top track and field athletes and was the site of world records.

It wasn’t the first home of Michigan State basketball – just the best one, Earvin Johnson insisted.

In its day, Frederick Cowles Jenison Gymnasium & Field House was a State-of-the-art facility for Big Ten sports and the site of other big-time entertainment.

It hasn’t hosted Spartan basketball in 20 seasons. Yet, there was something about a night in Jenison that no modern facility could match.

“I grew up watching Michigan State there,” Johnson said last month during the 1979 Spartans’ 30-year reunion. “There was nothing like it. I get chills right now just thinking about it.”

Jenison has been a venue for boxing, fencing, gymastics, handball, swimming, indoor track, volleyball and wrestling, plus plenty of indoor football workouts.

After major renovations, it still hosts MSU’s athletic offices and several of its teams today.

But there was nothing quite like college hoops – and some classic high school action, too – in what looked like a giant jogging barn on Kalamazoo Street.

“You can have your fancy arenas with their cushy seats,” wrote the late Joe Falls, columnist for The Detroit News. “Give me drafty, musty, majestic Jenison, where I learned to love the game of basketball.”

“I just loved the smell of that place,” said

mid-’60s forward Bill Curtis. “And that raised, portable floor was unmatched. Jenison Field House… there was nothing quite like it.”

It was the site of NCAA Tournament Mideast Region play in 1963, when Mississippi State defied a racist governor and ventured north to play an integrated team, eventual champ Loyola of Chicago, for the first time.

And if you close your eyes for a Magic Moment, you can still see Johnny Green soaring, Terry Furlow scoring and Scott Skiles roaring for the Spartans in an ivycovered showplace.

“If I’d known it would be so tough winning in Jenison Field House, I’d have made a donation to the construction of a new building myself…”

- Lou Henson Illinois Coach

Long before those stars’ first dribbles, Michigan Agricultural College fielded a basketball team with no established coach in 1898.

The Aggies played in the Armory, near what is now the Music Building, until 1918, then moved to a gym in today’s IM Circle complex.

On Feb. 15, 1930, Michigan State College celebrated the dedication of Demonstration MARCH 2009 15

Words Can’t Describe It Suspended from the rafters, the media (including a young, hairy writer from the Lansing State Journal) watches Scott Skiles strut his stuff.

Hall, south of the Red Cedar River, with a 27-26 win over Michigan.

If his players had wanted to douse their coach, Ben Van Alstyne, they couldn’t have done it, since the closest showers were still north of the river.

That all changed 10 years later with a palace that cost a whopping $1,707,750 to build, including a $315,000 gift from Jenison’s estate upon his death in 1939.

Just who was this philanthropic former student and loyal fan whose name will forever be linked with athletics?

Jenison was an engineering major at MAC from 1902-07 and a successful real estate agent and insurance salesman in Downtown Lansing.

“He had no eyelashes and no hair but was a wonderful dresser,” said the late George Alderton, the State Journal sports editor who gave the Spartans their nickname in 1925.

“He left everything to his alma mater for whatever the college wanted to do with it.”

That decision was to finish a new field house, with help from federal funds in an earlier stimulus package, patterned after a building at Purdue.

On Jan. 6, 1940, MSC beat Tennessee 29-20 in the first game in Jenison before 6,700 fans.

“It was a real thrill after playing in Dem Hall,” said forward Marty Hutt, the model for a sandstone sculpture on the front face of Jenison. “And with showers right there, we didn’t have to run from the gym before 16 MARCH 2009

and after games.”

A raised basketball court was never assembled over the dirt floor until the end of football season, making Jenison’s versatility a curse for some coaches.

When Jud Heathcote first saw the building in 1976, he told Director of Athletics Joe Kearney, “Joe! We had a better place than this at Montana!” Kearney’s reply? “Well, I certainly hope so!”

Practice conflicts and recruiting concerns

were a way of life, though those problems didn’t seem as important when a packed house would shake the rafters.

“We’d get teams in there, with the crowd so close and the noise so loud, and it was more than a sixth man,” said center Jay Vincent, a winner there with Eastern High and two Big Ten championship teams. “It was more than a seventh man, too. When we’d get it going, we were almost unbeatable.”

A rubberized Tartan playing surface was installed in 1970, then replaced with another wood floor that was better on the legs in 1979.

But after 15,384 fans jammed Jenison for the 1948 Kentucky game, fire marshals lowered the capacity to 12,500, then to 6,500, then to 9,995 and finally to 10,004 before a move to Breslin Center in 1989.

“If I’d known it would be so tough winning in Jenison Field House, I’d have made a donation to the construction of a new building myself,” Illinois coach Lou Henson said after one thrashing.

In 49 seasons in Jenison, the Spartans won 383 basketball games and lost 189, a .670 success rate.

You’ll have a chance to rekindle those memories, especially the MHSAA’s March Magic at Hoopfest during this year’s boys semifinals and finals.

If you see a guy who looks a lot like a former Everett High and MSU Magician, it’s only the ghost of Johnson returning to take a final shot.

More Than Just Hoops Jenison has been home for MSU wrestling for seven decades.

PhotographS COURTESY OF MSU Athletic Communications

70 Years Of Jenison Memories

The Game With No Losers Jenison Hosted NCAA Integration Breakthrough

BY JACK EBLING

It was the last trip to East Lansing for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. But it was a trip north by another MSU that made it one of the most significant moments in sports.

All-American Jerry Harkness called the game “the beginning of the end of segregation” and insisted that both teams had big victories in a 1963 Mideast Region semifinal.

The final score was Loyola 61, Mississippi State 51. The final impact of that basketball matchup at Michigan State may be felt forever.

The third-ranked Ramblers went on to upset two-time defending national champ Cincinnati the next week and become the only school from Illinois to win an NCAA title.

Yet, it was the then-Maroons and heroic coach Babe McCarthy who took a gigantic risk and earned respect from all but their region’s biggest bigots with a Bulldog mentality.

That was chronicled in “Game of Change,” a documentary film by Harkness’s son, Gerald, that centers on Mississippi State’s decision to defy authority and sneak out of the state to play a predominantly black team.

“They were more of a winner than we were,” Harkness said. “It took a long time for me to realize all that they went through.

Today, I think that game was bigger than winning the national championship.”

Loyola had won its first-round game against Tennessee Tech by a record 69 points but didn’t know if its second-round game would be played. McCarthy, Mississippi State President Dean Colvard and Athletic Director Wade Walker made sure that it was.

In three of the previous four seasons, their all-white teams had been forced to decline NCAA invitations because an unwritten Mississippi law forbid play against integrated programs.

Ranked sixth in the nation, the Southeastern Conference champs finally stood tall and said “No, sir!” – though it took the best-drawn play in school history for a stealth departure.

“Babe McCarthy was one wonderful person,” Mississippi State star Bobby Shows remembered. “He could make an Eskimo wish he had snowballs. And when he told us to jump, we said, ‘How high?’ We were just kids. We obeyed our coaches. So when Babe said, ‘Boys, if we win it again, we’re going to play in that tournament, come hell or high water!’ we believed him.”

Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett wasn’t about to let that happen. Nor was State Sen. Billy Mitts, a former Mississippi State student body president and cheerleader. Mitts even got an injunction prohibiting the team from leaving the state.

But before the papers could be served, Colvard left the state for a speaking engagement in Alabama, while Walker and McCarthy drove north, across the state line to Tennessee.

Early the next morning, trainer Dutch Luchsinger and several reserves drove to

a private airport in Starkville, Miss. When they saw the coast was clear, a call was made for assistant Jerry Simmons and the starters to hurry and join them.

The plane took off without incident, stopped in Nashville to pick up Walker and McCarthy and headed to Lansing for a warm reception. Meanwhile, back in Mississippi, segregationists stewed, and many others cheered their brave heroes.

“When Babe said we were going, it was like God speaking,” Shows said. “We didn’t understand the politics. But we were all on pins and needles. Just as our plane took off, the sheriff drove through the gate. He’d driven to the wrong airport. It turns out he wanted us to go.”

Loyola guard John Egan, the only white starter on his team, said he didn’t understand the implications when Harkness and Mississippi State’s Red Stroud shook hands at the center jump in Jenison, as hundreds of flashbulbs popped all around them.

“Jerry is very emotional about this and was crushed when Red just died,” Egan said.

“None of us saw it as ‘us’ against ‘them.’ The Mississippi State players were true gentlemen. I guess we showed people the way it could be.”

Legend has it that Loyola coach George Ireland told McCarthy, “Come on up! We won’t even breathe on you!” And when Mississippi State took a 7-0 lead, he called timeout and admonished his players, “Hey, it’s OK to breathe on them!”

But the biggest breath of fresh air came after McCarthy’s team split two games, including a consolation win over Bowling Green and center Nate Thurmond, another black star.

“I think Nate had 30 rebounds in that game,” Shows said with a laugh. “But when we got back to Starkville, the cars were lined up for 20 miles with thousands and thousands of kids there to see us. The KKK boys were a nasty, ugly minority. Most people weren’t like that. Even though we lost, we came home as winners. All of us did.”

Including the people from Mid-Michigan who helped make it happen. History was made here 46 years ago. And that class – Courage 101 – is always is session.

MARCH 2009 17

Man On The Move With Moves St. Johns Transfer Dan Osterman Has Work To Do Before MSU

BY CHUCK KLONKE

18 MARCH 2009

Photographs by Stiver Nolan Cooper

St. Johns wrestling coach Zane Ballard had heard the rumors for quite a while.

The whispers around his team were that the Redwings were about to get one of the best high school wrestlers in Michigan – two-time state champion Dan Osterman of Carson City-Crystal.

Ballard wasn’t about to raise his arm in victory, however.

“You hear a lot of rumors that a student is coming, but that’s usually all it is – rumors,” Ballard said. “I heard he was looking for a school that was more challenging academically. I also knew his thoughts would be with wrestling. I was really excited. But I didn’t get my hopes too high. You hear those things a lot. Most times, they don’t work out.”

This time, it did – with state title No. 3.

Osterman was living in Carson City and attending school there, but he was spending almost as much time in St. Johns. He also felt unfulfilled academically at the smaller school.

His club coach, Dr. Rodger Massa, lived in St. Johns. And one of Osterman’s best friends and wrestling partners was Massa’s son, Taylor, a freshman who went 59-0 en route to the state title at 145.

“The main reason I transferred here was to help me prepare better for next year at Michigan State,” Osterman said. “At Carson they didn’t offer any AP (Advanced Placement) classes, and they offer them here.

“I was driving here every day anyway to practice at Dr. Massa’s office. That’s mainly why. It’s more convenient, and it all worked out.”

He moved in with the Massas, and his wrestling career has continued to flourish.

Osterman finished the season with a 33-1 mark, and that one blemish on his record wasn’t really a defeat. He and Mike LeHolm

“Dan has all the attributes that

of Jackson Northwest, on of the top wrestlers in that weight class, were locked up at 2-2 in the second period of the championship match at 135 pounds in the Capital Area Athletic Conference Tournament when Osterman noticed a knot forming on his right arm.

It was the same arm that he had broken twice in the last year, so he and Ballard were

the Michigan State program. obviously concerned.

“Dan has all the attributes that make up “It was pretty scary,” Osterman said. “I didn’t feel any pain at the time, but because a champion,” Minkel said. “He’s passionate it was the same arm, just to be safe, we about wrestling. He has a great work ethic. injury-defaulted, not knowing what it was. He has a great deal of experience. And he’s It ended up being like a hematoma – a deep an outstanding student. In addition to that, bruise.”

All Ballard could see was Osterman’s chances for a third state championship in four years going by the wayside.

“I think it scared me more than it did him,” Ballard said.

The broken arm that Osterman suffered during last year’s junior national tournament in Enid, Okla., was the first serious injury he has suffered on the mat. He was cleared to wrestle in the fall. And in November, when he was competing in the Michigan State Open, Working With The Best Osterman practices escapes with fellow he broke it again in state champ Taylor Massa. exactly the same place.

The injury kept Osterman from competing in one of his he’s a really nice young man with a very favorite off-season tournaments in Fargo, supportive family.

“We are all looking forward to having Dan N.D. Before the injury he wrestled at the Western Junior Regional in Las Vegas and join our Spartan wrestling family. I’m certain he’ll have a great deal of success at the took fifth place in the freestyle division.

After this year’s state meet, Osterman college level.”

Wrestling at nearby Michigan State means plans to wrestle in the Senior Nationals in that his parents, Jammie and Darrel, will be Virginia Beach, Va. Then it’s on to Michigan State. Osterman able to watch him continue his career.

Ballard thinks the transition to the next signed his letter of intent to wrestle for the level of wrestling will suit Osterman just fine.

Spartans last fall.

“He can accomplish any goals that he “I feel like it’s a good fit for me,” Osterman said. “Their 133-pounder right now (Franklin sets for himself,” Ballard said. “He has great Gomez) is one of the best in the nation, and focus. The sky’s the limit for him.”

Osterman is setting his academic goals he’s a junior. I can go in and redshirt under higher than the average student-athlete. him and train with him for a year.

He plans to major in pre-med and hopes to become an orthopedic surgeon when his wrestling career has ended. make up a champion…”

First, there are goals to reach on the wres- Tom Minkel Michigan State Wrestling Coach tling mat.

“I’ve always wanted to go to the Olympics,” Osterman said. “That has always been “Chris Williams, one of the assistant a goal of mine. I’ll work toward it, and we’ll coaches, is right around my weight, and I see what happens. When I finally settle work out with him once a week. I already down, I’d like to help coach younger wresknow a lot of the guys on the team. I felt tlers like Dr. Massa does.”

Osterman’s wrestling journey began when comfortable with them when I went on my (recruiting) visit. I think it’ll be good he was only 4 years old.

“My older brother, Steven, was involved for me.”

Spartans coach Tom Minkel feels that in takedown tournaments, and I’d go to his Osterman will be an excellent addition to practices,” Osterman said. “It looked like fun.

MARCH 2009 19

20 MARCH 2009

Man On The Move With Moves And eventually, I started practicing. That’s how I started – watching my older brother.”

Steven gave up wrestling, but Dan continued to compete and to win.

“After I started, he probably wasn’t in it for two years,” Osterman said. “It wasn’t his thing. But it was mine. My mom got us involved in a lot of different sports. Over the years, I just learned to like competing. In wrestling you have the team aspect, but it’s also one-on-one. I like that aspect, too.”

Osterman has been a success from the beginning of his high school career. He was 55-4 as a freshman and won a state championship. As a sophomore, he posted a 53-3 record and was a state runner-up. Last year, he was 52-0 and won his second state title.

Osterman doesn’t have a patented move, but he’s very strong on his feet.

“That’s where I feel that I’m at my best,” he said. “One thing I’m trying to work on is riding people and getting pins.”

There are wrestlers with more pins than Osterman, but he still has won well over 100 matches on falls.

“He’s quick, as quick as anybody I’ve seen on the mat,” Ballard said. “He just flows so nice. He goes from one shot to another, to another. He doesn’t give anybody a chance to be on offense. He keeps them on the

Redwings Fly High

(Left to Right)

defense the entire time they’re on their feet.

When he wrestles guys, they’re not worried about scoring. They’re worrying about getting scored on.”

Osterman has been a perfect fit for the St. Johns squad from Day One. “When he got here, he couldn’t wrestle for a month or so because of the injury,” Ballard said. “But even though he was new here, Dan assumed a leadership role. Most young men his age would just try to fit in. Dan did more than just fit in. He became one of the team leaders.

“He could have come in like just another arrogant wrestler who had won multiple state championships. Instead, he works with the other kids and tries to make them better.”

There probably isn’t a high school team in the state with a better group of wrestlers from 130 to 145 pounds.

The Redwings’ Jake Walters won the state title at 130 and finished 51-0. Freshman Jordan Wohlfert, who lost 3-1 in overtime to Osterman in the championship match at 135, wound up 61-6. And Massa ended that masterful string with St. Johns’ thirdstraight crown.

“Those four have a combined record of 204-7,” Ballard said.

One of Osterman’s toughest matches of

the season came against Wohlfert in the Division II individual district tournament.

Osterman won 6-5, and it was like watching mirror images of the two teammates.

“We wrestle so similar,” Osterman said.

“We’re both good on our feet.”

Another tough match came against Hastings’ Gage Pederson. In that bout, Osterman was trailing for the first time this season, but came back to post a 9-8 victory.

Walters, another senior, is often matched up with Osterman in practice. They’re also each other’s sounding board.

“He has the same drive as me,” Osterman said. “When I’m cutting weight to drop to 130, I wouldn’t say I’m in a bad mood. But the last thing you want to do when you’re cutting weight is practice. On those days, Jake will build up my spirits and push me. We’re kind of like ying and yang. We push and encourage each other, and that’s really good.”

The two freshmen and the two seniors have developed a special bond.

“Wrestlers are always a close group,” Ballard said. “Danny, Jake, Jordan and Taylor are four strong leaders. They work out together and push each other all the time.”

And that led to several new trophies in the St. Johns wrestling showcase.

Dan Osterman, Taylor Massa, Jordan Wohlfert and Jake Walters.

MARCH 2009 21

“A.J.” Means More Than “All Joy” MSU Women’s Basketball Is Personified By Aisha Jefferson

BY ERNIE BOONE

22 MARCH 2009

Don’t be surprised if the Michigan State women’s basketball team makes its presence felt in the NCAA Tournament in 2010.

This much we know: Aisha Jefferson will have plenty to do with that.

“She’s the spark, the fire, the heart and soul of our team,” MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said. “Her passion and love for the game are just infectious. She is another coach on the floor. The kids look up to her and respect her.”

It’s no wonder she fills that role so well.

Jefferson, a 6-foot-1 redshirt-junior from Dayton, Ohio, gained valuable experience and knowledge white sitting out all of last season with a torn ACL. That knee surgery and rehab gave her plenty of time to listen to Merchant and the assistant coaches, observe other players – her teammates and opponents – and discover how to communicate with and encourage her teammates.

She became the team’s top cheerleader from the bench. Her experience as a twoyear starter allowed her to pass along tips about opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and things her teammates could do to gain an advantage.

“It was hard sitting out,” Jefferson said.

“I’d never sat out in my life, and it was a big learning experience for me. I learned a lot about myself as a player and learned a lot about my teammates. I did a lot of soul searching and got close to God. “It lit a fire inside of me to want to help my teammates any way I could. Whether it is just rebounding and playing defense, taking charges, I always want to help.”

Unable to play, she helped by encouraging her teammates and passing on bits of information they could use to improve their game or beat an opponent. Sitting out also enabled Jefferson to develop and solidify her relationship with Merchant, who was in her first season as MSU’s coach.

“She was just coming in here, and I really had time to get to know her as a person more than the other players did,” Jefferson said. “All I could do was talk. We always kept in touch and always communicated, during games and outside of basketball. We just got closer and understood each other.

We have that strong bond.”

This year, Jefferson used that close

relationship and added knowledge to provide the leadership for a young Spartan team. MSU often started two freshmen and a sophomore, with another freshman and sophomore among the key reserves.

MSU saw its Big Ten title hopes dashed in a loss at Wisconsin on Feb. 22 and a defeat

by Minnesota four days later. But the Spartans bounced back on Senior Day with their second win over Purdue, earning the No. 2 seed in the Women’s Big Ten Tournament.

“A lot of people think I’m outgoing and kind of crazy… But I’m really like a homebody.”

- Aisha Jefferson MSU Junior Forward

“We had full control, being on top,” Jefferson said of a lead over repeat champ Ohio State. “But we can’t do anything about that now. We have other goals. We want to win some type of hardware. You know, we’ve never won any hardware since we’ve been here, so it’s something big for us.”

It can often be difficult for a player to exert outstanding team leadership from the forward position, but that’s not the case for Jefferson.

“It starts with her personality,” Merchant said. “People genuinely like her. She’s got such a vivacious personality that it doesn’t matter if she’s a point guard or a post player.

Her presence is felt no matter where she is on the floor.

“She’s the most athletic kid we have. She can hit 3s, she can get to the rim, she can score with her back to the basket, and she can rebound it. She’s a very tough matchup.”

Named “Miss Basketball” after her senior year at Chaminade-Julienne High School in Dayton, Ohio, Jefferson broke into the Spartans’ starting lineup as a freshman in 2005-06. She started the last 16 games that season and earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. She averaged 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds as a sophomore and earned MARCH 2009 23

All-Big Ten honorable mention.

Though a 20-9 regular season, Jefferson was the team’s leading scorer with an 11.0 average and third-leading rebounder at 5.0.

On defense she’s the frontcourt stopper.

She takes charges, provides inside help and crashes the boards.

That’s quite an accomplishment, considering she does it on a knee that has regained only about 90-percent range of motion, enables her to predict the weather and sometimes makes her feel like she’s well beyond 22 years of age.

“The knee is as good as it’s gonna get right now,” she said with a smile. “It’s hard to heal when you’re always playing… This time of year everybody’s hurting. Everything is hurting. I really can’t point to the knee. I just feel like my body’s old.”

She may be ailing, but it hasn’t changed her work ethic. She’s still one of the hardest workers on the team. She often remains in the gym after her teammates have left to work on her shooting and fundamentals.

Off the court Jefferson enjoys relaxing at home.

“A lot of people think I’m outgoing and kind of crazy,” Jefferson said, smiling. “But I’m really like a homebody. I like to just chill and watch movies.”

She goes to the movies whenever her class and basketball schedule permits. Recently, she enjoyed Tyler Perry in Madea Goes to Jail. She especially likes scary movies. One of her favorites is Friday the 13th.

Jefferson also loves to shop. Until this season, her primary shopping buddy was 5-4 Courtney Davidson, who finished school last spring. They were often seen scurrying around local malls as Davidson searched for sneakers.

“Now, I don’t have anybody,” Jefferson said. “I don’t even go shopping any more.

If I did, it would probably by with Lauren (Aitch), Mia or Porsche (Poole).”

Jefferson, a communication major, enjoys her class work and looks forward to a career in front of a television camera. First, however, she would like nothing better than to earn a spot on a professional team, either in the WNBA or somewhere in Europe.

But that’s a long way off. Right now her focus is on winning games for the Green and White and making lots of noise in Big Ten and NCAA play.

24 MARCH 2009

PhotographS COURTESY OF MSU Athletic Communications

“A.J. Means More Than “All Joy”

Ability And Versatility Aisha Jefferson can hit the jumper or take oponents inside to score.

Within each of us is the ability to inspire others. To expand horizons. To lead.

At Northwood University, we know leadership is a quality that isn’t simply taught, it’s instilled.

It requires a faculty who are role models. Men and women who are successful entrepreneurs and executives – who have directed the course of companies in many industries.

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Northwood helped me build self-confidence. In class, I was able to practice leadership and problem-solving skills in a simulated real world environment.

Today, I am on an executive management path which will eventually help me become a CEO or an entrepreneur. Even more important, I’d like to be a role model for young women in the future.

Jodi Burgess Vice President, Marketing TechSmith Corporation

“

MARCH 2009 25

Roots Of A Rivalry For The Ages Everett’s George Fox, Eastern’s Paul Cook Recall Earvin-Vs.-Jay And More

BY JACK EBLING

26 MARCH 2009

Photograph by Sharon Watson

Everett and Eastern…

Earvin and Jay… Fox and Cook.

They were the Lansing high school basketball equivalent of peanut butter and jelly.

From 1974-77, not just in Mid-Michigan but across the state, one rivalry rose above the rest. It was a matchup that hundreds of thousands of fans have said they witnessed in person. That couldn’t have happened if one of their games had been moved to Spartan Stadium instead of Jenison Field House.

But on Feb. 27, the day the Joe Paterno of prep hoops was honored with the naming of “Paul Cook Court” in Eastern’s Don Johnson Fieldhouse, Cook reminisced with protégé, friend and rival George Fox in Lansing’s Old Town.

What better place to rekindle the glory and revisit two fantastic careers before, during and after Johnson and Vincent?

MARCH 2009 27

Roots Of A Rivalry For The Ages

All In The Family Another Vincent, brother Sam, hugs Cook after their 1980 Class A state title.

28 MARCH 2009

Fox: (laughter) I’ve got a grand-daughter playing for LCC, and I said, “Jackie, I played a lot of high school basketball. I played two years at Alma College. And I played out here on State’s JV team. I still haven’t had an assist!” I didn’t know what an assist was. We used to argue about who would put the ball in play. We knew we’d never get it back. But I appreciated that opportunity with Paul.

I’ll tell you a little story, guys. I shouldn’t say this, but one night we were playing over at Eastern in that old gym. It was my first or second night on the bench, and I said, “Where’d Mr. Cook go?” I called him Mr. Cook in those days. And someone said, “I think he went in the locker room.” Ol’ George is an innocent, little farm boy. So I walk in the locker room, and he has the two officials in there, just giving them heck! I said, “Holy cripes, is this part of coaching?”

Cook: That’s their mistake for dressing right next to us.

SPORT: You think of him as a superreligious family man, and look at what happens!

Fox: I’ll never forget that. But I remember when I started coaching in Fowler, Paul said, “We’d like to play you.” He knew I wanted to play them. We were a small school. And we played a couple of years. I think we beat you once, and you beat us once or twice.

In the average year, they’d beat us pretty good. One year, I had pretty good bunch of big guys, and we could hold our own.

Usually, we couldn’t, so we just quit that relationship.

SPORT: You called him “Mr. Cook” when you were working there. After he started beating you, what did you call him?

Fox: You guys don’t want to hear that! (laughter) SPORT: But in 1956, you couldn’t have imagined that 20 years later you’d be coaching against each either in the greatest basketball rivalry that this area has had.

Cook: I never imagined it and never thought about it. When you’re someplace good like Resurrection, you just figure you’re going to stay there. I never had any ambition of coaching in college. So I was happy where I was. Then, I got another opportunity at Eastern. And I’m glad I did.

SPORT: I marvel at the win total, Paul – 811! It seemed like 75,000. George, there was no way you could top that.

Fox: Nooo! Of course, I wasn’t a varsity coach that long – 20 years. I was smart enough to get out when I was a young man.

I think I had just over 300 wins as a varsity head coach. Counting all levels, there were quite a few. I started in ’57 and quit in ’89.

I was very fortunate. I had that year with

Coaching The Refs Fox deals with further proof of man’s imperfections.

Paul. How many guys get out of Michigan State and have that opportunity? Plus, when I did my student teaching in Bath, I coached the JV basketball team. So when I got out of college, I had two good years under my belt. That was good, because Paul only paid me a cup of coffee.

SPORT: You got a raise?

Cook: I didn’t get much more than that! (laughter) Fox: And I helped coach the track team. I didn’t know anything about track! Hey, I’m a 21-year-old senior in college, and I coached football, basketball and track. I also did something in baseball. I coached your JV baseball team. So I knew a lot of kids who eventually became very good basketball players for Paul – the O’Brien kid, the Solomon brothers, the Eydes. So when I got out, I thought I knew how to coach when I went to Fowler. Paul really helped me.

Cook: I learned by doing it, too. I graduated from Resurrection and went to State.

But I started coaching at Resurrection my first year out of high school. I coached junior high, then moved up to JV basketball and also assisted in football. I can tell you I learned a whole lot more coaching those kids than I did going to basketball class at State.

SPORT: So how many years total did you coach basketball?

PhotographS COURTESY OF Paul Cook & George Fox

SPORT: Paul, do you remember the first time you met George?

Cook: Yeah, I was coaching at Jackson St. John. I think it was 1951. And George was playing on the Fowler team that eventually won the ’52 state championship. I scheduled them because I knew they were pretty good.

They came down and beat us, which they should have.

SPORT: So he got the first one?

Cook: Not only that, but my best player and captain broke his ankle in that game and couldn’t play the rest of the year. They got us two ways.

SPORT: George, do you remember the first time you heard of Paul Cook or met him?

Fox: Before that game, I remember our coach talking about him and his style of play. But I really got to know Paul in 1955-56, when I was a graduate student at Michigan State. Paul called me and wanted to know if I was looking for work. I said, “Yeah, I’ve got a pregnant wife, and I need all kinds of help to stay in school.” He said, “Well, we can’t pay you a lot at Resurrection.

But we’d like you to come in.” So I went to talk to him, had a nice visit and wound up coaching JV football. Then, he paid me the ultimate honor and asked me to sit with him on the bench for varsity basketball games.

I learned a great deal from Paul. I’ve always told everybody, “Paul is my mentor.”

SPORT: Paul, what was it that impressed you about this guy? Why did you pick him?

Cook: I knew him from high school, and George was really an outstanding player.

George liked to shoot. He never saw a shot he didn’t like.

Cook: Counting everything, it would be 55. Resurrection Shamrocks. I couldn’t get over Michigan State and talked with Forddy it! Paul is a good friend of mine. But they Anderson and those guys. We’d played Fox: I had 29. against their JVs, and they all knew me. So SPORT: Combined, we’re talking about were just bitter.

SPORT: Paul, why was that rivalry so I started playing for them, then learned I close to 85 years and all those wins, and couldn’t even do that. I learned a lot of basyou guys never really thought about college intense?

Cook: That’s kind of hard to say. It goes ketball from Forddy and his staff. coaching? Didn’t that interest you? Or didn’t SPORT: George, I think I know how Paul back a lot of years. It was probably because it work out?

Cook: You know, I’ve got a pretty large a lot of people knew each other. We didn’t would answer this, but who was the secondbest player you ever coached? family. And college isn’t too secure. You care a lot for St. Mary’s.

Fox: That’s a tough question. Dale Beard Fox: I found that out, too! When I moved can be gone in a year or two. I didn’t really have the ambition to do that, so I wasn’t to Lansing, we were there till O’Rafferty was ranked up there pretty high. Tony Daniel did, looking for it. With that many kids, I wasn’t finished. I coached JV football under Paul too. And there were a lot of others. I had one going to start moving around. That’s what Pozega on all that gravel. He was a great great one and a lot of very good ones. My coach. And when I heard the school was barber, Bernie Sillman, played for me back you have to do. going to close in ’68, they asked me if I’d be in ’60-61. He said, “Tell everyone who your SPORT: Your kids’ ages now are… interested in coming to Everett. I was there second-best basketball player was!” I said, Cook: I think they go from 59 to 41.

“Bernie, I know you were my third-best.

Fox: See, I’m a lot younger than Paul! two years before Paul came to Eastern.

Cook: That rivalry with St. Mary’s started Obviously, Earvin was first. Everyone else was (laughter) They go from 52 to 33. Gary is 52… But having 13 kids is amazing. Don’t when I was in high school. Resurrection tied for second. And you were third.” But he get me going on Paul’s family! When we could never beat St. Mary’s. I played four was a very good player. We had a lot of good went into the Greater Lansing Sports Hall years on the varsity, and I think we beat athletes for such a small town.

SPORT: Paul, you had Jay and Sam Vinof Fame together in ’90, that was my theme. them once when I was a sophomore.

SPORT: Who was the better player cent, plus Robert Henderson, who followed I wanted to make sure I had more people Sam as “Mr. Basketball.” But before that, sitting behind me than he had. All he had between the two of you? you had Gino Baldino.

Cook: George. to do was get his family there. I had to Cook: Oh, yeah! Gino was a terrific player.

Fox: George Fox, definitely. (laughter) recruit! I wasn’t going to let him have that whole wall of people while I sat there with Paul might’ve been a better coach, but I And when I was at Resurrection, I had Ray was a better player. I really enjoyed Alma Bauer and Gary Fewless. That was the year nothing.

SPORT: Maybe you should’ve been a col- College. But I played with a bunch of guys we beat East Lansing, when they had Art from Central in an independent tournament. Brandstatter. They had a great team and lege coach! You were a good recruiter.

Cook: It’s pretty bad when you have to I didn’t know you couldn’t do that. The guys won the state title the next year. But they from Central could. But it was against MIAA thought they might win it in ’57, too. After recruit spectators.

SPORT: I said that to Jud Heathcote one rules. So I had to sit out a year. I contacted the game, Gus Ganakas gave me his film and said, “You’ll probably appreciate this time. I said, “The first thing you more than I will.” The other guy I ought to do is recruit some fans. have to mention, Joe Fortino, was a You’ve only got about 5,000 in JeniRivals-To-Teammates Two future NCAA champions soar for very good guard. son, unless it’s an Eastern-Everett the first jump ball in the history of Don Johnson Fieldhouse.

Fox: Paul, I was with you all through game.” He didn’t like that comment that run. I learned a lot of basketball – very much. procedures and bench coaching.

Fox: Jud is a good man. He’s still Cook: And not to substitute too ripping on everybody. much.

SPORT: George, you had a stop Fox: Right! But we’ve been very between Fowler and Everett. good friends. I enjoyed beating Paul.

Fox: I interviewed for a job at And I’m sure it was vice versa. We’re Muskegon Catholic Central. Lenny both from good Catholic families.

Lapka got it. Then, I interviewed SPORT: George, when was the first at Grand Rapids Catholic Central. time you saw Earvin Johnson?

I didn’t want to coach right downFox: He was an eighth-grade kid town – no campus, nothing. But my at Dwight Rich Junior High. idea was always to come to Lansing SPORT: And you knew he was and coach at a Catholic school, coming your way? one where you could build a team.

Fox: Yeah, thanks to busing. I I left Fowler in ’63 and came to thought he was a good player, about O’Rafferty. And you talk about some 6-2 or 6-3. He liked to stand around ballgames! There’s hatred between at the top of the key. But the kids east- and west-side Catholics. We kept telling me that he was a really might be brothers, but, man, that good player. So when I saw him the got bad! I’d only been exposed to next year, I could see some things. He farm kids in Fowler, most of them liked to pass, which I never did. He Catholic. But when I came to Lanstill liked to play outside, though. At sing and met these St. Mary’s kids, 6-foot-5, I wanted to see his inside they didn’t like Paul Cook and the MARCH 2009 29

Roots Of A Rivalry For The Ages game. I knew he could run the court and do all this fancy stuff. I had no idea how good he was around the basket.

SPORT: George, you don’t have to tell people that you didn’t like to pass. People are going look at the greatest passer in history and say, “He must’ve had a tremendous passer as his high school coach.”

Fox: Oh, I could pass! I just made sure I didn’t pass it to our best shooters. I wanted it back.

Cook: You know, I knew Earvin before George did.

SPORT: Is that right?

Cook: I had a basketball camp at Gabriels and got a call one day. The guy says, “Mr. Cook? Can I come to your camp?” I said “Sure.” I think it cost about $25. And I said, “What’s your name?” He said, “Earvin Johnson.” That was the first time I ever heard of him. He was real quiet and about 11 or 12, playing with 14-year-olds. He just dominated the whole scrimmage!

SPORT: And you said, “Not only can you come to my camp, you can come to my school!”

Cook: You know what I did? I went home and said to my wife, “I’ve got a kid in camp – God, I hope he lives on the east side! This guy is going to be something!” The funny thing was, when he was a senior, I saw him Downtown. He was wearing a shirt that was cut off way up here. And it said “Paul Cook Camp.”

Fox: (laughter) That’s really good!.

SPORT: Did you say, “Hold on! Let me give you one that says ‘Eastern 32’ on it?”

Fox: You know, when Earvin showed up as a sophomore, we had a lot of good kids coming in. A couple of them never got eligible. But the summer before they came to Everett, our team had guys that no one had seen. We went out to Okemos to scrimmage Stan Stolz’s team. I had Larry Hunter and Paul Dawson and real good size. When we were done, Stan said, “George, who are all these kids?” I said, “I don’t know, but they play pretty damn good, don’t they?” He said, “Where’d you get ’em all?” I said. “I’ve never coached ’em yet. They’re all freshmen.” He just shook his head. But I told Pat Holland, my assistant, that we couldn’t scrimmage Saginaw and all those schools.

We weren’t ready. Instead, we scrimmaged Williamston. At the end of the first quarter, we were ahead 30-2. Their coach came over and said, “George, what is this?” I said. “I don’t know. But that big kid is pretty good, isn’t he?” I was embarrassed.

SPORT: How big was Earvin in 10th grade?

Fox: Probably 6-6. But he could really play. Our other guys weren’t bad, either. We had some very good juniors. We should’ve 30 MARCH 2009

Sharing A Memory Cook and Fox enjoy a laugh as they reminisce.

won the state when he was a sophomore.

We had Reggie Chastine and Tommy Benson.

But we missed five one-and-ones against Fordson in the last couple of minutes. They fouled us intentionally. Even Earvin missed one or two of them. If we’d won that one, I think we would’ve beaten Detroit Catholic Central the next year. They had some big kids. That’s when I said, “We’ve got to find a big guard, not all these 5-7 guys.” That’s when Jaimie Huffman moved in.

SPORT: When I saw Jaimie at the ’79 Spartans’ reunion, he said, “Hey, I caught Earvin’s passes before Kelser did.”

Fox: Jaimie could play defense! He came up and played with us during the summer, and Earvin said, “Coach, I’m glad that kid’s is going to be on our team. I can’t get a pass through him!” And he couldn’t. Jaimie would get right in Earvin’s face. Earvin didn’t intimidate Jaimie. They became good friends, even though Jaimie replaced Earvin’s buddies.

SPORT: Paul, do you remember the first time you saw Jay Vincent?

Cook: He was at Walter French. And I’d never really heard of him. I’d just gotten to Eastern. I didn’t even know who Greg Lloyd, my top scorer, was.

Fox: Greg didn’t like to pass, either.

Cook: No, he didn’t. But I remember the first time I saw Jay, the thing that impressed me was his defense. He blocked a bunch of shots. And he didn’t clobber them. He kept them in play. Then, when I got him, the thing that stood out was his soft touch. He was about 6-6 and wide – and so agile! He wasn’t slow by any means. The first thing

they did in college was slim him down a lot.

He looks real good today.

Fox: We’ve talked about this a lot. But if those two guys had been a couple of years apart, Paul could’ve won a couple more state championships.

Cook: When Jay was a sophomore, we were 19-3. All three of those losses were to Everett.

SPORT: And you wound up playing the first night of the district tournament.

Cook: Oh, yeah. It’s funny how that works out.

Fox: And Paul, back in those days, Sexton and Doug Herner had a very good team.

Before that, it was Danny Hovanesian at Holt and Don Ashdown at East Lansing. You had to be ready when they flipped that ball up.

Cook: Poor Doug. He’d have had a really good record if not for us.

Fox: He had some very good teams. They just fell victim to the Vincents and Johnson.

SPORT: We’ll never see two local players like Earvin and Jay at the same time again.

How many times did they go head-to-head?

Cook: Eight times.

Fox: You got us in the big game at Michigan State.

Cook: In Jay’s three years, we were 50-15.

Seven of those losses were to Everett.

Fox: The game we lost was the worst game I saw Earvin play. Then, Paul lost a good ballplayer that night, too.

Cook: That really hurt. In the fourth quarter Victor Jackson blew his knee out. He was really our leader, much more than Jay. We lost the next game to Holt. We didn’t have anyone to replace him.

SPORT: What was it like to move that ’77 game to Jenison?

Cook: All I know is whenever we were playing Everett, they wanted to put it somewhere else. We played at Catholic Central. We played at the Civic Center. And we moved into the Don Johnson Fieldhouse in time for that game. We’d only had one practice there.

SPORT: Michigan State hosted North Carolina and drew less than 6,000 fans. You could’ve sold 20,000 tickets for EasternEverett. But if you two has switched places for a week, if you’d have coached Earvin, Paul, and you’d have had Jay, George, would that have been fun?

Cook: I’m sure it would have been!

Fox: Hey, he had a good enough team. He didn’t need any of mine!

SPORT: Did you think, “Geez, I’d love to have that other guy just once!”

Fox: I dreamed a lot about having them on the same team.

Cook: And there were always rumors that Jay was going to go to Everett so they could

play together. But there was nothing to that. He was an east-sider. It’s not like it is today, where players go all over.

SPORT: Your favorite memory of the Eastern-Everett game was…

Cook: Winning! Our kids were so excited the day before the game in Jenison, it was electric. Finally, I blew the whistle and said, “We’re not going to leave our game here.”

Then, the game started, and Everett went ahead 6-0. Johnny Wooden always had a philosophy that you didn’t call the first timeout. We weren’t more than a minute or so in, and here I am, calling timeout. It was the best timeout I ever called. I said, “The next time down the floor, there’s only one guy who’s going to shoot. The ball is going in to Jay!” He scored, and we scored the next eight points.

Fox: And we never caught you.

Cook: I just wanted to stop the bleeding.

Fox: You did!

SPORT: Last question. Paul, in terms of recruiting, you had Jay, then Sam, which

was even more intense. Did you know what Jay was going to do?

Cook: He was pretty quiet. But I always had the feeling he’d go to State.

SPORT: And George, you couldn’t turn around that year without bumping into Bill Frieder, then a Michigan assistant.

Fox: I was going nuts. I said, “Earvin, you have to pick out some schools. We’ll get rid of the rest.” He picked Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Southern Cal and, I think, Louisville. But I never thought he was going anywhere but Michigan State. Everyone else thought he was going to Michigan.”

EDITOR’S NOTE With that, everyone got up to go to a photo shoot.

When Cook stopped in the restroom, Fox said, “Paul is a great guy. I owe him an awful lot.” A moment later, those roles were reversed. And Cook volunteered, “You know, George could really coach. I loved those games.”

For once, they were on the same team – both victorious.

MARCH 2009 31

32 MARCH 2009

The Shinsky Ride – Love & Pride Duffy’s “Sons” Bike 2,000 Miles To Mexico To Help Fund Orphanage

BY DOUG WARREN

During his 19 years as Michigan State’s head football coach, Duffy Daugherty delivered three national titles, a slew of Big Ten wins and plenty of timeless one-liners.

Photograph COURTESY OF John Shinsky

Beyond the trophies, standings and belly laughs, Daugherty left an impact on hundreds of Spartan football players over those 19 years, teaching not only by words, but by example.

One of the best examples Daugherty ever set was when he and his wife, Frances, adopted their daughter, Dree, in 1954 from St. Vincent’s Home for Children in Lansing.

Fifteen years later, in 1969, Daugherty welcomed a new group of football sons into the Spartan family. Among that group, which included future NFL Pro Bowlers Brad Van Pelt and Billy Joe Dupree, were three

“My football career, my education, the cancer and all of that has led to the orphanage project…”

- John Shinsky, Always A Captain

players – Joe DeLamielleure, Eljay Bowron and John Shinsky – who would achieve greatness in their own right.

DeLamielleure became an All-American and three-time All-Big Ten performer at guard. He would continue his career in the NFL, playing 13 seasons with the Buffalo Bills and the Cleveland Browns. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Like DeLamielleure, Bowron dreamed of playing pro ball. When those dreams were dashed by a series of knee surgeries, he

followed in his father’s footsteps and became a Detroit police officer. In 1974 he joined the U.S. Secret Service and began a 23-year career. The highlight came in December 1993, when Bowron was appointed as the 18th director of the Secret Service, serving in that post until his retirement in 1997.

Shinsky had something in common with Dree Daugherty before coming to East Lansing. He was an orphan. Shinsky’s father died when he was 8 years old. Shortly thereafter, his overwhelmed mother placed him in the Parmadale Orphanage in Cleveland. That was where young John stayed for the next four years, until the Weiss family opened their doors to a foster child.

Shinsky spent his teen years with the Weisses, becoming a star football player and wrestler at Cleveland St. Joseph High and earning a scholarship to Michigan State.

As a Spartan, Shinsky earned three letters as a defensive tackle, was elected captain and received Academic All-America honors in 1973. He earned a bachelor’s degree in elemenHis Favorite Team tary and special need each other. education in 1974.

And he had the distinction of being the toughest lineman that DeLamielleure ever had to block.

“When I finished my career in the NFL, I was asked, ‘Who was the toughest player you played against?’” DeLamielleure recalled. “I said, ‘John Shinsky, hands down.’ They said,

‘Who’s he?’ I said, ‘You don’t know him. He played with me at Michigan State.’

“I played against Joe Greene and Merlin Olsen in the NFL, and John is still the toughest player I ever played against. Nobody knows how tough this guy is. He is the toughest person I’ve ever met in my life. And I have felt that way since we were 18 years old.”

Shinsky had opportunities to play football professionally. But like Bowron, injuries had taken their toll on his body by the end of his college career. Instead, he began a career in education.

Shinsky earned a master’s degree in special education in 1977 and a Ph.D. in educational administration in 1983, both from

Shinsky and the orphans of Matamoros, Mexico,

MSU. He spent three decades as an educator and administrator in the Lansing School District and currently serves at Grand Valley State as an associate professor of educational leadership and as chair of the Leadership and Human Services Department.

MARCH 2009 33

Spartan Warriors Shinsky and DeLamielleure are riding, not running, to victory this spring.

DeLamielleure, a roommate of both Shinsky and Bowron nearly 40 years ago, has nothing but praise for both men.

“You know, when I got into the Hall of Fame, I told everyone that I had finally caught up to my two college roommates professionally,” DeLamielleure said. “I had my success in sports, but those two guys went way beyond what I’ve ever done.”

If that was where this story would end, it would be impressive enough. But the three amigos have reunited to raise money for Shinsky’s life calling: to finish building, to maintain and to create an endowment for his Ciudad De Los Ninos De Matamoros (The City of Children of Matamoros) Orphanage in Matamoros, Mexico.

Located just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, it will eventually encompass 12 buildings and 33,000 square feet. The facility will provide a home, food, safety, love, education and bilingual and vocational training for hundreds of children who are abandoned, physically, sexually and emotionally abused.

Six buildings have been constructed thus far at a amazingly low cost of $30 per square 34 MARCH 2009

foot. Every cent of the money that’s raised goes directly to support the project.

With that in mind and with their dear friend, the late Brad Van Pelt, making the journey in spirit, Shinsky, DeLamielleure and Bowron will begin a 2,000-mile, threeweek bicycle ride on Saturday, April 25.

Appropriately, they’ll start in Spartan Stadium at the Green and White Game.

Their destination? The Ciudad De Los Ninos De Matamoros Orphanage.

The ride is a major fund-raising effort.

Those wishing to donate can do so on a permile, lump-sum, monthly or yearly basis.

Per-mile donations can range from 1 cent to whatever the donor would like to give. The per-mile donation will be multiplied by the 2,000-mile ride amount. Example: 1 cent x 2,000 miles = $20.

As an extra incentive, there is also an Ambassador’s Club level of donation. This is a special giving level where an individual makes an initial $100 donation to the orphanage project, demonstrating support for the 2,000-mile bike ride. This contribution equates to a 5-cent-per-mile donation.

Ambassador Club members will become

part of an ongoing communication group that will be kept informed of the progress of the orphanage project.

In addition, Ambassador Club members will be entered into a drawing to win one of three prizes. The first and second prizes are pairs of tickets to Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on Feb. 7, 2010. The third prize is a barbeque picnic, at the place of your choosing, hosted by none other than Chef Joe DeLamielleure.

The route for the ride and the logistics involved came from Bowron. He is the biker of the trio. And with the help of the Adventure Cycling Association, the route will include the same trails used by runaway slaves and their helpers in the historic Underground Railroad.

Bowron is also asking for help from some of his former law enforcement colleagues.

“I am sending out our scheduled path to retired Secret Service agents along the route and having them do their Secret Service thing to make sure our path isn’t hampered by construction or dangerous pitfalls,” Bowron said. “Some of those agents who are bikers themselves. And they’re planning on joining us when we get into their area of the route.

“I’m really looking forward to it. I spend a lot of time in Florida these days and have been biking about 20 miles a day in preparation for this. I’m getting ready.”

Since beginning work on the orphanage in 2002, Shinsky has worked tirelessly, with the help of many people in both Mexico and the U.S., to make his dream a reality.

The only thing that has slowed Shinsky has been cancer, which was discovered in his throat in late 2007. After undergoing 33 radiation treatments and two chemotherapy treatments, the cancer is now in remission, and his mission to complete the orphanage rolls on.

“My football career, my education, the cancer and all of that has led to the orphanage project,” Shinsky said. “This is what I’ve wanted to do all of my life. That other stuff was a steppingstone to this moment. This is what I’m here for. This is my dream.”

The next step in that effort begins when three of Daugherty’s finest break the huddle at Spartan Stadium, climb onto their bikes and begin their trek for the children of Matamoros.

You can be sure that some Irish eyes will be smiling down upon them.

Photography MSU Athletic Communications

The Shinsky Ride – Love & Pride

Learn More + To learn more about the bike ride and how to get involved in the effort, visit the fundraiser website at www.orphanagefundraiser.com.

+ To learn more about the orphanage and how to help toward its completion, visit the orphanage website at www.shinskyorphanage.com.

+ Donations to the orphanage can be made online at either of the websites, or you can send a donation to The Capital Region Community Foundation (CRCF) at 6035 Executive Drive, Suite 104, Lansing, MI 48911. Phone: (517) 272-2870.

Tax-free contributions can be made to: The City of Children Orphanage. CRCF is tax exempt (501(c) (3) for charitable gift purposes.

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MARCH 2009 35

36 MARCH 2009

Opening The Great Outdoors Adventurer Steve Gruber Lives Your Hunting, Fishing Dreams

BY TED KLUCK

Photography COURTESY OF Wolf Creek Productions

There’s a swagger with certain entrepreneurial men who aren’t encumbered by the mores and niceties of corporate, cubicle life. To say that Steve Gruber, president and founder of Wolf Creek Productions, has this swagger would be a massive understatement.

Gruber is a cross between J. Peterman of the J. Peterman Company of Seinfeld fame and Steve Zissou, the Bill Murray character in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. He is an adventurer with a story to tell, the Michigan version of those characters – a camouflage-wearing, deer-urine drenched, camera-guy-in-the-bushes version. And in a state in which people can scarcely afford to pay their mortgages, much less have a hobby, Gruber has a hobby that you watch on television.

Simply put, he tells stories about hunting and fishing. Gruber does this through the medium of television, through his company, located in a two-story office building in downtown Perry (slogan: Television Shows for Outdoorsmen… sub slogan: The Thrill of the Chase). The office, to put it bluntly, is full of dead animals.

“They’ve all been on television… It’s a living museum,” Gruber said, leading a tour of the facility, on which I learn that there are only two states where you can legally shoot a swan (there’s one hanging overhead) and that Gruber himself killed an impressive white ram that sits stuffed in a corner.

The office space exudes a shambling, almost college dormitory-esque male ethos, where Skoal cans and dead animals are the order of the day, where everyone has a goatee, and where it looks like someone is almost always in a state of preparing for or just getting back from a trip.

The company currently has eight nationally syndicated series on air. Those shows

reach in excess of 62 million households and have won industry awards including the Telly, Aurora, and Golden Moose (the trophy for the Golden Moose, sadly, doesn’t appear to be an actual golden moose). It has won in categories including best photography, best editing, best fishing show and best big-game footage. The trophies, in fact, collect dust on a coffee table underneath the staircase.

“We’ve stopped applying for awards, because every award we apply for we win,” Gruber said. “And I don’t have anywhere to put them.”

That was as true for Gruber’s ideas as for the honors that came from them. Thus, Wolf Creek Productions was born.

“Back in ’93 I had the wild idea to do outdoor shows,” said Gruber, then a news A Real Fish Story This is the big one that didn’t get away.

Buck Stops Here Gruber lives the dreams of hunters everywhere.

anchor for Channel 10 in Lansing.

With more than a decade of news work under his belt, Gruber was ready for a new challenge and ready to pursue a family passion.

“My father and uncle were born in the midst of the Great Depression,” he said. “For them it wasn’t about trophy hunting. If you caught a bigger fish, it could feed more people. My father was a student of the game, both in a practical sense as a hunter and in an academic sense as a Michigan State fisheries and wildlife graduate. I had the opportunity to hunt with a professor.”

Gruber set out with Tom Nichols, another Channel 10 veteran, to produce Outdoor America – a show that has run on the Outdoor Channel consistently since 1994. Their big break with the Outdoor Channel consisted of answering an ad in a hunting magazine.

“There was about a two-inch-by-two-inch ad soliciting new material, and when I called the receptionist, she basically blew me off and said that they receive submissions every day,” Gruber remembered. “We sent her the MARCH 2009 37

Opening The Great Outdoors

Ram Tough Gruber totes his prize in an oversized backpack.

pilot anyway. And she called back almost immediately, asking for everything we had.”

The show is now enjoyed by over a million viewers each month. Gruber attributes its initial success to the professionalism of his team.

“Everybody who works here has a degree in television or film production, and has real-world experience,” he said.

Wolf Creek’s growth has been steady, if not meteoric. Gruber finally went full-time with his own company in 2001.

“We were good storytellers with an understanding of television, and we were too stubborn to take ‘no’ for an answer,” he said.

“Our growth is not unlike hunting itself. We had a good dose of luck. Some guys kill a big deer because of talent and preparation, but most guys just get lucky.”

Many of the photographs that line the walls of Gruber’s office feature him kneeling over something dead in front of a breathtaking backdrop.

“It’s all about this journey we’re on, and I’ve had the good fortune to see amazing things,” he said. “I’ve hunted and fished all over… Costa Rica, Mexico, Africa, Europe, and Argentina.”

The Wolf Creek guys are adventurers in the purest sense of the word. They are hunting guys telling hunting stories to other hunting and fishing guys. They tell of tracking 38 MARCH 2009

bull elk through the Montana mountains, stopping the narrative only long enough to highlight and hyperlink to sponsors.

That, of course, is the beauty of this sort of program. Despite the brilliance of the storytelling, a great deal of the whole exercise is about the business of selling you the bow, gun or accessory used to bring down the elk.

Everyone involved knows this intuitively, which makes it, in a way, the most honest kind of storytelling.

There’s a tacit understanding that an expert hunter could still kill the buck without a new, state-of-the-art Martin Razor Pro Series Bow. That’s beside the point, because programming like this also feeds the male need for gadget fetishism. The only thing better than being one with nature on a hunt, is being one with nature on a hunt with a pack full of sweet gadgetry.

“Eighty percent of our survival comes from advertisers,” Gruber said. “They want to see the product in front of the camera. But there’s a fine line between a reasonable amount of promotion and an infomercial. At some point it becomes detrimental to the show.”

Gruber’s most recent television project is called Deer City, USA, and is centered on the idea that the biggest bucks are often found within the city limits. These are the same bucks that sometimes manage to attach themselves to the grill of your vehicle on I-496.

He also has pilot-development deals in place with HGTV, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel and The Food Network. The latter is for a program with the Wild Chef that would highlight the health benefits of wild game, shot entirely in Michigan.

“The slogan is right there over your right shoulder,” Gruber said, pointing to a greaseboard that says Go Organic, Go Hunting. “I have never seen a person from PETA or the Humane Society doing anything for habitats.

We want clean air and water so that we can catch clean fish. We want free-range, organic, red meat. We’re the true environmentalists.”

He goes on to explain many of the benefits of hunting, pointing out a moose in another photograph.

“That moose fed an Indian village,” he said. “All of the animals we killed on that shoot went to native villages and local kids.

In Mexico, getting protein like that is a big deal. At the end of the day, we fed thousands and thousands of people.

“And sport hunting at high levels has saved entire species. The white rhino was getting poached and was dwindling in numbers, which is awful. Poachers are common criminals. They steal animals. They were killing these rhinos to make an aphrodisiac

out of the horn. But you begin to regulate the poaching and make older, barren animals like that available for sport hunting, and suddenly you have doctors paying six figures to hunt them, which can greatly benefit the economy of a local village.”

Gruber tells me stories, in no particular order, about catching a 12-foot-long, 900pound fish, killing a leopard in Namibia and tracking moose in Mexico. He also tells me, very matter-of-factly, that he’ll someday be winning an Emmy.

“It’s not a job for me. It’s a lifestyle,” he said. “We get dirty, and it’s OK. We’re healthier in body and soul. And I always tell my kids that if you understand how the outdoors works, it will help you understand the things that happen indoors.”

Gruber’s story is significant in no small part because it tells the story of a Michigander who is managing to thrive in the midst of a downward-spiraling economy.

“Despite the fact that the economy is terrible, our family is here, our roots are here, and our future is here,” he said. “How’s that for a quote?”

Familty Time Gruber, his wife, Alyssa, and daughter, Madison, enjoy another adventure.

A drive down Michigan Avenue reveals more empty storefronts than ever, evoking thoughts of Steinbeck and the dust bowl, if one were to replace all the dust with huge piles of dirty, drifty snow. But if there is a big buck to be killed in the midst of those piles of dirty snow, chances are that Steve Gruber will do it, and tell you the story. He’ll facilitate 30 minutes of escapism, and give you something to dream about.

“I know that most of my audience will never be able to hunt leopards in Africa,” he said. “But they’re able to do it vicariously through us.”

SPORT SPECIAL OLYMPIC SALUTE

Winter Games Yield Nothing But Winners

Area 8 Special Olympians Learn, Earn Medals At State Level There were Opening Ceremonies, grand marches, a torch lighting, qualifying heats, tense days of close competition, daily meals for over 1,200 athletes, volunteers at every turn, semis and finals, award presentations and a grand Closing Ceremony.

The Traverse City area was flooded with athletes and coaches from Feb. 3-6 for the 33rd annual Special Olympics Michigan State Winter Games. All athletes were housed at the Grand Traverse Resort, host of the State Winter Games for 10 years. Some of the competition also took place at the expansive facility.

Skiing events were held at the nearby Shanty Creek Resort at Schuss Mountain, and skating events took place at the Traverse City’s Howe Ice Arena.

Athletes from Area 8 competed in each of the six sports offered this year: alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, figure skating and speed skating. Daniel Vasquez, a student at Mason High, is a visually impaired athlete who competed in cross country skiing at the

Winter Games. Daniel has been involved in Special Olympics for more than 15 years.

When not participatings in cross country training and events, Daniel is preparing for competition in bowling and bocce.

Coach Val Suszko said Special Olympics participation has improved Daniel’s social skills and ability to work with others. Hours of training have improved his ability to follow directions, become more outgoing and self confident and, perhaps most importantly, be a team player. He has learned to set personal goals and come up with ways to achieve them.

How does a vision-impaired athlete train and learn to compete in a sport like cross country skiing? Suszko uses sounds, verbal instruction and guide ropes to direct Daniel on the snow-covered course.

Slip Sliding Away Area 8 Special Olympian Daniel Vasquez (436) competes on the slopes.

40 MARCH 2009

And the rewards for all of that dedication and hard work? Daniel won a gold medal in the 50-meter race and took home the silver for 100 meters.

Daniel is just one member from the Area 8 delegation of 139 athletes who represented Ingham and Eaton counties, making this year’s games a huge success, according to Ann Guzdzial, State Director of Sports and Training.

“I thought they were phenomenal,” she said. “Athlete competition was at an alltime high. I think spirits were high for athletes, chaperones and volunteers alike.

It was all about the athletes. We also offered a lot more special-event opportunities this year. I thought those went really well.”

Anne Goudie, the Area Director for Ingham and Eaton counties, felt the same way.

“The state events are important because they give athletes an opportunity to compete at higher levels of competition, watch and experience different sports and meet other athletes from around the state,” Goudie said.

“Just as important, the state competition gives athletes a unique experience traveling independently outside of the greater Lansing area. The opportunity to ride on a charter bus, stay at Grand Traverse Resort, even just the ability to see Grand Traverse Bay is something truly special. State games are something our athletes strive to reach.

They work hard and look forward to the all year. Special Olympics state competition is truly the highlight of the entire year.”

The State Winter Games are sponsored by the Wertz Warriors, who raise more than $250,000 annually to fund the Games. The Warriors, a volunteer organization, raise funds year-round and ride more than 700 miles annually on a snowmobile endurance ride across the State of Michigan for Special Olympics.

On the last day, the buses are loaded, 900 athletes (many wearing new ribbons and medals) head back home, 350 tired coaches and volunteers pack up their bags, and the 2009 Winter Games are over – just in time to begin work on the Summer Games.

Photography COURTESY OF Special Olympics Michigan - Area 8

By ANN WELLING

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SPORT NEWS + NOTES

Something For Everyone

By Doug Warren & SPORT Staff

DeWitt’s Jordyn Wieber won the prestigious Tyson American Cup women’s gymnastics championship on Feb. 21 in Hoffman Estates, Ill., a Chicago suburb. At age 13, she became the secondyoungest winner of an event that has been held since 1976. Her overall score of 60.2 points was .6 ahead of 2008 U.S. Olympian Bridget Sloan. Wieber joins Olympic champions Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Nastia Liukin as a American Cup titlist.

Lansing Community College’s men’s basketball team won its second consecutive Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) championship with an 82-81 victory over Jackson Community College in the regular-season finale. East Lansing’s Gerald Busby scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Stars’ decisive win.

East Lansing High’s Kori Reinhart will be a preferred walk-on for the Michigan State women’s soccer team. Haslett’s Alli Mansfield has signed a letter of intent with Saginaw Valley State. Laingsburg/Bath’s Brianna Fugate has committed to play at Aquinas College. And St. Johns’ Kara Stephens has signed to play soccer at Ferris State.

East Lansing’s Molly Hackney, a junior at the University of Chicago, was selected as the University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week (Feb. 8-14) for women’s basketball. The Lansing Catholic graduate scored 32 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in two games to earn the honor.

Holt High’s Chris Bossenbery and Brendan Diamond signed baseball letters of intent with Western Michigan and Northwood, respectively. Bossenbery, a twoyear starter at shortstop, hit .356 42 MARCH 2009

with 10 doubles and three home runs last spring. He also pitched 21 innings, compiling a 1.71 ERA and a 4-3 record. Diamond hit .457 and had a .525 on-base percentage. He expects to play center field for Northwood.

Lansing Catholic High’s competitive cheer team had a schoolrecord score of 743.3312 at the CAAC Blue/White Finals on Feb. 11 at Grand Ledge High. The Cougars recorded season-high scores in all three rounds, clinching their first conference championship.

First-team all-conference honors went to Jessica Hospodar, Jordan Garvie, Hallie St. Marie, CJ Courter, Mackenzie Mohr and Jessica Poke.

Dansville High’s Devin Culham has signed a letter of intent to play softball for Lansing Community College after her graduation this spring. Culham, a pitcher, received all-state honorable mention last season.

Baseball-football coach Jake Boss will be among the Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame’s 2009 inductees. He was the head baseball coach at Lansing Catholic from 2002-08, collecting six district coach of the year honors and two regional and conference awards. He began in 1973 at Lansing Everett and coached the Vikings through 1996. Boss was conference coach of the year seven times, district coach of the year four times and regional coach of the year three times. He won three Diamond Classics, seven conference titles, 10 district championships and three regional crowns, compiling more than 500 wins. Boss will assist his son, Jake Boss Jr., this spring at Michigan State.

Michigan State’s equestrian teams are one step from the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Finals. The Hunt

Seat Team (English tack) defeated Michigan at a show hosted by Albion College on Feb. 14. Meanwhile, the Stock Seat Team (Western tack) completed a sweep of Zone 6 Region 4 by defeating Western Michigan at Grand Valley State. The Stock Seat Team will travel to West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas, for the IHSA Western National Semifinals on March 21-22. The Hunt Seat Team will head to the Detroit Equestrian Club for the IHSA Zone 6 Championships on March 28.

Pewamo-Westphalia two-way lineman Bryant Schmitt has signed a letter of intent to play football this fall at Grand Rapids Community College. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound senior collected 11 sacks, earning a spot on the Division 7-8 all-state team last season.

Michigan State’s Becca Ebner set a school record in the 200 butterfly (2:00.18) at the 2009 Big Ten Swimming Championships.

In the relay events, the team of Stephanie Fisher, Kerry Sodonis, Ebner and Julie Kahn turned in a school-record time of 1:41.56 in the 200 medley. In the 800 freestyle relay, Heather Kiluk, Mara Loniewski, Marlys Fuqua and Morgan Piasecki combined for an MSU-record 7:35.73.

East Lansing’s Pat Murray was named Division II Boys Coach of the Year last month by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association (MITCA). Pewamo-Westphalia boys coach Scott Werner and Potterville girls coach Michael Kuyers swept the Division IV awards.

Michigan State’s field hockey team has been recognized by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) for having a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. It is the third year in a row that the Spartans have been recognized for this achievement.

MARCH 2009 43

News + Notes: March 2009 St. Johns sophomore Nick Grider (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle), junior Ben Aldrich (500 freestyle), senior Tyler Wilson (100 breaststroke) and the 200 and 400 freestyle relays led their team to the CAAC Red swimming title on Feb. 28. The Redwings finished with 579 points, ahead of Mason (437), WaverlyLansing Catholic (385), Owosso (308) and Sexton (73). Mason junior Brent Billig (200 individual medley) and senior Taylor Vandecar (diving competition) took first in their events to pace the secondplace Bulldogs.

Haslett sophomores Chris McLauchlan (diving), Andrew Beauman (100 backstroke) and Ian McCabe (500 freestyle) took first place, as did the school’s 200 medley relay, as the Vikings came away with the CAAC GoldWhite swim title. The Vikings scored 529 points to beat Eaton Rapids-Charlotte (426), DeWitt (342), Williamston (256), Ionia (206) and Corunna (190). Eaton

Rapids-Charlotte won the 400 freestyle and 200 freestyle relays, and senior Lucas Gellis (50 freestyle) and senior Zack Perdue (100 butterfly) took top honors for the Greyhound/Oriole squad. DeWitt sophomore Chris McCloskey won the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke. And senior Bill Epple won the 200 freestyle for Williamston.

Grand Ledge’s Pat O’Keefe is a finalist for National Baseball Coach of the Year, awarded by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA).

O’Keefe was one of eight finalists from nominations around the country. The award will be given at the annual meeting of the NHSACA in Minneapolis from June 22 -24.

Lansing’s Re’anna Blair won the 200 meter Sub-Midget dash (29.39 seconds) and long jump (11’ 6 1/2”), setting a national record in the later, during the AAU Indoor Nationals Feb. 20-22 in Merrillville, Ind. Taylor Manson of Lansing won

the Girls 200 Bantam dash (30.6 seconds) and finished second in the long jump. Lansing’s Robert Tarpley tied for first in the Intermediate long jump (19’ 7”) and was sixth in the 400 (59.59 seconds).

Grand Ledge’s David Linder, a sophomore at West Point, finished sixth in the heptathlon at the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships at Annapolis, Md. (Feb. 21). Linder had a personal-best 4,329 points, helping the Black Knights win the Patriot League championship.

Michigan State’s Beth Rohl and Becca Buchholtz, both freshmen, earned titles at the 2009 Big Ten Women’s Indoor Championships (Feb. 28-Mar. 1). Rohl tossed a career-best heave of 62 feet, 6 ½ inches in the weight throw. Buchholtz won the high jump with a career-best leap of 5-10 1/2. The Spartans placed sixth with 53.5 total points, their best finish since 2005.

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MARCH 2009 47

SPORT FINISH LINE

I Can Still Smell The Popcorn Memories Of Jenison Field House Will Never Die

By Mike robinson MSU Basketball, 1971-74

Photography MSU Athletic Communications

My first view of Jenison Field House came in the 1969 Michigan High School Basketball Championships. I was a junior at Detroit Northeastern, a Class A semifinalist.

Besides its sheer size, I was stunned to see an elevated court. My first thought? “Now what?” Our defensive plan had always been to pressure full-court and chase loose balls, diving whenever we had to. I wondered, “Does Coach expect us to go after those balls if it means diving off the court?” We stuck with our plan and did a good job on defense.

I scored 37 points. But we lost to eventual champion Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills.

I was recruited by Michigan State and Michigan in 1970 and chose Jenison over Crisler Arena. I always got a lot of motivation when I saw the bleachers being hauled in from the outside. It said that there was going to be a contest, so be ready. And I can’t forget the smell of Jenison. It gave me a sense of history. I knew that there had been great performances by athletes, coaches and teams in there.

I witnessed an indoor 60-yard race that was won by a famous friend of mine. That person was Herb Washington, who had set world records in the 50- and 60-yard dashes.

I roomed with him in 1970 as a freshman in Holden Hall.

Another fond memory at Jenison was getting my first pair of gym shoes as a collegiate athlete, a pair of green, suede Chuck Taylors. I wanted to keep them scuff-free. So I asked myself what would happen if I told the other freshmen, “You can do anything, but don’t step on my green, suede shoes.”

Jenison history and, my coach, Gus Ganakas, inspired me to give 110 percent.

At 5-foot-11, 150-pounds soaking wet, what choice did I have? Who was I going to muscle and out-rebound?

The unique layout of Jenison lent itself to itself to Coach Ganakas’ favorite conditioning drill. When he said, “Run the stairs!” at the end of practice, we’d start at the bottom 48 MARCH 2009

of a staircase, run to the top, then go across to the next stairwell, run down that stair case, head to the next staircase, then go up again till we did every one of them. And we were timed. What a drill!

But I had no complaints about running those stairs. It was a great conditioning drill.

I owe it to Jenison and Coach Ganakas for getting me in the kind of shape to compete in the Big Ten. A sportswriter once told me that the average height of my defender throughout my career was 6-6. I was guarded by the likes of Nick Weatherspoon (Illinois), John Laskowski and Bobby Wilkerson (Indiana), Wayman Britt and Wayne Grabiec (Michigan) and Clyde Turner and Dave Winfield (Minnesota), to name a few.

Some of the our great wins in Jenison came against Illinois, Purdue and Michigan. It was such a noisy place. You felt the emotion of the Spartan fans and saw the intimidation that other teams felt. The raised court was replaced by Tartan Turf, a synthetic surface.

And some players had problems adjusting to that court. For me, it was a great surface.

Its traction helped me out-quick opponents offensively and defensively.

Our players and coaches made personal sacrifices, influenced by the long list of heroes who came before them. In all its majesty and rich history, through the turbulent times of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and campus protests, Jenison helped us embrace our uniqueness and greatness and weather all storms.

Silky Soft No one ever launched a sweeter jumper than two-time Big Ten scoring champ Mike Robinson.

EDITOR’S NOTE Mike Robinson was the best small guard in MSU history. His 24.2-point average was 3.0 points better than that of Shawn Respert, the Big Ten’s all-time leader in conference points. He was always the epitome of class. And it’s one of the great mysteries that his name isn’t raised in the Breslin Center rafters. He was the second-best player of the pre-Heathcote era.

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