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For the ‘ole announcer,’ many of my fondest Moyes’ Memories was the annual ritual of attending the state finals in boys’ basketball. How I looked forward every March to join up with some old pals and journey to primarily East Lansing, and Ann Arbor to watch the best of high school basketball.
Many of those precious days were traveling with my longtime broadcasting partner Gene Young. We were often joined by my high school coach Bob Morris and super high school sports fan Tom Kampenga. It was Kampenga who encouraged me to replace him as the ‘stringer’ covering North Muskegon sports for The Muskegon Chronicle beginning in 1956.
For many years, finding a ticket to attend the state finals was comparable to latching on to a ducat to The Masters in golf. However, that is certainly not the case today as attendance in recent years has taken a decided nosedive in attendance. The big question is why is that happening?
I surely do not have the answer to that question, but perhaps the easy availability of streaming has put a damper on attendance. The loss in revenue from tickets sold surely has been softened by money accrued by the cost of subscriptions to the NFHS network. For me, and I’m sure for countless others, attending the state finals with my friends was often secondary to the games itself.
My first state title game was in 1947, but since I was only 6 years old at that time, I have little details to offer. I was attending those finals only because I had an uncle who played on the Haslett High team which played, and lost, in the Class D finals.
It was in 1956 that I began to attend these classics on a regular basis. Although the game has changed immeasurably over the years, it was hard to top the 1950s as interest was at a peak and sellouts at the state finals were the norm.
High school basketball in the 1950s was mostly played on courts that almost universally had wooden backboards. The scoreboards were not the modern digital style utilized today, but were comprised of hand dials that kept time like a big clock in your grandparent’s living room. A special feature of these time clocks was the white background that would turn a shade of blushing red inside the last minute of each quarter. In the 1950s, the cheerleaders wore skirts that hung down to their white bobby socks while the players wore shorts that were truly short. And the officiating ...
To this old timer, it appears that officials now look away when a player palms the ball, takes two or three steps, while a whistle blown for a double dribble is a rarity.
In the 1950s and even through the 1960s, players dribbled primarily just with their strong hand and never did a player dribble a ball between their legs. And woe be the one who would not raise their hand after committing a foul, an embarrassment that thankfully has long been abolished.
Even though I have witnessed many state finals over the decades, my first state finals of 1956 still ranks as my favorite. Veteran Detroit sportswriter George Maskin may have summed it up best with his report of the 1956 state finals. “It was a day and night of fabulous shooting, heart stopping plays, brilliant rallying and record-breaking – the likes of which have never prevailed in a state final before.” And, arguably, it has never been matched in the many years to follow.
And what a year it was for three teams from the Upper Peninsula.
Prior to my visit to East Lansing of 1956, I must confess that I had never even heard of the towns of Chassell, Crystal Falls and Stephenson. I was a young freshman at North Muskegon High School in the Lower Peninsula, hundreds of miles from the three tiny municipalities in the Upper Peninsula that would soon be the ‘darlings’ of the entire state.
Crystal Falls opened the festivities in Class C by nipping unbeaten Berrien Springs 71-69 in a thriller that saw the lead change hands 17 times. The next game was perhaps even more exciting as Stephenson went to two overtimes (and sudden death) before it was able to defeat Detroit St Andrew 73-71 in Class B. I can still vividly see Stephenson’s ‘Marvelous’ Mel Peterson, who scored at the time a state record 35 points, hitting a bank shot for the game winner. The game was the only contest in more than 100 years of MHSAA state finals that was decided in sudden death. Not to be outdone, Chassell came from 15 points down with less than 4 minutes remaining to edge Portland St. Patrick for the Class D crown.
The Class A game would saw history made as Muskegon Heights, starting the first all-African American starting five in the MHSAA finals, won the Class A championship in the final game of this electrifying day. Perhaps the season of 1956 was the beginning of the story behind the true meaning of “March Madness.”
Although the 1956 finals top my all-time favorite state finals, here are a sampling of a few other magical moments over the years that will long be remembered by your author beginning with the final three seasons of the 1950s.
The 1957 season was highlighted by this author’s biased opinion of the top prep team in Greater Muskegon history, the Muskegon Heights Tigers. The first basketball team, and the second overall team to be inducted into the Greater Muskegon Sports Hall of Fame, the Ed Burton-led Tigers easily breezed past all comers in repeating as Class A State champs.
The 1958 Class A state final was an epic game between Detroit Austin and Benton Harbor that featured two of Michigan’s all-time best players, Austin’s Dave DeBusschere and Harbor’s Chet Walker. Western Michigan Christian old timers will best remember that year as the first of many Warrior state championships.
Many years have now passed since the 1959 state finals, but the comeback victory by Lansing Sexton over Hamtramck is still regarded as the most thrilling game in MHSAA history. I still remember from my seat near courtside, Sexton’s Bob Davis winning shot in overtime that bounced numerous times on the rim before falling through as pandemonium erupted in a sold-out Jenison Fieldhouse.
There have been numerous other memories that have stood out, but to save space, I’ll bring up a handful. How I remember going bonkers while broadcasting the 1979 state Class B finals when the Tiger’s Cedric Scott did his best Dr. J impersonation when he took off near the foul line and dunked a shot in the Tigers victory over Saginaw Buena Vista.
In the first game of the 1986 state finals, Buena Vista’s Chris Cole turned a dull game into one for the ages when he drilled a desperation shot from three quarters court in a win over Flint Beecher. Beecher coach Moses Lacy wasn’t impressed as he ‘accidentally’ dropped the runner-up trophy on the Crisler Arena floor as many in the sold-out crowd voiced their displeasure of Lacy’s act.
Two years later, a sold-out crowd at Crisler Arena was on hand to watch Mr. Basketball, Grand Rapids South Christian’s Matt Steigenga play in the Class B final against Bishop Borgess. In the first half, Steigenga picked up four fouls, all questionable calls that drew the wrath of the fans, many of whom had traveled from the far corners of the state to see Steigenga in action. Never in all my years of attending the state finals had I heard booing louder than when the officials left the court at halftime. Steigenga then played the entire second half without picking up his fifth foul as his team rallied for the victory. I’ve often wondered if an MHSAA administrator could possibly have visited with the officials at halftime to make a ‘subtle’ point that the crowd did not attend this game to watch the referees.
On a more positive note, I’ll not soon forget WMC’s Nick Bultema, with time expiring in the 1999 state D final game being fouled on a desperation 3-point shot in a tie game. With the score tied at 59-59, after missing his first free throw, Bultema made his next attempt for the game winner. The foul took place right in front of our broadcasting spot at the Breslin Center, much to the delight of my broadcasting partner Gene Young and me.
On a more somber note, I will end this latest story lamenting the recent passing of a couple of my friends who left an impact in Muskegon area athletic lore. Former Muskegon athletic director Steve Hoffman, a 1963 Big Red graduate and Dick Seymour, a part of the first graduating class of Muskegon Catholic in 1954 will be missed by many.
Hoffman, who served as a teacher, coach and AD at Muskegon High for more than 40 years, was best remembered by many as an outstanding AD for the Big Reds. I must confess that I was initially surprised with Hoffman’s promotion to the highest position in athletics at the turn of the century. I thought Steve was just too nice of a guy for a job that requires some toughness on occasion. Well, I was both right and wrong. I was right that Hoffman was still a nice guy, but clearly wrong on his toughness as he was an outstanding AD.
Nobody ever accused Dick Seymour of not being tough, yet he too was also one of those nice guys. Seymour was an outstanding football and basketball star, first at Muskegon St. Mary’s and then at Muskegon Catholic, where he starred on the first football team at MCC in the fall of 1953. Dick’s late brother George was my first broadcasting partner working the high school football games and often Dick would join us in the press box where I welcomed him with open arms. At St Mary’s, in its final year as a four-year school, Seymour was a teammate of one of this area’s all-time greats, the late Jim Morse. Morse and Seymour were more than just former teammates, as Jim Morse would marry Seymour’s sister Leah Rae.
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