The four Convertini boys: Sam, Bryan, Mason and Nolan
By Tom Kendra
LocalSportsJournal.com
Bryan Convertini recently put the finishing touches on an amazing four-year athletic career for Muskegon Catholic Central, but this goodbye was not just about him.
Bryan is the last of the four “Convertini boys” at MCC, who collectively have provided Crusader fans with plenty of big plays and thrilling wins - doing it all with their humble, no-nonsense leadership style - over the past 13 years.
“The Convertinis have really become the first family of Muskegon Catholic Central,” said MCC baseball coach Steve Schuitema, noting their father, Kolin, is an assistant varsity football coach and their mother, Jene, has served as the team mom for baseball and football for years.
“It will be different and a little sad to not have a Convertini out there for MCC any more. All of them were leaders and a coach’s dream and really an extension of the coach on the field.”
Mason, 26, graduated in 2017 and set the sports tone for his three brothers to follow, playing football, hockey as part of MCC’s cooperative team with Reeths-Puffer and baseball.
Nolan, 23, graduated in 2020 and, at 6-2, is the tallest of the brothers. He played the same three sports as Mason, and was the most versatile of the boys, playing almost every position in football, including starting two games at quarterback.
Sam, 21, graduated in 2022, and also played football, hockey and baseball, but he opted to play basketball his senior year so he could play with his younger brother, Bryan.
Bryan, 18, graduated on June 1 after a standout, three-sport career, including the past three years as the starting varsity quarterback, before starting college this fall at Grand Valley.
“My memories at MCC go way back to when I was like 6 or 7 and the waterboy in football and the batboy in baseball,” said Bryan with a smile.
“The first word that comes to mind when I think about it is family. The whole school is like a big family that pushes and supports each other.”
Grandpa’s boys
The Convertini boys come from good stock, starting with their grandfathers.
On their mother’s side is Grandpa Bryan McLay who, at the age of 87, is still considered “Mr. Hockey” in Muskegon.
McLay, a Kenora, Ontario, native who first came to Muskegon in 1960 (the same year that the downtown hockey arena opened), tallied more than 1,000 points in his 13 seasons with the Muskegon Zephyrs and later, the Mohawks.
McLay moved in with the family after his wife, Peggy, died four years ago and regularly regales his grandsons with his “old-time hockey” stories.
Jene picked up her father’s passion for sports and has been a natural in the Crusaders’ “team mom” role - organizing meals, car pools, fundraisers and sending out emails for game and schedule changes, among other things.
On their father’s side is Grandpa Fred Convertini, a California native who played in the 1966 Rose Bowl as an offensive lineman at Michigan State - part of what is considered the top offensive line in MSU history.
Kolin certainly inherited his father’s athletic ability, making first team all-state in football (running back), wrestling and track & field (pole vault) in his senior year of 1989-1990. He went on to play defensive back at Eastern Michigan University.
He also picked up his father’s humility and toughness, the latter which was put to the test in 2014 when he was diagnosed with cancer.
“Kolin’s cancer really brought us together as a family,” explained Jene. “We didn’t know how long we had and we decided we weren’t going to do travel sports any more. I didn’t want to be in Chicago and Kolin in Detroit for the weekend and then we say hi on the way out the door to work on Monday morning. We decided to spend more time together.”
Like their grandfathers and father, all four of the Convertini boys were known for their dependability, rarely if ever missing games due to sickness or injury.
In fact, Bryan suffered an injury in the opening football game of his junior season, then played the remaining 10 games on what was later determined to be a broken left ankle - and, by the way, he earned first team all-state as a defensive back with five interceptions.
“It hurt so bad,” Bryan said, shaking his head. “But I needed to be out there. My team needed me to be out there.”
Home cooking
The Convertini house in Norton Shores has been a gathering place for MCC athletes for years.
It all started when the boys were little, wrestling between the couches and shooting pucks at the walls in the basement.
Later on, that basement became the annual meeting spot for the MCC football team for “Selection Sunday,” when the team would learn its draw for the postseason playoffs.
Mason and Nolan, the two older boys, certainly enjoyed the most team success. Mason was part of three state championship football teams from 2014 to 2016. Nolan, meanwhile, played in three national championship games (with two titles) as a member of the Hope College men’s club hockey team.
The two younger boys had less team success, in large part because MCC really started struggling with numbers, but Sam and Bryan certainly did all they could and were rewarded with individual accolades.
Sam was the first of the brothers to make first team all-state, earning the honor as a tight end in 2021. Bryan did one better, making all-state twice - in his junior year as a defensive back and in his senior year as an athlete, for his contributions all over the field.
Bryan also made first team all-state last year in baseball, batting .478 as an outfielder.
In football, he rose above his broken ankle as a junior to rush for more than 800 yards and 11 touchdowns. In a win over Benton Harbor, he had a rushing TD, a passing TD, a receiving TD and returned an interception for yet another TD. This past fall as a senior, he threw for 880 yards and rushed for 621, while making a team-high 81 tackles in his first year at linebacker.
But when asked about the individual highlight of his football career, he doesn’t hesitate.
“That would have to be my freshman year, when I threw a halfback pass to my brother (Sam) for a touchdown,” recalled Bryan, which occurred in a victory over Muskegon Heights, which was the 500th win in MCC football history.
Going out with a bang
Bryan ended his senior baseball season strong, leading his team to conference and district titles, effectively writing a happy ending to the Convertini novel.
The Crusaders’ baseball team finished 20-10, with its final win a 12-0 pounding of Bear Lake in the regional semifinals, when Bryan blasted a home run and two doubles and finished with five RBI.
He made some tweaks at the plate in early May and then went on a tear, batting more than .400 for the season with 10 doubles, while playing the critical position of shortstop out of need - even though he is a natural outfielder.
Bryan and his teammates fell one win short of repeating his freshman season, when he batted leadoff and helped the Crusaders to District and Regional championships. MCC had won 11 straight districts before losing last spring, before restarting that streak this year by avenging last year’s district loss to White Cloud.
It was a satisfying ending after an uncharacteristic football season when the young Crusaders (who started three 14-year-old freshmen on the offensive line) finished 1-7.
Things went much better in basketball, as Bryan teamed with all-stater Bradley Richards to help MCC to an 11-10 record, its first winning season in six years.
Through winning or losing, MCC football coach Steve Czerwon said the strong Catholic faith of the Convertini family is always front and center.
The family will gather to celebrate in early September, when Mason and his fiancee, Sophie, get married at St. Michael’s Church in Muskegon. That is about the same time that Bryan will be off to Grand Valley, and Czerwon and the MCC football program will begin the post-Convertini era.
“Bryan and all of his brothers have an inner strength which sets them apart,” said Czerwon, who took over as MCC’s head coach in 2013, which was Mason’s freshman year.
“All of them respect authority and they want to learn and get better, which is all that you can ask.
“It’s been a pleasure working with their family. We are all going to miss them.”
LocalSportsJournal.com
Bryan Convertini recently put the finishing touches on an amazing four-year athletic career for Muskegon Catholic Central, but this goodbye was not just about him.
Bryan is the last of the four “Convertini boys” at MCC, who collectively have provided Crusader fans with plenty of big plays and thrilling wins - doing it all with their humble, no-nonsense leadership style - over the past 13 years.
“The Convertinis have really become the first family of Muskegon Catholic Central,” said MCC baseball coach Steve Schuitema, noting their father, Kolin, is an assistant varsity football coach and their mother, Jene, has served as the team mom for baseball and football for years.
“It will be different and a little sad to not have a Convertini out there for MCC any more. All of them were leaders and a coach’s dream and really an extension of the coach on the field.”
Mason, 26, graduated in 2017 and set the sports tone for his three brothers to follow, playing football, hockey as part of MCC’s cooperative team with Reeths-Puffer and baseball.
Nolan, 23, graduated in 2020 and, at 6-2, is the tallest of the brothers. He played the same three sports as Mason, and was the most versatile of the boys, playing almost every position in football, including starting two games at quarterback.
Sam, 21, graduated in 2022, and also played football, hockey and baseball, but he opted to play basketball his senior year so he could play with his younger brother, Bryan.
Bryan, 18, graduated on June 1 after a standout, three-sport career, including the past three years as the starting varsity quarterback, before starting college this fall at Grand Valley.
“My memories at MCC go way back to when I was like 6 or 7 and the waterboy in football and the batboy in baseball,” said Bryan with a smile.
“The first word that comes to mind when I think about it is family. The whole school is like a big family that pushes and supports each other.”
Grandpa’s boys
The Convertini boys come from good stock, starting with their grandfathers.
On their mother’s side is Grandpa Bryan McLay who, at the age of 87, is still considered “Mr. Hockey” in Muskegon.
McLay, a Kenora, Ontario, native who first came to Muskegon in 1960 (the same year that the downtown hockey arena opened), tallied more than 1,000 points in his 13 seasons with the Muskegon Zephyrs and later, the Mohawks.
McLay moved in with the family after his wife, Peggy, died four years ago and regularly regales his grandsons with his “old-time hockey” stories.
Jene picked up her father’s passion for sports and has been a natural in the Crusaders’ “team mom” role - organizing meals, car pools, fundraisers and sending out emails for game and schedule changes, among other things.
On their father’s side is Grandpa Fred Convertini, a California native who played in the 1966 Rose Bowl as an offensive lineman at Michigan State - part of what is considered the top offensive line in MSU history.
Kolin certainly inherited his father’s athletic ability, making first team all-state in football (running back), wrestling and track & field (pole vault) in his senior year of 1989-1990. He went on to play defensive back at Eastern Michigan University.
He also picked up his father’s humility and toughness, the latter which was put to the test in 2014 when he was diagnosed with cancer.
“Kolin’s cancer really brought us together as a family,” explained Jene. “We didn’t know how long we had and we decided we weren’t going to do travel sports any more. I didn’t want to be in Chicago and Kolin in Detroit for the weekend and then we say hi on the way out the door to work on Monday morning. We decided to spend more time together.”
Like their grandfathers and father, all four of the Convertini boys were known for their dependability, rarely if ever missing games due to sickness or injury.
In fact, Bryan suffered an injury in the opening football game of his junior season, then played the remaining 10 games on what was later determined to be a broken left ankle - and, by the way, he earned first team all-state as a defensive back with five interceptions.
“It hurt so bad,” Bryan said, shaking his head. “But I needed to be out there. My team needed me to be out there.”
Home cooking
The Convertini house in Norton Shores has been a gathering place for MCC athletes for years.
It all started when the boys were little, wrestling between the couches and shooting pucks at the walls in the basement.
Later on, that basement became the annual meeting spot for the MCC football team for “Selection Sunday,” when the team would learn its draw for the postseason playoffs.
Mason and Nolan, the two older boys, certainly enjoyed the most team success. Mason was part of three state championship football teams from 2014 to 2016. Nolan, meanwhile, played in three national championship games (with two titles) as a member of the Hope College men’s club hockey team.
The two younger boys had less team success, in large part because MCC really started struggling with numbers, but Sam and Bryan certainly did all they could and were rewarded with individual accolades.
Sam was the first of the brothers to make first team all-state, earning the honor as a tight end in 2021. Bryan did one better, making all-state twice - in his junior year as a defensive back and in his senior year as an athlete, for his contributions all over the field.
Bryan also made first team all-state last year in baseball, batting .478 as an outfielder.
In football, he rose above his broken ankle as a junior to rush for more than 800 yards and 11 touchdowns. In a win over Benton Harbor, he had a rushing TD, a passing TD, a receiving TD and returned an interception for yet another TD. This past fall as a senior, he threw for 880 yards and rushed for 621, while making a team-high 81 tackles in his first year at linebacker.
But when asked about the individual highlight of his football career, he doesn’t hesitate.
“That would have to be my freshman year, when I threw a halfback pass to my brother (Sam) for a touchdown,” recalled Bryan, which occurred in a victory over Muskegon Heights, which was the 500th win in MCC football history.
Going out with a bang
Bryan ended his senior baseball season strong, leading his team to conference and district titles, effectively writing a happy ending to the Convertini novel.
The Crusaders’ baseball team finished 20-10, with its final win a 12-0 pounding of Bear Lake in the regional semifinals, when Bryan blasted a home run and two doubles and finished with five RBI.
He made some tweaks at the plate in early May and then went on a tear, batting more than .400 for the season with 10 doubles, while playing the critical position of shortstop out of need - even though he is a natural outfielder.
Bryan and his teammates fell one win short of repeating his freshman season, when he batted leadoff and helped the Crusaders to District and Regional championships. MCC had won 11 straight districts before losing last spring, before restarting that streak this year by avenging last year’s district loss to White Cloud.
It was a satisfying ending after an uncharacteristic football season when the young Crusaders (who started three 14-year-old freshmen on the offensive line) finished 1-7.
Things went much better in basketball, as Bryan teamed with all-stater Bradley Richards to help MCC to an 11-10 record, its first winning season in six years.
Through winning or losing, MCC football coach Steve Czerwon said the strong Catholic faith of the Convertini family is always front and center.
The family will gather to celebrate in early September, when Mason and his fiancee, Sophie, get married at St. Michael’s Church in Muskegon. That is about the same time that Bryan will be off to Grand Valley, and Czerwon and the MCC football program will begin the post-Convertini era.
“Bryan and all of his brothers have an inner strength which sets them apart,” said Czerwon, who took over as MCC’s head coach in 2013, which was Mason’s freshman year.
“All of them respect authority and they want to learn and get better, which is all that you can ask.
“It’s been a pleasure working with their family. We are all going to miss them.”
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