By Jim Moyes
LocalSportsJournal.com
I thought this ‘ole announcer’ should dust off a few of his memories from yesteryear to share with the readers. Maybe one could call this story the ‘Did you know this about Muskegon sports?”
Let’s begin with this little tidbit that will surely bring up many fond memories for Big Red fans from long ago.
For years, beginning in 1941, several students and fans would board a special train that would take fans to and from Benton Harbor. It was long before expressways became a fixture in our modern-day era.
Muskegon ordered 1,000 tickets for that early October game back in 1941 with Benton Harbor at a cost of $1. The train would depart Muskegon around 4 p.m. and would arrive about 7:30 for the 8 p.m. kickoff. The train would return the fans and leave about 11 p.m. Students, several fans and even the band made the trip in 1941. I believe the annual sojourn to Benton Harbor by train for a football game continued into the 1960s. And, for many years, this was also true for Muskegon Heights fans who would also board the train when the Tigers played in Benton Harbor.
Winning streaks are often noted in many sports, but I’m curious as to what local school holds the record for the longest winning streak in any sport? Perhaps the longest winning streak was the 108 matches won by the Whitehall golf team in the early 1960s. The streak was snapped in 1963 when the Viking golfers lost to Ludington by a single stroke.
Conversely, Walkerville’s basketball team snapped a 75-game losing streak in November of 1967 when they beat Leelanau St. Mary’s 65-41. Walkerville hadn’t won a game prior to that victory since Nov 16, 1961.
Reeths Puffer basketball buffs will surely remember when former Rocket coach Andy Manning attempted to emulate the run & gun style of racehorse basketball of Paul Westhead some 25 years ago. The Rockets once scored 106 points in a game - and lost - to Spring Lake 107-106. The Rockets surpassed the century mark despite missing 19 free throws in a December game played in 1990.
I’ve always been curious as to how many of those incredible Muskegon Zephyr hockey standouts in the early 1960s would have made it to the NHL if there were 32 franchises instead of the measly six. Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, and NY Rangers were the only six teams in the NHL. I guess we will never know, but my guess would be that such stars as Kenny Hayden, Jerry Glaude and my buddy Bryan McLay would have been locks.
The war years in the early 1940s took a toll on everything in that tumultuous era. In late February of 1943, Muskegon Community College basketball coach Fred Rode had to cancel his final games of the season as five of his players had to leave for the service, leaving three players on his roster. there were 194 Muskegon area men who entered the service on Feb 23, 1943, including Bill Thornberry, Ray Carlson, Norbert Fleckenstein, and many other former athletes. Not only was it hard to find players, but it was also true for coaches. So hard that Muskegon St. Mary’s made a plea in The Muskegon Chronicle to see if anyone was interested in being the Irish head coach.
The following year, it was first reported that Shelby was forced to drop football for the 1944 season as their football field was to be used as a camp for German prisoners of war. Some 500 POWS were used in Shelby in 1944 with many of the prisoners working in the cherry fields. Shelby somehow was able to field a football team in 1945, winning but one game with their ‘home’ games played in nearby Hart.
Hard to believe, but there were less than 500 fans on hand in College Park, Md. on Oct 20, 1944, when Michigan State, who did not field a football team (or any other sport) in 1943, defeated Maryland 8-0 in a game played in a driving rain. They had no trouble finding fans to attend a football game two days later when 43,539 fans packed Briggs Stadium in Detroit to watch a high school game played between Detroit Catholic and Boystown of Nebraska. Has there ever been a larger crowd to attend a prep game in MHSAA prep annals?
With pitcher and catchers due to report for Spring Training soon, I thought I would bring up this ironman baseball feat achieved by former Oakridge and CMU pitching ace Bob Cavanaugh. Coaches looked the other way for pitch counts when Cavanaugh was dominating area baseball in 1980.
Bob was the winning pitcher in three games in one day! Cavanaugh went 4 innings in wins over Montague and North Muskegon and then went the route in the 1-0 championship game with rival Ravenna, tossing a no-hitter against the Bulldogs. Just two days before the County Tournament, Cavanaugh hurled a 5-inning, no-hitter. In all, Cavanaugh pitched 22 scoreless innings in three days. In today’s pitch count era, pitchers cannot pitch more than 10 innings without having at least a two-days’ rest.
And speaking of pitch counts ... Can anybody top the pitching feat of Paul Bard when he went 15 innings against Kalamazoo Central in a Southwest Championship game in Kazoo in 1941? He struck out 14, spaced out nine hits and walked only two batters. I’ve often preached, to no avail, that Paul Bard should be in the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame. And how about a happy birthday to Paul’s widow Mary Ann who on Christmas Eve celebrated her 100th birthday.
On that note I will close and wish all Muskegon sports fans a happy 2026.
LocalSportsJournal.com
I thought this ‘ole announcer’ should dust off a few of his memories from yesteryear to share with the readers. Maybe one could call this story the ‘Did you know this about Muskegon sports?”
Let’s begin with this little tidbit that will surely bring up many fond memories for Big Red fans from long ago.
For years, beginning in 1941, several students and fans would board a special train that would take fans to and from Benton Harbor. It was long before expressways became a fixture in our modern-day era.
Muskegon ordered 1,000 tickets for that early October game back in 1941 with Benton Harbor at a cost of $1. The train would depart Muskegon around 4 p.m. and would arrive about 7:30 for the 8 p.m. kickoff. The train would return the fans and leave about 11 p.m. Students, several fans and even the band made the trip in 1941. I believe the annual sojourn to Benton Harbor by train for a football game continued into the 1960s. And, for many years, this was also true for Muskegon Heights fans who would also board the train when the Tigers played in Benton Harbor.
Winning streaks are often noted in many sports, but I’m curious as to what local school holds the record for the longest winning streak in any sport? Perhaps the longest winning streak was the 108 matches won by the Whitehall golf team in the early 1960s. The streak was snapped in 1963 when the Viking golfers lost to Ludington by a single stroke.
Conversely, Walkerville’s basketball team snapped a 75-game losing streak in November of 1967 when they beat Leelanau St. Mary’s 65-41. Walkerville hadn’t won a game prior to that victory since Nov 16, 1961.
Reeths Puffer basketball buffs will surely remember when former Rocket coach Andy Manning attempted to emulate the run & gun style of racehorse basketball of Paul Westhead some 25 years ago. The Rockets once scored 106 points in a game - and lost - to Spring Lake 107-106. The Rockets surpassed the century mark despite missing 19 free throws in a December game played in 1990.
I’ve always been curious as to how many of those incredible Muskegon Zephyr hockey standouts in the early 1960s would have made it to the NHL if there were 32 franchises instead of the measly six. Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, and NY Rangers were the only six teams in the NHL. I guess we will never know, but my guess would be that such stars as Kenny Hayden, Jerry Glaude and my buddy Bryan McLay would have been locks.
The war years in the early 1940s took a toll on everything in that tumultuous era. In late February of 1943, Muskegon Community College basketball coach Fred Rode had to cancel his final games of the season as five of his players had to leave for the service, leaving three players on his roster. there were 194 Muskegon area men who entered the service on Feb 23, 1943, including Bill Thornberry, Ray Carlson, Norbert Fleckenstein, and many other former athletes. Not only was it hard to find players, but it was also true for coaches. So hard that Muskegon St. Mary’s made a plea in The Muskegon Chronicle to see if anyone was interested in being the Irish head coach.
The following year, it was first reported that Shelby was forced to drop football for the 1944 season as their football field was to be used as a camp for German prisoners of war. Some 500 POWS were used in Shelby in 1944 with many of the prisoners working in the cherry fields. Shelby somehow was able to field a football team in 1945, winning but one game with their ‘home’ games played in nearby Hart.
Hard to believe, but there were less than 500 fans on hand in College Park, Md. on Oct 20, 1944, when Michigan State, who did not field a football team (or any other sport) in 1943, defeated Maryland 8-0 in a game played in a driving rain. They had no trouble finding fans to attend a football game two days later when 43,539 fans packed Briggs Stadium in Detroit to watch a high school game played between Detroit Catholic and Boystown of Nebraska. Has there ever been a larger crowd to attend a prep game in MHSAA prep annals?
With pitcher and catchers due to report for Spring Training soon, I thought I would bring up this ironman baseball feat achieved by former Oakridge and CMU pitching ace Bob Cavanaugh. Coaches looked the other way for pitch counts when Cavanaugh was dominating area baseball in 1980.
Bob was the winning pitcher in three games in one day! Cavanaugh went 4 innings in wins over Montague and North Muskegon and then went the route in the 1-0 championship game with rival Ravenna, tossing a no-hitter against the Bulldogs. Just two days before the County Tournament, Cavanaugh hurled a 5-inning, no-hitter. In all, Cavanaugh pitched 22 scoreless innings in three days. In today’s pitch count era, pitchers cannot pitch more than 10 innings without having at least a two-days’ rest.
And speaking of pitch counts ... Can anybody top the pitching feat of Paul Bard when he went 15 innings against Kalamazoo Central in a Southwest Championship game in Kazoo in 1941? He struck out 14, spaced out nine hits and walked only two batters. I’ve often preached, to no avail, that Paul Bard should be in the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame. And how about a happy birthday to Paul’s widow Mary Ann who on Christmas Eve celebrated her 100th birthday.
On that note I will close and wish all Muskegon sports fans a happy 2026.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
