Former North Muskegon High School and Michigan State University basketball star Drew Naymick had a long professional basketball career and played in Europe, Latin America, Greece, Japan, and Australia.
(Photo by Scott DeCamp)
By Scott DeCamp
LocalSportsJournal.com
LocalSportsJournal.com
NORTH MUSKEGON – Anywhere Drew Naymick goes, he’s perfectly fine blending in with the crowd.
If that’s even possible for a 6-foot-10 redhead.
The former North Muskegon High School and Michigan State University basketball big man has never looked for special treatment. Naymick is, however, a local legend and he’ll be enshrined as such this summer when he’s inducted into the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame for the 2026 class.
“It’s a great, great honor and a blessing to be included with the area greats,” Naymick said. “You know, Bennie Oosterbaan, Earl Morrall through Karel Bailey, Coach (Dave) Cooke is going in … Justin Abdelkader, a great, great Spartan. You know, it’s amazing. And, again, it’s a great blessing and an honor to go up there and join those guys.
“Growing up, it wasn’t really something that I thought about, you know. You think, ‘Hey, you know, look at all these local legends and what they’ve accomplished.’”
Cooke, the highly successful high school football coach at North Muskegon and other stops, is being inducted alongside Naymick. Joining them will be Craig Zeerip and sons Brandon, Justin, and Collin for their wrestling exploits in Hesperia and beyond, as well as the Roosevelt Park 2001 Little League team that captured a state championship.
Frank Schubert will be recognized with the Gene Young Distinguished Service Award, which is presented annually to an individual who made a significant contribution to sports in the area but not as an athlete. In May, the MASHF will announce winners of the Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year, chosen from nominees from area high schools.
The MASHF Class of 2026 induction ceremony will be held June 6, 2026, at Fricano Event Center in Muskegon.
“I’ve got to thank my coaches and teammates all along the way who pushed me and made me better every single day, every single practice,” said Naymick, who enjoyed a lengthy professional basketball career overseas following his time at MSU. “Again, I’m just happy to be going up there in the (MASHF) with all of the local, area legends.”
The 2003 North Muskegon alumnus is back in West Michigan now. In his day job, he manages some rental properties in the area and has “some other irons in the fire.” At night, Naymick, 40, has been calling Muskegon-area high school basketball games as a rookie color commentator for the Local Sports Journal on WLCS-FM 98.3. He’s called games in the old North Muskegon barn where he made so many memories.
Naymick has never been about himself. He’s as level-headed as they come. He enjoys broadcasting games and helping to preserve memories for the next wave of athletes making their marks.
“Obviously, as a player, he was 6-foot-10, and that was a big deal. I mean, even as a ninth-grader, he’s at that height,” said Jeff Cooke, Dave Cooke’s son, who coached Naymick at North Muskegon in the early-2000s.
“Coaching Drew was great not only because of his height and his talents, but that he was a great person. And I knew him when he was a little kid. We went to the same church and I got to know him well. I never had to worry about any kind of, you know, him wanting to be, ‘I’m the best player, so give me the ball’ kind of attitude, and I was lucky to have him as part of our team.”
During his senior season at North Muskegon, Naymick averaged 18 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 5.5 blocks per game. He finished third in 2003 Michigan Mr. Basketball voting and he was chosen for the Detroit Free Press Dream Team.
That season, his presence helped carry North Muskegon to the Class C state quarterfinals, where he and the Norsemen ran into Naymick’s future MSU teammate, Marquise Gray, and his Flint Beecher squad. North Muskegon lost a tough one to Beecher that day at Alma, 60-54, and finished the season 24-2.
Earlier in that state tournament run, North Muskegon defeated Western Michigan Christian in the district finals. Legendary WMC coach Jim Goorman, also a MASHF inductee, had the unenviable task of game-planning for Naymick and his long wingspan. The Warriors did what they could, but it was not enough as the Norsemen emerged with a 42-34 victory in the defensive struggle.
“They had two guys that could shoot and Naymick was the one in the middle. Our strategy was, if you’re going to beat North Muskegon, you’ve got to keep him from getting the ball inside because it’s going to be a dunk or a little, short shot,” Goorman recalled. “So we really jammed him once the ball got into the middle with three or four guys and then hoped that when they kicked the ball out, they’d miss the shot.
“We had to be physical because he just dominated on the boards. The other thing I remember is that he was just so intimidating when we did get the ball inside. We had to live by the outside shot that game, that tournament game, and we came up short. (It was) the Drew Naymick Show that we always had to deal with when we played them.”
The Drew Naymick Show played to rave reviews during his time at North Muskegon. He amassed career figures of 1,577 points (school record at that time), 859 rebounds (still a school record), and 527 blocks, the latter of which remains an MHSAA record. During his four-year varsity basketball career, the Norsemen compiled a 69-23 record.
Along with his physical attributes, Naymick leveraged his intelligence and skill set into a notable career at MSU and a memorable journey overseas during a professional career that spanned a dozen or so years and included multiple championships along the way. He called it an “unbelievable opportunity” to play in Europe, Latin America, Greece, Japan, and Australia, traveling the world and seeing what’s out there.
“Basketball, really, it’s a small circle, even at the international level overseas,” Naymick said. “That was another great thing about the experience over the years – playing against your teammates, playing against the guys you faced off against in college. I loved it, seeing the world and competing all over the world.”
During his MSU career (2003-08), Naymick established a program record for career blocked shots with 134. He’s now seventh on the list. He developed as an overall player to the point where he became a key part of the Spartans’ success during that stint. During his junior and senior seasons, he stepped into a starting role.
During his North Muskegon High School days, Naymick brought big-time attention to the small community in the way of college recruiters. To this day, four backboards in North Muskegon’s elementary gym have logos of MSU, Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame on them accompanied by autographs from Tom Izzo, Tommy Amaker, Jim O’Brien, and Mike Brey, respectively.
“When he was being recruited, holy cow,” Jeff Cooke remembered. “I got to meet Tom Izzo. I got to meet Michigan’s coach, Tommy Amaker. I got to meet Ohio State’s coach. I got to meet Notre Dame’s. I got to meet Stanford’s coach. I got to meet all these guys, and that was something that obviously was kind of unique and I just thought it was fun, and a lot of MAC schools and things like that. So that was cool.”
One thing, in particular, that still hits Cooke emotionally when thinking about Naymick is when he was invited to play in the 2003 Jordan Brand Classic all-star basketball game in Washington, DC, with the likes of LeBron James and Chris Paul. Naymick declined because it would have made him ineligible to play baseball for the Norsemen that spring because of MHSAA rules.
Naymick was a solid first baseman for the Norse and spending his senior baseball season with his buddies meant a lot to him. Cooke said that was “special.” After all, North Muskegon and its neighboring communities is where it all started for Naymick.
The son of Bill and Jan Naymick said his early basketball memories centered around the times his dad took him to the Muskegon YMCA when Drew was “like, 4 or 5” years old. Naymick fondly remembers his youth team being “the Chicago Bulls” – “the Jordan Bulls,” he pointed out.
When Naymick got a little older, he attended high school games at North Muskegon during the mid-1990s and idolized players such as Leigh Kakaty. In fact, he was in the building the night Kakaty poured in a school- and gym-record 54 points against Baldwin. Naymick joked that he didn’t come close to touching 54 points at North Muskegon – “I’m more of a defensive guy,” he quipped – although he did surpass Kakaty in career points when the time came.
“It was really cool to be able to have those memories growing up here and kind of create a basis for your love of basketball,” Naymick said. “Credit to my teammates, coaches, and family for allowing that and supporting that all the way through. And it’s always good to come back.
“Coach Izzo always put it, ‘When you’re leaving a legacy, especially in athletics, it’s like a footprint in the sand,’ right?” Naymick said. “You make your mark while you’re there, maybe you set some records, hopefully win a championship, or make a memorable run as a team. Then it’s time for next year’s team to come on and do their thing.”
If that’s even possible for a 6-foot-10 redhead.
The former North Muskegon High School and Michigan State University basketball big man has never looked for special treatment. Naymick is, however, a local legend and he’ll be enshrined as such this summer when he’s inducted into the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame for the 2026 class.
“It’s a great, great honor and a blessing to be included with the area greats,” Naymick said. “You know, Bennie Oosterbaan, Earl Morrall through Karel Bailey, Coach (Dave) Cooke is going in … Justin Abdelkader, a great, great Spartan. You know, it’s amazing. And, again, it’s a great blessing and an honor to go up there and join those guys.
“Growing up, it wasn’t really something that I thought about, you know. You think, ‘Hey, you know, look at all these local legends and what they’ve accomplished.’”
Cooke, the highly successful high school football coach at North Muskegon and other stops, is being inducted alongside Naymick. Joining them will be Craig Zeerip and sons Brandon, Justin, and Collin for their wrestling exploits in Hesperia and beyond, as well as the Roosevelt Park 2001 Little League team that captured a state championship.
Frank Schubert will be recognized with the Gene Young Distinguished Service Award, which is presented annually to an individual who made a significant contribution to sports in the area but not as an athlete. In May, the MASHF will announce winners of the Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year, chosen from nominees from area high schools.
The MASHF Class of 2026 induction ceremony will be held June 6, 2026, at Fricano Event Center in Muskegon.
“I’ve got to thank my coaches and teammates all along the way who pushed me and made me better every single day, every single practice,” said Naymick, who enjoyed a lengthy professional basketball career overseas following his time at MSU. “Again, I’m just happy to be going up there in the (MASHF) with all of the local, area legends.”
The 2003 North Muskegon alumnus is back in West Michigan now. In his day job, he manages some rental properties in the area and has “some other irons in the fire.” At night, Naymick, 40, has been calling Muskegon-area high school basketball games as a rookie color commentator for the Local Sports Journal on WLCS-FM 98.3. He’s called games in the old North Muskegon barn where he made so many memories.
Naymick has never been about himself. He’s as level-headed as they come. He enjoys broadcasting games and helping to preserve memories for the next wave of athletes making their marks.
“Obviously, as a player, he was 6-foot-10, and that was a big deal. I mean, even as a ninth-grader, he’s at that height,” said Jeff Cooke, Dave Cooke’s son, who coached Naymick at North Muskegon in the early-2000s.
“Coaching Drew was great not only because of his height and his talents, but that he was a great person. And I knew him when he was a little kid. We went to the same church and I got to know him well. I never had to worry about any kind of, you know, him wanting to be, ‘I’m the best player, so give me the ball’ kind of attitude, and I was lucky to have him as part of our team.”
During his senior season at North Muskegon, Naymick averaged 18 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 5.5 blocks per game. He finished third in 2003 Michigan Mr. Basketball voting and he was chosen for the Detroit Free Press Dream Team.
That season, his presence helped carry North Muskegon to the Class C state quarterfinals, where he and the Norsemen ran into Naymick’s future MSU teammate, Marquise Gray, and his Flint Beecher squad. North Muskegon lost a tough one to Beecher that day at Alma, 60-54, and finished the season 24-2.
Earlier in that state tournament run, North Muskegon defeated Western Michigan Christian in the district finals. Legendary WMC coach Jim Goorman, also a MASHF inductee, had the unenviable task of game-planning for Naymick and his long wingspan. The Warriors did what they could, but it was not enough as the Norsemen emerged with a 42-34 victory in the defensive struggle.
“They had two guys that could shoot and Naymick was the one in the middle. Our strategy was, if you’re going to beat North Muskegon, you’ve got to keep him from getting the ball inside because it’s going to be a dunk or a little, short shot,” Goorman recalled. “So we really jammed him once the ball got into the middle with three or four guys and then hoped that when they kicked the ball out, they’d miss the shot.
“We had to be physical because he just dominated on the boards. The other thing I remember is that he was just so intimidating when we did get the ball inside. We had to live by the outside shot that game, that tournament game, and we came up short. (It was) the Drew Naymick Show that we always had to deal with when we played them.”
The Drew Naymick Show played to rave reviews during his time at North Muskegon. He amassed career figures of 1,577 points (school record at that time), 859 rebounds (still a school record), and 527 blocks, the latter of which remains an MHSAA record. During his four-year varsity basketball career, the Norsemen compiled a 69-23 record.
Along with his physical attributes, Naymick leveraged his intelligence and skill set into a notable career at MSU and a memorable journey overseas during a professional career that spanned a dozen or so years and included multiple championships along the way. He called it an “unbelievable opportunity” to play in Europe, Latin America, Greece, Japan, and Australia, traveling the world and seeing what’s out there.
“Basketball, really, it’s a small circle, even at the international level overseas,” Naymick said. “That was another great thing about the experience over the years – playing against your teammates, playing against the guys you faced off against in college. I loved it, seeing the world and competing all over the world.”
During his MSU career (2003-08), Naymick established a program record for career blocked shots with 134. He’s now seventh on the list. He developed as an overall player to the point where he became a key part of the Spartans’ success during that stint. During his junior and senior seasons, he stepped into a starting role.
During his North Muskegon High School days, Naymick brought big-time attention to the small community in the way of college recruiters. To this day, four backboards in North Muskegon’s elementary gym have logos of MSU, Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame on them accompanied by autographs from Tom Izzo, Tommy Amaker, Jim O’Brien, and Mike Brey, respectively.
“When he was being recruited, holy cow,” Jeff Cooke remembered. “I got to meet Tom Izzo. I got to meet Michigan’s coach, Tommy Amaker. I got to meet Ohio State’s coach. I got to meet Notre Dame’s. I got to meet Stanford’s coach. I got to meet all these guys, and that was something that obviously was kind of unique and I just thought it was fun, and a lot of MAC schools and things like that. So that was cool.”
One thing, in particular, that still hits Cooke emotionally when thinking about Naymick is when he was invited to play in the 2003 Jordan Brand Classic all-star basketball game in Washington, DC, with the likes of LeBron James and Chris Paul. Naymick declined because it would have made him ineligible to play baseball for the Norsemen that spring because of MHSAA rules.
Naymick was a solid first baseman for the Norse and spending his senior baseball season with his buddies meant a lot to him. Cooke said that was “special.” After all, North Muskegon and its neighboring communities is where it all started for Naymick.
The son of Bill and Jan Naymick said his early basketball memories centered around the times his dad took him to the Muskegon YMCA when Drew was “like, 4 or 5” years old. Naymick fondly remembers his youth team being “the Chicago Bulls” – “the Jordan Bulls,” he pointed out.
When Naymick got a little older, he attended high school games at North Muskegon during the mid-1990s and idolized players such as Leigh Kakaty. In fact, he was in the building the night Kakaty poured in a school- and gym-record 54 points against Baldwin. Naymick joked that he didn’t come close to touching 54 points at North Muskegon – “I’m more of a defensive guy,” he quipped – although he did surpass Kakaty in career points when the time came.
“It was really cool to be able to have those memories growing up here and kind of create a basis for your love of basketball,” Naymick said. “Credit to my teammates, coaches, and family for allowing that and supporting that all the way through. And it’s always good to come back.
“Coach Izzo always put it, ‘When you’re leaving a legacy, especially in athletics, it’s like a footprint in the sand,’ right?” Naymick said. “You make your mark while you’re there, maybe you set some records, hopefully win a championship, or make a memorable run as a team. Then it’s time for next year’s team to come on and do their thing.”
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