60 Years Later, Chassell Streak Stands
March 22, 2016
Sixty years ago, something happened in Michigan high school boys basketball that hadn’t happened before and hasn’t happened since – three Upper Peninsula teams won titles. Stephenson beat Detroit St. Andrew, 73-71 in overtime when “Marvelous” Mel Peterson made the first basket of sudden death; Crystal Falls (before it was called Forest Park) beat Berrien Springs, 71-69, in Class C; and Chassell won the first of three straight Class D titles, beating Portland St. Patrick, 71-68, by rallying from a 15-point deficit with less than four minutes to play.
The win was part of Chassell’s state record 65-game winning streak, which still stands. Below is an excerpt of a piece on the Chassell streak written before the teams were honored as part of the “Legends of the Games” program at the 1998 Boys Basketball Finals.
The old adage in sports states that records are made to be broken. The longer, however, the record stands, the more legendary the accomplishment becomes.
Chassell's wins were the centerpiece of Upper Peninsula success in the MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament during the first 11 years after the format unified the two peninsulas. From 1932 to 1947, separate finals were conducted in both peninsulas. Between 1948 and 1958, Upper Peninsula schools won three Class B crowns (there were no Class A schools in the U.P. at the time), two Class C titles, and seven Class D championships – over one-third of the available first-place finishes.
Wrote the Marquette Mining Journal in 1956, the year that Stephenson in Class B, Crystal Falls in Class C and Chassell in Class D all won MHSAA titles, "All of these is a startling figure since in the period the U.P. has only 42 (schools) -- one eighth of all the lower class quarterfinalists.
"Under the law of averages, the U.P. should come up with one state champ every three years."
It looked at first that the law of averages would catch up with Chassell. After starting the 1955-56 season with 11 straight wins, the Panthers lost a close January game at Trout Creek, and then won their way downstate into the finals against Portland St. Patrick. In that final game, St. Patrick held a 15-point lead at 68-53 with less than four minutes to play.
Coach Ed Helakoski, the architect of the Chassell winning streak, called time out and told his team to apply full court pressure, a rarity at the high school level at that time.
Playing without standouts Terry Pokela and Tom Peters, who had fouled out, Chassell scored the final 18 points of the contest, the biggest game-ending rally in Finals history, and won the first crown, 71-68. Sophomore guard Don Mattson scored the winning points with only seconds to play, finished the game with a finals record 25 points, and the Panthers finished the season 25-1 with 14 consecutive victories.
During the 25-0 run to the crown in 1956-57, the only close games were regular-season wins against National Mine (71-66), L'Anse (64-63), Doelle (73-69), and a 58-50 decision over Stevensville in the championship game at Jenison Fieldhouse. Of the other 21 games, none were closer than 13 points, and the average margin of victory was 27 points.
The winning streak stood at 39 entering the 1957-58 season, and the 10-year state record of 59 consecutive victories by Mass from 1947-49 was within reach. However, Mattson was the only returning starter from the back-to-back championship teams, and perhaps Helakoski's greatest coaching job lay ahead to replace four starters in a school which had just over 30 boys enrolled in grades 9-12.
Doelle, which had given the Panthers one of its closest games the season before, was leading, 62-60, in an early-season contest. As time ran out, Bob Belhummer of Chassell was fouled at midcourt and sent to the free throw line with a one-and-one opportunity. Belhummer sank both shots to force the only overtime game of the streak, a 72-66 victory.
The new state record of 60 consecutive victories came in a 45-43 decision over Marenisco in the MHSAA District championship game. A trip over the newly-constructed Mackinaw Bridge came two weeks later and the Panthers became the first school to bring an MHSAA trophy across the structure when the 65th victory was recorded, a 66-61 decision over Owosso St. Paul. Mattson tallied 27 points in the finale to set another championship game record.
In the 40 years since Chassell's incredible feat, only twice has the winning streak been threatened. Flint Northwestern racked up 60 victories between January of 1984 and February of 1986; and Saginaw Buena Vista had a streak reach 55 games between December of 1991 and December of 1993.
In many communities, success streaks come and go, but a constant ideal of school sports then and today was captured by John Pyykkonen, a guard and forward on the 1956 and 1957 teams who summarized the events: "I remember the friendly competition amongst the members of the team and how well we worked together and how our parents, fans and the community were behind us 100 percent of the way. One of the greatest highlights in a young man's life and will never be forgotten."
Records were made to be broken. But legends, especially Legends of the Games like Chassell, endure the test of time.
GLORY DAYS ... Remembering The Streak
John Pyykkonen - 1956-57 Guard-Forward: "One thing I remember clearly, besides the games, is walking into Jenison Fieldhouse and being totally awestruck by the raised floor and the huge (in my eyes) guides who showed us around the building. I recall the game in 1956 when we were so far behind in points and we were able to overcome the point deficit by a full court press. The huge crowd gathered there were all cheering for the small-town team."
Robert Belhumer - 1956-1957-1958 Guard: "We had a great camaraderie among the members of our team. Also Chassell is a small town in the Upper Peninsula and the fans were there rooting for us during our seasonal games and were there for us at the championship games in Lansing."
Donald Jaakkola - 1956 Guard (On the championship game): "We ran out onto the court to a crowd of 12,000 people, most of whom were cheering for Portland St. Patrick. Needless to say, we felt a bit in awe as we came from Chassell, a small town in the Upper Peninsula.
"We were down 15 points with four minutes to go and two of our tallest players had fouled out earlier. Coach Ed Helakoski called a timeout and the basketball gods were with us. We threw a full court press defense and scored 18 points while holding St. Patrick scoreless. It gave us a screaming 71 to 68 victory. The crowd of 12,000 was now cheering for us."
Mike Wisti - 1956 Guard (On Coach Ed Helakoski): “I am quite sure there are many who will remember Ed Helakoski as a good coach. I'm sure he was a good coach; he had a knack for demanding discipline and teamwork, while not stifling the creativity of his players. However, I believe he should also be remembered as a great classroom teacher. He taught Government one year and Sociology the next and was the best classroom teacher that I had in high school. His ability to make Government interesting and explain how everything was designed to work is probably one of the biggest reasons for my lifelong interest in government and politics."
Kenneth Tormala - 1956-1957-1958 Forward: "The first year we surprised a lot of teams and people by winning the state championship. The second year we were picked to win when the year started and it would have been a real disappointment not to have done so. The third year was a real challenge since we lost so many players, but we had the backbone of the team, Don Mattson, who was an all-stater. This team was the most closely knit of all. We had a lot of very close games and had to dig down to everything we had learned to win many of them. A very satisfying year and we kept the winning streak going, to the surprise of many, including the previous teams.
"These memories will be fondly remembered until we die. Thank you to the late Mr. Helakoski."
James Komula, 1958 Guard (On what stands out from that season): "Being from a small town and playing in small gyms, the spaciousness and large crowd in Jenison Fieldhouse proved very exciting. Also, the reception and festivities upon our triumphant return to Chassell will forever be a highlight of personal memories. People were waiting in their vehicles nearly 30 miles from town to accompany our motorcade home.
"Although I didn't give it much thought, the experience and influence of playing on that team would set the direction for my career. Upon graduation from Michigan Tech, I was given an interim position to teach and coach at L'Anse High School. In 1966, I was assistant coach when L'Anse won the Class C state championship. After that I moved to Livonia, where in later years I was head coach at Bentley High School. Although I never intended, my high school basketball did influence my career to work with youngsters, and help them share in the rewards of the commitment and lifelong learning of athletics."
Terry Pokela, 1956-1957 Center: "We truly had a team. Coach Helakoski did not allow us to think of individual statistics or anything like that. He constantly emphasized the team concept. It certainly paid off.
"Also, we were one of the first teams to fast break after every missed shot by opponents. Our three-lane break broke many team's backs, as they couldn't keep up with us. Coach Helakoski emphasized rebounding position to enable the fast break to get started. We could also shoot field goals from any part of the court. Don Mattson would have scored 40 points a game if the three-point field goal would have been in effect."
Gooding & King Work to Fill SW Michigan's Officiating Ranks, Schedules
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
December 12, 2023
KALAMAZOO – Cheer them or boo them, without officials, there are no games. That’s just a fact in the sports world.
Two area men are tasked with supplying those officials for Southwest Michigan schools, and it is not always as easy as it seems.
Portage’s Todd Gooding is in charge of assigning football referees for 70 schools across eight leagues, with 500 officials on his staff.
Vicksburg’s Rob King assigns officials for girls and boys basketball in five leagues and has 290 men and women on his roster to work 1,100 games throughout the hoops season.
“We have six females on staff,” King said. “We’re looking to add more. I think the girls who are playing enjoy having a female ref on the court with them, plus it shows them they can do this, too.”
Although totals were dropping a few percentage points every year, the MHSAA still registered an average of 10,317 officials annually during the decade ending in 2019-20. But the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that spring played a large part in a decrease in registered officials by 12 percent for 2020-21, down to 8,090.
The last two school years saw a bounce-back of four percent, and recruiting and retaining efforts continue. But Gooding and King – also veteran officials themselves, Gooding for 25 years and King for 24 – and their assigning colleagues across the state have the closest look at the effects of fewer officials as they work to schedule at the local level and make sure everything is covered.
Doing so gets even harder with unforeseen roadblocks.
One of those challenges for Gooding came in August when extreme heat forced most schools to reschedule or delay their football games.
“Everyone was trying to get their games in,” he said. “We were moving start times back, then we were moving days. Football is a little different than basketball or baseball because you can only play within so many days, so we were really squeezed against the schedule.
“I had a school or two reach out on Monday or Tuesday (before the Friday night game), so they looked ahead at the heat. Some of them waited, waited, waited, and then in some cases, it posed some big challenges because most of those crews had been spoken for.”
For a typical football Friday, Gooding staffs 30 or 35 games, “which is really difficult because everybody wants to play Friday night.”
Some referees in both football and basketball “double dip” by officiating games at freshman or junior varsity levels on nights other than Friday.
Gooding said at one time he hoped to go to seven officials for a football game, but with a shortage of officials, “Right now we’re just lucky to staff five in the games we have, and we’re still very short.
“Parents are a key component to a shortage of officials. A lot of it is more at the youth level, but everyone has to remember the sportsmanship aspect. Without officials there are no games, and sometimes we lose track of that, and that’s one reason there’s a shortage.”
Still, King noted that officiating provides more advantages than disadvantages.
“Everyone hears about the bad stuff, getting yelled at by fans and coaches, but those are so small,” he said.
“After a season of doing this, you learn to block out that stuff and realize it’s just part of the game. Fifty percent of people are mad at you every time you blow the whistle, so you get used to that.”
Pay raises in some leagues enticed many of those who “retired” to return, King said, but both he and Gooding agree the camaraderie developed while officiating is what makes it most special.
“It’s more about the time you spend on the floor with guys, in the locker room, driving to games, grabbing something to eat after the games, just talking about life, just building friendships,” King said. “That’s the part you remember.”
Gooding added some games stick in his memory more than others.
“My first varsity game (refereeing) was Lawton playing Saugatuck,” he said. “I show up and Channel 3 was there. I wondered what’s going on.
“Both schools were 0-8, both senior classes were 0-35. Somebody had to win, and it was my first varsity game. I think Saugatuck won, and it was close to 25 years ago.”
Another memory came as he officiated a basketball game.
“A girl from Benton Harbor (Kysre Gondrezick in 2016) had 72 points,” he said. “It’s in the record books. and you’re just one small part of that and you remember them.”
Officiating is not only for adults. Even teenagers still in high school can become referees as part of the MHSAA Legacy Program.
King recently hosted an officiating summit at Paw Paw for high school athletes.
“There are nine schools in the Wolverine Conference and six of them brought 10 to 15 kids,” he said. “Myself and another official presented on basketball. They also did something on other sports.
“We got the kids up blowing the whistles and doing some of the signals. Three reached out wanting to get involved.”
King said officiating is a great way to earn money, especially while in college.
“You’ll work maybe two or three hours at the most and make $150 to $300 depending on the level,” he said. “Your friends will have to work six-, seven-, eight-hour days to make that much money.
“You can also block your schedule. We have a software with a calendar on it. If there are days you know you can’t work because you have classes or other things, you just block those days out, so you control your own schedule.”
With training, freshmen and sophomores can work junior high/middle school games, and juniors and seniors are able to officiate at the freshman and junior varsity levels.
“Usually what we do is get you a mentor,” King said, “and you work with that mentor and make some money.”
Those Legacy officials hopefully continue in the avocation, eventually becoming the next mentors.
Officiating, like school sports in general, is a cycle that’s constantly in motion – both when it comes to filling the ranks and filling the schedule to cover games ahead.
For example, although football season is over, “I don’t know if there really is an offseason,” Gooding said. “Leagues are going to start giving me their schedules. We’ll get those into an Arbiter system. Everything’s assigned by Arbiter, a computer system where officials get their assignments.
“I’ll start evaluating the crews, reach out to the crew chiefs. They’ll let me know any changes in their crew dynamics. I’ll evaluate the year gone by, how they performed and then start getting ready to work on getting those games staffed. That will start after the new year.”
For more information on officiating, including the Legacy Program, go to the Officials page of MHSAA.com.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Todd Gooding, left and Rob King take a photo together while officiating the Division 4 Final at Ford Field in 2022. (Middle) Gooding signals during that contest between Goodrich and Grand Rapids South Christian. (Below) King officiates the 2019 Division 4 Boys Basketball Final at Breslin Center. (Photos courtesy of Gooding and King.)