Guy Guides Muskegon Hoops Rise
December 8, 2015
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
For many years, basketball was a letdown at Muskegon High School.
The Big Reds have been known for football ever since their first victory in 1895, racking up 806 more wins since then (most in the state), along with eight MHSAA championships – including recent titles in 2004, 2006 and 2008.
But as the snow slowly blanketed Hackley Stadium’s hallowed turf on an annual basis, Muskegon was never consistently able to transfer the energy, focus and success from the gridiron to the hardwood of Redmond-Potter Gymnasium.
That all changed in 2012, when nearby Muskegon Heights went through a period of upheaval, before eventually reconstituting itself as Muskegon Heights Public School Academy. During that time of uncertainty about the school’s athletic future, boys basketball coach Keith Guy made the move down Sanford Street to Muskegon High, and suddenly football was no longer the only show in town.
“I’ve always thought that there are enough great athletes and enough potential at city schools that they could be great in both football and basketball,” said Guy, who starts his fourth season as Muskegon’s basketball coach Friday night against visiting Rockford.
“I know we won’t ever be what the football program is here at Muskegon, but I feel like we now have a little identity of our own.”
That’s an understatement.
In the past two years, the Muskegon boys basketball program has won two Ottawa-Kent Conference Black titles, two Class A Districts, two Regionals, one MHSAA Finals title in an undefeated 2014 season, 51 of 53 games overall and produced back-to-back Mr. Basketball winners with DeShaun Thrower in 2014 and Deyonta Davis last year.
Thrower, as his name suggests, was a star quarterback for Muskegon coach Shane Fairfield in the fall and the star point guard for Guy in the winter. Thrower is now a sophomore guard for Stony Brook, a Division I school in New York which narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Tournament last year.
Guy’s handling of Thrower’s situation, essentially staying out of the way while football season was still going on, set the tone for Big Reds football and basketball programs that continue to encourage each other and push each other higher. While basketball has elevated itself among the state’s elite programs, Muskegon football has kept pace, advancing to MHSAA championship games three straight years in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Guy, 40, a former standout point guard at Muskegon Heights, Muskegon Community College and Ferris State University, explained that situation after basketball practice on Nov. 30, after quickly changing from his sweat suit into formal attire to help run that night’s end-of-year football banquet as the athletic director.
“When one succeeds, all of us succeed,” said Guy, whose son, Christian Martinez, was the star quarterback of Muskegon Catholic Central’s Division 8 football championship team this fall. “Shane has gone and filmed games for me on the east side of the state before, and he knows that he’s got my support during football season.”
While this year’s Muskegon basketball team may lack the star power of the past two years, it hopes to make up for it with depth. At a recent practice, it was difficult to decipher the starting five from the reserves.
“Last year, we ran a lot more set plays with DD (Davis) in there,” said Michael Littlejohn, a 5-11 senior guard who is the lone returning starter off last year’s team, which was stopped a game short of returning to the Breslin Center by Lansing Everett in the Class A Quarterfinals. “This year, it’s going to be more running, more showtime.”
Littlejohn will start at point guard and will be joined in the backcourt by smooth-shooting senior Linwood Lee and defensive stopper Jacarius Scott. The leaders up front are versatile juniors Jermayne Golidy (6-3) and Anthony Bethea (6-5), along with senior Desi Stephens (6-4).
The Big Reds also will get a boost of muscle and toughness from a couple of college football prospects in senior Terrion Hill-McKay and junior Jacorey Sullivan.
Guy also has three sophomores – Chris Murry, Willie Shanks Jr. and Antwan Reed – on the varsity roster, along with freshman DeAndre Carter. Reed (6-7, 286 pounds), considered one of the nation’s top sophomore offensive tackles, is improving his conditioning and footwork for football and could develop into a basketball force as well.
Muskegon’s playing rotation and style of play will take shape during back-to-back blockbuster tournaments over holiday break, when Muskegon will be the focus of prep basketball interest statewide – and give Guy an indication of whether this year’s group has the makings of another 20-plus win team.
“I won’t ever shy away from playing the best,” said Guy, who is assisted on the varsity level by his brother and former Muskegon Heights teammate, Maurice Sain, along with Louis Murray and Josh Wall. “I would rather find out the truth about my players in December and January than in March.”
The truth will start to be told Dec. 29 and Dec. 30, when Muskegon takes on Detroit Consortium and East Kentwood on back-to-back nights at the Meijer Hall of Fame Classic at Reeths-Puffer High School, a tournament which also features Lansing Sexton and Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills.
The challenge then gets ratcheted up later that same week, when Illinois power Chicago Whitney Young comes to Redmond-Potter on Jan. 2 for the featured event in the three-game Muskegon Basketball Showcase.
“Our goal at Muskegon now is to win a state championship in football and basketball every year – it doesn’t always happen, obviously, but that’s always our goal,” explained Hill-McKay, who is a rare Class A three-sport athlete, playing baseball as well. “We’re not going to lower our expectations just because we don’t have a 7-footer.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Muskegon boys basketball coach Keith Guy, right, confers with Jordan Waire during the Class A Semifinal in 2014. (Middle) Guy works to get the attention of his players during the championship game win that season.
After Successful 'Sequel,' Suttons Bay's Hursey Embarking on Next Chapter
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
July 30, 2024
Thomas Hursey’s story is a Hollywood writer’s dream. He really is the stuff of sequels.
He could star in a remake of “Hoosiers” – titled in the singular as just “The Hoosier” – or maybe “Against All Odds II” is more fitting.
Hursey is a 2018 graduate of Suttons Bay High School. He was in a class of just 30 students. He grew up where there is snow on the ground, many argue, for six months of the year. He never played an Amateur Junior Golf Association tournament. And, he had zero scholarship offers from Division I colleges.
To top it off, basketball was his favorite sport in high school. It still is today.
Hursey, who admits he pretty much hated golf, switched his focus from the basketball court to the links midway through high school. He gave up on playing college basketball despite scoring 1,200 points during his career and achieving all-state status.
As a high school freshman, he helped a team comprised of only senior teammates win the Lower Peninsula Division 4 golf championship. He earned all-state in golf too and did receive a scholarship offer from Division II Ferris State University. He took it and excelled there.
So maybe his movie would be titled “The Bulldog.” Again, as a freshman at FSU, he had only senior teammates – and he was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
Hursey went on to pick up individual titles and conference player of the year awards as he led the Bulldogs to GLIAC championships and trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Today, many say Hursey could make a run at the PGA Tour – and they may wonder why he doesn’t. Instead, he is about to join a Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical company and put his science and business background to work.
He has a biology degree from Ferris and a master’s in business from Indiana University. He has no interest in playing an individual sport after his stellar high school team sports career at Suttons Bay. His preference is to work hard with teammates and relish a leadership role similar to the one he had playing for the Norsemen in golf, basketball and tennis and while running cross country.
“I am much more of a team-sport guy,” Hursey explained. “I can’t really get the same motivation when it’s just an individual tournament – I need to be surrounded by team.”
Unlike most Big Ten golfers, professional golf was never really on Hursey‘s mind. Veteran IU golf coach Mike Mayer believes Hursey is capable of continuing his golf career, but respects his decision to take another path.
“Thomas was a gift to us,” Mayer said. “Very truthfully, Thomas Hursey might very well be at the top of the list as a great athlete, and great golfer, but more importantly a great person.
“I have had a lot of great student-athletes and you don’t rank them, but at the same time you know which ones stand out,” Mayer continued. “And Thomas Hursey simply stands out.”
Hursey’s parents are former college athletes, retired teachers and longtime high school sports coaches. His father Todd was his high school coach and is now the golf coach at Traverse City West. His mother Nicki was the Suttons Bay softball coach and coached siblings Laura and Jane on the softball field, where they became all-staters as well. Jane, a 2015 Suttons Bay graduate, was also an all-state basketball player. Laura, a 2020 grad, also starred in volleyball.
Thomas Hursey had a reputation as a nice competitor, and his parents treasure that even more than the success he found in high school and college sports.
“I always, and so did Todd, looked out more and hounded him be humble more than anything,” Nicki said. “He had talent and God-given gifts, but what made me so proud was just the way he acted on the course and the number of parents that come up to me and say what a wonderful son you have.”
Mayer, too, proudly recalls Thomas’ politeness and humility.
“As a coach, that’s at least as equally, if not more than rewarding than winning,” he said.
Mayer admits he secretly wishes Hursey would try pursuing professional golf, but respects his decision to end his golf career while it was still a team sport.
“Thomas Hursey has the athletic ability to play professional golf,” Mayer confirmed. “I fully understand his decision – he is going to be successful in whatever he chooses to do.”
Hursey had four top-20 and two top-10 outings for IU during his last season, including an 18th place finish at the Big Ten Championship. During his career at IU, Hursey was named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, a Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree and to the academic all-Big Ten team.
Hursey’s first love was basketball. He’s a fan of the Indiana Hoosiers program and became quite familiar over the years with Michigan State University coach Tom Izzo and his son, Steven.
The Izzo connection started when Michigan State was recruiting Dwaun Anderson, a Suttons Bay graduate and the Mr. Basketball Award winner in 2011.
Hursey recalls all the hardest practices in basketball as he hoped to someday play at the college level. He had a tremendous work ethic on the court, and it helped his transition to golf.
Even though golf is the most difficult sport he’s taken on, Hursey mastered it more easily because of his desire to get better and not let anything get in the way of success.
“The chip on my shoulder – the grit I had – I think that helped me get to the next level in golf,” Hursey noted. “I really never felt I was as good as I was – I still don’t think I am.
“People tell me I’m good at golf, and I just don’t believe that because I just have this hunger to get better,” Hursey continued. “I am my biggest critic.”
Hursey quickly added he benefitted from two other critics – his sisters. He’s admitted he believes they possess more athleticism than he does.
“They always pushed me to get better, and they always pushed me to work harder,” he said. “They are kind of no-nonsense people.
“Growing up I never got more encouragement from them as much as I did critiquing,” he continued. “That was huge in terms of molding me.”
Hursey’s accomplishments are not at the top of the minds of his parents and former athletic director.
“I always say I am excited about the things he accomplished, but I am proud of the way he is as a person,” Todd Hursey said. “I am proud of how he is and how he handled himself.”
Retired Suttons Bay athletics director, Doug Periard agrees. He watched Hursey’s work ethic develop early and found him regularly at open gyms. Periard also singled out Hursey’s sportsmanship.
“I cannot think of a discouraging word the young man ever said to a teammate or opponent,” Periard said. “He was able to demonstrate both sportsmanship and leadership in defeat, and also in victory.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Suttons Bay's Thomas Hursey prepares to shoot a free throw during his senior season, and at right Hursey remains at home on the golf course. (Middle) Hursey grabs a quick snack during a round while golfing for Indiana. (Below) Hursey, recently, with his parents Nicki and Todd. (Recent photos by Tom Spencer; Indiana and Suttons Bay photos courtesy of the Hursey family.)