Coach Taught Athletes to Enjoy Sports

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

May 16, 2018

 

There are to be no ties worn Saturday at the memorial service for George Richardson. He didn't like funerals, so Algonac Muskrats and Michigan State Spartans gear is encouraged.

 

And while some sadness is inevitable, people should be having fun telling stories of the longtime Algonac coach, who made it his mission to make sure all his athletes – whether in middle school or high school, in cross country, track, basketball or football – enjoyed themselves while under his tutelage.

 

“He enjoyed life, and he lived it to the fullest,” said Algonac cross country and girls track & field coach Dan Shafer, a longtime friend of Richardson’s. “George would want it to be a happy time, not a sad time. We won’t ever really be able to measure the impact he had, just because it’s so vast and over so many decades. He had a great impact on our community. To say that Algonac will miss him, that’s an understatement.”

 

Richardson, who was battling cancer, died on April 26. He was 76 years old and is survived by his wife of 50 years, Diane, his two children, Anthony and Lynn, his mother Martha, and his sister, Mother Maria of Jesus. The memorial service will be from 7-9 p.m. at Algonac High School, and the family has asked any expressions of sympathy take form of contributions to the Algonac athletic department.

 

It’s fitting that even in death Richardson is giving to Algonac athletics, as he gave more than any amount of money could cover during his life.

 

Richardson, a Detroit native, graduated from Michigan State University in 1963 and spent his first two years out of college teaching in Battle Creek. In 1964, he took a job as a physical education teacher at Algonquin Middle School in Algonac, and he remained in that position until retiring in 1999. He also began coaching in 1964, and his final season as a coach was the spring of 2017 when he coached the middle school boys track & field team at Algonquin.

 

His coaching duties included football, basketball, cross country and track at various levels. 

 

“He was a guy, and I’ve heard several people say this, he never had a bad thing to say about any kid he taught or coached,” said Shafer, who began coaching at Algonac in 1977. “He loved kids and loved working with kids, and the kids loved him back.”

 

One of the main reasons the athletes loved Richardson was his way of making practices fun while still preparing them to succeed in their sport.

 

“He’s very motivating, but he makes sure not to push the young kids too far,” said 2016 Algonac graduate Morgan Beadlescomb, a four-time MHSAA Finals champion in cross country and track. “He really focuses on teaching his athletes to enjoy running rather than being serious competitors at 11 years old, making sure they don’t burn out. He was very, very good at making all of us enjoy running. All the cross country kids loved running. We’d end practice sometimes and play two-hand touch football. We were doing little things you wouldn’t expect, and we all enjoyed it and didn’t really know we were working out.”

 

His approach helped feed athletes into the high school programs who were ready and excited to compete.

 

“We had a lot of success in track and cross country, and that’s something he should get a lot of credit for,” Shafer said. “He got them enthused about the sport, but didn’t run them to death to the point they were hating it. He really pushed that enthusiasm for the sport. Winning is great, but improving and having fun, that’s the key. Those kids would come out because they liked cross country in middle school, and because they liked track in middle school. He knew his stuff, too. He could coach all the events.”

 

Without Richardson, Algonac’s middle school cross country program may not have continued to exist. Shafer said that when the funding for the coaching position was cut in the 1990s, Richardson continued doing it for free to keep the program alive.

 

“He was a very giving person,” Shafer said. “I haven’t heard anybody say a negative word about him.”

 

Beadlescomb, who won the MHSAA Division 2 cross country titles in 2014 and 2015, and the MHSAA Division 2 1,600 meter titles in 2015 and 2016, now runs at Michigan State. Shafer said Richardson was always very proud of Beadlescomb, and that he had alerted him to the future star when Beadlescomb was just a sixth grader.

 

“George called me the first day of middle school practice; he said right from the get go, ‘I think he said he’s going to be your best runner ever,’” Shafer said.

 

Richardson and Beadlescomb have kept in touch, and Beadlescomb said they last talked a little more than a month ago.

 

“He stayed in touch, even when I was in college, and that was also something special,” Beadlescomb said. “He was always very supportive. I feel like he had some influence on everybody. He was their coach in one way or another.”

 

Even when he wasn’t coaching, Richardson was a constant presence at Algonac athletic events, whether it be standing along the fence during football games or volunteering his time at a track or cross country meet. 

 

He was always there for Algonac, and while Shafer said he doesn’t know how many people will show up for the memorial service, he expects it will be a special night.

 

One person who will be there is Beadlescomb, who said he wouldn’t miss it despite being in the most crucial part of his track season at MSU.

 

“He’s the reason that I’m at Michigan State,” Beadlescomb said. “He’s the reason that I’m running competitively, essentially. I owe it all to him. He’s the reason that I’m able to run and still like to run. It’s important to me. I definitely need to be there.”

Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.

PHOTO: Coach George Richardson, far right and back row, takes a photo with his 2016 Algonquin Middle School boys track & field team. (Photo courtesy of the Algonac athletic department.)

Ishpeming Adds to Near-Decade Reign Atop Upper Peninsula Division 2

By John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com

June 5, 2022

KINGSFORD — The Ishpeming boys have allowed very little to stand between them and the Upper Peninsula Division 2 track & field championship in recent years.

They added another trophy to their collection Saturday by scoring 116 points.

The Hematites, who won three of the last four titles outright and shared the fourth, were followed by Iron Mountain with 102 points and St. Ignace at 63.

Senior Jonny Matson scored 36 points for the Hematites, who also have either won or tied for the title six of the last seven seasons.

That string was interrupted only in 2017 when they were runners-up to Newberry and three years later by COVID-19.

Last year, the Hematites shared the title with Norway.

Matson won the 400-meter dash in 53.58 seconds and long jump at 18 feet, 11¾ inches and was runner-up in the 100 (11.73) and 200 (23.77).

“Jon has been a great leader for us, and Parker Gauthier and Hunter Smith picked it up,” said Troy Smith, who shares Ishpeming’s coaching duties with his wife Trisha. “We greatly appreciate the effort of our coaching staff (Morgan Kangas, Khora Swanson and Hailey Smith). They’re a big part of our success.

“Our numbers have been a little low, but we have a great group of kids.”

Iron Mountain trackThe Hematites won the 3,200-meter relay in 9 minutes, 4.42 seconds, and Tramon Gauthier added a first in the 110 hurdles (16.67) and second in the 300s (43.0).

Smith was runner-up in high jump (5-11), and Parker Gauthier placed third in the 3,200 (11:44.6).

Iron Mountain’s Matt Colavechhi won the 100 (11.56) and 200 (23.71), and senior Luke Ruble added victories in the 1,600 (4:54.69) and 3,200 (10:52.05).

The Mountaineers also won the 400 relay (45.31) and 800 (1:34.42).

Bark River-Harris was runner-up in the 400 in a school-record 45.34

“Nick (Anderson) started real good and got us in a good spot,” said BR-H junior Vincent Martin, who ran the second leg. “We were seeded fourth. We knew the other three teams were good in the first and anchor legs. We mixed up our lineup a little and were in first going into the third leg.”

St. Ignace got a first from junior Reese McLean in the 800 (2:09.06), and Owen Lester took pole vault (10-0).

“That was a PR by three seconds,” said McLean. ‘With this being the last meet, I decided I might as well put everything into it. I think I started out all right. I wanted to get to the front right away.”

West Iron County’s Landon Sundelius won the 300 hurdles (40.56) and placed second in the 110s (16.74), and Nathan Hochstein of L’Anse was high jump champion at 5-11.

Manistique earned a victory in the 1,600 relay (3:43.99).

Click for full results.

PHOTOS (Top) Ishpeming's Tramon Gauthier leads West Iron County's Landon Sundelius and they take first and second in the 110 hurdles. (Middle) Iron Mountain's Matthew Colavecchi edges Bark River-Harris's Vincent Martin by three hundredths of a second to seal the win in the 400 relay. Other members of Iron Mountain's winning relay were Max Jayne, Joey Colavecchi, and Kurt Adiano Ryan. (Click for more from Cara Kamps/Run Michigan.)