Benton Harbor Writing Success Story
By
Wes Morgan
Special for MHSAA.com
November 5, 2015
Books are written about this kind of thing. Actually, one was penned 13 years ago about a Benton Harbor football team from more than 100 years ago.
“The Way We Played The Game: A True Story of One Team and the Dawning of American Football” was author John Armstrong’s ode to a Clayton Teetzel-coached Tigers squad at the turn of the century that galvanized Benton Harbor.
The storyline then was how Teetzel helped get the hapless Tigers back on track in 1903 while also evolving a more violent and dangerous version of the sport back then into one comprised of physicality and cerebration.
Benton Harbor is a different place today. Despite all the wonderful things the city has to offer, it has become known for crime and poverty. And in terms of football, there haven’t been many memorable seasons. Until this year, the Tigers’ last winning campaign was a 6-3 effort in 1989. Benton Harbor managed to win just 49 games over the following 25 years.
A new chapter is being written this fall, however, as the Tigers qualified for the postseason for the first time in school history with a 5-4 regular-season record. They stunned a quality Dowagiac team in a Division 4 Pre-District game, 28-7, and take on a 10-0 Zeeland West squad Friday in the District Final.
The well-documented resurgence headed up by 74-year-old coach Elliot Uzelac, a veteran of the high school, college and professional ranks, who thought rebuilding a woeful program while busting through a cultural wall would be a better use of time than the boredom and restlessness of retirement, has been the buzz of the Michigan prep sports world.
Being part of this season at Benton Harbor (he takes no credit), Uzelac said, is the highlight of his 50-year coaching career.
“When you’re younger, you look at things differently,” said Uzelac, who coached at nearby St. Joseph, where he helped the Bears compile a 6-5 record in 2006 after a winless season in 2005, along with head coaching positions at Western Michigan University (1975-81) and Navy (1987-89) and myriad assistant roles in college and the NFL. “Winning is so important. You want to have a proper salary because you want to feed your family. What’s the next stop? If I’m an assistant coach, is there a head coaching position available?
“None of these things exist now. This is strictly about helping people. Honestly, I’ve had the greatest time of my life doing this with these young men. Yes, it’s been hard. Yes, it’s been … (chuckle) really time consuming and we really had to work hard. But I’ve never been more satisfied and never felt better about accomplishing something with young men than I have this time.”
Uzelac’s hiring might not have happened if not for a persistent Fred Smith, who applied for the athletic director job on five separate occasions, finally landing the position this summer. Smith, nearing retirement, also wanted a challenge, and Benton Harbor had some kind of magnetic force.
When Smith was a student at Western Michigan University, his first student-teaching assignment in 1979 was at Benton Harbor with then-head basketball coach Earl McKee. Smith had a desire to coach basketball and requested an internship at Benton Harbor, because, he said at the time, “they play the best basketball.”
Smith was able to stay there for two more years as a full-time substitute but moved on to many other jobs in education, including stints as AD at Comstock and most recently Buchanan. He made a big impact at Buchanan and left the school on very solid ground. Buchanan is undefeated in football this year and is gearing up for a Division 5 district championship showdown with Berrien Springs. In volleyball, the Bucks picked up their 46th win of the season Wednesday in the Class B District Semifinals — a single-season victories record for the program.
Uzelac, curious as to whether or not Benton Harbor would join the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference, called Smith on July 4th to chat about the new league.
“In conversation, he told me the AD job was open,” Smith said. “A long story short, he talked me into applying. I had an interview July 14th, was offered the job July 16th, and on July 20th I signed my letter of agreement. I hired Elliot July 21st.
“This was the fifth time I applied for the job back here. A lot of people wonder why I wanted to come back. We all want to make a difference in kids’ lives. I think there’s a chance to do big things here.”
It’s a perspective shared by Uzelac.
The morning after the Tigers beat Dowagiac, he addressed his players.
“You’ve given me far more than I’ve given you,” he told them. “That’s the truth. I’ve never felt this way before.
“I don’t think anybody realizes how bad they’ve had it. It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling.”
Six days earlier, on Selection Sunday, a Benton Harbor student died in a drive-by shooting. A winning football season can only change so much.
But similar to Teetzel over a century ago, Uzelac is making the young men in his charge to think their way through school, football and life — even when it pertains to new technology and means of communicating he doesn’t understand.
“Never,” he said when asked how often he uses social media. “I don’t even really know what (Twitter) is. Things are said on Twitter than can really create problems, especially in a community like this. You’re talking about a very tough community and the word ‘retaliate’ is used often around here, which we’re trying to change that attitude. You have to be very careful what you do and say in this community.”
A consummate professional in the press box, longtime Benton Harbor football announcer Greg Mauchmar‘s animated play-by-play this year wasn’t just a veneer. Gradually, beginning with the team’s first win since 2012 — a 14-9 victory at home over Battle Creek Central in Week 2 — his voice was being received by human eardrums in the stands rather than bouncing around empty bleachers.
Mauchmar, just one of many people who have done their part to embrace the football team even through extremely tough seasons, remembers countless games where there were as few as a 100 supporters in attendance.
“Everyone has rallied around this team and there’s a level of excitement that inspires us,” he said. “I can get excited because the people in the stands are excited and I don’t have to work hard to do that. When the kids looked up there and didn’t see too many people (in past years), you know how motivating that is. Sometimes you felt like you were preaching to the choir. We wanted more membership in the choir.”
This fall’s feel-good football story has grown legs. National news outlets such as ESPN and Sports Illustrated picked up on what was published by scribes around Michigan, spreading the story to the farthest corners of the country.
Messages of support have come in from all over Michigan and from as far away as California, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio and Illinois, Uzelac said.
The Benton Harbor bandwagon, it appears, is nearly full.
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Benton Harbor football coach Elliot Uzelac instructs players before a game this season. (Middle) Benton Harbor quarterback Tim Bell prepares to hand off to Jeremy Burrell during the Tigers' game against St. Joseph this fall. (Photos courtesy of Randy Willis/Harbor Photography.)
Blahas Building Lasting Owosso Legacy
February 5, 2020
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
Owosso seniors Hunter and Colton Blaha, born 11 months apart, have been competing with each other nearly every day of their lives.
“We’ve been competing forever,” said Colton, the younger of the brothers, with a laugh. “Sprinting down the road so you can get to the house first.”
Hunter agreed.
“We’re always competing, no matter what it is,” he said. “Board games, chores. It doesn’t matter.”
The Blaha brothers have channeled that competitiveness into a work ethic and sense of community that has helped lift the Owosso High School sports programs in which they’ve competed.
Both played football (Hunter at quarterback, Colton at running back), while Hunter plays basketball and runs track and Colton is an all-state wrestler who plays baseball in the spring.
Most of the programs they have played for have not had recent success. The brothers endured part of a 43-game losing streak in football, Hunter’s basketball team recently snapped a 30-game losing streak, and the Owosso baseball team has struggled in recent years.
And, to the Blahas, that doesn’t matter.
Competing does.
“I honestly don’t care what our record is,” Colton Blaha said. “We always had a close bond with the kids in our grade, and that means more than anything. It means more than any record we could have had in wins or losses.”
Trojans athletic director Dallas Lintner, who also is an assistant football coach, said what sets the Blahas apart is that selflessness – a willingness to help build a program despite an outward lack of success.
“What’s refreshing to see at the high school level is that they’re competitive, but they’re classy,” Lintner said. “They mean a lot to us at Owosso High School. They mean a lot to our community particularly with the relationships they’ve built with middle-school kids, with elementary school kids. They really do it all for us.”
Both Blahas have worked, assisting the coaches in their sports, with younger athletes at all levels to help them feel a part of the program.
“When we got here, the senior leadership was horrible,” Hunter Blaha said. “We got treated horribly by the upperclassmen, and that plays a big part in a program, having a bond and a relationship with the younger kids. We set that as a goal in the eighth grade, because we knew how important it was to our program if we got the youth program going at a young level and got them going at the same pace.”
And so Owosso football players at lower levels have seen the Blahas at their games or matches the last four years. Both attend youth level games and interact with future Owosso athletes as much as their schedules allow.
“They’re like rock stars to those kids,” football coach Devin Pringle said. “We do things at elementary schools like reading to kids, and we take the Blahas. They’re like NFL stars to those kids. They wrestle with them, give them high-fives, talk about grades.”
At one point during the football season, Hunter became involved with a troubled elementary school student as part of a class in social tolerance.
“I was chosen to help this kid,” he said. “My idea was to bring him to a game, come see a coin toss, maybe get him a signed football.”
Which he did. The youngster got to do all three and went home with a lasting memory.
“It was an awesome experience,” Hunter said. “I could tell he was really happy that he got the chance to do that.”
Another thing that makes the Blahas stand out, their coaches said, is their commitment to their hometown.
“A lot of kids transferred out of here to play on better sports teams,” Colton Blaha said. “My mom has always taught us to make a name for ourselves, and I feel that Hunter and I have both done that here. We’ve done the best we can to try to change the sports programs around, and we hope the kids under us have picked up on that.”
Naturally, coaching and commitment by those younger players is critical, but there are signs of a turnaround in Owosso football. The Trojans varsity won two games last season and lost three more by a single point. The rest of the teams in the program all had winning records.
“We knew coming in it would take some time to get a new culture established,” Pringle said. “When it happens, it’s because these young men decided to stay.”
After his freshman year of football, Hunter Blaha was promoted to varsity. As a sophomore, he was a unanimous choice as a team captain and started at quarterback.
Colton finished third at 160 pounds at last year’s Division 2 Individual Wrestling Finals, a rise fueled by the competitive fires built during his youth.
“We used to have basement wrestling tournaments, and he used to kick my butt,” Colton said of Hunter. “I used to get so mad at him.”
The boys wrestled and sometimes fought at school, too.
“I always beat him,” Hunter said. “I remember one day I stopped and he came up to me and said, ‘I’m not going to let you whip my (butt) any more. It’s just not going to happen. That’s the day he started wrestling, and he’s been working his tail off ever since. It’s pushed me to work harder and get some goals in mind.”
As for the rivalry, “a year later, (Colton) started whipping my butt,” Hunter said, smiling. “It’s escalated from there.”
Both Blahas plan to compete in college, Hunter in football and Colton in wrestling. Both plan to become teachers, and Pringle has a not-so-subtle plan for Hunter.
“Colton is amazing in his own right,” Pringle said. “But Hunter, when he gets that degree, he’ll be head football coach at Owosso someday. We’re getting a new weight room, and I tell him, ‘I’ll have this ready for you when you take over.’ He’ll be a kid who impacts hundreds of kids before he’s done.”
But first, there’s a senior year to complete.
“It feels like it came up way too fast,” Hunter said. “It feels like yesterday I started at quarterback my sophomore year. I kind of get emotional about it. I don’t like talking about it. Most kids are ready to get out of here, to get their lives going. But I’ve been here since I was 6 years old, and it’s all I’ve ever known, playing with these kids.”
Colton Blaha is known as an athlete who’s the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave, almost to a fault.
“I have him in a fourth-hour class, and he always wants to get in a couple of extra sets,” Pringle said, chuckling. “He always leaves the room last, and sometimes I’m late for lunch because of it.”
A few lost minutes of lunch, though, has been a small price to pay.
“I know they’re going to do great things,” Lintner said. “They’re going to be great husbands. They’re going to be great fathers. They’re going to be great college athletes no matter what university they choose. We’re super proud of them, and as an educator, I’ve been fortunate to be with them the last four years of their journey.”
Asked what the most important thing is that they've gained through athletics, both brothers pause for several seconds before answering.
“Hard work can take you anywhere,” Colton said. “Always. Through hard work, you go through a lot of ups and downs, a lot of lefts and rights, but if you keep working hard, keep your head balanced, you can go anywhere.”
“Being a family, definitely,” Hunter said. “That’s what it’s all about. Life’s not always about football and athletics. You want to make your friendships and talk about these memories 20 years down the road.”
But the Blahas have done more than make memories. They’ve made an impact, one that will be felt ‘years down the road.’
PHOTOS: (Top) Colton, left, and brother Hunter Blaha. (Middle) Colton, left, begins his third-place match during last season’s Division 2 Individual Finals at Ford Field. (Middle photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)