Cvengros Leaves Lasting Impact
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 1, 2014
Retired Associate Director Jerry Cvengros, who served at the Michigan High School Athletic Association for more than 13 years after three decades at Escanaba High School, died Monday evening in Lansing. He was 80.
As lead assistant to Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts from August 1988 until retiring in January 2002, Cvengros served as director of football and briefly hockey in addition to coordinating the Program of Athletic Coaches Education (PACE), presenting annual in-service training for administrators and serving as MHSAA liaison to statewide principals, athletic directors and coaches associations.
He came to the MHSAA after 30 years at Escanaba, where he taught, coached, served as athletic director and later principal during a tenure stretching from August 1958 through July 1988. While at Escanaba, Cvengros also represented Upper Peninsula Class A and B schools on the MHSAA Representative Council from 1983-88 and served as the Council’s president from 1986-88.
Cvengros received the MHSAA’s Charles E. Forsythe Award in 2000 in recognition of his many and significant contributions to interscholastic athletics.
“During his lifetime, Jerry Cvengros impacted every area of interscholastic athletics as a coach, athletic director, principal and then associate director of the MHSAA," Roberts said. “He was the perfect combination of fairness, toughness and diplomacy, able to draw on a vast knowledge of MHSAA rules and an understanding of educational athletics fostered by his various experiences.
“Jerry was known and respected statewide for his dedication, and his contributions have had a lasting impact.”
Cvengros built an elite football program at Escanaba as varsity head coach from 1962-84, leading the Eskymos to a 161-42-3 record, a Class A runner-up finish in 1979 and the MHSAA championship in 1981. That team remains the only Class A/Division 1 team from the Upper Peninsula to win an MHSAA football title. Cvengros was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame and served on its original Board of Directors.
His 1979 team fell to Detroit Catholic Central 32-7, but he brought the Eskymos back to the Finals for a 16-6 win over Fraser two seasons later. Cvengros' championship lineup included quarterback Kevin Tapani, who would go on to pitch for the Minnesota Twins among five major league clubs, and tailback Dean Altobelli, who later played at Michigan State University. The title run included a 15-14 Semifinal win over Dearborn Fordson that included a savvy two-point conversion call by Cvengros, who wanted to avoid overtime after a late score drew Escanaba to within a point of tying the score.
As the MHSAA’s director of football, Cvengros was instrumental in creating the current playoff format that expanded the field from 128 to 256 teams beginning with the 1999 season. He also co-authored “Youth Football: A Complete Handbook,” a guide to coaching at that level.
Among many additional honors, Cvengros was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame and Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. The National Federation of State High School Associations twice awarded Cvengros with a Citation – the NFHS’ highest honor – for his service as a coach and then as a member of the MHSAA staff.
Since his retirement, Cvengros and his wife Shelley have continued to reside in Okemos. A visitation will take place beginning at 10 a.m. Monday, April 7, at St. Martha Parish in Okemos, with a funeral Mass to follow at 11 a.m.
Cvengros was a 1951 graduate of Ironwood High School and went on to study and play football at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education and teaching from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and a master’s from Northern Michigan University.
He taught English, history and physical education at Escanaba High School and also coached basketball and track and field. He became the school’s athletic director in 1970, added the duties of activities director in 1975 and became principal in 1983.
Cvengros is survived by his wife and children Michael, Steven and David, and seven grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter Lee Ann (Cvengros) Swasey in May 2013.
PHOTOS: (Clockwise from left) Escanaba quarterback Mike Beveridge fires a pass during the 1979 Class A Final; Cvengros co-authored a book on coaching youth football; Cvengros was celebrated once more in Escanaba following his final season as football coach.
Cadillac Freshmen Wing, Westinghouse Become Wingmen for Each Other
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
October 18, 2024
Lawson Westinghouse has a wingman.
He really has several, but arguably no one closer than Dominic Wing, the 6-foot-5 freshman starting quarterback at Cadillac High School.
Westinghouse is also a freshman at Cadillac. A couple of other freshman, lineman Tanner Johnson and wide receiver/linebacker Will Howell, also are standing ready and willing to support.
Westinghouse, an avid long distance runner, likely will never play a down on the football field for the Vikings. But he’s usually helping the quarterbacks with drills at practice and looks like a member of the coaching staff on the sidelines during games.
He’s taken all road trips with the Vikings, sitting right next to Wing on the bus. Unfortunately, the road trip string is likely to end tonight when the Vikings head to Marquette for a matchup with league and playoff implications. Cadillac goes into the game 4-3 overall with a 3-2 Big North Conference record. Marquette is 5-2, 4-1.
Westinghouse can’t make the trip because he’s battling sickness complications from chemotherapy. He was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer called Ewing Sarcoma a few years back.
He got good news earlier this season indicating he was cancer free, but had to return to chemo this week.
Wing, Johnson and Howell spend time daily with Westinghouse reading. Westinghouse had goals of reading the book “The Twin Thieves” by the end of the school year and trying to stay in school every day.
The boys try to get Westinghouse through a few pages every day. Wing is his primary reading partner, having developed a close bond with Westinghouse since transferring to Cadillac from Morley Stanwood this fall.
They first met at a basketball game last winter at Cadillac. They reconnected on the first day of school this fall and sat side by side during road trips to Midland, Gaylord, Sault Ste. Marie and Greenville as Cadillac recovered from an 0-2 start winning four of its last five games heading into tonight’s contest.
“I had a bunch of friends (at Cadillac), so I came up for a game,” Wing recollected. “(Lawson) saw me there, and he came up and introduced himself.
The friendship started to really take off with the first day of school, the two freshmen said. “(Lawson) wanted to be on the field, and we started reading in the mornings, which was really nice,” Wing recalled.
The special bond has led to a looser game warm-up and become a key to Wing’s mental preparations. It may be even more critical than Wing’s off-field opportunities to consult with a former NFL quarterback, John Wolford.
“We both talk the whole time on the bus rides,” Westinghouse said.
Wing treasures the conversation.
“We connect on the bus,” Wing said. “Once we get off the bus, he’ll get my warm-up ball and he’ll come over and watch me warm up, and I think it is pretty cool.”
Second-year coach Nick Winkler, who also serves as a special education teacher for Cadillac, loves how the new quarterback has connected with Westinghouse, who may rank as the most popular kid in school.
“Dom does a really good job of looking out for opportunities to take some time with Lawson during games and practice,” said Winkler. “Playing quarterback is hard enough as it is, so to intentionally do that speaks a lot to Lawson and a lot of people in the program.”
Westinghouse said he loves football and running. He recently asked his parents to buy him a football, and he’s been secretly practicing away from the football field. He also has run the Mackinac Bridge Labor Day event both ways every year.
One of the most memorable moments for Winkler, Wing, Howell, Tanner and Westinghouse is far from the best one though. Lawson found himself sick on the way back from the Sault victory, and the boys had an opportunity to comfort him and practice a little caregiving.
“It was a late-night bus trip back, and Lawson gets sick,” Winkler said. “Those guys really helped him out — I think that speaks to their character.”
Another freshman, Ty Pettit, cannot play football due to a health condition, but also has been welcomed to the team. He participates in quarterback drills and serves as an equipment manger. He also serves as the resident prankster on the team, according to Winkler.
“I mostly hang out with the team and encourage them to do their best,” Pettit said of his role.
Without Westinghouse tonight, Wing will rely more on his consultation with Wolford, who first connected with Winkler in Green Bay. Wing is coming off completing 14 of 18 attempts for 200 yards in last week’s win. He has one touchdown pass and no interceptions.
Wolford played for the Los Angeles Rams from 2019-2022 and then during then during the 2023 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His first NFL start was in place of injured Jared Goff in the 2020 regular-season finale, and he led the Rams back into the playoffs with a 10-6 victory. He became the first quarterback to pass for more than 200 yards and rush for more than 50 in his NFL debut. He also backed up Matthew Stafford as the Rams won the 2021 Super Bowl.
‘‘Dominic’s grooming as a quarterback has not been normal,” said Winkler. “He has the opportunity to talk with an NFL quarterback every week if he wants to, and I would say that relationship would come second to what he and Lawson have developed.”
Wing will miss Westinghouse every time the offense comes off the field tonight.
‘I usually like to look for him and we give each other a little fist bump when I come off,” Wing said.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) From left, Ty Pettit, quarterbacks KaLenn Harsh and Dominic Wing, Lawson Westinghouse and Cadillac football coach Nick Winkler take a moment for a photograph during a recent practice. (Middle) Tanner Johnson, Will Howell and Westinghouse read “The Twin Thieves” together. (Below) Westinghouse keeps an eye on the action. (Practice photos by Tom Spencer; reading photo courtesy of the Cadillac athletic department.)