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Flashback: Big Play Leads Off Big Reds

July 26, 2016

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director

Highlighted by what was then an MHSAA Finals kickoff return record, Muskegon takes on Detroit Martin Luther King in this week’s 80s Finals Flashback series on MHSAA.tv. 

The fifth game in our weekly summer series is the 1988 Class A Football Final between the Big Reds and the Crusaders.

Week of July 25 – Muskegon 16, Detroit Martin Luther King 13 – 1988 Class A Football Final – Muskegon's Marcus Longmire dashed 89 yards for a touchdown on the opening kickoff of the second half as the Big Reds downed Detroit Martin Luther King, 16-13, in the Class A Final. Longmire's TD gave Muskegon a 16-0 lead, but the Crusaders did not fold. On second down of the following series, King quarterback Zolton Hall hit David Bowden on a 76-yard touchdown pass. Hall scored with 3:36 remaining in the third to cut the Big Reds’ lead to three, but the Crusaders were unable to score again. (Click here to watch Longmire’s kickoff return)

A new game will be posted online each Monday through the week of August 22.  DVDs may be purchased directly from the MHSAA.tv Website – just click the “Get DVD” button below the player.

Previous Flashbacks

July 19: Northport 80, Beal City 78 – 1988 Class D Boys Basketball Final - Watch
July 12: Detroit Cass Tech 52, Saginaw 51 – 1987 Class A Girls Basketball Final - Watch
July 5: Traverse City 24, Detroit Catholic Central 14 – 1988 Class A Football Final - Watch
June 28: Saginaw Buena Vista 33, Flint Beecher 32 – 1986 Class B Boys Basketball Final - Watch

Erik O. Furseth

In Memoriam: Erik O. Furseth (1930-2022)

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 1, 2022

For 50 years, Erik O. Furseth’s voice chimed throughout MHSAA and Michigan State University athletic events. That voice surely will continue to live in the memories of the many who cherished listening to him, as he died Monday evening at the age of 91.

Furseth began as the public-address voice of MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals in 1968 and continued well into his 80s as those games moved from Jenison Field House to other locations across the Lower Peninsula and eventually settled into Breslin Center. He also was the longtime MHSAA football championship game voice going back to their days at the Pontiac Silverdome and provided the narration for MHSAA Baseball Finals for a decade. He announced his last MHSAA event in 2018.

An MSU basketball player during the early 1950s, the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native played in the Spartans’ first Big Ten game in 1951. A forestry student initially, Furseth switched to communications. He later became a legendary rock-n-roll radio DJ in Lansing, and for a decade hosted Saturday night dances at the Lansing Civic Center that drew 1,000 teenagers a night – and a surprise performance by a young Stevie Wonder.

Furseth’s voice continued to be known particularly by Spartan fans as the homecourt voice for MSU basketball from 1968-2002 and MSU football from 1971-98. For more, see this feature from the MHSAA Basketball Finals programs written in 2013.

Furseth moved from East Lansing to Traverse City about 25 years ago. Click for his obituary and funeral arrangements.