Cancer Free, Haske Pulls Double Duty

March 3, 2016

By Dennis Chase
Special for Second Half

TRAVERSE CITY – Keith Haske calls coaching basketball “therapeutic.”

It’s a term that now holds more meaning for the 58-year-old Traverse City St. Francis basketball coach, who is recovering from a stage four throat cancer diagnosis two years ago.

“When you’re coaching you just kind of lose yourself,” he said. “You don’t think about how you’re feeling or what you went through.”

Coaching has been a major part of Haske’s life for 32 years – 13 at St. Johns, 13 at Charlevoix and six at St. Francis. Even when he felt weak and tired last season, Haske continued as the boys coach, using an amplified headset at practice to lessen the strain on his throat.

His health, he said, is continually improving. He’s cancer free. His energy and strength are returning – so much so that he added to his workload this season by taking on the girls varsity coaching duties, too.

“When you go through this stuff you almost have a renewed energy,” he said. “Your body fights so hard to beat the cancer, and you go through so much suffering, that when you come out the other side things really don’t faze you as much.”

This is a time of the year that will test Haske’s stamina because his schedule is busier than ever. He coached three doubleheaders last week. With the girls reaching Friday’s MHSAA Class C District Final, he’ll coach five games in five days this week. It could be a repeat next week if the boys and girls advance along the tournament trail.

“I can’t tell you how much fun that would be,” Haske said.

Another tough District matchup awaits, though. The girls team (21-1) played Elk Rapids (15-6) on Wednesday and will next face host Glen Lake (20-2). The boys (12-7) will face Johannesburg-Lewiston (16-2) – the team that knocked the Gladiators out last season– in their District opener Monday.

It’s a challenging schedule. But Haske, who’s taken four teams to the MHSAA Finals, is accustomed to challenges. None bigger than his battle with cancer.

The diagnosis came the day after Easter in 2014. Haske, who kept physically fit, couldn’t believe what the doctor was telling him.

“I said, ‘There’s no way,’” he recalled. “I never smoked, never chewed tobacco, things you would attribute (to throat cancer).”

He wasn’t the only one stunned.

“Most of the team started breaking down crying,” senior Dylan Sheehy-Guiseppi remembered when Haske broke the news. “We were so shocked. We couldn’t understand how it happened to him.”

Neither could Haske’s close friends.

“Your first take is that it’s pretty devastating because you don’t know (what to expect),” Adam Wood, who played for and coached under Haske at Charlevoix, said. “Cancer can run the gamut as far as severity. The one thing I did know is that he would fight it as hard as he could.”

Haske took his fight to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He, and his wife Barb, spent most of the summer there as Haske underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatment.

It was on a return trip to Houston a few months later – he still goes back every four months for scans – when he learned he was cancer free.

“When I left (in July) they were still worried about one of the lymph nodes, whether they got it or not,” Haske said. “Sometimes it gets inflamed from the radiation, and they can’t tell.”

Turns out, it was inflammation. No cancer was detected.

On the way home, Haske received a call from principal Eric Chittle, who then revealed the good news at a school assembly.

“The whole student body went crazy,” Haske said. “It was cool.”

For Haske, the dean of students at the high school, it was a big hurdle to clear. But there was a side effect – Haske’s throat was still inflamed, and he struggled to eat.

“When I came back I went six months without eating a single morsel of food,” he said. “I lived on Ensure and ice cream.”

He ended up losing 53 pounds – and at one point inquired about a feeding tube.

“He (doctor) said, ‘You don’t need it. You’ve been through the worst. You’ll be all right,’” Haske recalled. “He was right. A couple weeks later it started to turn around.”

After the boys basketball season concluded last March, and as Haske’s health improved, the girls basketball job opened up. Haske had coached girls basketball at Charlevoix for three seasons, leading the Rayders to a 27-1 record and a Finals appearance in 2004. He stepped down when the girls season was switched from fall to winter.

St. Francis athletic director Tom Hardy thought about the possibilities and approached Haske, a member of the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Fame, about adding a second coaching job. After consulting with Barb, who he said has been “unbelievable” in his recovery process, Haske accepted.

Wood, who is now the boys basketball coach and athletic director at Lake Michigan Conference rival Harbor Springs, was among the first to call his former coach.

“He asked, ‘Adam, am I crazy?’” Wood said laughing. “My response was ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I’ve been getting a lot of that lately.’

“For him to take that on was beyond impressive. It was all about the kids.”

What about physically?

“When I saw him this year I told him he looked great,” Wood said. “He said he felt great. The difference between this year and last is quite dramatic.”

Haske – who is mentoring two young coaches in the system, Tyler Sanborn and Stephanie DeNoyelles – said the casual fan might not even realize what he’s been through.

“If you were looking at me across the gym you wouldn’t have any idea,” Haske said. “If you get closer, I still have some swelling in my jaw, and I talk a little funny sometimes.”

But he’s enjoying every minute.

“The kids here are great, and that makes it so much easier,” he said. “You just don’t have many problems.”

The players are thankful to see their coach returning to his old self.

“He’s not only a basketball coach, he’s a mentor,” Sheehy-Guiseppi said. “He wants to make sure you’re taking care of stuff outside the game of basketball first. He really cares about you as a person, and he looks forward to helping you grow as a person.”

St. Francis officials adjusted Haske’s work schedule during the winter to accommodate his coaching, and Hardy had to work out arrangements with league members to schedule more varsity doubleheaders.

“All the schools were great about it,” Hardy said. “We have not had an issue with Keith having to be at two spots at the same time.”

Now comes the challenge of March Madness. And for the girls, that means a showdown with Glen Lake.

“They’re a lot like us,” Haske said, when asked about the Lakers. “They don’t have any one person you can key on. They have five or six girls that all share the ball and are dangerous. They’re tough in the paint and they can shoot. They’re very balanced, very sound.”

So are the Gladiators, who have won 19 in a row. Senior Annie Lyman is the leader, averaging 14 points, eight rebounds, five steals and five assists per game.

“She does it all,” Haske said. “She’s a tough, aggressive player.”

Juliana Phillips, a 6-foot-4 junior who has committed to play volleyball at St. Louis University, and 6-foot senior Lauren McDonnell also average in double figures.

Haske likes the growth he’s seen in his team.

“I think we’ve made great strides in understanding the system and what we’re trying to do,” he said. “We have some pretty talented kids. We have some size, some quickness, some kids who can shoot it. It’s a well-rounded team.”

The boys, meanwhile, are trying to find some consistency. Haske thought the Gladiators were turning the corner when Gabe Callery hit a mid-court shot at the buzzer to stun previously unbeaten East Jordan earlier this year. But St. Francis dropped three consecutive road games in February.

“A lot of it is shooting,” Haske said. “There are nights we just don’t shoot it well. When we do shoot it well, we’re a really good team.”

How good will be determined in March.

Dennis Chase worked 32 years as a sportswriter at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, including as sports editor from 2000-14. 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) Traverse City St. Francis coach Keith Haske huddles with his boys basketball team during a game against Grayling. (Middle) St. Francis' girls team, here against Kalkaska, will play for a District title Friday. (Below) Haske speaks with a few of his players during a District game against Grand Traverse Academy. (Photos by Julie English.)

After Leading Glen Lake Girls to Title, Bradford Brings Boys Into Final Week

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

March 15, 2024

Eight is Enough.

Northern Lower PeninsulaOr is it?

For Jason Bradford growing up on the farm of Arden and Lynn Bradford as one of their eight children, it probably was enough. Bradford’s upbringing may have been slightly similar to “Eight Is Enough,” a comedy-drama television series about a family with eight children that aired on ABC from March of 1977 to May of 1981.

But the show didn’t depict pick-up basketball being played in the barn like it was for Bradford and his siblings. And surely eight would not be enough Regional basketball championships for Jason Bradford, nor enough District titles either. 

After leading Maple City Glen Lake to the Division 4 girls basketball championship last year, Bradford stepped down from coaching.  At the time his teams had won five Regional and six District titles.

Now his teams have won six Regional and seven District championships. He took over Glen Lake’s boys program during the holiday break this winter as the Lakers were off to a 4-2 start. They finished the season 22-5.  

It was the Lakers boys’ first 20-win campaign since the 2018-19 season, and they clinched their first Regional title since 2018.

Glen Lake went 19-5 last year losing to Traverse City St. Francis in the District Final. The season before that ended with a first-round loss to Elk Rapids and 15-6 record.

Bradford led his girls teams four times to the MHSAA Semifinals and almost got their a fifth time this year with the boys. Their run ended Tuesday with a tough loss in the Division 4 Quarterfinals to Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart, 63-51. 

“We’re licking the wounds of that one,” he said. “We’ve got to remember to look at the big picture – they are young men becoming men.”

Glen Lake’s Cooper Bufalini (11) pushes the ball upcourt during a 65-49 District Final win over Bellaire.But Bradford already has turned his thoughts to next season and is making plans for summer basketball.

“Having the summer with them if it goes the way we want is going to be huge,” Bradford said. “There are a few things going through my head I can change or adjust.  

“We want to continue to build on what our philosophy of what Glen Lake is and my philosophy of what Glen Lake is.”

The Lakers will graduate Cooper Bufalini, Gage Baker, Dylan Cundiff, Tyler Bixby and Jamie Blondia. But they’ll have their top two scorers back, sophomore Jacob Plamondon and junior Benji Allen. Plamondon kicked in almost 20 points per game and led the team in rebounding with more than 10 per contest. Allen averaged more than 11 points per game and led the team in assists.

Glen Lake finished second in the Northwest Conference behind Benzie Central, which was undefeated in league play. The Lakers knocked off league opponents Frankfort in the Division 4 District title match and Buckley in the Regional Semifinal.

The battles with Benzie for the conference title may have been the highlights of the season, Bradford noted. Those were Glen Lake’s only losses in league play, and a share of the title was within their grasp late in the second game with the Huskies.

The Lakers lost 60-51 on their home court in the first meeting but took Benzie to the limit in the rematch before falling, 41-39, on the road.

“We had a lot of great games and a lot of great memories,” Bradford said. “Going for conference it pretty much came down to the last few seconds with lead changes. 

“We were up by one point with less than 30 second lefts, and that was the high point,” he continued. “We came up short, but we learned from that game.”

Also among highlights for Bradford this year was the chance to coach against his brother Nathan for the first time in their careers.

The Lakers’ Jacob Plamondon (35) makes a strong move to the basket.The Bradfords started coaching girls varsity basketball 16 years ago, but their teams were in different conferences at the time. Nathan coached the Onekama girls but moved to the boys program before Onekama and Glen Lake had a chance to compete against each other in the Northwest Conference.

The Bradford coaches often talk after their games and learn from one another. They have also seen their parents frequently in the bleachers as they rotate home game sites to see their grandchildren play and their sons coach.

When Onekama and Glen Lake played this year, eight Bradfords were on the rosters as players or coaches. Jason’s son Toby, a freshman, played on the Glen Lake junior varsity team, as Nathan’s son Carson played for the Portagers’ JV squad. The Onekama JV team is coached by another Bradford, Jason and Nathan’s brother Nick. And there were three more Bradfords on the varsity – Nathan’s son Caden and his cousins Luke and Arden.

Glen Lake won both varsity games, 38-36 at Onekama and 61-33 at home.

Jason and his wife Jackie have five children. Their youngest son, Drew, is now a sixth grader at Glen Lake. His oldest son, J.J., is at Michigan Tech and has begun officiating basketball after his senior season at Glen Lake cut short by the pandemic while the Lakers were preparing to play in a 2020 District Final. Daughters Maddie and Grace are playing basketball for Lake Superior State University.

Maddie and Grace were big parts of Glen Lake’s deep postseason runs with Jason as girls coach. With many games played on Saturdays and not conflicting with coaching, Jason, Jackie and the younger boys were able to travel to see the Upper Peninsula’s Lakers play regularly.

This season, the Glen Lake girls – under first-year head coach Brad Fosmore – went 16-8 and won Northwest Conference and District titles before losing a nail-biter, 45-42, to league rival Frankfort in the Regional Semifinal.

“Jason did a good job, and it felt good to carry on the tradition,” said Fosmore, who previously served as a Lakers JV coach. “We took it one game at a time.

“Jason worked hard to build a great girls program,” he continued. “It made it pretty simple because they had that winning tradition and kind of kept it rolling.”

Tom SpencerTom 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) Jason Bradford, kneeling, coaches the Maple City Glen Lake boys varsity after taking over the program earlier this season. (Middle) Glen Lake’s Cooper Bufalini (11) pushes the ball upcourt during a 65-49 District Final win over Bellaire. (Below) The Lakers’ Jacob Plamondon (35) makes a strong move to the basket. (Top photo by RD Sports Photo/Rob DeForge, additional photos by Nicole Bixby.)