House's Letters Spell R-E-C-O-R-D
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
December 18, 2018
COMSTOCK — As a freshman, Abby House could not decide whether to play volleyball or golf, so she compromised and did both.
Little did she know that first dual-sport fall season would put her on track to Comstock High School history.
She will graduate in May with a school-record 22 varsity letters — 21 for sports and one for band.
The previous record, set by Robert Bellisle in 1943, was 17. Bellisle was inducted into the Comstock Hall of Fame in 2011.
“I just really like sports and starting freshman year with five, I didn’t really know there was a record for it,” House said.
She has four letters each in bowling, golf, basketball and softball, three in volleyball, two in soccer and one in band.
The school supports dual-sport athletes under specific conditions, athletic director Justin Ansel said.
“Primary and secondary coaches have to agree on the details before it can happen,” he said. “If we don't have their agreement along with the player understanding of expectations, we don't allow it.
“I think it's important to just give the kids opportunity. It works best with picking a team sport as the primary sport and then an individual sport as secondary.”
House’s father, Rich House, said he and his wife have no problem with their daughter playing six sports a school year.
“It wasn’t really ever a plan; it just kinda happened,” he said. “She was always good at it and has always been a good student.
“We always told her as long as she could handle it and keep up – the school work is most important. She always seemed to do a good job at that.”
Schoolwork has not been a problem for House, who carries a 3.88 grade-point average.
This year, she has just one class at Comstock – band – but took psychology, physics and accounting at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Next semester, she will study sociology, chemistry and medical terminology at KVCC, working toward a degree in nursing.
Although House plays sports for fun, her dad said his daughter is a high-level competitor in all of them.
“She has multiple conference titles, qualified for state twice in golf, once in bowling, all-District catcher two years in a row,” Rich House said.
This year, she was Comstock’s top golfer and is the team’s top female bowler, carrying a 150 average.
Decisions, decisions
As a freshman, House earned varsity letters in golf, basketball, bowling and softball.
She played the same sports the next year, but also was moved up to varsity in volleyball, giving her five letters.
Her junior year, House added soccer, and is continuing to play six sports her senior year.
She chose volleyball because “I played (volleyball) with my teammates since middle school and I’ve enjoyed it when I played in season,” House said.
Golf is a family affair for the House family, including her brother, Mason.
“My parents are big golfers and we’re a big golf family and the coach was really into wanting me to golf, so she talked me into it and I thought it would be fun to try,” Abby House said.
Since she started playing basketball in elementary school; it was a no-brainer to continue in high school. She was called up to varsity after a month during her freshman year.
The bowling coach had an inside track to recruiting her – it’s her dad.
Softball was her only spring sport until her junior year.
“When I was younger, I played softball and soccer, but I chose softball because I liked it more,” House said.
“We had a softball coach who wanted us to concentrate only on softball, so I didn’t play soccer.”
Her junior year, the softball coach left and House decided to add soccer, giving her two sports in each of the three seasons.
Everything falls into place
House is an expert at time management.
“In school, whenever teachers get done with notes and we have homework I try to do it,” she said. “Or with any free time I’ll do it and what’s left, I do after practices.
“Freshman, sophomore year I did a lot on the bus.”
Choosing a favorite sport is not possible.
“Everybody asks me that,” she said. “I can choose one per season, but not one overall.
“Basketball, golf, softball have always been my top.”
House has stepped up this year, helping lead the basketball team to a 3-0 overall record, 2-0 in the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference Red as a point guard, her fourth position in four years.
As a freshman she was a post player, as a sophomore she shifted to forward, and then to shooting guard last winter.
Last season, she averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game. This year, it’s 18 points, eight rebounds and nearly six assists on average, she said.
“Abby has always been a solid player even since fourth grade when (she and Daisy Ansel) started playing some travel ball together,” said Justin Ansel, who also coaches the girls basketball team.
“I think Abby has always been a very coordinated athlete, and it doesn't surprise me that she does so well in so many different things. She has contributed at a high level in a lot of sports.”
Ansel said he thinks House could be extremely good if she focused on a particular sport, but “I think she just loves competing so much that she would rather play all kinds of sports all the time.”
Ansel said House complements leading scorer Daisy Ansel well.
“Abby's start to this season from an offensive standpoint has been tremendous,” he said. “Both girls are shooting very well from the outside, and both girls are able to attack so defenses can't just key on one of them – which is amazing for Daisy.”
House will not go into sports withdrawal once she graduates.
She hopes to continue to play in college, but just one sport, either basketball or golf, she said.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Abby House’s varsity letter jacket shows off many of her accomplishments over her first three-plus years of high school. (Middle) Abby House and her father Rich House. (Below) Abby House takes part in some of her sports – with her dad at the bowling center, golfing, and hitting in softball and volleyball. (Action photos courtesy of the House family. Head shots by Pam Shebest.)
Work Molds Lohr Into WSU Wins Leader
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 5, 2020
When Carrie Lohr was spending weekends in her youth chopping wood with her father or helping clear stones from her the fields of her grandfather’s farm, she wasn’t thinking of how it would help her become a standout athlete or coach. She did think about how she’d rather be swimming in a pool like her friends and classmates.
But when the Wayne State women’s basketball coach looks back now on her time in Sandusky, it’s those moments that stick out as shaping her.
“I learned the value of hard work,” Lohr, formerly Hickson, said. “I learned the value of earning an allowance. I look back and I was expected to work, and I didn’t know it any other way. Twenty years ago, when I started coaching, I always understood the value of hard work. I was fortunate I have people who have shown me that. That kind of comes back to me more than a particular sport or a particular game or competition. I find myself looking back on how I learned those things with the things that I did.”
Lohr’s hard work helped her become a standout three-sport athlete at Sandusky, an all-conference college basketball player, and now Wayne State’s all-time winningest women’s basketball coach.
The 1989 Sandusky graduate is entering her 10th season with the Warriors with a career record of 148-111. She led Wayne State to NCAA regional finals in 2013 and 2014, and the regional semifinal in 2015. The 2012-13 season featured Wayne State’s first NCAA Tournament victory and its first regional final appearance.
“She definitely had those good leadership qualities and the love of the game,” said Sandusky girls basketball coach Al DeMott, who coached Lohr in the late 1980s. “And she was a hard worker – nobody is going to out-work her. From Day 1, she wasn’t going to let anyone outwork her or get ahead of her. She’s just a great person, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Lohr starred as a point guard for DeMott for two seasons, helping Sandusky reach the Class C Quarterfinals in 1987, where it lost to eventual champion Detroit St. Martin dePorres.
“She used to knock in the 3s, too,” DeMott said. “She hit some big 3s for us in some big games. She was a gamer. She had a smart basketball IQ.”
Lohr played collegiately at St. Clair County Community College (SC4) and the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She was named first-team all-conference, all-region and all-state at SC4, and, unsurprisingly, was a captain at both schools.
Coaching wasn’t something Lohr considered during her playing days, though.
“I always thought, ‘I could never do this – I could never be a coach. How would I know what to say?’” she said. “But when the buzzer sounds in your last collegiate game and you’re sitting there in the gym and the locker room and reality hit you that it’s over, that was life-changing. It meant so much more to me than I even realized.”
Lohr started her coaching career in 1994 as the freshman girls basketball coach at Richmond, and she quickly fell in love with the profession. Her journey included stints as the freshman girls coach at Port Huron Northern and assistant jobs at SC4 and Oakland University.
While Lohr had found her passion, she still needed to pay the bills.
“I was living my dream (coaching) and following my dream, but reality was hitting me that I may not be able to continue on this path,” Lohr said. “A friend of mine was in medical sales, so I found myself in medical sales for five years. That afforded me to go back into coaching at SC4 as an assistant again, then I got into head coaching.”
She took over the Skippers program in 2002, and had a 166-106 record in nine seasons at her alma mater. It was her first time running a program, and she also became a mother two weeks before her first game with the birth of her daughter Sarah. Carrie was pregnant with her son Eli throughout her entire third season as coach. Lohr said her husband Eric was incredibly supportive, which was crucial to making it work.
She also had an A-list of former coaches to lean on when she needed advice. DeMott is second in MHSAA history with 753 career wins. Lohr’s former travel coach Fred Shaw is a member of the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. And Dave Mann, who has won four MHSAA championships, coached her at U-M Dearborn.
“I really attribute me being in coaching to all of my coaches,” she said. “I always maintained a connection with those individuals. I feel like all three have been a great resource for me. Those times when you’re unsure about something – whether it’s an on-court situation or an off-court situation, I always felt I had three people I could call and seek advice from. I think that’s important to be able to have someone to call and say, ‘I don’t know what to do in this situation.’”
Having played for multiple Hall of Fame-caliber coaches – including the late Paul Jackson, who coached her at SC4 – is also a good way to build a coaching style.
“You learn from other coaches, but you just step out and create your own path,” Lohr said. “I learned a little bit of something different from all of them. The common denominator is they’re all very positive people, but they’re all competitive. They coach very differently.”
In the spring of 2011, Lohr was hired at Wayne State, and she has turned the Warriors into perennial GLIAC contenders.
“I was just lucky, I think, knowing what I know now about how many people apply for these jobs,” she said. “I feel really fortunate that the athletic director here at Wayne State saw something in me and believed in me. I’m very grateful.”
Her kids have grown into athletes themselves at St. Clair High School. Sarah, a senior, plays volleyball and basketball. She could add tennis in the spring, as well, but wasn’t able to this past year because of the cancellation of seasons due to the coronavirus. Eli, a junior, plays tennis, basketball and baseball.
“When I’m watching my kids, it’s enjoyable to just sit back and watch,” Lohr said. “The things I see in my kids is that I think they’re good teammates, and I think they work hard, and those things are important to me. To watch them compete is fun, but to see those things that maybe don’t show up in a tweet or make a headline, those things are really important.”
They’re also getting to enjoy the experience of playing multiple sports in high school, something Lohr thinks back on fondly from her days in Sandusky.
“I still remember my volleyball coaches, and I still remember my softball coach,” Lohr said. “I had a great experience in being a three-sport athlete. It was demanding, but it’s really unfortunate that a lot of young people aren’t able to experience that. I think there’s a lot of pressure on young people to specialize. I felt like there was a strong culture in Sandusky with all of their sports. To look back on it, it was really a special time for me.”
Made in Michigan 2020
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July 17: Miss Tennis Serving Now as 'Hero Coach' - Read
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June 24: Fracassa's Remarkable Records Still Rule - Read
June 16: Muskegon Grad Casts "Magic" in HBO Series - Read
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.
PHOTOS: (Top) Carrie Lohr this winter will enter her 10th season coaching the Wayne State University women’s basketball program. (Middle) Lohr was a standout at Sandusky High during the 1987 and 1988 seasons. (Below) Lohr huddles with her Wayne State players. (Top and below photos courtesy of WSU sports information; Sandusky photo courtesy of Carrie Lohr.)