Step by Step, EGR's Brown Climbs to Miss Basketball Award, College Future
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
March 16, 2023
EAST GRAND RAPIDS – Macy Brown remembers spending her Saturday mornings with her older sisters scrambling around gymnasiums when she was no older than a first grader.
The long and winding journey from those early days to a sterling career at East Grand Rapids is one chronicled by overcoming the gangly body of a middle schooler, surrendering interest in two other sports in favor of basketball, countless hours of AAU, critical advice from two older sisters, a misfortunate accident to a teammate as a junior that necessitated a position switch and eventually to sorting through scholarship offers from a handful of elite college programs.
It's a path that concluded this week with the Pioneers’ point guard not only becoming one of just 1.3 percent of high school players to accept a Division I scholarship, but also being named winner of the prestigious Miss Basketball Award as the state's top senior player.
It's a long way from those weekend mornings to becoming the school's all-time leading scorer, a four-year starter, all-stater and Miss Basketball winner – and a story that Brown says exceeds anything she could have imagined.
"It's been amazing, magical at times," Brown said. "You don't realize how you've spent your time until it's over. There were a lot of sacrifices, but you also gain so much with the relationships you've had through basketball."
The journey started at the East Hills center in Grand Rapids with older sisters Oliva and Jillian, both of whom are currently playing Division I college basketball, and their mother Noelle, who ran an AAU program. It was the first time Macy Brown recalls taking an interest in the sport and began taking stock of what it would take to play basketball at the high school or possibly even college level.
By the time Brown entered middle school, she was all of 5-foot-9 with skills that while encouraging, were far from a guarantee that a long basketball bloodline would be extended by one more daughter. In fact, it was the first time Brown was spotted by EGR coach Troy Hammond, who recalls her as anything but the player who would become the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,537 points while starting all 86 of the team's games over four varsity seasons.
"She was a tall, lanky kid who was just figuring her body out," Hammond said, "She was a tag-along with her sisters. She was always smiling, a happy-go-lucky kid who loved being in the gym. But I would be lying if I said she would be as good or better than the experiences I had with her sisters. That was no foregone conclusion."
Still, Brown stuck it out and slowly made progress, both mentally and physically. Boosted by advice from her sisters, Brown's on-court talent began to take shape. She also grew about three inches and began hitting the weight room to gain strength. As she entered middle school, she elected to give up lacrosse and soccer to spend more time playing basketball. Armed by having additional time for basketball, she threw herself into even more AAU ball. College coaches who constantly mine the AAU circuit for emerging talent began to notice Brown, who received her first scholarship offer from Loyola of Chicago following her eighth-grade season.
Despite the interest, however, Brown knew she had to become a better player.
"I was pretty good, but you don't realize how big of a leap it is from middle school to high school," said Brown, who had no second thoughts about becoming a single-sport athlete. "I grew up around basketball, it was always my first sport. I couldn't see playing lacrosse or soccer past high school."
Brown was good enough to make EGR's varsity as a freshman, She averaged 11.7 points per game in her inaugural season and gained additional attention from playing on a 22-1 team that would have been in contention for a Division 1 title if the season hadn't been cancelled because of COVID-19.
Brown continued to hone her game, averaging 13.5 points as a sophomore. She made all-conference for a second time and also made her college choice: she would become a Michigan Wolverine.
"When you know, you know," she said. "I knew I would wind up at Michigan because when I went other places, I would always compare them to Michigan. It just felt like home."
Brown said she relied on her sisters to know what required her utmost attention during the recruitment period. Olivia started at St. Bonaventure and now plays at Valparaiso, while Jillian is at Northwestern. Both offered crucial advice on how to pick a school.
"It definitely helped playing against them. I would get beat on, but it helped me," Macy said. "It was all for the best because it helped me become a better player."
It was after picking her college that Brown's career took another significant step forward. The Pioneers' senior point guard, Ally Carlson, who now plays at Western Michigan, suffered a season-ending ACL injury before senior-year practice began. The injury meant Brown, who had been a shooting guard her first two seasons, would have to move to point. She had to transition from becoming the team's second or even third offensive option to someone counted on to score points. She responded by averaging 22.4 as a junior and tossing in 25 points per game this season.
"I watched her develop into a leader, both as a person and on the court," Hammond said. "To see that development as a coach, it was wonderful."
Brown's improvement as a player included serious self-reflection. She admits to being the kind of athlete who maps out goals and then isn't satisfied until she reaches them.
"Every year was a checkpoint for me," she said. "I worked hard every offseason, and I would always notice what it took to play the game."
While the book on her high school career closes with the Miss Basketball Award, another door is opened in Ann Arbor. Brown said if she were to speak to a room full of young basketball wannabes, her advice would be simple. Brown was once in their position, and better than anyone else knows what it takes to conquer the next step in moving up the basketball ladder.
"It's definitely step by step, and you have to learn from your experiences," she said. "You make sacrifices, but you can gain so much."
PHOTOS (Top) Macy Brown is this season's Miss Basketball Award winner. (Middle) Brown and her sisters celebrate her award this week. (Top photo by Steve Vedder. Middle photo courtesy of the East Grand Rapids athletic department.)
Kelsey Carries Well Richards' Legacy
January 9, 2020
By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half
Kelsey Richards is constantly compared to her older sisters, which doesn’t bother her one bit.
“They were both amazing players, so I’ll take it,” Kelsey said with her big smile, which is on display seemingly everywhere – except during her basketball games.
“I feel like it’s my time. It’s my time to show my senior leadership and my love for Christ as we play.”
Kelsey, a 6-0 senior, like older sisters Taylor and Allyson before her, is a fifth-year varsity starter for Fruitport Calvary Christian, a school of just 72 students which the Richards girls – with the help of their father and 10th-year coach Brad Richards – have transformed into a Division 4 powerhouse in West Michigan.
Fruitport Calvary has averaged 20 wins per season over the past nine years, with seven consecutive Alliance League championships and six straight MHSAA District titles. In five of those seasons, Calvary’s tournament run ended at the hands of state power Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart in Regional Finals.
But last year, the Eagles flew south for Regionals and Kelsey scored 21 points as they broke through with a 49-46 victory over Mendon for the school’s first-ever Regional championship in any sport. Calvary lost in the Quarterfinals to eventual Division 4 champion Adrian Lenawee Christian.
“It’s just a real blessing,” Coach Richards explained after a lopsided victory Tuesday night over visiting Hudsonville Libertas Christian. “We put God first, family second and basketball third. This school has allowed us to do all three of those things at one time, and we are so thankful for that.”
This year, the Eagles are off to a 6-2 start, with losses coming against Division 3 opponents Muskegon Western Michigan Christian and Hart, and the most notable win 50-46 over Division 2 Central Montcalm last week at the Cornerstone University Holiday Tournament. Richards matched her jersey number with 33 points in that game.
Fruitport Calvary will be shooting for its 51st consecutive Alliance League victory when it opens conference play Friday night at Byron Center Zion Christian.
The first constant for the Eagles over the past nine years is an ultra-aggressive style of play, using relentless full-court pressure to break teams down. As a result, Calvary gets to the free-throw line often, with the goal every game to make more free throws than the other team attempts.
The second constant is the dominating play of the Richards sisters.
Taylor Richards put Calvary girls basketball on the map before graduating in 2014. She remains the school’s all-time career leader in points (2,455), rebounds (1,541) and assists (381). Taylor went on to a standout career at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids and now coaches eighth-grade girls basketball at Northern Hills Middle School.
Allyson Richards had an amazing prep career of her own, graduating in 2017 as the school’s second-leading career scorer (1,951) and rebounder (1,167). She is now a junior forward for Cornerstone, but has played less than half the team’s games this season due to injuries.
Kelsey, who like her sisters has the ability to play every position on the court, is moving up the school’s record book. The two-time all-stater has scored 1,879 points and needs just 73 to surpass Allyson for second place on the school record list.
Some of Calvary’s best seasons came when the Richards sisters played together. While the three never played varsity at the same time, Taylor and Allyson played together for three years, while Allyson and Kelsey played together for two years.
Kelsey has not had a sibling on the roster for the past three years, but filling that void admirably has been 6-0 senior Lizzie Cammenga. Richards and Cammenga are the only seniors on Calvary’s 10-player roster, and both are fifth-year varsity players and returning all-staters, who can play any position based on the opponent. (Schools with fewer than 100 students may play eighth graders on high school teams, although only their statistics from grades 9-12 count toward MHSAA record book consideration.)
“This team is a joy to coach,” explained Brad Richards, who previously coached girls basketball for 12 years at Ravenna and was named The Associated Press Class C state Coach of the Year in 2002. “Lizzie and Kelsey are our leaders, but all of these girls come from great families and are self-motivated to keep getting better.”
The final piece of the Richards basketball puzzle is younger brother Bradley, a 6-foot-3 seventh grader at Calvary. Coach Richards is considering switching over to boys basketball after this season for the opportunity to coach his son.
Richards retired from teaching history at Ravenna in 2018, which gives him more time to devote to coaching, his second career as a realtor and now an unexpected “mid-life adventure” which has made him a national television figure.
Richards is one of the researchers in “The Curse of Civil War Gold,” a series which premiered on The History Channel in the spring of 2018 and has reached an estimated 24.2 million viewers.
The show theorizes that Union soldiers confiscated millions of dollars in Confederate gold and silver during the final stages of the Civil War, then carried out a plot to smuggle the loot back to Michigan using the railway system and then laundered it through the banking system. According to a lighthouse keeper's deathbed confession years later, part of the stolen Confederate treasury was put into a train car on a barge and pushed off a ferry into Lake Michigan.
“It’s been a lot of fun and people from all over come up to me and talk about it,” said Richards, who has traveled as far away as Utah and Georgia to do research. “I am grateful to be a part of this project. I've been blessed by the Lord through this mid-life adventure.”
On the court, Kelsey and her father are focused on getting better each game to try and make another postseason run.
Kelsey is much happier talking about her teammates than herself, pointing out the improvement of the team’s other three starters – junior Kyra Hamilton, sophomore Cate Anhalt and freshman McKena Wilson.
“Each of the teams I’ve played on has been very different, but I’ve been really surprised how well some of our younger girls have played this year,” said Kelsey, noting Anhalt’s improved shooting and Wilson’s ability to stay calm in pressure situations.
Kelsey does plan to break one family tradition by not going to Cornerstone University, opting instead to play basketball at Spring Arbor College, an evangelical Christian school near Jackson. Brad played basketball at Cornerstone, her mother, Joy, played volleyball there and her two older sisters played basketball – but she chose a different path.
“I felt very comfortable when I visited Spring Arbor and I really like the girls on the team and Coach (Ryan) Frost,” said Kelsey, 17, who plans to sign with Spring Arbor on Jan. 28.
But first, she is determined to make the most of her final prep basketball season and the final five months of high school, where she is one of just 14 seniors.
“I really enjoy that we are small, because we are more like a family here,” said Kelsey, who runs track in the spring. “As big as basketball is for me, I really love being a chapel leader at school and a worship leader for youth group. A lot of people know me as a basketball player, but that part of my life is really important to me.”
Tom Kendra worked 23 years at The Muskegon Chronicle, including five as assistant sports editor and the final six as sports editor through 2011. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Muskegon, Oceana, Mason, Lake, Oceola, Mecosta and Newaygo counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kelsey Richards defends during a game earlier this season against Hart. (Middle) Richards works to get past a Muskegon Catholic Central defender last season. (Below) The Richards children, from left: Kelsey Richards, Allyson Richards (junior at Cornerstone), Bradley Richards (6-3 seventh grader at Fruitport Calvary Christian) and Taylor Richards (Cornerstone graduate). (Action photos courtesy of Dr. Tom Watkins; family photo courtesy of the Richards family.)