Title IX at 50: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 26, 2021
Grand Blanc’s ninth-place finish at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Girls Golf Final on Oct. 16 was its third-straight top-10 placing at the championship tournament, and the Bobcats remain second in MHSAA girls golf history with eight Finals championships.
Judy Clegg played a founding role in setting that standard nearly five decades ago.
Clegg became Grand Blanc’s first girls golf coach in 1975, leading the team to a fifth-place finish that spring in the third MHSAA Girls Golf Finals – when all 83 teams were assigned to one “Open Class” and nine advanced to the championship tournament.
A decade later, her 1985 Bobcats won the first of those eight Finals championships – with girls golf still played in one Open Class – and she led them to a runner-up finish in 1986, another Open Class championship in 1988, and then a Class A runner-up finish in 1990 and Class A title in 1991.
Over 21 seasons, Clegg guided Grand Blanc to a 243-72 match record, eight league and seven Regional championships before retiring in 1995. She was named to the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Grand Blanc View reported in detail her pioneering work with the program when she was inducted into the MHSCA Hall in 2006. (The statistics above were taken from her bio from the MHSCA Hall of Fame.)
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
PHOTOS (Top) Grand Blanc coach Judy Clegg (front row, second from left) serves on the MHSAA's Golf Committee in 1986. (Middle) Clegg (back row, far right) stands with her 1988 Finals championship team. (MHSAA File Photos.)
Saline's Williams-Hoak Named National Coach of the Year by LPGA Professionals
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 20, 2022
The LPGA Professionals have named Saline High School golf coach Debbie Williams-Hoak as its national Coach of the Year.
Williams-Hoak was among national award winners who were selected by the LPGA Professionals’ executive committee from a pool of Section Award winners, which were voted on by officers of those regional sections.
More on the award from LPGA Professionals:
The LPGA Professionals Coach of the Year Award was established in 1980 and is awarded annually to an LPGA Professionals member who is actively engaged in teaching and/or coaching golf at the collegiate or high school level.
LPGA Professionals Class A member Debbie Williams-Hoak knows what it takes to compete at the highest levels. She is a former LPGA Tour Player and track & field athlete who represented U.S. Track & Field in Russia and West Germany. She is a four-time Big Ten Champion, a member of the Ohio Track & Field Hall of Fame, University of Michigan Women’s Track Hall of Fame member and a member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame as a player, coach and teaching professional. This year, she is being inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor.
Having been a multi-sport athlete accustomed to competing at the highest level, Williams-Hoak brings something unique to her coaching style. She has successfully coached boys and girls golf for the past 16 years at Saline High School in Saline, Michigan, and currently is serving as the first female president of the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association. Williams-Hoak feels proud that every girl on her team shot career lows while maintaining 100-percent academic eligibility this season, while her boys team placed second in the conference championship and qualified for its second-straight state Finals appearance.
She is dedicated to instilling a lifelong love of the game while empowering students through golf and hopes her example will pave the way for other women coaches to lead as well.
Williams-Hoak received the 2017 Sandy LaBauve Spirit Award, the most coveted honor bestowed by LPGA*USGA Girls Golf, for her continued dedication and passion for empowering girls through golf. She was honored with the Midwest Youth Leader of the Year and Goldie Bateson Award two times, in addition to numerous recognitions as Coach of the Year from Saline High School.
She is deeply involved with the LPGA Professionals organization, which she currently serves as the LPGA Midwest Secretary since 2021. She has been site director for LPGA*USGA Girls Golf of Greater Washtenaw Country since 2015 and acted as an advisor for the Site Director Certification program in 2021. From 2018-2021, she worked as an expert committee member for LPGA*USGA Girls Golf. She also coached at the LPGA Leadership Academies in Michigan over the last two years.
"I am extremely humbled by this award, as there are so many outstanding LPGA coaches in our association. What an honor to represent the LPGA, the state of Michigan and the game of golf as a coach,” said Williams-Hoak. “It is a privilege to work with so many wonderful players who make coaching so rewarding. I am also fortunate to have such great fellow coaches in Michigan and throughout the LPGA. Thank you so much for this very special recognition."
PHOTO: Saline golf coach Debbie Williams-Hoak, far left, stands for the trophy shot with her girls team after the Hornets won the 2016 Lower Peninsula Division 1 championship. (MHSAA file photo)