Michigan's Most Vital Prep Sports Moment

April 30, 2018

By Ron Pesch
Special for Second Half

Did you ever hear the one about an Ypsilanti lawyer, two girls from Ann Arbor – one 18 and one 17 – and a judge from Detroit?

I didn’t think so.

Well, pull up a chair. You might never look at a tennis ball, a pair of track cleats, or a softball in the same manner after this one.

Now this story goes back a bit. We’re talking 45, um, make that 46 years ago. It was handed down to me, so now I’m handing it down to you.

The girls, Cindy and Emily, had met at a tennis club when they were 11 or 12. Both were pretty good players who had done well at tennis tournaments before heading off to Huron High School. But there was concern that the girls wouldn’t have the chance to play truly competitive tennis while in high school. You see, like most public schools of the time, Huron had only one varsity tennis team, and that was filled with boys.

Contact was made with a friend and fellow tennis player to help guide things along when it came time to talk to the school board about the girls joining that team.

The conversation between that tennis friend – Larry the Lawyer – and the school board went pretty well. The board decided to let the girls play on the boys tennis team provided they could pass the tryouts. Well, as you’ve probably surmised, the girls did all right. With the blessing of Coach Jerry, it was decided Cindy and Emily would play No. 2 doubles for the River Rats.

But as we all know, such decisions aren’t always met with cupcakes being served and happiness. People don’t always like change.

And that was pretty much the case here.

State officials didn’t much care for the idea. You see, when it came to interscholastic athletics, according to state rules established in 1967, girls couldn’t play on boys teams. Still, the Huron tennis team made the 60-mile trip up to Lansing on a Wednesday in April for a match with Lansing Harry Hill High School. Coach Jerry met with Hill’s coach, they shook hands, then Coach Jerry turned in his line-up card, to make things orderly and official. 

Since there were girls names on the lineup card, not a single ball was served that day. Folks figured this was going to be the case. So the players and the bus turned around and headed back to Ann Arbor. Hill claimed a forfeited match because of that rule.

That set wheels in motion. Larry the Lawyer declared that this was a clear case of discrimination and a violation of Cindy and Emily’s right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment. With that, a lawsuit quickly was filed.

Now, they say that this was one of the first, if not the first lawsuits about such things. And you must remember this all happened back in early 1972, before the arrival of Title IX.

Turns out, Larry and the girls won their case. In Federal District Court, Judge Keith listened to what was said and issued a preliminary injunction allowing the girls to play. A little later in the week, Emily and Cindy won their first varsity doubles match hosted in Battle Creek, much to the dismay of their male opponents.

The next month, the Michigan Legislature adopted a bill allowing girls to compete on male teams, but only in non-contact sports. In late May, the doubles team of Emily and Cindy defeated a doubles team from Harry Hill, 6-3, 6-1.

Of course, as with many of these rulings, there was an appeal. And, as these things usually do, it took a while to move this along. But come January 1973, the U.S. Circuit Court down in Cincinnati agreed with Judge Keith and upheld the preliminary injunction. They, too, thought that girls should be able to participate in varsity interscholastic sports. The Circuit Court did narrow Judge Keith’s decision a bit, inserting the word “NON-CONTACT” into the ruling. Suddenly, it was officially OK for girls to play alongside the boys in sports like tennis, swimming, archery, golf, bowling, fencing, badminton, gymnastics, skiing, and track and field.

Now just because there’s a law, it doesn’t mean everyone’s abiding by it. It would take several more years and the threat or the filing of additional lawsuits against school districts and organizations to truly see things change.
Today, we don’t think twice when we take a seat at a girls softball game, track meet or tennis match. But a short time ago, such things simply did not exist for our daughters. The actions of two girls from Ann Arbor, an Ypsilanti lawyer and a judge from Detroit altered the athletic world – for the better.


Lawrence Sperling’s lawsuit to support Cindy Morris’ and Emily Barrett’s quest to play high school sports was certainly a highlight of his career as an attorney. Lawrence and his wife Doris had sons who were outstanding tennis players. Michael and Gene were high-ranking players at Ann Arbor Pioneer during the 1970s. Gene played four years of tennis at the University of Minnesota and would later serve as Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. In 2012, he would write about his father and the landmark case for the White House.

Judge Damon Keith had been appointed to the bench of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, in 1967. It was some four and a half years later that the Morris-Barrett complaint landed on his docket. A graduate of Detroit Northwestern High School, he is the father of three daughters. Keith would later be appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Court in Cincinnati by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. In 1995, he became the Senior Judge of that court. His amazing story was later told in a documentary “Walk With Me: The Trials of Damon J. Keith.”

According to media reports, Coach Jerry Shull had been trying to get girls eligible for the previous two seasons, but felt the ultimate solution was to have high schools around the state form all-girls varsity teams.  He again served as varsity tennis coach in 1973 (of a team that featured 10 females) before stepping aside in 1974.

Emily Barrett was a multi-sport athlete at Huron High School, competing with the Girls Athletic Club in swimming, field hockey and volleyball as well as tennis during this era of transition. During her senior year, the courts finalized their decision and she again played tennis for Huron. She’d move on to Denison University in Granville, Ohio, after graduation, where she played tennis and field hockey.

A year older than Barrett, Cindy Morris had graduated from Ann Arbor Huron High School by the time the case was finalized. She headed off to the University of Michigan and then transferred to Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she played No 1. singles and doubles and twice participated in the National Collegiate Women’s Tournament. She later earned her Master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. As Cindy Morris, a sports journalist for the Cincinnati Enquirer, she recalled the words of Judge Keith for an article she was writing in late summer of 1978.

“Indeed, no male could have matched (the) soprano cries of joy when Judge Keith said, yes, go out and run and play and win and lose and laugh and cry and feel that special pride of playing for your school that boys in Michigan have always felt but you haven’t.”

The article was about a lawsuit originating in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where a girl was fighting to be allowed to compete in contact sports against boys.

Ron Pesch has taken an active role in researching the history of MHSAA events since 1985 and began writing for MHSAA Finals programs in 1986, adding additional features and "flashbacks" in 1992. He inherited the title of MHSAA historian from the late Dick Kishpaugh following the 1993-94 school year, and resides in Muskegon. Contact him at [email protected] with ideas for historical articles.

PHOTOS: (Top) The first high school match in 1972 for Ann Arbor Huron's Emily Barrett, left, and Cindy Morris was reported on for the Battle Creek Enquirer. (Top middle) The 1972 Ann Arbor Huron varsity tennis team, including Morris and Barrett. (Middle) The Ann Arbor Huron lineup card shows Barrett and Morris' names for a match against Lansing Harry Hill that was not played. (Below) A Lansing State Journal clipping tells of Hill electing to not play the match.

Gazelles Cap Return Season with Familiar Celebration

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

June 4, 2021

PORTAGE — Sisters Marisa and Kayla Nafso were ecstatic after pulling out a tough three-setter for the No. 4 doubles title Friday at Portage Central High School.

The last match off the courts, they had no clue that their team, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, won the team title at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 tennis championship.

They were stunned to learn that their semifinal win actually had been team title clincher.

“Oh, we won?” Marisa, a junior, said, grabbing her sister in a big hug.

“Wait, wait, wait. Our semifinal win? Oh my gosh, we won. That’s great!

“Wow. I really wanted to win individually, but the team makes it 20 times better,” Kayla, a freshman, exclaimed with a huge grin.

Sacred Heart finished with 29 points, six ahead of Traverse City St. Francis.

Just two points separated the next four teams.

North Muskegon and Portland tied for third with 18 points each, Grand Rapids West Catholic was fifth with 17 and Jackson Lumen Christi sixth with 16.

Marisa Nafso won a state title at No. 2 doubles in 2019, and her sister was thrilled to be her partner this year.

“I was really lucky because she won states when she was a freshman,” Kayla Nafso said.

“Because of her experience, I was more comfortable. It was great that I got to win as a freshman.”

The sisters said the final was the match that scared them the most.

The top seeds at their flight, they defeated Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian’s Delanie Minnema and Caroline Rudolph, the third seeds, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-1.

“We were watching them play at the other site,” Nafso said. “Creds to the team we played for playing two three-set matches back to back.”

The team win was the Gazelles’ third Finals title in a row, but the first under coach Chris Shaya.

Clarkston Everest Collegiate tennisNeither the coach nor the players knew for sure they clinched the title until all matches were finished.

“I figured we won but I was going to wait for the team so we all could find out together,” Shaya said.

“None of us looked. I knew Traverse City was very strong in singles, and I knew we were strong in doubles. In singles, they competed extremely well. It was tough for us to overcome, and they deserve those wins.”

As a coach, Shaya said, “First of all, you want their experience to be fun. You want to teach them some life lessons about hard work and how that pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t pay off.”

At No. 1 singles, top-seeded Moorea McNalley finished the season undefeated after entering the tournament with a 28-0 record.

She lost just seven games over her four tournament matches.

The Clarkston Everest Collegiate junior defeated the second seed, Lilly Bobrowski of St. Francis, 6-0, 6-0.

McNalley also won the No. 1 singles title two years ago. (The 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19).

As the top seed, she said she felt a bit of pressure coming into the tournament, “especially the further matches. They are all very good players.”

Bobrowski, a senior who plans to play tennis at Ave Maria University in Florida, said the two played earlier in the regular season.

“We went into a third set tiebreak then,” she said. “(Friday, McNalley) was definitely on her game and I made a few unforced errors, but it was a lot of fun.”

Senior Alexi Lewis, one of two St. Francis singles winners, defeated Sacred Heart’s Isabelle Burg, the second seed, 6-2, 6-3, for the No. 2 flight championship.

“My goal was to win but I got kind of nervous looking at the draw because I had never played the No. 2 seed,” the top seed said.

“All the other seeds I had played and had good scores against them, so I was really confident going in. I was preparing myself for playing the No. 2 seed — a lot.”

Lewis, who plans to play tennis at Hope College, said the afternoon wind was a factor in the match.

“That threw me off a little bit,” she said. “So much of it was just mental toughness. (Burg) was a really, really good player and could get the ball back with a lot of pace.

“It was just working against that and trying to find that little spot where I could move her around. The wind complicated all that.”

Lewis was also undefeated entering the tournament.

The other St. Francis singles champ was Jillian Sodini, the top seed at No. 3, who defeated Portland’s Adriana Krieger, 6-2, 6-1.

“I knew I had to keep my eye on the prize and stay calm with it and play my game,” said Sodini, who ended her senior season undefeated.

Traverse City St. Francis tennis“(Second place as a team) is awesome. We have six underclassmen this year and six seniors. You’ve just got to bring it at states. We’ve been pretty rowdy all day.”

“Rowdy” is the perfect word for one of the loudest and most supportive teams at the tournament.

First-year coach Dane Fosgard thought for sure this would be the year St. Francis won the team title after finishing runner-up three of the last five seasons.

“Just when you have a team you think is good enough to win States, it’s not good enough,” he said.

“We have good players coming up. This year’s going to be tough to beat.”

He gave a nod to his three senior singles players, all co-captains, for being leaders on the team.

“Six seniors and three of them went out as finalists and two state champs,” he said. “Those three seniors, Lilly, Alexi and Jillian, have worked so hard all four years of their high school careers, both on the court and off the court.

“Having those three on the same team is something special. They’re all No. 1 singles-caliber players.”

Seeded third at No. 4 singles, Olivia Eaker of Jackson Lumen Christi was the lowest seed to win a title.

She upset top-seeded Erika Graham, of Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard, 6-0, 6-4, in the final after defeating St. Francis’ No. 2 seed, Mary Chittle, 5-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 in the semifinal.

Graham also won her semi in three sets, 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4, over fourth seed Eve Jackson of Sacred Heart.

Both Eaker and Graham were exhausted after their match, the next to last off the courts.

Just a freshman, “I don’t even know,” Eaker said, catching her breath, about winning the final. “I’m honored and very grateful for this.

“I feel amazing, excited. It was definitely tough. We both worked really hard for it. We gave it all we had.”

Other doubles winners included second seeds Reagan Nauta and Shannon Russell, from Grand Rapids West Catholic, 7-5, 6-2, over top seeds Lulu George and Maggie Pulte of Sacred Heart.

Top seeds Noor Simon and Angelina Kakos, also of Sacred Heart, defeated third seeds Hannah Nelson and Brooke Tietz from West Catholic, 7-6(5), 6-4, at No. 3 doubles.

At No. 4, second seeds Marilyn Gaston and Greta Goszkowicz, from North Muskegon, defeated West Catholic top seeds Olivia Vallone and Karlie Kurlenda, 6-3, 6-5.

Goszkowicz, a senior, was one of the most exuberant winners, commenting, “My goal was to make it to the second day.”

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Sacred Heart’s Marisa Nafso returns a volley during her and sister Kayla’s championship match win at No. 1 doubles Friday. (Middle) Clarkston Everest Collegiate's Moorea McNalley follows through on a return during her No. 1 singles championship match. (Below) Lilly Bobrowski scored big for Traverse City St. Francis also advancing to the No. 1 singles final. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)