LaClair Leads as Coach, AD, Mentor
February 18, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Leasa Griffith was introduced to Bronson’s Jean LaClair while officiating one of LaClair’s volleyball tournaments.
She received further insight into LaClair’s care for her athletes when, a few years later, LaClair asked Griffith to serve as a Legacy Official mentor to a Bronson player.
With LaClair leading as athletic director, Bronson moved this school year into the first-year Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference. So did Mendon – where Griffith is co-athletic director – and that’s given her another opportunity to appreciate LaClair’s mentorship firsthand.
“I look to Jean whenever I have a question, or even if I just want to run an idea past someone. She is always readily available and gives me great advice,” Griffith said. “I honestly cannot think of another person who deserves to be recognized by the MHSAA for a ‘Women in Sports Leadership Award’ more than Jean LaClair.”
LaClair will receive the MHSAA’s 28th WISL Award during the Class A Girls Basketball Final on March 21 at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
The honor, given annually by the MHSAA Representative Council, recognizes the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics.
“I never would’ve thought I’d receive this award,” LaClair said. “I just go out and do my job to the best of my ability every day. The people before me have done magnificent things. I’m just doing the daily grind of my job.”
She downplays as well the numbers that come with her reputation as an elite coach. LaClair is best known for leading high-achieving athletes for more than two decades as one of the winningest varsity volleyball coaches in MHSAA history.
Her accomplishments speak volumes on their own.
She has built a career record of 958-327-85 over 21 seasons as a varsity volleyball coach at Midland Dow, Pinconning, and for the last 15 seasons Bronson High School. She ranks 10th on the MHSAA career victory list for volleyball coaching wins and led her 2009 Bronson team to the Class C championship.
She also has served as Bronson’s athletic director since fall 2000 and hosted a variety of MHSAA tournament events in addition to sitting on a number of MHSAA and Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association committees. LaClair was a speaker at MHSAA Women in Sports Leadership conferences in 2006 and 2008 and also has been a registered MHSAA official for 14 years.
“Jean LaClair is a role model for her athletes, and also for administrators who look to her for expertise and mentorship,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “She is a respected voice who offers valuable knowledge and guidance to those at every level of educational athletics. We’re delighted to honor her with the Women In Sports Leadership Award.”
LaClair is a 1984 graduate of Midland Dow High School and 1989 graduate for Saginaw Valley State University, and she also earned a Master’s in sports administration from Central Michigan University. She began her varsity coaching career at Dow during the 1987-88 season and coached through 1990. She led Pinconning’s varsity from 1996-97 through 1999, then came to Bronson as the athletic director only that fall. She then resumed her coaching career in fall of 2000.
In addition to the 2009 MHSAA title, her teams have won five Regional championships. Her 1997-98 Pinconning team finished Class B runner-up.
LaClair is a member of both the MIAAA and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, and served as MIVCA president for six years, vice president for three and as a board member for 13 years. She also served a term as president of the St. Joseph Valley League and as an instructor for the MHSAA’s Coaches Advancement Program.
“I love coaching. It’s the time I get to deal with some good kids. We have a great summer, and it feeds into the fall,” LaClair said. “I feel when kids leave my program, they could be coaches. I do try to get them in involved in officiating as well.”
LaClair was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2006 and was named that body’s Coach of the Year in 2009. She was named Michigan High School Coaches Association volleyball Coach of the Year in 2010 and was a National High School Athletic Coaches Association volleyball Coach of the Year finalist in 2011. She also was named a Regional Athletic Director of the Year by the MIAAA in 2009.
She previously taught mathematics and physical education before becoming a full-time athletic director, and also became as assistant principal at Bronson High School during the 2010-11 school year. She continues to pull off the time-consuming coach-athletic director double in part because of superior organizational skills, but mostly because of supportive administrators who with another game manager help her to make sure everything is covered especially during the volleyball season.
“Jean is a professional in every sense of the word. She has been able to lead seeking not only what is best for Bronson, but what is best for everyone,” said Buchanan athletic director Fred Smith, whose school also is part of the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference. “She is a role model not only for female athletic administrators, but all athletic administrators.”
Past Women In Sports Leadership Award recipients
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2011 – Ellen Pugh, West Branch; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2012 – Janet Gillette, Comstock Park
2013 – Barbara Beckett, Traverse City
2014 – Teri Reyburn, DeWitt
PHOTOS: (Top) Bronson volleyball coach Jean LaClair huddles with her team during a match. (Middle) LaClair, also Bronson's athletic director, sits in on a league and conference meeting at the MHSAA office this winter. (Top photo courtesy of the Coldwater Daily Reporter).
North Branch Class of '24 Finishes Decade Together with Finals Repeat
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 18, 2023
BATTLE CREEK – A decade’s worth of team volleyball came to an end Saturday afternoon for eight North Branch seniors.
So while the Broncos had just won their second-straight Division 2 title, the tinge of sadness to the tears streaming down their faces was understandable.
“All of us started, a majority of us eight seniors started when we were 8 years old in North Branch volleyball club,” Broncos senior Alana Deshetsky said. “No one, pretty much, left until they were in high school and played one or two years at a different club. We were all trained here and all played with each other since we were 8, so I think we have a deeper connection than most other teams.
“We pulled up a picture this weekend from our first year, and pretty much all of us girls were in it. It was really sad to see girls that I’d played with forever, and I won’t play with again. Most teams end on a low, but when you end on a high, you want it to keep going.”
While they won’t get to keep things going after the 25-18, 25-14, 25-18 win against Grand Rapids West Catholic at Kellogg Arena, this group has left a legacy that will never be forgotten at a program that was already considered one of the state’s elite.
For the first time in program history, North Branch won back-to-back titles. That came after a runner-up finish in 2021, giving a class that had been major contributors since they were freshmen three Finals appearances in four years.
And, as freshman, they lost in five sets to the eventual Division 2 champion, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
“I think it was something (coach Jim Fish) definitely saw the potential in us,” senior libero Hailey Green said. “We were freshmen. In that game our freshmen year, we were just trying to hang with Notre Dame Prep. I think our junior year it kind of hit us. Like, ‘Oh, we’re in the state finals.’ It definitely hit us last year.”
Fish definitely saw it early. When they were eighth graders, Fish coached them in a summer tournament in Ohio. It was a tournament that featured a varsity and JV division, and for the first time in his career, Fish chose to coach the JV group.
“(People) said, ‘Why are you coaching them?’ And I said, ‘Because I know what we’re going to be doing,’” Fish said. “We’ve been working with this group for a long time. As good of players as they are, they’re nicer kids. They’re team academic all-state, individual academic all-state. Phenomenal kids in the community.”
North Branch (56-4-1) spent the entire season ranked No. 1 in Division 2, and Fish scheduled the best competition he could find throughout the state – and even in some adjoining states – to keep his group sharp.
It worked, as did playing with a target on their backs the entire season.
“These teams scouted us very hard all season long,” Deshetsky said. “Our last tournament, I think we looked around and there were five cameras on our court scouting us for the postseason. This postseason was very difficult, because teams knew us as much as they could have, inside and out. They knew what we would do, because when you’re at the top, you’re the target, and everyone was coming for us.”
North Branch defeated the No. 2 team Grand Rapids Christian in Thursday’s Semifinal, but didn’t let down at all in the Final.
Aubree Deshetsky led the North Branch attack against West Catholic with 14 kills, while Clara Gyomory had nine. Adrienne Greschaw had 31 assists. The Deshetsky sisters led the defense, as Aubree had 19 digs and Alana had 13.
Brooke Tietz had seven kills to lead West Catholic, while Emma Tuttle had six. Alivia Mott had 11 assists, while Amelia Gagnon had 12 digs and Grace Steiner had 10.
“It was a great match – North Branch is a super good volleyball club,” West Catholic coach Megan Eversman said. “I think our kids gave a fight as hard as they could fight against that team. I’m just really proud of all of their efforts that they had.”
While North Branch had loads of experience at Kellogg Arena, West Catholic (38-10-6) was making its first Finals appearance.
“I’m just really proud that our team could get here,” Tuttle said. “I think we worked really hard this season to get here, and for our last season, I’m really proud.”
PHOTOS (Top) North Branch players celebrate their repeat Division 2 title win at Kellogg Arena. (Middle) Grand Rapids West Catholic's Mia Henne (4) sends a kill attempt into the block of Kaela Chingwa (10) and Clara Gyoromy (14). (Below) Adrienne Greschaw sets the Broncos' offense. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)