Athletic Directors Deliver
June 27, 2013
By John E. “Jack” Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
During the past year I have had some interesting speaking engagements that took me to some other states and even to a far-away nation; but the two speaking assignments I have every year that I look forward to the most and work on the hardest are here in Michigan – at the large mid-winter conference and smaller mid-summer workshop for athletic directors.
After more than a quarter century of these two-a-year addresses, I wouldn’t be surprised if the audience is tiring of listening to me; but I have not tired of preparing to do my best for them ... which is a function of my great respect for them.
Athletic directors serve school sports where the rubber meets the road; and the road is routinely rough.
Athletic directors operate where policy and people meet – in fact, where they often collide.
Athletic directors are called on to administer rules and apply penalties. They are expected to enforce codes of conduct and the consequences for violations.
Athletic directors are told they must uphold standards – attendance, academic, behavioral. And when they do what they’ve been asked to do, and sometimes have done at great cost personally, athletic directors are subjected to criticism by students and parents and, too frequently, receive less than full backing by their superiors and school boards.
Because I know this, I am humbled to be in their company, much less allowed to address them.
On just such an occasion, March 16, 2008, this is how I described my role, and my great respect for the interscholastic athletic administrators of this state:
“Sometimes after I hear a song over and over, and I begin to really listen to the words, I might write those words down. Especially if it’s a song by Springsteen or John Fogerty or Jackson Browne.
“But after I do this, and I read the words on paper or even recite the words aloud, I’m always disappointed. The words, without the music, lose something. The lyrics are neither as moving nor as powerful without the melody.
“On occasion I have been complimented for my words about educational athletics, but I’ve come to appreciate that without the music, my words don’t work. And I’ve come to appreciate that you folks provide the music.
“Sometimes I may be the words of school sports in Michigan, but all the time you are the music of school sports in Michigan. You make the words meaningful, you make the words memorable, you make the words powerful, you make the words really happen. I don’t, and I get that."
During the summer, Second Half will publish a series of features describing how athletic directors deliver daily all over the state. Among those who will be featured are pictured above, clockwise from top left: Detroit Cass Tech's Edward Tomlin, Cedar Springs' Autumn Mattson, Croswell-Lexington's Rick Jakacki and Houghton Lake's Maureen Whidden.
Longtime Taylor AD, Game Official Ristovski Chose Athletics as Way to Give Back
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
February 20, 2024
There is a basketball court 5,000 miles from Sterling Heights with “MHL” painted on the center court.
It’s not the name of a local basketball league in the village where it is located – Siricino, Macedonia. Instead, it stands for Madison, Haleigh and Lola, the three daughters of longtime Michigan basketball coach, referee and athletic director Loren Ristovski.
“My dad loved going back (to Macedonia),” said Madison Ristovski. “He’s probably gone every summer since about 2017. His whole family still lives there. He loved going and visiting and seeing everyone.
“It was always a goal of his to give back to where he came from. He and Mom donated to the village to build a soccer field and basketball court with lights and everything. It was a pretty big deal. It’s something he wanted to do for them back home. We were very proud he did that.”
Loren Ristovski, athletic director for Taylor schools, died earlier this month while on leave to have surgery on his foot. It was a shock to his family, friends, and the Taylor community.
“It was a heavy blow,” said Matt Joseph, girls basketball coach at Utica Ford and a longtime friend of the Ristovski family. “It was like getting kicked in the gut. Basketball was his passion. Next to his family, basketball was definitely No. 1. He loved the game and all the intricacies of it. He loved seeing kids excel.”
Ristovski emigrated from Macedonia to Michigan when he was 9. He went to high school at Hamtramck St. Florian, where he excelled at basketball. He went to Wayne State University to get a degree in criminal justice and had plans to become a lawyer.
Before he could take the Law School Admission Test, however, basketball came calling.
“He started coaching at Henry Ford High School and Fuhrmann Middle School,” Madison said. “Once he realized how much he enjoyed coaching, he decided to go into education. He stayed the entire time. He never went to law school.”
Loren Ristovski became the head coach at Harper Woods but gave that up when his daughters were ready to start playing in high school.
“He gave up coaching varsity at Harper Woods so he could be at every one of my games,” Madison said.
He also coached them as youngsters, often teaming with Joseph to coach an AAU team.
“I met him when Madison was 5,” Joseph said. “He and I decided to put our daughters in the same parks and recreation team, and next thing you know we were coaching AAU.”
With Ristovski’s tutoring, Madison, Haleigh, and Lola all excelled at the game, each playing Division I college basketball after standout careers at Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett. In 2012, Liggett reached the Class C Final with all three starting. They combined for 55 of Liggett’s 57 points in the championship game, with Madison scoring 42 after earlier that week receiving the Miss Basketball Award.
Lola and Haleigh played at the University of Detroit Mercy, and Madison played at the University of Michigan. Today, Haleigh lives on the west side of the state and plays recreational basketball. Lola is a referee in the Catholic High School League as well as for the Division II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and also works area Division III college games.
Madison is a teacher and the varsity girls basketball coach at Sterling Heights Stevenson.
“He taught us the game when we were very, very young,” Madison said. “We grew up in the gym with him and watched him coach his team. He coached me my whole life. He was very instrumental – he taught us all those things you need to become an athlete, and more importantly the things you need to do to succeed in life.”
Her dad is the reason she became a coach.
“Watching my dad coach and seeing the impact he had on his high school athletes and even the kids in our church community – it inspired me to want to coach as well and give back like he did,” she said. “I watched him with my teammates and the impact he had on them. I thought it would be so cool if I could do the same for others.”
Loren Ristovski left a legacy at Taylor, too. School officials recounted several stories of how he balanced athletic budgets with the needs of student-athletes. He would lead fundraising efforts, created the Bitty Ball program for youth basketball players and cheerleaders and helped students become certified officials – and then would hire them to officiate games.
“He didn’t say no,” said Taylor boys basketball coach Chris Simons. “We made it work. We didn’t go out and ask people for a bunch of money. We would just do it. We all pulled together and made it work. Loren did everything he could to make things as pretty and presentable as he could with the budget we had.”
Ristovski also put on summer camps at both Taylor and at the Joe Dumars Fieldhouse in Sterling Heights, where he lived. He commuted about an hour to Taylor every day.
“He loved Taylor,” Madison said. “He loved who he worked with and the students. He included us, too. My mom would run the ticket table or do the scoreboard clock. I don’t know how many times I sold tickets for volleyball tournaments with him. He loved his people and loved having us there with him.”
Loren Ristovski, who played professional basketball in Europe during the late 1980s, ran well over 20 marathons in his life, including the Boston Marathon. He was a registered MHSAA official for 16 years, and in the weeks before his passing he refereed a varsity game in Rochester with his daughter, Lola.
“He looked at basketball, I think, differently than other people do,” Madison said. “He saw it as a way to have relationships with other people, to help people achieve their goals and to find meaningful relationships with others. It was more than just a game to him.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Loren Ristovski, far left, and wife Svetlana support their lineup of Division I basketball-playing daughters – from left: Madison, Haleigh and Lola. (Middle) Loren Ristovski heads an all-family officiating crew with Lola and his brother Dean Ristovski. (Below) The daughters’ initials “MHL” glow on the court the family funded in Macedonia. (Photos courtesy of Madison Ristovski.)