Former Sportswriter Knows a Good Story
July 22, 2013
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
It’s not exactly “Man Bites Dog,” the old newspaper standard by which headline stories were determined.
But the role reversal that Rick Jakacki and Kevin Miller have experienced certainly makes for interesting reading.
And Jakacki, who spent 20 years as a sportswriter/editor with the Port Huron Times Herald, knows a good story.
After Miller, a former radio personality with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, moved to Michigan’s thumb to pursue a career in education, he yearned to keep his hand in athletics – so he began to work as a stringer on Friday nights covering prep football for the Times Herald.
It was a neat “hobby” for Miller. But for Jakacki, whose career was in print journalism, the steady hum of immediate, electronic mediums became increasingly difficult to ignore. Figuratively, the writing was on the wall.
“It’s always been said that you never treat anyone badly because you never know when it’ll bite you, or when someone can help you in the future,” Jakacki said.
“I saw the way the newspaper trend was going, and it was scary going to work. We were cutting back all the time, not covering as many events, not traveling as much, not filling people’s jobs, implementing furloughs. I always wanted to go out on my own terms, not have the paper tell me when to leave.”
Following the 2009-10 school year, the athletic director at one of the schools in the Times Herald coverage area announced he was leaving. John Knuth, the AD at Croswell-Lexington, was headed back to Marysville, where he’d built a prep volleyball power.
By then, Miller had become the superintendent at Cros-Lex, and had been submitting stories to Jakacki for years. Now, it was Miller’s turn to lend his newspaper “boss” a hand, one that Jakacki certainly had never bitten.
And so it was that Jakacki became an employee working for his former part-time employee.
He couldn’t be happier.
“I’ve never heard of a person going from sportswriter to athletic director, but talk about a smooth transition,” Jakacki said. “I’m working with all the same people I used to write about: ADs, students, coaches, officials. And now I’m at a school that plays the same teams I covered.”
The athletic office desk suits him just fine, and he’s easily shifted from story writer to storyteller. Coupled with his administrative duties, he’s become the Pioneers’ No. 1 cheerleader, lauding the exploits of the school’s 700-plus students, nearly 70 percent of whom participate in at least one extracurricular activity.
“We got a new gym and locker rooms in the fall of 2011, and a new training room and weight room this fall” Jakacki said, putting on his tour guide hat prior to a show-and-tell session. The new digs allow for increased MHSAA Tournament opportunities, and thus increased exposure for the school.
“The best atmosphere we’ve enjoyed since I began here was this fall’s MHSAA Volleyball Regional between Marysville and North Branch. It was electric; this place was packed,” he recalled.
It’s more than athletic events drawing people to Croswell-Lexington these days. Jakacki proclaims with equal enthusiasm that the school district recently ranked 20th among 560 in Michigan for academic achievement.
Extracurricular activity, including the Pioneer Activities Leadership Council, plays a vital role in the makeup of the student population.
“There are about 40 or 50 kids who meet with the principal and me on the second Friday of each month during the school year,” Jakacki said of the Council. “It’s after school, and they don’t get credit. But they show up to talk about various leadership ideas.”
If Jakacki sounds like a proud parent while extolling the virtues of his new workplace, well, that’s fine with him. The Pioneers’ student-athletes have become like family, adding to his own children: Liam (18), Cameron (14) and Zoe (10).
“It’s funny. Having three kids of my own, I got to watch them play a lot of sports,” Jakacki said. “After getting to know all these kids, it’s like watching my kids play. People sometimes ask, ‘How can you just go to a random baseball game?’ Well it’s like watching nine of my own kids. That’s something I didn’t expect when I took this job.”
So it is fitting that his office is across from the cafetorium, where traffic flow and student interaction is steady. And, now, so is the work.
“I was looking for job security, and I love dealing with kids and sports,” Jakacki said. “It was a perfect transition for me. Now I deal with them every day.
“What’s the old saying, as you get older don’t get a job, get something you love to do? That’s what I’ve done. If I work 12-hour days, I don’t mind because I love what I do.”
It’s a story the former sportswriter never tires of telling.
PHOTO: Croswell-Lexington athletic director Rick Jakacki stands in his school's gymnasium. He formerly covered the school as a reporter for the Port Huron Times Herald.
This is the final installment of a series, "Career Paths," focusing on the unsung contributions of athletic directors. See below for earlier installments.
WISL Honoree Thunberg Embraces Leadership Opportunities in Every Role
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 3, 2025
Through several professional roles in education, Jennifer Thunberg always has maintained a strong connection with athletics and provided leadership – locally, within her league and sport community, and currently at the statewide level serving on the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
To recognize her vast an ongoing contributions, Thunberg has been named the 39th recipient of the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award.
Each year, the Representative Council considers the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics. Thunberg will receive her award during the Division 1 Girls Basketball Final, March 22 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
A standout herself as a three-sport athlete at Bay City Central and then volleyball player at Saginaw Valley State University, Thunberg began her coaching career at Central in 1997 and teaching career there in 2001. After coaching the volleyball junior varsity two seasons while still playing collegiately, she led the varsity to a 249-201-43 record over 10 seasons before moving on to Pinconning High School, where she served as athletic director from 2008-14.
Thunberg returned to Central as an assistant principal and became the school’s athletic director in 2017. She remained in that position until becoming principal at Freeland Middle School two years ago.
“A lot of the women who are on that (WISL Award) list are women who have been mentors of mine – who I have worked very closely with – and to be included in that group of women, I’m humbled and honored,” Thunberg said. “Jean LaClair (Bronson, 2015) has been a mentor of mine since I began my coaching career, and I can’t say enough about her. (There are many) between the volleyball world and athletic director world, and I’m just honored to be part of it.”
During her time as Bay City Central’s volleyball coach, Thunberg also served as president of the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association (MIVCA) from 2005-08, and was instrumental in the creation of the annual Miss Volleyball Award honoring the state’s top high school senior.
As Pinconning and later Central’s athletic director, Thunberg hosted several MHSAA Tournament events and Coaches Advancement Program sessions. She also has served on MHSAA committees for volleyball rules, site selection, Scholar-Athlete Award selection and Women In Sports Leadership Conference planning.
She was one of only two female athletic directors in the Saginaw Valley League when she took that position at Central, and she served as the league’s executive director during the 2022-23 school year. The Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) named her its Region 8 Athletic Director of the Year in 2022.
Thunberg also served on the board for the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals from 2015-21. She was appointed to the MHSAA’s Representative Council at its 2023-24 Fall Meeting and is serving a two-year term.
“At every stage of her educational career, Jennifer Thunberg has taken on a leadership role, and her vision and dedication to students is admired by her athletic and administrative communities across the state,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “She is a strong believer in the power of athletics to help drive a student’s all-around education, and we are thankful to have her voice representing school sports.”
A 1996 graduate of Bay City Central, Thunberg played basketball, volleyball and softball for the Wolves. At SVSU, she earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and master’s in educational leadership, and she remains among the volleyball program’s all-time leaders in single-season aces.
Thunberg earned her certified athletic administrator designation from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) in 2010, and her certified master athletic administrator designation in 2014.
In addition to leading a school and serving on the MHSAA’s Council, she’s also currently serving as president of the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame.
“I was student council president in high school, National Honor Society vice president, and whatever group I got involved in … I just liked to be involved in those organizations,” Thunberg said of taking on leadership roles. “And every single one of those organizations improved and helped me more than I’ve helped the organization. They’ve taught me things, helped me get to know more people – helped me become who I am today.”
Her husband Todd Thunberg is a teacher and Bay City Central’s girls basketball coach, and they have two daughters, 13-year-old Taylor and 11-year-old Rylee.
The first Women In Sports Leadership Award was presented in 1990.
Past 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
2015 – Jean LaClair, Bronson
2016 – Betty Wroubel, Pontiac
2017 – Dottie Davis, Ann Arbor
2018 – Meg Seng, Ann Arbor
2019 – Kris Isom, Adrian
2020 – Nikki Norris, East Lansing
2021 – Dorene Ingalls, St. Ignace
2022 – Lori Hyman, Livonia
2023 – Laurie Glass, Leland
2024 – Mary Cicerone, Bloomfield Hills; Eve Claar, Ann Arbor
PHOTOS At left, Jennifer Thunberg speaks during an MASSP Conference. At right, she and her family show their support for Bay City Central. (Photos provided by Jennifer Thunberg.)