We Always Will Remember Our Friend, Tom Rashid
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 8, 2021
In these days following the death of Thomas Rashid, many mourning across Michigan have recalled the late MHSAA Associate Director as truly one of a kind – both in his work, which has had as significant an impact on the day-to-day processes and policies of school sports as anyone’s in this state’s history, and as a person who made everyone feel like a close friend moments after first meeting him.
We are glad to pass on tributes that have been made to him this week, as well as his visitation and funeral arrangements and a video interview with Tom that has provided us great comfort this week as we remember our friend – who also played roles as leader, mentor, advisor, supporter, consoler and many more through the years.
Visitation will take place from 4-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, at Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes in East Lansing, and will include a Rosary service at 7 p.m. Visitation also will take place Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing, with the funeral Mass to follow at noon – Click for details. Saturday’s Mass also will be streamed live on the Diocese of Lansing’s Outreach Mass YouTube feed – Click to watch.
Tom always felt the focus should be on students and what they could learn from school sports – with the beauty of that philosophy meshing well with how his vast contributions mostly took place away from the spotlight. Deservedly so, it’s been shined on his legacy this week:
Obituary | Detroit Free Press | Detroit News | Detroit Catholic | MHSAA
On a related note, in lieu of flowers, the family has suggested donations including to the Thomas Rashid and Vic Michaels Scholarship Fund for Catholic student athletes at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan – Click to learn more.
We have been thankful this week for these 36 minutes to hear Tom’s voice again – this video from Michigan Lacrosse Review, an interview with Greg Normand after Tom was selected for the Michigan High School Lacrosse Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018 – is Tom to a T as he, in his own words, explained what drove his life’s work.
3 Receive National Honors from NHSACA, Coaching Pair Named to Hall of Fame
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 11, 2024
One of the longest-serving members of the MHSAA Representative Council and two longtime Michigan high school coaches have received highest honors this summer from the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.
Brighton athletic director John Thompson was named Athletic Director of the Year during the NHSACA’s annual conference June 26 in Bismarck, N.D. He has supervised the Bulldogs’ highly-accomplished athletic program for two decades and served on the Representative Council the last 14 years, including currently as vice president.
Thompson also this year received the Thomas Rashid Athletic Director of the Year Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA). Brighton was selected as an MIAAA exemplary athletic program in 2015 and as an ESPN unified champion school in 2018, the latter recognizing its statewide leadership in cultivating unified sport opportunities.
Additionally, Farmington Hills Mercy girls golf coach Vicky Kowalski and Livonia Stevenson girls swimming & diving coach Greg Phil were named NHSACA National Coach of the Year in their respective sports.
Kowalski completed her 46th season coaching Mercy last fall by leading the program to its second-straight Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship and fourth MHSAA Finals title overall. She also in January was named the 2022-23 National Coach of the Year in her sport by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association. She was inducted into the Michigan High School Coaches Association (MHSCA) Hall of Fame this year for both golf and bowling.
Phil has coached girls swimming & diving since 1976, including at Stevenson since 1985. After winning the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East title, the most recent of several league championships under his leadership, Stevenson finished 16th at last season’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals and previously had placed Finals runner-up twice. Phil was named to the MHSCA Hall of Fame in 2012.
All three honorees were nominated for the national recognition by the MHSCA. Beal City baseball coach Brad Antcliff, now-retired Leland volleyball coach Laurie Glass, Ann Arbor Greenhills boys tennis coach Eric Gajar and Lowell wrestling coach R.J. Boudro also were National Coach of the Year finalists.
Additionally, longtime softball coaches Kay Johnson of Morenci and Kris Hubbard from Ottawa Lake Whiteford were inducted into the NHSACA Hall of Fame. Johnson went over 1,000 career wins this spring and has led her program since 1993, including to Class C championships in 1985 and 1986. Hubbard retired after the 2019 season with an 865-380-3 record since taking over in 1974, with Class D titles in 1984, 1985 and 1987.