The House Gillette Helped Build
February 1, 2012
Maribeth Johnston’s description made it easy to imagine the bustling activity that was Janet Gillette’s Comstock Park athletic office for 20 years.
Gillette and her secretary’s desks, piled with shelves of labeled and color-coded binders. A wall-sized white board calendar marked with sports activities for the next two months. Floor to ceiling shelf units, labeled cubbies and a copy machine loaded with paper of various colors. Trophies on shelves awaiting their turn in the school’s display case.
And then there were the two most telling images of Gillette’s legacy during four decades as a part of Comstock Park schools. On other walls were hundreds of pictures of students, athletes, coaches and staff. And in the center of the athletic office were two large work tables, usually occupied by student volunteers stuffing envelopes, organizing and counting uniforms or taking any on other task to help out.
“Her attention to detail, service for others and devotion to make every event ‘special’ is what endears her to the people in our school system,” wrote Johnston, who recently finished her 24th season as the school’s volleyball coach, in a letter of recommendation for the MHSAA’s Women in Sports Leadership Award. “The athletic office is a wonderful place. But the person who makes it all happen is Jan Gillette.”
Gillette attended Comstock Park, came back as a teacher and coach, and retired in 2010 after spending her final 19 school years as athletic director. She is the 25th woman to be recognized with the WISL Award for exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics. The award will be presented during Sunday’s Women In Sports Leadership Conference banquet at the Lexington Lansing Hotel.
“One of my quotes that people always hear is there’s no greater privilege in life than to have an impact on a young person. I got to do that every day,” Gillette said. “And they impacted my life as well."
A 1973 graduate of Comstock Park, Gillette began coaching at the school just a year later. A four-sport athlete in high school, she eventually coached girls tennis, softball, volleyball and middle school basketball while also joining the district’s teaching staff in 1977 after attending Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State (playing two sports at the former). Gillette then served as the high school athletic director beginning in 1990.
Under her leadership, Comstock Park served host to numerous MHSAA postseason tournaments, including 15 Lower Peninsula Track and Field Finals and multiple Girls Competitive Cheer Finals. Gillette also was active with the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, serving as a presenter at numerous conferences and developing a coaches handbook.
“Few administrators have such a long record of hosting MHSAA Finals, evidence again of Janet Gillette’s drive to contribute not only at Comstock Park, but to high school sports on a larger scale,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “Her involvement with female athletics dates back nearly to their inception. Jan’s impact will continue to be felt for years to come, and her contributions set a high standard for administrators in the future. We’re proud to honor her with the Women In Sports Leadership Award.”
Girls sports have evolved the most since Gillette first joined the athletic scene. Back then, seasons were only eight weeks, and volleyball, bowling and softball were not yet sponsored by the MHSAA. “To see what we have now, it’s just awesome,” Gillette said.
She is a member of the Comstock Park Athletic Hall of Fame, and has been recognized as Regional Athletic Director of the Year by the MIAAA, Athletic Director of the Year by the Michigan Competitive Cheer Coaches Association and the West Michigan Basketball-Football Association, and Comstock Park Employee of the Year in 2004. She also received the MHSAA’s Allen W. Bush Award in 2006 for her service to high school athletics.
In the community, Gillette has served as a coach in the Northwest Little League and been active with the Alpine Baptist Church as an AWANA Director and a Sunday School teacher.
“Mrs. G” hardly has disappeared from the school scene. She still manages the school’s volleyball tournaments and cheer invitationals, and the 250-person effort that makes the Division 3 Track and Field Final happen each spring.
She’s the first to credit all of those helpers, as well as the school boards, principals and superintendents who led the district during her career.
“I love Comstock Park. I love the community. I grew up there, and my dream was always to become a coach and a teacher,” Gillette said. “I didn’t want to do anything else because of the impact my teachers and the staff had on me, and the coaches.
“To go back to your own home town, what better could there be?”
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
PHOTOS courtesy of Comstock Park High School.
2017 Bush Awards Honor Trio of Leaders
June 26, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Three athletic directors who have taken leading roles in important areas of educational athletics – Rockford’s Tim Erickson, Bay City Central’s Morley Fraser and Mattawan’s Ken Mohney – have been named recipients of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Allen W. Bush Award for 2017.
Al Bush served as executive director of the MHSAA for 10 years. The award honors individuals for past and continuing service to prep athletics as a coach, administrator, official, trainer, doctor or member of the media. The award was developed to bring recognition to men and women who are giving and serving without a lot of attention. This is the 26th year of the award, with selections made by the MHSAA's Representative Council.
Among many contributions, Erickson has built a strong reputation in officiating, while Fraser is a hall of fame coach and Mohney is an accomplished instructor of administrators on the state and national levels.
“These three administrators have contributed to educational athletics in a variety of ways, but are especially well-respected in specific areas of expertise – and the quality that binds them together is leadership,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “This award recognizes work behind the scenes, and Tim Erickson, Morley Fraser and Ken Mohney exemplify it. They are worthy recipients of the Bush Award.”
Erickson recently finished his 34th school year at Rockford, where he started his career in 1982 after earning a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University; he later added a master’s degree from CMU. He has served as the Rams’ athletic director for the last decade supervising 34 varsity teams and 140 staff members. Erickson also has served as an assistant principal for five years, two years each as student activities coordinator, middle school athletic director and 6-12 intramural director; and taught for 19 years.
A member of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), Erickson’s vast contributions to educational athletics have stretched far beyond administration. A member of the West Michigan Wrestling Officials Association, he has served as a registered official for 37 years, currently in wrestling but previously as well for basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball. He has officiated an MHSAA Finals in wrestling, and also coached 42 seasons across a variety of sports, including four as the varsity baseball coach and as an assistant on Rockford football teams that won Division 1 championships in 2004 and 2005.
Rockford total has won 32 MHSAA Finals championships across 13 sports during Erickson’s tenure as athletic director. He and his staff also have hosted a variety of MHSAA tournament events at various levels, including 20 Finals. A member of the Rockford High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Erickson also has volunteered locally as a youth sports coach and participates with the Rockford Relay for Life. He’s served as building coordinator for the local United Way and stewardship chairman for his church.
“Tim Erickson continues to provide a wide range of valuable perspectives drawing from his experiences as not only as an administrator, but also as a coach and official,” Roberts said. “Those points of view are especially important as he continues to lead a successful department at one of our state’s largest schools – and as he and his staff continue to provide outstanding leadership as an annual host for a variety of our events, many at the highest levels of our tournaments.”
Fraser this spring completed his 39th year in education and 30th as an athletic director, recently retiring from his administrative duties at Bay City Central although he will continue to coach the football team. Fraser, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Alma College and master’s from CMU, joined the Bay City Central faculty in 1986 and took over as athletic director prior to the start of the 1998-99 school year. He also has served as an assistant principal at Bay City Central.
His Wolves football team returned to the MHSAA Playoffs last fall with a 6-4 record, and Fraser has built a 162-135 record in 31 seasons leading the program. Fraser also coached at Mendon and Bowling Green, Ohio, and was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association (MHSFCA) Hall of Fame in 2011. His 1994 Bay City Central team finished Class AA runner-up, and he was named an MHSFCA Regional Coach of the Year that season, 1996 and also in 1978 while at Mendon (and in 1985 earned a similar award at Bowling Green). He was inducted into the Bay County Hall of Fame in 2013.
Also a member of the MIAAA and NIAAA, Fraser has spoken and presented at MIAAA and MHSFCA events and as part of Glazier Coaching Clinics. He’s been a keynote speaker at Rotary Club student leadership summer camps for the last decade and has served in an elementary students and athletes reading program and as part of Habitat for Humanity, assisting with summer projects.
“Morley Fraser has mentored hundreds of his football players over the last four decades, but his mentorship extends beyond the sport he’s coached most,” Roberts said. “Morley Fraser has created a legacy of service, success and stability with his longtime leadership at Bay City Central, and he continues to provide as well a respected voice in the football community across our state.”
Mohney has served as an administrator for 18 years with seven as a teacher and coach after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Western Michigan University and while also serving from 1987-2007 in the U.S. Army. In addition to his work as an assistant principal and athletic director at Mattawan – the school received an MIAAA Exemplary Athletic Program Award in 2005 – Mohney has made significant contributions to his colleagues as a long-serving member of the MIAAA and NIAAA and as an instructor for the MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program.
A contributor to the MIAAA Board of Directors and Executive Board from 2002-14, Mohney served as Executive Board president in 2012-13 and on the NIAAA Board of Directors as Section IV representative (for five states) and as chairperson of the finance sub-committee. He has served on various committees both for the MIAAA and MHSAA, and in addition to his CAP instructor contributions has served on the faculty of the NIAAA Leadership Training Institute providing instruction both in Michigan and nationally. Mohney has earned NIAAA Certified Master Athletic Administrator status and MHSAA CAP Masters Elite certification, and also Certified Interscholastic Coach recognition from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). He was named a Regional Athletic Director of the Year by the MIAAA in 2008, earned its Denny Kiley Presidential Award in 2013 and its Jack Johnson Distinguished Service Award in 2014 – when he also earned special commendation from the NIAAA for distinguished service on its Board of Directors.
Mohney served as part of an Army helicopter air crew from 1987-91 and then as a flight and leadership instructor for the Michigan Army National Guard from 1991-2007. He received a U.S. Army Air Medal in 1991 for combat missions flown during Operation Desert Shield/Storm, a U.S. Army Achievement Award in 1998 as Michigan National Guard Solider of the Year and a U.S. Army Commendation Award in 2004 as Michigan National Guard Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year.
“Ken Mohney understands the values of education and teaching leadership not only to students at his school, but also those working to provide that education locally and on the statewide and national levels,” Roberts said. “He provides a steady influence among his peers as part of the MIAAA and has been essential in the growth of our Coaches Advancement Program by showing himself to be an exceptional relationship builder in all of his endeavors.”