Ross Named Broadcast & Media Coordinator
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 19, 2021
Jon Ross, bringing vast experience in video production and after working both as television media and in media relations, has been added to the Michigan High School Athletic Association staff as broadcast & media coordinator, a role in which he’ll focus primarily on video production, day-to-day efforts by the MHSAA Network and other communications duties.
Ross, who began at the MHSAA in late December, is taking on many of the duties formerly handled by John Johnson, who retired Dec. 18 after 33 years as communications director and then director of broadcast properties.
Ross’s variety of past experiences already have served the MHSAA well during his first weeks in his new position. In addition to generating “This Week in High School Sports” played on more than 100 radio stations statewide and the “MHSAA Minute” produced weekly with State Champs! Sports Network, Ross stepped in almost immediately to direct MHSAA Network broadcasts of Fall playoffs that were restarted in January and worked with FOX Sports Detroit for its production of the 8 and 11-Player Football Finals during Jan. 16 and Jan. 22-23, respectively.
“Jon has been a wonderful addition to our team,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “His background in video production will serve the MHSAA well, and he’s done an outstanding job jumping in mid-stream with our Final fall tournaments being completed in January followed by an immediate move to winter events. Jon is a terrific addition to the MHSAA team.”
Ross began his media career in June 1999 at the first of three television sports department stops, a string that concluded with his tenure as a reporter and anchor from 2002-05 for WILX in Lansing.
Most recently, Ross served from Feb. 2018 until this past December as a communications representative and senior editor for the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, for which he helped manage development of statewide campaigns including “Click It Or Ticket” and “Drive Sober, Get Pulled Over.” In addition to content creation, Ross worked in media relations including as occasional spokesperson for the OHSP, along with managing budgets and execution of federally-funded campaigns and serving as chairperson of the 2019 Michigan Traffic Safety Summit which drew nearly 500 attendees.
At the MHSAA, Ross’s responsibilities also will include providing content for the Association’s websites including the fan-focused Second Half, managing MHSAA.tv and eventually media credentialing and other on-site communications functions at MHSAA events.
“My time working in sports never seemed like work, and I’m excited for the opportunity to be part of what the MHSAA is building as it continues to expand coverage especially with video and other digital ventures,” Ross said. “I’ve known John Johnson going back to my time in the media, and I can appreciate even more now the work he did in making the MHSAA a national leader in promoting school athletics. I hope my experiences will help us build on what he created as we continue to engage more with our schools and specifically athletes, coaches, officials and families to tell our story.”
Ross was born in Escanaba and is a 1995 graduate of Saginaw Heritage High School and 1999 graduate of Michigan State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism with specialty in kinesiology.
Brighton's Brown Brings Holiday Joy
May 22, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Bailey Brown will begin at Oakland University this fall with plenty to drive her through what at times will be grueling studies as she prepares for a career in pediatric medicine.
As the oldest of six siblings, she’s always been around kids – and she loves it that way and looks forward to caring for them as their doctor. But sadly, though just a senior at Brighton, she’s already experienced her share of hospital life – although those tough times also provide motivation and inspired another mission as well.
Brown ran across an advertisement this past winter in an American Girl catalog for dolls without hair – an amazing idea, she thought, because it allows children who have lost their hair during cancer treatment to have a doll that looks just like them.
She decided to raise enough money -- $230 – to buy two dolls for little girls spending Christmas in the hospital. Brown – a recipient of an inaugural MHSAA/Lake Trust Credit Union “Community Service Award” – ended up with more than $5,000 and an opportunity to play Santa Claus to many more thankful families.
“I couldn’t believe how fast things grew. It was hard to keep track of all the donations, but people were just messaging me on Facebook – I couldn’t believe people wanted to do that,” Brown said. “I never thought I’d be able to make such a big difference.”
The Community Service Awards recognize contributions by Michigan’s high school student-athletes away from the field. Brown, a cross country and track runner for the Bulldogs, will use her $1,000 award as a scholarship toward her education at Oakland, where she’ll be part of the Honors College. Six honorees total are receiving awards this spring; Second Half is featuring one a day this week.
Since seventh grade, Brown has battled what was diagnosed her freshman year as amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome – an abnormally overactive pain reflex that for Brown caused head-to-toe pain especially in her neck and back, making it difficult to sit and do school work. She also had to stop playing soccer completely and running for a time because of pain in her hips. As a junior, she was diagnosed with bone spurs and torn labrums in both hips, requiring multiple surgeries. As she worked to recover that winter, she had to enter treatment for anorexia after losing 25 percent of her body weight.
Despite those challenges, she managed to build a 3.88 grade-point average to rank among the top 15 percent in her graduating class. She also came back to continue running cross country and returned to the track this spring for the first time since eighth grade, while also participating in National Honor Society and her school’s Interact club.
As a doctor, Brown hopes to help children and teenagers who might be going through the same. Her service over the winter was aimed especially at children who would have to remain in the hospital over the holidays.
The outpouring of donations allowed her to affect many more families than she would’ve at first imagined – she was able to purchase 48 dolls plus hundreds of toys for little boys also undergoing cancer treatment. She delivered the dolls and toys to University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, where she volunteered in the annual Mott Toy Shop that allows parents to pick up gifts for their children free of charge – saving money and time shopping “to make Christmas much easier and children a lot happier.”
Brown surely will be busy jumping into her first year of college, and she still fights pain although running and deep tissue massage alleviate some of it. But she said she’d like to start another campaign for hospitalized kids like the one that came off so successfully this past winter, maybe something even larger in scope.
“I am proud of everything I have accomplished despite my setbacks,” Brown wrote in her award application, “and look forward to touching even more lives this year.
“I have learned never give up, no matter how many obstacles are thrown my way.”
The Community Service Awards are sponsored by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Lake Trust Credit Union to recognize student-athletes' efforts to improve the lives of others in their communities. In addition to the $1,000 award, the Lake Trust Foundation is awarding an additional $500 to each honoree, to be donated to a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization of the awardee’s choice.
PHOTO: (Top) Brighton’s Bailey Brown stands with some of her donation of toys to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital this past winter. (Middle) Brown is recognized by Mott on its Instagram feed. (Photos courtesy of Bailey Brown.)
2017 Community Service Awards
Sunday: Colon "Yard Squad" - Read