Sorgi-Led Blanket Drive Spreads Support
May 26, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The design was the same, the pattern was one they’d used, and the little girl had received her blanket right around Christmas while undergoing cancer treatments.
Nikki Sorgi has no way of knowing for sure if the blanket – described by an aunt who cares for the child during the school day – is one of more than 400 she, her older sister and Utica Ford classmates have donated to University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital over the last three years. But that doesn’t matter – the fact that a blanket, any blanket, is bringing a child comfort hits home as Sorgi considers what she’s helped to accomplish.
Sorgi is a recipient of an MHSAA/Lake Trust Credit Union “Community Service Award” for helping spearhead a campaign that stretched over the course of her high school career, with the co-leadership of her older sister Alex (a 2015 Ford graduate) and large contributions from her school’s National Honor Society chapter, student council and school store.
“It was really great to see, from the toy drive we started my freshman year, there are other kids out there who care,” Nikki Sorgi said. “A lot of people have this stereotypical view of teenagers, that they’re more concerned about themselves and what’s going on in their lives. It was cool to see other kids out there who care, who want to make a difference, even if they don’t have the ability to start their own project or event.”
Sorgi this fall will follow her sister Alex to Bowling Green State University, beginning studies toward an eventual career as a pediatrician. Providing care for children has been a major drive in her life since her freshman year, when she and Alex collected 250 toys to donate to hospitalized children.
About that time, a medical issue struck closer to home – a friend and classmate was diagnosed with cancer. Realizing that a toy drive was great for younger kids but not as much of a help for older ones, the Sorgi sisters turned their focus to creating homemade tie-knot fleece blankets that could comfort patients of all ages.
Sadly, the friend who inspired the drive, Stefan Oncia, died after his battle in December 2014. A month later, the first donation of 60 blankets went to Kids Kicking Cancer in Southfield. The following Christmas season, more than 150 blankets were donated to patients at C.S. Mott. This past Christmas, the Sorgis delivered nearly 200 more blankets.
Along the way, Ford’s NHS helped raise funds for materials, and more than 60 students helped assemble them during an after-school blanket-making party. The Bemis Junior High life skills class also has contributed blankets the last two years, and Nikki worked with her travel softball coach to make their holiday gift exchange instead a donation of blankets.
The girls’ mother Roni has had a number of big assists along the way, and that likely will continue with Nikki finishing up high school (she’ll also join her sister playing softball at BGSU). Nikki, a four-year varsity softball and basketball player, said she’s talked to her coach Matt Joseph (who coaches both teams) about ways to continue the blanket drive in the future. Her brother Joey will be a sophomore next year and is expected to pick up the cause, with the sisters returning home at Thanksgiving to help orchestrate the drive with the help of Ford sports teams or NHS if it remains involved.
Nikki will use the award as a scholarship toward paying for her education. Her desire to become a doctor started before she started playing such a large role in bringing patients comfort – but seeing how the blankets have impacted children at the hospital has swayed her toward pediatrics while also teaching her a few lessons in persistence and communication.
“It shows the blanket drive might be one small thing, but it shows how much one small thing can do for people who are sick, or struggling, whatever the case may be,” Sorgi said. “Even though it’s just a small gesture.”
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.
PHOTOS: (Top) Utica Ford senior Nikki Sorgi sits in front of a mountain of homemade blankets headed for C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. (Middle) Sorgi, with older sister Alex (right) and Kevin Smith from Mott community relations, delivers the blankets to the hospital. (Photos courtesy of the Sorgi family.)
2017 Community Service Awards
Sunday: Colon "Yard Squad" - Read
Monday: Bailey Brown, Brighton - Read
Tuesday: Justice Ottinger, Newaygo - Read
Thursday: Katie Sesi, Ann Arbor Huron - Read
2022 WISL Honoree Hyman Lauded for Lifetime of Leadership
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 25, 2022
Lori Hyman was a sports standout in high school, then at Michigan State University. She then coached college basketball for 17 years, starting when she was only 23 years old, and surely could’ve continued down that path.
While always a leader, she decided to change gears in 1995 and provide guidance another way – coaching up coaches as a high school athletic director. Over the next 27 years, she became one of the most respected ADs in Michigan – and contributed in that role at her alma mater Livonia Stevenson over the last 22.
To celebrate her many contributions to school sports, at home but also statewide, Hyman has been named the 35th recipient of the MHSAA Women In Sports Leadership Award. She will receive the award during the Division 1 Girls Basketball Final on March 19 at Michigan State’s Breslin Center.
Hyman served her first five years as an athletic director at Dexter, making the move there after four college basketball coaching stops. After a memorable hoops career at MSU, she served as a women’s basketball graduate assistant at Ferris State University and then head coach at Northwood Institute (now University) from 1981-82 – when she was only 23 years old – through 1985-86.
She then served as an assistant at University of Illinois before returning as head coach at Ferris State from 1989-90 through 1994-95. In Fall 1995, she began at Dexter.
“Every part of my career I’ve been happy with, and honored, and just thoroughly enjoyed it,” Hyman said. “It’s been a passion of mine, every aspect.
“(Playing at Michigan State) was one of the best times, if not the best time, of my life as a youngster. And then being an athletic director has probably been the most rewarding as an adult. And being at Stevenson, coming back home, has been quite an honor and just a very rich experience for me.”
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.
Hyman is a 1975 graduate of Stevenson, where she also played softball and competed in track & field. She was named MSU’s Outstanding Athlete of the Year for women’s basketball in 1979, after serving as co-captain of the team that season but missing the majority of it with an injury.
As an athlete at MSU, she joined her teammates in filing a 1978 discrimination complaint that requested the women’s basketball team receive travel allowances equal to those received by the Spartans men’s team. “It is very meaningful that Michigan State is where they are now, not just in women’s basketball but the women’s sport program,” Hyman said. “I feel like we were part of that growing and moving forward in a positive way, and I thank Michigan State for recognizing that and moving it forward.”
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health in 1980 and has a master’s in athletic administration from Wayne State University. She received her certified master athletic administrator designation from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) in 2006.
Back at Stevenson, Hyman has directed the athletic program for a high school with nearly 1,700 students, which by enrollment ranks 50th out of 750 MHSAA member schools.
She has hosted a multitude of MHSAA Tournament events while at both Dexter and Stevenson and has served on the MHSAA’s girls tennis, girls basketball and boys basketball committees. She also has served as the girls and boys tennis commissioner of the Kensington Lakes Activities Association, of which Stevenson is a member.
“Lori has been a leader and pioneer in the world of athletics, and in particular as an advocate for females and girls sports,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “When she left coaching basketball to work as an AD, it was an incredible victory for kids in our state. She’s been dependable, loyal and just a model of consistency in running a first-class program.”
Hyman was named her region’s Athletic Director of the Year by the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) in 2014 and received its Jack Johnson Distinguished Service Award in 2015.
As an instructor for the MIAAA, Hyman has provided training particularly to beginning athletic directors. She has served as a Leadership Training Institute instructor as well for the MIAAA and as a presider and speaker at the MIAAA’s annual conference. She also has spoken at the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Conference.
“I’ve always been an advocate for women in sports and equal opportunity,” Hyman added. “I treat all of the sports here equally, male and female. But if I feel that there needs to be a little bit more advocacy for women in sports, whether it’s coaching and getting more girls involved, or officiating, administration, any kind of leadership, I’m really big on that.”
“I’m a big advocate for women in athletics, but (also) just athletics in general.”
In addition to her vast school sports responsibilities and contributions, Hyman has volunteered with Special Olympics, Livonia’s Newburg United Methodist Church and Rotary Club.
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
PHOTO Livonia Stevenson athletic director Lori Hyman (right) and Finals swimming champion McKenzie Siroky hold up a championship medal alongside photos honoring Siroky's achievements. (Photo courtesy of the Stevenson athletic department.)