And the 2013 BOTF winner is ...
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 22, 2013
Josh Money had gone to just about every Buchanan boys basketball game during his first three years of high school, usually one in a semi-full section of stands.
But as the senior “Trophy Buck” stood in front of his school’s newly-created “Herd” for its first theme night on Dec. 7, he hardly could believe his eyes.
He, his classmates and athletic director Fred Smith had hatched the idea of creating the section only a few months before. But as Money looked up to see – and hear – dozens of students dressed up for “Christmas on the Court” and waving “Buck Power” spirit towels, he began to believe winning this year’s MHSAA Battle of the Fans II was possible.
Late next month, they'll hang an MHSAA championship banner announcing the Herd as this year's BOTF champion and the best student cheering section in Michigan.
“Words can’t really explain it. It just feels good that we are the best. There’s no guessing. We are the best," Money said. "I’m proud of our school, proud of our community. How much support we had throughout has just been amazing. I never knew it was going to come out to be this big.”
The most wide-spread slogan of many put out by this year’s MHSAA Battle of the Fans II champion starts with the friendliest of greetings – “Welcome.”
But to see the entire Buchanan community – from elementary schools students to high school leaders to grandmas and grandpas locking arms and standing together – in our eyes, there was no more meaningful sign of the community-building power of the Herd.
Buchanan was chosen based on a vote by the MHSAA’s 16-member Student Advisory Council influenced by public vote on the MHSAA’s Facebook page. A total of 8,024 fans voted in the MHSAA Facebook poll, with those results then equated against a school’s enrollment.
Buchanan far and away received the most Facebook votes – 4,522, or 63 more than the size of the town’s population. Zeeland East received 2,056 votes. The Student Advisory Council based its vote on the following criteria: positive sportsmanship, student body participation, school spirit, originality of cheers, organization of the group, section leadership and overall fun.
Other numbers to consider from this season's contest: The 26 application videos have been watched more than 24,000 times, and the MHSAA-produced videos from our tour stops have 10,033 views. The stories on the five finalists plus Tuesday’s explanation of how to vote had been viewed 17,206 times as of 8:30 this morning.
As this contest comes to a close, we remember fondly each of our Battle of the Fans visits this winter. Any of the five schools would've been a worthy champion.
Here’s some of what we enjoyed most about each finalist:
Tradition Doesn’t Graduate Award: Frankenmuth
What we saw: More of what made Frankenmuth our inaugural BOTF champion in 2012. A large crowd reaching to the top of the bleachers, completely engaged in the game throughout, and having a blast from opening tip to final buzzer. And when it comes to halftime, no one is more creative – the “Silent Night” sing-along at center court was a solid follow-up to the 2012 halftime chicken dance.
Why we’re fans: Watching Frankenmuth from the outside makes the casual observer want to jump in and take part. The Eagles simply have a blast, regardless of who is standing at the front directing traffic. Nearly all of the section’s leaders graduated last spring, but roles (and in a few cases, costumes) were handed down, and a few key juniors already are involved – meaning we could see Frankenmuth among the finalists again in 2014.
All in the Family Award: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
What we saw: A true community where one might not expect to see it – a school which draws students from not just Ann Arbor but a handful of neighboring towns as well, yet gets constant support for multiple sports no matter what day of the week. This section has plenty of history, and some recent tragedies sadly showed again the strength of Gabriel Richard’s bonds.
Why we’re fans: A fun clip we didn't use in the video showed piles of props scattered next to the stands – the necessities of putting on an ultra-creative “Beach Night.” Our favorite was the human wave, which was then surfed by one of the section leaders. We were impressed by the big plans being made for the “Masquerade for Mott” fundraiser for the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, and just the overall connection throughout the section and with its basketball team on the floor, and cheerleaders and dance team on the sidelines.
One Voice, All Day Award: Zeeland East
What we saw: Members of “The Coop” don’t leave their responsibilities as student section members at the door. Living their brand of “rowdy” is a fulltime deal. Zeeland East was our largest school among this year’s finalists, but also has the most developed Facebook presence and a strong Twitter following to spread the word and keep the ideas flowing 24/7. And “High 5 Hallway” – a game day occurrence during which hundreds of Zeeland East students meet in one hallway during a break, form lines and high five each other – was our favorite new idea of this year’s tour.
Why we’re fans: From “High 5 Hallway” to the way senior leaders plant themselves with the underclassmen at the top of the section, the sense of unity was unmistakable despite the large size of the school and its section. Leaders have a constant dialogue with their athletic director – something we've found is a must for top sections – and it’s easy to get worn out just watching this non-stop Coop party.
Make a Difference Award: Vandercook Lake
What we saw: The lessons taught by Vandercook Lake’s group of 13 senior leaders are twofold: Make the most of your four years cheering on your classmates, and it’s possible to accomplish any number of goals by being driven and organized. The Jayhawks got this section going this fall in part to acquire a new mascot costume; they ended up with that costume, school flags, spirit towels and a legacy ready-made for the next group to pick up and continue building.
Why we’re fans: We have a lot of respect for a large group of students pulling together with so many possible viewpoints and abilities and turning out something this positive. Vandercook Lake also was our smallest finalist this year – but showed us a section much larger than its relative size and comparable in creativity and spirit with schools much larger. These students had an idea and made it happen.
Battle of the Fans champion: Buchanan
What we saw: All five of our finalists have created something of value in their respective schools and their communities as a whole. But nowhere is that presence felt quite like in Buchanan.
“The Herd” was little more than a group of milling “deer” a few months ago. Today, it’s a community staple, a point of camaraderie welcoming to all students not only at the high school but all the way down to the kindergarten classes. The section is invited weekly to community events, and the comments posted on our Facebook page and Second Half stories came from parents and grandparents, recent alums and those who graduated and left town long ago.
There’s a lot of pride in Buchanan, and Buchanan takes pride in the Herd.
Why we’re fans: Buchanan does this the right way. The “Woods” are lively, but positive. The Herd is creative and a little silly, but connected to the game and supportive of the team.
And someone give these students their honorary marketing degrees right now; by branding phrases like “Herd Dat!” with younger students, they've ensured this section will live on for years to come.
“Walking through the school, or in front of the stands, all the little kids are all about it,” Money said. “(They’ll say,) ‘Josh Money, you should do this. You should do that.’ I’m getting messages all day, every day from little kids telling me what we should do.
“To have something that great keep going for years, it’s going to be pretty cool to see.”
Now our finalists will take their acts to a bigger stage – clips from all five MHSAA tour stops will be shown on the main scoreboard during the Girls and Boys Basketball Finals in March at the Breslin Center.
All five sections are ambassadors of the best of student cheering sections in our state. We’re glad to congratulate them for setting awesome examples of the fun that can be had while keeping to good sportsmanship and a positive vibe.
And we’ll be proud to award Buchanan its championship banner – Herd Dat, loud and clear.
Click to check out our the stories and videos behind the finalists. Also, click to see student-produced videos from 26 sections who entered the contest. (Photo courtesy of Caryn DeFreez, DeFreez Photography.)
Midland Heroes Win 'Match of Life' In Saving Another On Way to Regional
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 22, 2023
Wilson Shinske woke up Saturday hoping to accomplish something great.
But the Midland senior had no idea just how great and impactful his accomplishment would be, and that it would happen well before he stepped on a wrestling mat.
On the way to the Division 1 Wrestling Regional at Hartland, Shinske and his dad, Steve, pulled a man from a burning vehicle on I-75 and helped resuscitate him on the side of the road. As the man was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, the Shinskes got back in their own vehicle and made it to the meet in time for weigh-ins.
“The entire way there, I was thinking, ‘It doesn’t matter if I lose or if I win today, this was a win,’” Wilson Shinske said. “Being on the wrestling team is about being part of something bigger than yourself. Yeah, I lost both of my matches, and it was like that journey has ended. But knowing what I did earlier, I won the match of life.”
Shinske finished his wrestling season with a 21-11 record after dropping his pair of Regional matches at 215 pounds. While all of that was certainly important to him, and the end of any senior season can be tough, the events of Saturday morning put a lot of things in perspective.
“I can tell you that I was proud as hell of him,” Steve Shinske said. “I was super proud of how he handled the morning. I was proud – I’m always proud of him when he does a sport, even when he thinks he doesn’t do well. When he lost, I saw him take those losses on Saturday differently than he had in the past in some of those situations. I think he had a different mindset. After he lost the second match, he went over and sat by a wall, and there were some tears shed. There were a ton of emotions, and not just wrestling emotions.”
Wilson Shinske’s day had started like hundreds of wrestlers around the state, as he left Midland around 5:30 a.m. focused on advancing to the MHSAA Individual Finals at Ford Field.
He fell asleep during the ride, but when the car started to slow down well before he thought it should, he knew something was off.
After coming over the Zilwaukee Bridge, Steve Shinske noticed a car fire ahead. As they approached, the retired Midland fireman decided he would stop and see how he could help, figuring he would see someone outside of the vehicle.
What he saw, however, was the driver slumped over in the front seat of the pickup truck. He pulled to the side of the road, and as he made his way to the truck, so did Wilson, who had now woken up from his pre-meet nap.
“It was 75 at 6 a.m. on a Saturday with no traffic; there’s no way we should be slowing down,” Wilson remembered. “As soon as he put it in park, not even a second later, I’m out of the car.”
As the Shinskes got to the vehicle, Steve noticed the driver – whose name they would later learn is Jerry – still had his foot crammed on the accelerator. That left the rear tires spinning until the tires had burned off and the rims were grinding on the pavement, which caused the fire at the back of the truck. His first move was to put the car in park and shut it off.
They removed Jerry – who they determined was not breathing and did not have a pulse – from the truck, and then Wilson’s training kicked in.
Wilson – a three-sport athlete who carries a 3.8 GPA – plans to study nursing in college, and spends much of his school day working in a hospital as part of a co-op. He’s CPR-certified and plans to work in the ER or a trauma unit.
A point of emphasis in Wilson’s training is to assess the situation in an emergency.
“The car is on fire, the gas tank is in the back of the car, we need to get him away from this,” Wilson said. “We need to get him up in front of our car – put a barrier between us to protect us if something happened. I don’t think there were really any nerves, just more fight or flight. I’m not running away, I’m fighting this. I wasn’t concerned with how cold it was – I wasn’t dressed for 20-degree weather – it was, ‘We have a problem here, let’s fix this problem.’”
Steve started CPR on Jerry while Wilson went back to see if they could find any personal information about him that would help, and 9-1-1 was called.
An off-duty paramedic then arrived on the scene, and put in a call to her supervisor for more assistance. That’s when Wilson took over CPR, and Steve went to put out the fire using snow from the median.
When the supervisor arrived, he brought out an AED to deliver a shock to Jerry’s heart. After some more CPR, Jerry took a gasp of air, and the monitor showed that there was heart activity.
“Then the cavalry came,” Steve said of the rush of emergency vehicles on the scene. He borrowed a fire extinguisher from a police officer to put out the remaining flames, and Jerry was loaded into an ambulance. Wilson said he could see Jerry taking breaths as he was being put into the ambulance.
The whole situation took about 15 to 20 minutes.
“Wilson’s played a lot of sports – football, tennis, he’s wrestled since he’s been 6, he plays golf – he understands that sports gives you perseverance, it gives you a different mindset,” Steve said. “I bet anybody that he works with on the floor at the hospital will tell you that he’s the most outgoing, go-getter co-op student they’ve had. Those things in his life helped him in that situation.”
Jerry survived, and the Shinskes went to visit him in the hospital Monday. While there, they learned from the family that the fire had started to melt the gas tank before Steve was able to put it out. They also learned that Jerry’s wife had recently passed away, and that their quick action had prevented his family from adding another layer of grief in a very short time.
“I love watching (Wilson) wrestle, and I’m going to miss watching him wrestle,” Steve Shinske said. “But watching him on I-75 on Saturday morning was almost better than watching him wrestle. He, as a young man, as a person that’s getting ready to go into the next phase of his life, to be able to handle something like that and not miss a beat was special.”
For Wilson, the experience further cemented his chosen career path, and desire to help others.
“I want to be a part of saving lives more often,” he said. “Not that I want to see people in these situations, but I want to help them when they are.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) From left: Wilson Shinske, Jerry and Steve Shinske meet Monday, two days after the father and son helped save Jerry’s life on I-75. (Middle) Wilson Shinske, far right, has his arm raised in victory after a match. (Photos courtesy of the Shinske family, with permission.)