Century of School Sports: Good Sports Are Winners Then, Now & Always
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 12, 2024
The above photo came to us two years ago this fall, from a now-retired athletic director, who was especially taken by these 10 runners from eight schools huddling together before their races during the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway.
Representing Bloomingdale, Bridgman, Centreville, Coloma, Constantine, Parchment, Schoolcraft and Watervliet, these racers had competed against each other all season, and for some several seasons. But during these moments before what would be the most high-profile event of their athletic careers, they joined together for support, motivation and camaraderie.
Sportsmanship is one of the MHSAA’s core values – the “4 S’s” – of educational athletics. It has served as part of the bedrock of this organization from its beginning 100 years ago, and should remain so as long as school sports are considered a valued part of the educational experience.
Two weeks ago, we covered in this #MHSAA100 space the history of the MHSAA Sportsmanship Summit – first conducted in 1997 – and our latest statewide tour concludes Thursday in Grand Rapids. But those sessions welcoming student leaders every year are just one of many efforts the MHSAA has made to continue teaching sportsmanship through athletics over the last century.
An essay, “Athletics – Why and How” by Grand Rapids Union athletic director John Truesdale, was included with the November 1925 edition of the Bulletin of the Michigan High School Athletic Association and addresses how the creation of the MHSAA from its predecessor organization played a part in immediately improving sportsmanship in school sports during that first year:
“Because of (the creation and fulltime nature of the MHSAA), the standards of sportsmanship are more nearly approached. Bickerings have been reduced to a minimum. Better understanding exists between schools. The conducting of games has become the exhibition not only of skill, strength and wisdom, but of sportsmanship, obedience to accepted rules, and consideration of those who for the moment are in the position of enemies, although friendly.
“In fact, athletics in Michigan are in position now to accomplish the purpose for which they were designed – the building of character. … It is entirely reasonable that each, the player and spectator, emerges from a contest a better citizen because of his experiences.”
High Schools change over entire student bodies every four years. Freshman eventually become seniors, and when they leave take their parents and others who have spent a portion of time in the school sports space, to be replaced by the next classes of athletes and families playing, cheering and altogether carrying forward our time-cherished activities.
And as such, the lessons of sportsmanship are constantly in need of renewal.
After both arrived during the mid 1980s, retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts and retired Communications Director John Johnson embarked on a mission to transform sportsmanship in Michigan school sports – and in doing so, made the MHSAA a national leader in that work, which continues today.
These MHSAA sportsmanship campaigns from the last 30 years should ring at least a few bells for those who have spent time around our games:
“Good Sports are Winners” – Beginning in 1989 and over the following two decades, the MHSAA (and with help from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and multiple sponsors) annually distributed 100+ page sportsmanship kits to member schools which included materials to assist in promoting good sportsmanship, including letters to be sent out to various stakeholders, public address announcements for events and other content for programs and publications.
An awards program celebrated teams best displaying these ideals from every season – Fall, Winter and Spring – with those winners receiving recognition across statewide media and MHSAA publications through the conclusion of this campaign during the 2010-11 school year.
“What Kids Wish Their Parents Knew About Sportsmanship” – This six-minute video produced for the start of the 1999-2000 school year featured students addressing adult behavior at their events. The video was designed to be shown as preseason meetings, booster clubs, school board meetings and similar athletic department or school gatherings.
“Battle of the Fans” Fast forward to 2012. The MHSAA’s Student Advisory Council, in an effort to affect sportsmanship especially among peers, created a statewide competition to promote positive cheering from the growing number of student sections across the state.
The “Battle of the Fans” continued for 10 years (skipping 2021 due to COVID-19 precautions) and annually recognized not only a champion but additional finalists with banners during the Basketball Finals at Breslin Center. The contest was almost entirely video and social media-driven, and during later years of the competition included multiple rounds that required sections to complete challenges to advance.
The BOTF program also was recognized nationally and copied by other states after seeing what Michigan’s student leaders were capable of influencing.
And that work continues.
The following was created this summer by the Student Advisory Council based on 10 pages of notes from their experiences at 2023 Sportsmanship Summits.
One of the most revealing truths in studying the 100-year history of the MHSAA is that many issues of the day then and now are remarkably similar. It’s not that there haven’t been improvements along the way. But rather, the process of educational athletics is ongoing as generations of students take their turns and continue on – and the work to keep sportsmanship at the heart of competition remains of great importance.
To that end, let’s allow Truesdale to close this latest history lesson.
“Let us then, in this year of 1925, demonstrate to the people as a whole that victory is not all we seek.
“Let each of us, whether superintendent, principal, coach, player or spectator, emphasize the point that to win is welcome, that to demonstrate superiority is one goal we are after. But let us not lose sight of the fact that the means employed are of great consequence, and that the results we seek are not championships alone but victory of the player and the team and the school over the temptations of unfair tactics.
“Championships will be forgotten but character is lasting.”
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Sept. 25: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTO A group of Southwestern Athletic Conference runners huddle up before their races at the 2022 Lower Peninsula Boys Cross Country Finals at Michigan International Speedway, including Bloomingdale’s Jaden Barnes and Joe Stocchiero, Bridgman’s Andrew Mabry and John Sanderson, Centreville’s Logan Weis, Coloma’s Boden Genovese, Constantine’s Ethan Glick, Parchment’s William Winter, Schoolcraft’s Dante Pilot and Watervliet’s Daniel Mandujano. (Photo by Alan Bobalik/Bloomingdale cross country.)
'I just wanted people to go the right way'
September 12, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
They were running in the dark – a key scene-setting detail to keep in mind.
So being familiar with the course surely gave St. Johns’ cross country runner Taryn Chapko an edge during her school’s Under the Lights Invitational on Aug 18.
And yet, she didn’t take advantage of it as much as she could have – making the first night of her sophomore season more memorable both for Chapko and the competitor who crossed the line first that evening.
The 5K course was lit in many places by large construction lamps, lights from the tennis courts or other portable fixtures set up to mark the way. But admittedly, some points were a little dim. And that’s where Chapko became a guide, yelling to a small pack of frontrunners ahead of her when to turn.
That probably doesn’t seem like a big deal – unless you’re Goodrich junior Jillian Lange. Lange ended up winning the race in 19:16. Chapko finished third in 19:48 – instead of first, which might’ve been the case especially if she had allowed the leaders to continue taking a wrong turn about a mile in.
Going the wrong way could’ve meant turning around, doubling back and losing time – or being disqualified for cutting the course shorter.
“I know a lot more people (this year) just from running, from other schools. We’re all doing the same thing. We all want to get better. I like helping people get better,” Chapko said. “It’s the first race, and they want to feel good about themselves for the rest of the season, because if you had a bad first race you might start getting down on yourself. And I don’t want people to be upset, especially with a race that’s so much fun.”
To be honest, Chapko didn’t think her little bit of directing was a big deal either – until St. Johns administrators received an email two weeks ago from Goodrich athletic director Dave Davis, who expressed his appreciation for her sportsmanship after hearing about it both from Lange and his cross country coaching staff. “Please relay to Taryn and your coaches my appreciation for this simple act of sportsmanship and kindness,” Davis wrote. “We need more of that.”
“I just wanted people to go the right way,” Chapko said, recalling the race last week. “I saw the email and I was like, ‘It’s bigger than I thought.’
“I guess it doesn’t happen too often.”
Or at least not as much as it should – which, again, should make this race stick out among the many both will run over the next few seasons of their high school careers.
This was the third year St. Johns has hosted the opening night meet. The first race goes off at 9:30 p.m. It’s a neat way to change up the 5K distance these runners will tackle a number of times over the following three months.
But admittedly, starting after dusk leaves a couple of dark spots on the course – especially behind the tennis courts and near a barn about a mile in to the first of two laps, where Lange and the frontrunners with her nearly left the path.
This was the first time Goodrich took part in the Under the Lights race, and Lange said this week that she remembers feeling like a little bit of an “outsider” starting out because her team hadn’t run in the event before. But when Chapko yelled out which way to go, that changed.
“It was out of nowhere, she’d be like ‘left,’ or ‘turn right,’ or ‘go around this,’” Lange recalled. “It was really great of her to think of me as another person she could help.
“In cross country, you’re racing against these people (and) it can get pretty harsh out there. You want to win. Just the fact she was kind enough to let me stay on course, because at some points she was pretty close to me and she could’ve gone in front when I was in front because I screwed up and went too far. She was just being honest in the race, and that’s what I like about it. The kindness really makes the race what it is, because that was fair.”
The pair of standouts had crossed paths before. In both runners’ last cross country race before meeting again at St. Johns, Lange finished seventh at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals in a time of 18:49. Chapko was 10th in 19:06. So finishing ahead of someone who had beaten her the last time out would have been an incredible way for Chapko to start this season – but not because Lange got lost.
There’s a kinship among distance runners, longtime Redwings coach Bob Sackrider has noticed over the years, and Chapko gets it. She also knows what it’s like to get off-course – she did so once as a freshman, and Sackrider has talked with his teams about how to handle that situation.
“Obviously there’s an enormous sense of pride that others recognized what we’re working toward,” Sackrider said of Davis’ note. “And I was thrilled that Taryn was able to have the wherewithal in the moment to employ what we’ve been talking about. It’s one thing to talk about it; it’s another thing to actually do it and actually be aware enough in the middle of the race to do it.”
Both runners have similar goals moving forward this fall. Both have times they are shooting to beat (and Chapko just did) – she said last week she was looking to break 19 minutes and she did so Saturday with an 18:56 at Bath, while Lange is hoping to break 18 after posting an 18:20 last October.
They both also are shooting to get their teams back to Michigan International Speedway and the MHSAA Finals on Nov. 4 – the next time the two are expected to cross paths again.
“It’ll be touching I guess. You make these friends, and you never see them, but you’re automatically just friends … (because) you have these similarities,” Lange said. “You can go up to a random person and be like, ‘Remember that time?’ That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Geoff Kimmerly joined the MHSAA as its Media & Content Coordinator in Sept. 2011 after 12 years as Prep Sports Editor of the Lansing State Journal. He has served as Editor of Second Half since its creation in Jan. 2012. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Isabella, Clare and Montcalm counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Runners take off from the start of the Under the Lights Invitational last month. (Middle) Goodrich’s Jillian Lange pushes through the midpoint of last season’s Final at MIS. (Below) St. Johns’ Taryn Chapko sprints down the final stretch of the championship race last fall. (Top photo courtesy of St. Johns cross country, middle and below by RunMichigan.com.)