Tom Caudill

Image courtesy of Escanaba Daily News.

 

Over a span of 31 years, Coach Tom Caudill of the Ewen-Trout Creek Panthers amassed an impressive record-breaking career, securing the dominance of the team in U.P. basketball history.  When he retired in 2008, Caudill had compiled a record of 558 victories and 149 losses, becoming the winningest coach in U.P. history. During that time, his Panthers won 20 Porcupine Mountain Conference titles, seven Great Western Conference titles, 13 district crowns, three regional championships and a Class D state runner-up trophy in 1982. He was named the U.P. Coach of the Year for Class D three times. In addition to coaching basketball, Caudill was the Panthers track coach for many years, winning 11 conference titles, five regional crowns and three U.P. Class D runner-up titles.

Tom Caudill holding the 1982 Class D State Runners-up trophy at the return celebration in Ewen.
Image courtesy of the Ironwood Daily Globe.

Image courtesy of Ewen - Trout Creek Public Schools.

Ron Warner

 

Second only to Crystal Falls - Forest Park in state final appearances, the Lake Linden - Hubbell Lakes have had a long standing tradition of excellence. This is in no small part to the efforts of Coach Ron Warner, who for 28 years led the program. During that time he took a struggling program and made it into a model for teams everywhere. For his efforts, he was selected as Michigan's Class D Coach of the Year on five separate occasions.

From 1972-2000, Warner's teams won 16 conference championships, appeared in the playoffs 14 times, won 9 regional championships, appeared in six state finals and won two state championships (Class DD in 1992 and Class D in 1997). Both of Warner's state champion teams were undefeated. In 1992, the Lakes were 13-0 and outscored their opponents 517-56. In 1997, the team was 12-0 with a scoring advantage of 518 points to their opponents' 89.

Warner coaching at the State Finals in the Pontiac Silverdome.

Images courtesy of Ron Warner.

Phyllis Laurila

 

Phyllis Laurila and her 1982 U.P Class C - D Championship boys’ tennis team.It has been said that if there was a "mother" of tennis in northern Michigan, it would be Phyllis Laurila. She coached Iron Mountain High School tennis from 1980 until 2000. In this time, she led many players to regional and U.P championships. She led boys' teams to win 17 Mid-Peninsula Conference Cham­pionships and 14 U.P. State Championships. She led girls’ teams to win 10 Mid-Peninsula Conference Championships and 6 U.P State Championships. Her overall record consisted of 564 wins and only 38 losses in the 20 years that she coached.

In 1981, she led both her boys' and girls' teams to win both the U.P State Championships and Mid-Peninsula Conference Championships. That feat was repeated in 1982. Laurila regrets the fact that her teams could never compete in the state tournament in lower Michigan. She believes that many of her teams were good enough to go, but could not because high school tennis "remains separated by the bridge."

She coached the Iron Mountain High School tennis teams, the Volvo Cup Ladies League, and the Northern Michigan Federation Cup Team. She also helped with summer tennis programs and tournaments and was always willing to help students get in­volved in various tournaments in the U.P. and Wisconsin.

Phyllis has a bubbly personality and loves to make tennis fun for everyone. Scott Colantonio, a former tennis player, remembers an intra-team tournament that Phyllis organized. She gave the winners eight chocolate pies that she had made a few days prior.

Her tennis philosophy was, "Keep trying to improve your strokes, stick with fundamentals and basics. You'll improve much faster."

Paul Polfus

 

The girls' basketball coach with the second-most number of wins in U.P. history, Paul Polfus is second to no one when it comes to winning championships. Over the past 27 years, he has built an impressive record that includes dozens of con­ference, district, regional and state titles, both in girls' and boys' basketball. Since 1975, Polfus has been a teacher at Carney-Nadeau schools and took over as the head varsity girls' basketball coach in 1978. He would lead that program for 27 seasons, compiling a record of 501 victories and 123 losses. During that time, his girls' Wolves teams have won 18 Skyline Conference titles, 14 district titles and three Class D State Championships, including two in a row in 1989 and 1990 (the team's last was in 2001). During this incredible state title run, the Wolves won a state record 78 straight games and won an amazing 123 straight regular-season games.

In 1995, Polfus also took over the duties of coaching the Car­ney-Nadeau boys' basketball team and would continue at the helm for the next 14 years. During that time, the Wolves won six conference titles and three district titles (1998, 1999, and 2006).

Polfus has received dozens of awards for his coaching ef­forts. He has been named the U.P. Coach of the Year eight times (1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 1999) and was named the Basketball Coaching Association of Michigan's (BCAM's) Regional Coach of the Year nine times. In 1990 and 2001, he was named the All-Class Michigan Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, BCAM and the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Lastly, in 2006, he was named the National Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.

Paul Polfus (right) and his assistant coach, Ken Linder, during the 1989 State Championship game.

GIRLS BASKETBALL
Top 10 coaches wins

• Nancy Osier, Bergland, Ewen-Trout Creek, (retired in 2008), 582-185
• Paul Polfus, Carney-Nadeau, (retired in 2005), 501-125
• Dick Franti, Ontonagon, (through 2012), 481-205
• Tom Hammar, Westwood (retired 2012), 397-250
• Pete Mayhew, Menominee (retired 2010), 377-265
• Debbie (DeBacker) Chase, Perkins, Mid Peninsula, (1974-96), 339-141

Images courtesy of Paul Polfus.

Nancy Osier

 

Nancy Osier with her 1985 Class D State Runners-Up team.

Image courtesy of Nancy Osier.Though girls' basketball only began in earnest for Ewen-Trout Creek in the early 1970s, the team has matched the accomplishments of the men's pro­gram from day one. A big part of that success was due to the efforts of the Upper Peninsula's winningest female coach, Nancy Osier. Over a 35 sea­sons, Osier led her teams to an unprecedented record of 582 wins -185 losses. When she retired after the 2007-2008 season, her Panther teams had won eight Great Western Conference titles, 15 dis­trict titles, five regional titles, one State Semifinal­ist (1987) and one State Runner-UP (1985).

Osier began her coaching career at Bergland High School in the early 1970s, right after the passage of Title IX made girls' sports compulsory on the high school level. She herself had played basketball for Northern Michigan University but never got the chance to do so in high school. After six years coaching at Bergland, she left to coach the Ewen-Trout Creek girls' varsity basketball team. It was there that she took her career to a new level. She did this by encouraging girls to start playing the game in elementary school and by pushing her own players to continue training and playing in the off­season.

Osier was named U.P. Class D Coach of the Year three times (1983, 1984 and 1994). The National Federation Coaches Association selected Osier as the Central Region Coach of the Year in 2000. She was a finalist for Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association in 2001. Prior to that she was inducted into the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan's Hall of Fame.

Images courtesy of Ironwood Daily Globe.

Mickey Johnson

In the annals of U.P. sports, there may he no more leg­endary a figure than that of Marquette's Mickey Johnson. Johnson began his coaching career at Mar­quette Senior High School in 1940 and would coach there for the next 50 years. His record at Marquette was remarkable, leading the boys' tennis program to 34 U.P. titles, including eleven in a row through the years of 1970 to 1981. This accomplishment was rec­ognized by Sports Illustrated, which featured him in their "Faces in the Crowd" column. In the early 1970s, he began Marquette's girls' tennis program and led his squads to six U.E titles and a record of 132 wins and 26 losses. Johnson won his last title in 1989 at the age of 85. In addition, he directed Marquette's youth recreational program from 1951 to 1982. Before he retired, he had already been installed in the Northern Michigan University Hall of Fame, U.P. Sports Hall of Fame, the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame and the Michigan High School Tennis Coaching Association Hall of Fame.

Ken Hofer

Provided by Dennis Grall of Escanaba

Ken Hofer, a native of Stephenson, directed the Menominee Maroons to three state high school football championships and ended his coaching career fifth on the state's all-time win list with a 313-141-2 record. A1 Fracassa is No. 1 with 404 victories at Royal Oak Shrine and Birmingham Brother Rice.

Hofer, who was head coach for the Maroons from 1964-71 and 1975-2011, led Menominee to the Class BB state title in 1998 with a 42-6 victory over Haslett. The Maroons also won Division 5 state titles, beating Madison Heights Madison 41-6 in 2006 and repeating in 2007 with a 21-7 conquest of Jackson Lumen Cristi.

Image Courtesy of Dale Van Duinen,
Menominee Public Schools

A noted practitioner of the single-wing of­fense, Hofer led the Maroons to 29 straight wins from 2006-2008.

Menominee, entering the 2012 season, ranks fourth among state schools with 598 victo­ries. The Maroons are 598-279-40 since starting football in 1894. Escanaba, which started football in 1897, is fifth overall en­tering 2012 with a 589-301-37 mark.

Menominee has faced two major rivals in its acclaimed history, playing 105 games against Marinette in the M&M Game in one of the oldest interstate rivalries in the coun­try. It began in 1894. Menominee has played 115 games against Escanaba in a series that began in 1897. Menominee has a 62-51-3 lead in that series through 2012.

Menominee also is third in points scored in a game, amassing 150 against Kingsford in 1929.

C.C. Watson

Image courtesy of Ishpeming Public Schools.

 

Great coaches make an impact not only on the players they lead, but also on their communities. Such was the case with Ishpeming coaching legend Clermont C. Watson. For 37 years he was at helm of the Ishpem­ing basketball team, in addition to serving as the school’s football coach for 23 years. He is remem­bered not only for his disciplined approach to coaching, but also for being a gentleman who stressed defense and the fundamentals of the game. In addi­tion to his coaching career, Watson taught physical education and mathematics at the high school.

Known as "C.C.”, he compiled a 444-206 record as the Hematites basketball coach, capturing 18 district titles and eight U.P. titles. His 1934-36 clubs won 43 straight games. In 1950, he led the Hematites to the Class B State Championship by defeating Grand Rapids Godwin, 43-37. In that same year, he was named the Coach of the Year by the Detroit Free Press and two years later was selected as the U.P. Coach of the Year. As a football coach, he posted a 64-79-12 record from 1923-1945, but his 1925 and 1926 teams both went undefeated with 7-0 records. Like many teams of that era, they did not get a chance to play in a state playoff.

John Bennin

Images courtesy of John Bennin

 

Just as Web Morrison was winding down his career as the head track coach at Pickford, the girls’ track program was just gaining steam. Initially Morrison coached the girls’ team after the passing of Title IX, but soon handed the reins to Sharon Beacom, who led the school to their first U.P. Class D title in 1976.

Then a former student and mentee of Web Morrison’s, John Bennin, took over the track and field program in 1979. John was a former basketball star at Lake Su­perior State College, and had never before coached track. Employing the same workout techniques and standards of Morrison, he built a program that would be recognized as the best in Class D throughout the U.P. From 1979 through 2002, his track teams won nine U.P. Class Titles and two Division 3 titles, includ­ing five in a row between 1984-1988, during which his team never lost a track meet in the U.P.

His efforts did not go unnoticed in the state of Michi­gan or nationally. In 1991, he was selected the Girls’ Track Coach of the Year by the Michigan High School Coaches Association and in 1992 was selected as the 1992 Girls’ Track Coach of the Year for Region 4 (Midwest) by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.

In addition to his work as a track coach, Bennin was the girls’ basketball coach at Pickford leading the squad to a regional championship in 1988. His record as a basketball coach was 138-88.

Pickford Girls’ Track & Field Team, 2002 U.P. Class D Champions.
Ashley Bishop, 4th from the right in the back row, still holds the U.P. All-Class record in the shot put with a distance of 42’- 0.5”

Pickford Girls’ Track & Field Team
1985 U.P. Class D Champions