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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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