From the MHSAAs "Legends of the Games" series
With the passage of Title IX, several new sports were implemented at schools to create new opportunities for girls to compete. Volleyball was one of these newly added sports and by the late 1970s, dozens of schools around the U.P. were fielding teams.
Brimley High School created a new volleyball team for girls at the school. Charles Compo became the coach of the team, though he had no previous experience coaching the sport. Compo decided to take his team to tournaments in Lower Michigan, where there was tougher competition. Both he and his players learned the game together and over the next few years developed into the most dominant volleyball program in the U.P.
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Jim Crawford leads his Copper Kings to his 500th victory, 2012.
Image courtesy of the Daily Mining Gazette.Hockey and the town of Calumet go hand in hand. The game has been played in the community in one way or another going back to the 19th century. As early as the 1900s, Calumet High School was fielding a team, which would play other high schools or the many professional and semi-pro teams in the area.
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Crystal Falls Forest Park 1975 Class D State Championship football team.
Image courtesy of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.On the very same day in 1975 that Ishpeming defeated Hudson for the Class C Title, Crystal Falls Forest Park Trojans won the most lopsided State Final in Michigan history, in the Class D championship in Kalamazoo. After pounding Posen 67-0 in the State Semifinal, CFFP soundly defeated Flint Holy Rosary in the final, 50-0. The team was led with four rushing touchdowns by Bill Santilli, a state final record that stood for 35 years. The Trojans, under the coaching legend Richard Mettlach, would return the next year to beat Holy Rosary again by a much closer score of 14-6. But a dynasty had been created that represents the U.P.s most dominant and successful football program to date.
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1971-72 Ewen - Trout Creek Basketball Team
Class D Boys State Champions
From L to R Row 1: Mike McLaughlin, Mike Carlisle, Keith Hemming. Row 2: Bryan Besonen, George Hardes, Bob Bessen, Jim Leaf. Row 3: Coach Perhalla, John Hardes, Gary Fors, Cliff N., Pat Laitinen, Mgr.There are many good basketball programs in the Upper Peninsula and a few great ones. But maybe no program has a greater combination of wins, titles and individual records than that of Ewen-Trout Creek. Located in southern Ontonagon County, this consolidated school district has produced some of the finest players and coaches in Upper Peninsula sports history.
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