Iron Mountain 1981-82
Nick Johnson, left, and Bob Landsee hoist Coach Rick Olds on their shoulders after Iron Mountain defeated Negaunee 60-50 Saturday to win a Class C regional basketball championship. The undefeated Mountaineers, 21-0, face Reed City at 6:30 pm CST Wednesday at Cheboygan in quarterfinal action.Some schools are dominant in one sport and some are jack-of-all trades, or competitive in several different sports. On rare occasions, a school will excel in everything it attempts. Such was the case of Iron Mountain High School during the 1981-82 academic year. Over the course of the year, the boys' and girls' teams won five U.P. titles and six conference titles in five separate sports.
Led by Coach Rick Olds, the Iron Mountain boys' basketball team had a 20-0 regular season. The team traveled to NMU's Hedgcock Fieldhouse to play Negaunee in the regional championships, defeating the Miners 60-50, to take the U.P. crown. However, the team's season would come to an end in the Quarterfinal game against Reed City.
Row 1: J. Riske, R. Chiamulera, K. Hicks, R. Popp, T. Hewes, T. Sacchetti, B. Popp, R. Donaldson. Row 2: D. Droese, T. Andreini, B. Christesen, R. Flaminio, D. Bianco, T. Riske, C. Bazan. Row 3: G. Langsford, T. Penegor, M. Swanson, J. St. Amour, D. Capra, B. Gauthier, T. Betti, J. Lemke. Row 4: V. Flaminio, M. Courney, R. Maycroft, J. Poupore, R. Landsee, R. Maki. J. Hendrickson, J. Harry. Row 5: D. Tramontine, R. Helberg, J. Connors, J. Michaud, T. Danielson, R. Welker, N. Johnson. S. Allen. Row 6: P. Strang - Manager, T. Awrey - Assistant Coach, R. Debelak - Assistant Coach, M. Harry - Head Coach, P. Maki - Manager.The 1981 Iron Mountain football team was the first in 56 years to have a perfect regular season: 7-0. The team won the Mid-Peninsula Conference Championship, only giving up 13 points during the regular season. They lost 9-7 in the semifinals to North Muskegon High. The following players who received both All-Conference and All-U.P. honors were Nick Johnson, Vince Flaminio, Jon Harry, Rob Landsee, Bill Popp, and Rick Popp.
Wrestling was another sport that had a fine season in 1981. The team took firsts in the Mid-Peninsula Conference Meet, the U.P. State Meet, and the Rhinelander Invitational. It placed second at the Lakeland Invitational. Nine wrestlers were Conference Champions and three of those also received U.P. titles; Bob Mariucci, Rich Donaldson, and Mike Courney.
Row 1: J. Erickion, E. Wilcheck, E. Brule, B. Turk, B. Cade. Row 2: Coach Wirth, C. Belongie, J. Hicks, P. Carollo, J. Lofstrom, K. Carlson. Row 3: K. Drake, W. Johnson, J. Derwinski, S. Krause, D. Baldinelli. Not Pictured: J. Korol, V. Giancola, S. Villa, L. Dinnocenzo, K. Edlund, C. Clarke, L. Fortner, D. Berutti. P. LaFave.The 1981 Iron Mountain girls' tennis team went undefeated, becoming the Mid-Peninsula Conference Champions and placing first in U.P. Class C - D tournament. The Iron Mountain boys' tennis team won all but one of its matches in the 1982 season. The team won the Mid-Peninsula Championship in Westwood and the U.P. Class C Championship in Ishpeming.
The girls' and boys' golf teams both placed second at the Mid-Peninsula Conference Championship. The boys' team went on to take second place at the U.P. tournament in Iron Mountain.
Another successful sports story at Iron Mountain was the boys' track team in the 1981-82 academic year. The boys placed first at every meet, with the exception of the Class C Finals in Marquette, where they were runners-up to Ironwood. Three school records were broken that year: Mary Humphrey in the 3200 meter run, John Furno in the 1600 meter run, and Nicky Johnson in discus.
Images courtesy of Rick Olds and Iron Mountain Public Schools.