Mel Vaara has worn many hats in Clarkston over the years. Aside from writing sports for The Clarkston News in the 1960s, he was the first principal of Sashabaw Junior High in 1969; has coached track, basketball and cross country; was named assistant superintendent in 1972; and was the principal of CHS in 1986 and again in 1991-92. He has held numerous administrative positions over the years.
This is the second in a series of guest columns in which he details the history of Clarkston sports. All facts and names presented in this article are from Mr. Vaara’s memories and have been presented as provided.
Boys Basketball: Bud McGrath replaced Mauti as varsity boys basketball coach. Dan Fife played on his team and was All-State. Fife was also captain of the University of Michigan basketball team and is the current head varsity coach and Athletic Director of CHS.
B.J. Hanson followed McGrath. Dave McDonald was the next coach after him for the next five years, he won a couple of league titles. Members were Dave Partlo, Gary White, Bill Craig, Gary Mason, Steve Mauti, Tom Anderson, Darryl Brittan and Dirk Findley. McDonald is still coaching at Saginaw Heritage. He has been coaching for 30 years and has a record of 325-251.
One can never forget the 1980 boys basketball team coached by Gary Nusted and Larry Mahrle. Their record was 26-1, were ranked third in the state and lost in the semifinals to Highland Park by one point. There were thousands of people in Jenison Field House. Bus after bus arrived loaded with students, six buses in all.
Clarkston defeated the number one team, Flint Central, in the regional final, and a great Saginaw team by one point in the quarterfinals. Tim McCormick, who was All-State and went on to play for U of M and in the NBA for the New York Knicks, led the team. Other members of the team were John Sheldon, Ed Haddad, Scott McKoin, Larry Baylis, Nick Lekas, John Pappas, Doug Hagyard, Scott Weaver, Jerry Tatu, Chuck Nicoli and Paul Brown.
Dan Fife is the present coach for boys basketball. Dan is one of Clarkston’s very successful coaches. When you talk about basketball in the State of Michigan, Dan Fife’s program is mentioned with the best of them, he has also been Michigan Coach of the year twice.
Fife has been the varsity coach for 23 years (396-123). He coached at Sashabaw Junior High one year. His teams have won 13 league titles, 17 districts and 5 regionals. His best record was the 1990-91 season (22-1). Members of that team were Dave Smith, Shawn Halleran, Mark Galbraith, Chris Wasilk, Luke Fedio, Derek Wiley, Jon Wyniemko, Jeremy Burke, Dugan Fife, Jason Lund, Dereck Raymond, Devin Dupree and Nathan Pomeroy. Dugan Fife later played for U of M. Over 30 basketball players have received scholarships during Dan’s career.
Dan is also the Athletic Director and stressed the importance of the fabulous support from the community. Clarkston parents and community members have always followed their teams – home and away. The Clarkston crowd will outnumber the local school in many away games in many sports.
Dugan Fife, Dane Fife and Chris Johnston received first team All-State awards. There are many memorable games to pick as your favorite. Mine is the District tournament when Grand Blanc came into our house with a number one ranking and a record of 21-0. Clarkston won by three points. Members of the 1988-89 team were Gary Kaul (now assistant principal at CHS), Scott Weeks, Reggie Reed, Mel Heminger, Mark Sanderson, Wally Wyniemko, Jim Huttenlocher, Kellie O’Niel, Kevin McCormick, Jason Brown and Dugan Fife.
In asking Dan to mention his most memorable games, his comment was ‘they are all memorable.? But playing Pontiac Northern over the years has been special, and defeating Flint Northern with Mateen Cleaves and Antonio Smith on its roster was high on his list.
Boys Golf: Jim Chamberlain was the boys golf coach for 28 years. He won a state title in 1994. Members of the team were Jason Buchman, Jon Dean, Corey Bildstein and Jeremy Jensen.
Tim Kaul replaced Chamberlain as varsity boys coach. This year’s team qualified for the state playoff. They placed tenth. Members of the team are Mike Fogg, Rob Ronk, Zach McDonald, Mike Horn and Colin Madole. Kaul has coached the team for the past five years.