As Jets Pursue, Chassell Star Recalls Record

January 19, 2017

By Dennis Grall
Special for Second Half

ESCANABA – Dwight D. Eisenhower was president of the United States when Chassell High School established a record that has spanned 10 presidencies.

Now another Upper Peninsula school, Powers North Central, is poised to surpass that cherished standard, just a week into the term of a new president, Donald Trump.

Chassell reeled off 65 straight victories from Feb. 1, 1956, to Nov. 23, 1958. North Central (9-0) has 64 consecutive wins, a streak that began Dec. 8, 2014. The Jets will try to equal the record Tuesday when they host Rock Mid Peninsula, then the record-setter would come Friday when they host neighboring Bark River-Harris (9-1) in a game that will be broadcast live on MHSAA.tv.

Flint Northwestern is the only school to challenge Chassell’s hallowed mark, winning 60 in a row before losing Feb. 10, 1986. Chassell eclipsed the state record of another U.P. school, 59 straight by Mass-Greenland from Dec. 12, 1946, to Jan. 28, 1949.

Chassell was the first U.P. school to bring an MHSAA championship trophy across the Mackinac Bridge, in 1958, shortly after it opened to traffic.

North Central is located in northern Menominee County, just six miles north of Carney-Nadeau High School, which owns the state girls basketball consecutive win record of 78 games (1989-91).

North Central coach Adam Mercier said the Jets first looked at the Chassell record after winning a second straight Class D title March 26, 2016. “We wondered if we would be able to do it,” Mercier said a day before making Big Bay de Noc victim No. 64. “It is rewarding to be named coach of such an historic team. I feel privileged to have coached these kids.”

The basketball team’s success has been shared by the school’s football team, which has won two consecutive 8-player MHSAA championships with 27 straight victories overall. With several students on both teams, that means those boys have won 91 straight games during the fall and winter seasons.

Mercier said the Jets have not spent a lot of time talking about Chassell’s record. “The last week or two we’ve talked about the distraction part of it,” he said, indicating people have been talking about it and the coaches wanted the players to respond appropriately.

Former Jets’ skipper Bob Whitens, who coached the team to the 1984 Class D title, spoke to the players recently. Mercier said his message was when you go to practice an athlete does one of two things: Get better or get worse. “He asked the players to think about that on a daily basis,” Mercier said of emphasizing daily improvement.

“It is something historic. You don’t want to diminish its historic value by not talking about it,” said Mercier, adding “we have always been week-to-week about our goals.”

Their first goal is winning a third straight Class D championship, but the postseason does not begin until March 6. So the immediate focus can now turn to Chassell’s record. “We are trying mentally and physically to prepare for that moment. This week was the first time we tried to prepare for that night. We are ramping it up as District week, treating the next three games as the next three games in the District.”

North Central has not really been challenged this season, with a 70-59 victory at Class B Menominee the closest game. Menominee also provided the biggest challenge last season, falling 64-60 at home when Jason Whitens snapped a 60-60 tie with a layup and free throw with seven seconds left for the Jets’ 40th straight win.

Chassell also had a few escapes during its record run, none bigger than in the 1956 Class D championship game when the Panthers trailed by 15 points with 3:20 left. With a stifling full-court press, Chassell scored the final 18 points to beat Portland St. Patrick 71-68.  (U.P. schools Stephenson and Crystal Falls also won MHSAA titles that day).

“They didn’t get the ball past half-court,” recalled Don Mattson of Ishpeming, one of three surviving members of that first title team. “Jenison Field House was going nuts.”

Mattson said coach Ed Helakoski picked up the diamond press from coach John Gaffney of Houghton, who used it to help the Gremlins win the 1955 Class C title. “We played a man-to-man zone. They call it a match-up zone now,” said Mattson. “We practiced it every day. Everyone knew their assignments.”

The Panthers repeated as champs in 1957 and managed to extend their win streak by edging L’Anse 64-63 and erasing an 18-2 deficit to upend Negaunee St. Paul.

“The 1957 team was our best team,” said Mattson, the only player to start all 65 games during the streak. “We had size and experience. We were good.”

In 1958, the escape act came against Doelle High School, in a game moved from Tapiola to Houghton High School to accommodate the large crowd. “Doelle was our big rival,” Mattson said. “We were two points down when the horn went off. Bobby Belhumer, the fastest kid in school, was fouled (at mid-court) when a Doelle player reached in as the horn goes off. He never made two free throws in his life and he had a 1-and-1.

“We all thought we were done. The first shot was real flat, herky-jerky (shooting) motion. It hit the front of the rim, skidded across and hit the back of the rim, bounced up and hit the top of the backboard and fell right through the hole. The basketball gods were smiling on us. The second one he just nailed, we got to overtime (60-60) and we won 72-66.”

Mattson said the 1958 champions “were not as good as 1957 but we knew how to win. Ed just kept coaching us.”

Chassell beat Stevensville 58-50 in 1957 Final and Owosso St. Paul 66-61 in the 1958 title game. Chassell’s winning streak ended in the 1958-59 season opener with a one-point loss to Ewen.

“Fifty-nine years ago. Guys always throw that at me,” Mattson said. “It doesn’t bother me one bit. We must have done something good. It was a number. That is all it was. That is pretty much the way I’ve looked at it for 59 years.”

Unlike the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, who share a toast once the season’s last unbeaten team loses, Mattson is cheering for the Jets.

“I just hope the Jets can break the record. I’m glad to see a U.P. team go break it,” he said. “Let’s keep it on this side of the (Mackinac) bridge. It is just a matter of the right time, the right place, the conditions and the players. Records are just a number.”

The only other survivors from those teams are Belhumer, who lives near Milwaukee, and Paul Makela, who lives in California. The trio joined the U.S. Navy together, after Mattson spent a year playing at Northern Michigan University.

The players were not aware they set a state record, with Mattson recalling that Helakoski told them not to read the paper or believe what was written and that he would save the papers and distribute them after the season.

They followed the same approach used by the Jets, playing one game at a time, going day-by-day. “I give Helakoski credit for keeping us on a low keel,” said Mattson. “We never thought we were better than anybody. We just kept level-headed. We didn’t realize what we did until we were out of school.”

Mattson, whose son Troy is the women’s basketball coach at NMU, said the game has changed drastically since he was a two-time all-state selection.

“We had small gyms; there was no roll-dribble. The hand was on top of the ball or else it was (called) a carry. Our game was passing, put the ball on the floor a couple of times, go up and shoot or pass the ball,” he said.

He has seen the Jets play but doesn’t plan to attend the potential record-breaker. “I’ll see them in the Regional (at Negaunee),” he said. “Another thought crossed my mind. North Central is going to win another state championship. I’m confident of that. If they do, they will have about 80 wins in a row.”

The Jets have tried to keep the record chase low key, but Mercier said that approach is changing as the record bid approaches.

“Our players, now they see it is there within reach. They really want it,” he said, noting they appreciate the importance of U.P. basketball. “We don’t want to downplay it by any means. As we get closer they are expecting to reach that goal, and they know the hard work it has taken to reach it.”

He doesn’t believe the players are feeling the pressure of maintaining or extending the streak. “The players are doing a great job of deflecting the pressure, and that allows us to be a little looser with our approach,” Mercier added. “They don’t seem frazzled by the pressure because they have prepared for the moment.”

Denny Grall retired in 2012 after 39 years at the Escanaba Daily Press and four at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, plus 15 months for WLST radio in Escanaba; he served as the Daily Press sports editor from 1970-80 and again from 1984-2012. Grall was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and serves as its executive secretary. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for the Upper Peninsula.

PHOTOS: (Top) Chassell's 1955-56 team started its record 65-game winning streak. (Middle) The 1956-57 (top) and 1957-58 teams also won MHSAA championships. (Below) Former players met for an MHSAA "Legends" celebration during the 1998 Boys Basketball Finals.

Lumen Christi Building Toward Banner Aspirations under Tropea's Guidance

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

March 26, 2024

Among the first things Josh Tropea noticed when he took the boys basketball coaching job at Jackson Lumen Christi were all the state championship banners.

Greater DetroitNot for boys basketball, but for multiple other sports.

“I’m a confident coach, confident in my abilities and knowledge,” Tropea said. “You have to have some self-confidence to come in here when there are 54 state championships in other sports and none in basketball.”

Tropea wants to change that. In his second year at the Jackson County school, he came close, getting the Titans to the Division 3 Quarterfinals. The Regional title was the program’s first since 2013. He feels, however, the foundation has been set for what he thinks will be a bright future.

“We are super deep,” Tropea said. “Our freshman class is very good, the eighth-grade class is very good. We have talent coming for years. I believe we will have the ability to play for state championships in the future. We were there this year, I think.”

Tropea has made a habit of resurrecting programs during his coaching career.  The South Lyon native started at Walled Lake Western while still in college. He had brief coaching stints at Whitmore Lake and Howell before settling in at Milan, where he built that school into a Class B powerhouse, winning the Finals championship in 2013-14 and going 92-27.

Lumen players, including Lundon Hampton (23) apply defensive pressure.He left Milan for a job at Chelsea, did that for a couple of seasons and left to become an assistant coach at Spring Arbor University. He came back to Chelsea for two seasons before resigning and landing at Lumen Christi two years ago.

The Titans have had moderate success over the years, winning several conference and District titles and six Regional championships in all. They have just one trip to the Semifinals, that coming back in 1975. In 2016 the Titans fell on hard times, winning just once and starting a seven-year span of failing to reach .500 once.

Enter Tropea and an 11-win improvement from 3-18 in 2021-22 to 14-10 last season.

This year’s team went 22-5 and became just the seventh in school history to win 20 games in a season.

There were several big moments, and the Lumen Christi gym was packed night in and night out.

“I told people when I got here that I’ll know I’m successful when I can pack this gym. It seats about 3,500,” Tropea said. “When we walked out of the locker room to play Hanover-Horton in the Regional, every seat in the gym was filled. Where there weren’t bleachers, there were people standing. It was unbelievable. In the second half of the game, you couldn’t hear. Everything had to be communicated through hand signals. That was a huge moment. My players may never play in front of anything like that again in their lives.”

Lumen Christi has been a football powerhouse for decades, and Tropea is fine with that. This past season all of his players but three were from the football team that won the Division 7 championship.

Tropea said it was an easy transition to their winter sport.

“I coach great athletes who are prepared for success, who are coached hard, watch film and know how to compete,” Tropea said. “The football program takes all the hard stuff off my plate. I just get to coach basketball.”

The next piece to sustaining a top-five team, he believes, is improving the players’ skill level. For that, he’ll lean on a coaching staff that includes Tyler Aldridge, the varsity coach for five seasons before Tropea arrived.

“Tyler is incredible with the kids, great at skill work,” he said.

Tropea joined a coaching fraternity at Lumen Christi. The school’s first basketball coach was Justin Perticone, followed by Mike Ramker, Dan Crowley, Rick Karasek and, before Aldridge, Pat Neville.

A full bleachers of Titans fans cheer on their team.“At one point or another, all six of those guys were at practice or at our games this year,” Tropea said. “It’s such a cool thing. Coach Ramker was in the front row for all our games. After the games, I hang out with some of our former coaches. I’m in a golf league with one of them. We are all connected and support one another. It truly is a brotherhood here. Once you are here, you are part of the Lumen family.”

Ramker called it unique. He coached Ann Arbor St. Thomas to a 1974 Class D championship, then Lumen Christi from 1977 to 1994. He returned for one more season in 2009-10 and was coaching in the program until last year.

“The school definitely has built that culture,” Ramker said. “That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about Lumen Christi.”

A tough non-league slate helped the Titans get on a roll when the postseason began.

Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, Adrian Lenawee Christian, Michigan Center and eventual Division 3 champion Niles Brandywine were on the regular-season schedule, along with Catholic High School League foe Riverview Gabriel Richard, another Division 3 Semifinal team that Lumen Christi played three times, winning once.

“We feel like we are way more prepared going into the state playoffs than the teams we are playing,” Tropea said.

As he builds next year’s schedule, the goal remains to get ready for the MHSAA Tournament.

“We return six kids who played major minutes for us and four guys who started for us,” he said. “Our young guys will be in tough situations next year, but I know they are ready.

“The seniors I have returning next year were on a 14-win team as sophomores, and a 22-win team as a junior. We’ve changed our mentality. We’re not playing for league titles. Our focus is on March, and our kids have bought into that. If we lose a game in the middle of the season, that’s not going to bother them.”

Doug DonnellyDoug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Jackson Lumen Christi coach Josh Tropea, kneeling, huddles with his team this season. (Middle) Lumen players, including Lundon Hampton (23) apply defensive pressure. (Below) A full bleachers of Titans fans cheer on their team. (Photos by Rick Bradley.)