Perplexed
MUSKEGON–There simply isn’t another word to describe the reaction of administrators when they came upon Calvin Johnson’s application for admittance to Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Most potential students included lengthy essays explaining the multitude of reasons why they hoped to attend the Ivy League school. Johnson’s essay included only three short sentences, delivered as bullet points. Johnson was a first-team Associated Press all-state basketball player at Oakridge High School as a senior in 1977 and had received football honorable mention all-state accolades from the Detroit Free Press that fall, even though he had chosen to play only a single season of varsity ball. Unlike so many others applying for entrance, he did not have advanced placement classes in his background – classes commonly found on the resumes of many Ivy applicants that came from the New England prep schools and suburban districts that emphasized Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. “There were two Johnson’s who were All-State that year in Michigan,” said Gary Walters, who served as Calvin’s coach at Dartmouth during his first two years. “I told her, ‘Gee, I didn’t realize that Calvin wanted to major in medicine. Quick, athletic, and an intense competitor, there was little question that Calvin could compete on the basketball court. “In the spring of 1963, Gary Walters and the other students in Problems of American Democracy entered their classroom at Reading (Pa. It was clear that Walters saw similarities between himself and his future point guard. Like Johnson, Walters had come from a blue-collar town where acceptance to an Ivy League school could hardly be imagined. “I was in the bottom quarter of the class as it related to college board scores,” Waters recalled.
“Three years after graduating with a degree in psychology,” noted SI, “the 23-year-old Walters became the youngest coach in NCAA history when Middlebury (VT) college hired him. As a senior at Dartmouth, Johnson co-captained the Big Green during the 1980-81 season, finishing second on the team in scoring and second-overall in assists in the Ivy League. Back home, the families of John and Rose Swinburne, and Jack and Julie Schugars had treated Calvin as one of their own. “These two families are the reason I’m where I am today,” states Johnston. Role ModelAmong Johnson’s many accomplishments he is a Professor of Anesthesiology at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, triple board certified by: American Board of Anesthesiology in General Anesthesia – includes adult cardiac anesthesia Less than 1 percent of all physicians in all specialties in the USA hold such a distinction. Since January of 2020, Johnson volunteered to serve as one of the 20-member Cedars Sinai’s Covid Line Team and their Covid Airway Team risking their lives to save the most critically ill COVID patients. “For kids coming up to see what can happen if you put your mind to it, he’s a role model,” concludes Walters. Saturday, June 18th at the Trinity Health ArenaAll multi-sport athletes in high school, Johnson, along with Grand Haven’s Abby (Cole) Hatch, Muskegon Catholic’s Mike Ribecky, and Ravenna’s Todd Herremans comprise the incoming class, along with Fruitport’s Ken Erny, this year’s Gene Young Distinguished Service Award honoree. For the second straight year, the 35th induction ceremony and banquet will be held at Trinity Health Arena in downtown Muskegon, on Saturday, June 18th. Abby (Cole) Hatch Cole began as a tennis player, following in the footsteps of her mom, who had played in high school.
Highly recruited, in August before her junior year, she committed to continue her academic and athletic career at the University of Michigan, with plans to play volleyball for the Wolverines. Named a Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame Scholar/Athlete in 2013, she now enters the Hall for her accomplishments beyond high school, joining Nate McLouth as the first individuals to be so honored. Mike ‘Bunny’ RibeckyRibecky, a lineman at Muskegon Catholic Central, was the single unanimous selection on the 1972 Lake Michigan Athletic Conference 25-man all-league squad. “Assistants want to come and they want to coach,” Ribecky told the Local Sports Journal back in 2017. During the span, MCC has made 15 appearances in the MHSAA 11-player football finals, winning 12 championships between 1980 and 2016. Todd HerremansAn offensive lineman, Herremans spent 10 of his 11 years in the National Football League in Philadelphia after being drafted by the Eagles, who traded up in the 4th round of the 2005 annual draft to select him. At Ravenna, Herremans earned Division 6 All-State honors from the Detroit Free Press as a senior defensive lineman in 2000. Ken ErnyA native of Burlington, NJ, and a 1978 alumnus of Cedarville (OH) University, where he played tennis, Erny came to the area following graduation. Erny continued coaching soccer, guiding the Trojans for 19 years, compiling a 242-133-20 record, and a 335-182-32 mark overall with 10 seasons at Faith Christian. Diagnosed with the early stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Erny retired from Fruitport Community Schools at the end of August 2020.
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