Sports Scene’s View
Saying goodbye is never easy.
When given a job or a responsibility, a person learns to adapt to the surroundings and make the most of the situation.
In football, as in life, this couldn’t be truer.
If you are a coach or a student-athlete who is about to hit the field for Arthur Hill or Saginaw High this season, cherish the moment, because it will likely be the last year in the long Trojan/Lumberjack tradition.
Since 1895, these two rivals have played one another on the gridiron. Speculation has it, though, that one of the two schools is closing its doors after the 2014-15 school year, so this year will likely be the last football game between them.
That makes the history made by the 1973 Arthur Hill football team more bittersweet. That 1973 team was probably one of the best ever assembled in Michigan. It went undefeated and unscored-upon and put together a 9-0 masterpiece season that saw the Lumberjacks outscore their opponents 443-0. It is the only Class A team in Michigan high school football history to have an undefeated, unscored-upon season.
Fast forward nearly 20 years. As someone who was a part of this rivalry in the early ’90s, watching at a distance as close as your finger to your nose and seeing the likes of Brian Pruitt running over the opposition like a freight train or Marvin Wright guiding the Lumberjacks to two state final appearances and one state title. Watching it all come to an end is hard to swallow.
Fast forward another 10 years to Saginaw High’s turn to send a laundry list of athletes on to college, including a player whom some say was the best ever to come out of Michigan, Charles Rogers. Rogers guided Saginaw High to a state title, and with James and Terry Jackson, James Reed, Roy Manning, Jeremiah McLaurin, Ron Stanley, and Lamar Woodley, was part of a group of Saginaw High alumni that could have made up an all-star team by itself.
Now the end is near. It doesn’t seem real. It doesn’t seem fair, but it’s a solution that needs to be implemented, and superintendent Carlton Jenkins should be applauded for not having to have done it sooner.
Arthur Hill coach Fred Townsend is taking the speculation and rumors in stride while preparing this year’s team for battle in the Saginaw Valley League North Division.
“I’ve always been the type that, for whatever job it was at school or in life, I was always going to give 110 percent regardless of what it was,” Townsend said.
“I know there will always be another job out there for someone that gives it their all and enjoys molding minds of young adults. My wife and I have always enjoyed life, and we know sometimes there are challenges. I learned from a young age that there will always be something bad that happens in your life, but the question remains, how do you respond when something negative happens? I want to just do what my calling is, and that’s make a difference in a child’s life. Whatever happens, I will support the decision and make the most out of the situation.”
Regardless of what happens, thanks for the memories. It has been a fun ride.