Free Soil High School

Theresa (Knizacky) Shoop is a 1985 Free Soil graduate who excelled in volleyball, basketball and track and field. Shoop led the Pirates to a final four trip in volleyball her senior year and was second team all-state, scored 1,326 career points in basketball, fifth in the county, selected honorable mention all-state, and placed fourth in the shot put at the state track meet her senior year. Sho ...Read More...

In 2024, the 1974 Free Soil baseball team will celebrate the 50th anniversary of a run to the state finals and a runner-up finish. Free Soil's roster was made up of 12 players; five seniors who brought experience to the team. one junior, two sophomores, a freshman and three eighth graders, who were the true youth of the team. If a school had an enrollment under 75 students, eighth graders were all ...Read More...

Fred Reid graduated in 1956 from Free Soil High School. He was the first pole vaulter at Free Soil and the first Free Soil basketball player to score 1000 points. Reid received 14 basketball awards at Free Soil, set a single-game scoring record of 45 points, had a scoring average of 25 points per game, set a single season scoring record of 519 points in 1955-56, and set a free throw record of 73%, ...Read More...

Lyford Young played basketball and ran track at Free Soil high school, graduating with the Class of 1955. Lyford was a first team All-WMD Conference selection in 1953, 1954 and 1955. His team won the District Championship in 1954 and 1955. In the 1954-55 season, Young scored 420 points, averaging 19.1 points per game. Young went on to score 975 points in his high school career. In both 1954 and 19 ...Read More...

Fabian Knizacky was a great race-walker, finishing ninth in the 1984 Olympic trials for the 50-kilometer race walk. The four-year varsity letterwinner from Free Soil in cross country went on to Aquinas College where he really excelled. At Aquinas, he was the first three-time all-American for the school and was the first person to win All-American honors in indoor track. In all, he is a five-time a ...Read More...

Ken Papes was a stand out all-around prep athlete at Free Soil, being a state-class sprinter, long-jumper and shot-putter in track and field. In hoops, he averaged more than 25 points per game as a senior and had 1,459 points for his career for Free Soil, tops for the school's history. In baseball he was a part of the Free Soil baseball team that won 54 consecutive games, primarily working as the ...Read More...

On the 50th anniversary year of its Class D state runnerup season, the 1961 Free Soil High boys basketball team went 25-1 and finished second in the state. Called "Carey's Comets," the team won its first 25 games, most by wide margins, before losing to Marquette Pierce, 68-61, in the Class D State championship game. Led by Jim Jackoviak (20.9 points per game), Norm Clausen (17.9), and Mel Carey (1 ...Read More...

Ed Papes was a three-sport star for Free Soil High School, graduating in 1967. In track and field, he held the school record in the 100-yard dash (10.4 seconds) and also helped set school records in the 880- and mile relays. As a basketball player, Papes was a key member on Pirate teams that advanced to the Class D state semifinals in 1966 and 1967. He led the latter squad in scoring at 18.2 point ...Read More...

In the early 1970s when girls' athletics in Michigan were just getting their legs, Free Soil's Helen Shereda was off and flying. With her long arms and legs flapping, she flew like a giant, unstoppable bird across the basketball courts and softball diamonds of West Michigan. At 6-foot, 1 1/2 inches and 150 pounds, she was a dominating force on the inside in basketball. But she was also the best ba ...Read More...

The oldest of three baseball-playing brothers from Free Soil who competed for Central Michigan University, Steve Papes earned All-America honors in 1970, when he was the most valuable player and captain on a 36-4 Chippewa squad. "A great deal of the success we had this season was due to Steve's leadership on and off the field," said his coach, Waldo Sauter. Papes set CMU single-season records for ...Read More...