Ludington High School

Jay Stielstra participated in track and field, football and basketball in all four years of his high school career. In track and field, he long-jumped 22 feet, 9 5/8 inches, setting a school and Mason County record that still stands. It is the oldest county record still standing. In 1950, Stielstra was the Class B state champion in the 180-yard hurdles with a time of 20.9 seconds. In 1951, he fini ...Read More...

Nikki Arner earned four letters in basketball and two in volleyball. She was named to the Associated Press Class B All-State team as a sophomore, junior and senior. Arner, who will attend Ferris State University on a basketball scholarship, played in more winning games (76) in her four-year high school career than any other Oriole. Her 1,430 career points places her second on the school's al ...Read More...

The team that launched the Golden Age of Basketball in Mason County, the 1953 Ludington Orioles won 21 games and lost two and is still the only LHS squad to advance to the state finals. Coached by Joe Kowatch, who was then in his first year at Ludington, the team won the North Central championship as well as Class B district and regional titles. The team won its first four games of the season befo ...Read More...

Bob Organ earned all-state honors in 1989 and 1990 in football and was a member of the Detroit News Blue-Chip team signifying the best 11 players in Michigan. He was also listed as one of the top 100 prep players in the nation by Street & Smith magazine. His junior year he caught 13 passes for 215 yards and five touchdowns and Ludington, which was 9-1, was champion of the Seaway Conference. Th ...Read More...

Russell Houk led Ludington High to Big Seven basketball championships in 1938, 1939 and 1940 and was the Orioles leading scorer his senior season. He was the president of his class, graduating with honors. One of the area's premier athletes in the 1940's and 1950's, he attended Central Michigan University where he played center at 6-feet, 4 inches and 170 pounds, in 1941 and 1942 before enlisting ...Read More...

Chelsea Henderson competed in four different sports at Ludington High School, earning varsity letters in volleyball (2 years), basketball (3 years), cross-country (1 year), and track (4 years). In track & field she earned all-conference honors four times, qualified for the state meet three times, and was academic all-state as a freshman on the mile relay. Chelsea also garnered all-conference h ...Read More...

Long before Dr. Howard Hoffman became a prominent physician in Ludington, Hoffman was a standout athlete at Ludington and then at the University of Michigan. He played three seasons for Ludington High School's football team and was the captain for two of those. He also ran track for Ludington. At Michigan, though, is where Hoffman had an incredible run. He was on the university's track team with h ...Read More...

Wally Sadosty’s athletic career began at the age of seven under the wing of basketball standout Pete Tillotson, who was a member of the first Mason County Sports Hall of Fame class in 2005. Sadosty played baseball in the spring and summer, football in the fall and basketball outside in the winter. In high school, he was the starting quarterback for Ludington High for three straight years. As a s ...Read More...

With a grade point average of 4.102, Thomas Marshall finished fourth in his class and was a member of the National Honor Society.   In athletics, he earned two varsity letters in basketball and one in baseball, tennis and golf.  He played freshman basketball and junior varsity baseball as a freshman.  In his sophomore year, he played on the junior varsity in baseball and basketba ...Read More...

Hal Madden played three years of varsity football at Central Michigan University from 1947 to 1949. Madden was a lineman. He was a center in basketball and a split end on offense and defensive end. He was the scholar athlete of the year as a senior. A native of Detroit, he graduated from Detroit Denby High School where he played football and basketball. After high school, he served four years in t ...Read More...