Baseball

Jerry McCormick's athletic career zoomed to life following his graduation from Mason County Eastern in 1964. McCormick was a three-sport athlete for the Cardinals in track, baseball and basketball. He lettered in each of the sports, and at one point, McCormick owned the 100-meter dash record. He also was named honorable mention all-state in boys basketball twice. His exploits earned him the Mas ...Read More...

One game. The first for the University of Notre Dame. Ludington native George Cartier was the quarterback for the Fighting Irish on Nov. 23, 1887 in the school's very first football game and it happened to be against Michigan. The Fighting Irish lost the game, 8-0, but Cartier went on to be involved in sports in one fashion or another later on in his life.His brother, Warren Cartier, was a Notre D ...Read More...

The 2015-16 Mason County Sports Hall of Fame Male Student-Athlete of the Year is Mason County Central's Spencer Knizacky. He competed all four of his high school years on the wrestling and baseball teams and for three seasons on the varsity football team. He is a two-time West Michigan Conference, district and regional champion in wrestling and he placed three years at the state meet, including ...Read More...

Greg Melchert was an outstanding baseball and football player as well as wrestler at Mason County Central, and he found his greatest success in baseball. He played at Western Michigan and went on to pitch in the Detroit Tigers farm system for Lakeland and Utica. He was an All-State special mention in baseball. He was a three-time state qualifier in wrestling, finishing fourth as an individual and ...Read More...

Perhaps no person is as synonymous as the voice of Ludington football and basketball as Rod Beckman. For 40 years, Beckman was the play-by-play voice of both programs on the airwaves of WKLA and for a year of basketball at WMOM. And when he wasn't delivering sports on the air, he continued to play in a sport where he excelled — baseball and softball. He was a member of the Custer VFW teams long ...Read More...

Don Stokely keeps a watchful eye of the baseball diamond at the corner of Gaylord and Lowell streets. That diamond bears his name after he oversaw the Ludington baseball program for 33 years. Stokely compiled a record of 452 wins and 288 losses and saw his teams win 11 league titles, six district titles and one regional crown. He was a regional coach of the year in 2001 and was the Class A & B Mus ...Read More...

Payton Tyndall accumulated six letters during his high school career in cross country, basketball, baseball and football. In basketball, he earned honors from the West Michigan Conference, all-district from the coaches and all-area from the Ludington Daily News. In baseball, Tyndall was all-conference honorable mention and all-district. Tyndall has spent time with 4-H, in the Mason County Reform C ...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...

Tyler Thurston excelled in his athletic endeavors and the classroom for all four years at Mason County Eastern. In all, he earned 12 athletic letters with four each from soccer and baseball and two each from cross country and basketball. In 2012, he captained all four teams he was involved with and earned first-team all-Western Michigan D League honors for each. In basketball, he tied the single g ...Read More...

Born in Ludington in 1897, Claire served in the Navy in World War I, after which he was a strong-armed shortstop with the Ludington Mariners of the Class B Central League in 1920. He was scouted and purchased for $2,000 by the Detroit Tigers, and played three games in September of that year, hitting in front of Ty Cobb and collecting one hit in seven at bats. Claire played three years of professio ...Read More...