In an effort to promote educational athletics by showcasing some of the
great teams of past years, the Michigan High School Athletic Association
has instituted a new program called “Legends Of The Games,” which
honored its first school at halftime of the 1997 Class A Girls Basketball
Final.
Farmington Hills Mercy, which won MHSAA Class
A titles in 1977 and 1982, returned 10 members of those two teams to receive
commemorative plaques and a banner for display at the school during a ceremony
on Dec. 6, 1997 at the Class A Girls Basketball Final.
“The Legends program is designed to remind
that today’s interscholastic athletic program owes a debt to those
who have come before us,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive
director of the MHSAA. “The program also serves to remind us that school
sport s are about the development of life skills and life-long relationships
between players, coaches and communities.
“The Legends program gives us an opportunity
to recognize again those great achievements of the past, and to reflect
on what is truly important in school sports.”
The Legends Of The Games couldn’t have found
a better team to initiate this recognition program with. Farmington Hills
Mercy truly faced character-building situations when Coach Larry Baker directed
the Marlins to their two championships.
The first title in 1977 came after Mercy had
finished in the runner-up position in three consecutive years to Detroit
Dominician (1974), Detroit Northeastern (1975) and Marquette (1976). Mercy
was also a semifinalist in the very first MHSAA Girls Basket ball Tournament
in 1973.
The Marlins were not to be denied in the 1977
Final against Detroit Mumford in East Lansing’s Jenison Field House,
but after winning an hard-fought 61-55 decision over Grand Blanc in the
semifinals the night before, they found themselves down early again st Mumford,
a team they had beaten by one point during the regular season.
Mercy trailed by 12 points in the second quarter
of the title game, but rallied to trail by three at halftime, 34-31 A full-court
press was a key in the comeback, which saw the Marlins take the lead in
the third quarter and finally pull away to cap a 25 -0 season with a 63-52
victory.
“I remember a real sense of fulfillment
as we capped an undefeated season with a very strong performance in the
finals,” Baker recently reflected. “Some of us had experienced
the frustration of going to the finals and losing the preceding three years.
Anything less than a championship would have been a disappointment that
season.”
Senior leadership drove Mercy’s mission.
Four senior starters—Kate McNamara, Diane Dietz, Suzanne Brown and
Lynn Yadich — led the Marlins. McNamara had 21 points and 10 rebounds
in a very physical final contest.
“I remember this being a seasoned team of
all-around players and persons,” said Baker, who at 24 was in his second
year as Mercy’s coach; probably the youngest title-winning coach in
Michigan girls basketball history and the first male to coach a girls t
eam to an MHSAA hoop crown. “We were the best team in the state that
year and the team had great confidence. They were on a mission from the
beginning of the season and played with great dedication. We had two bonafide
consensus all-staters and that m ade coaching very easy in most games.”
Flint Northern would then win the next four Class
A championships, knocking off Mercy in the quarterfinals on two occasions
along the way. In 1982, the two teams met in the title game that is one
of the all-time classics in any sport.
At Calihan Hall in Detroit, Northern looked poised
to win a fifth consecutive crown. The Vikings were up by 10 after one period,
13 at halftime and by 19 entering the final eight minutes. Baker’s
hand was forced into something he didn’t want to do—app ly a full-court
press.
“We wanted to flash the press on them occasionally,
but we absolutely didn’t want to go to it—that was our last resort,”
Baker said to reporters after the game. “That put us into a full-court
running game, which we
wanted to stay out of.”
Still down by 18 with just under seven minutes
to play, Mercy ripped off 16 of the next 18 points to cut the margin to
fourpoints at 57-53 with 3:06 to play. After a Northern free throw, Amy
DeMattia scored three consecutive buckets to give Mercy its fi rst lead
of the day at 59-58 with 1:14 remaining. A free throw with 11 seconds to
go by Mary Rosowski iced the win, 61-58.
DeMattia was one of four players in double figures
for Mercy. Basford finished the game with 20, Carolyn Burt, the only senior
starter on the team, added 12, and sophomore Annette Ruggiero had 11.
“We started three sophomores, a junior and
a senior,” said Baker, who retired from coaching after the 1996 season
with a 381-143 record. “It was a young team, and many experiences were
very new for key players. The parents of that team were terrificall y involved
in that season in a positive way. The whole school community got swept up
in our tournament run. We were underdogs in so many games...We were genuinely
delighted with each success.”
“The fourth-quarter comeback was the most
exhilarating experience I have ever had in sports,” Baker said recently.
Our young team worked a near miracle in that game. People who attended it
still recall it with wonder.”
Small wonder that the 1977 and 1982 teams are
the MHSAA’s first Legends Of The Games.
GLORY DAYS Present at the ceremony were: Other Thoughts From Former Team Members: Susan (Scott) Granzotto, Guard, 1982: On what she remembers from that season - “The friendships that I have made. Also, the discipline that was taught. You learn that hard work does really pay off. Even though I didn’t play very much, it is an event in my life that I’ll never forget.”
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