Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame
2015 Induction Ceremony
1960 Haslett High Football Team
July 30, 2015
The Haslett 1960 Football
Team had an undefeated 8-0 record and was the Number 4 ranked Class C Team in
the State. Denny Stolz, who later
coached the Michigan State Football Team was their coach.
The players all introduced
themselves and Denny Stolz gave the Acceptance Speech.
Mr. Stolz thanked the team
for their effort and fine play during the season.
He then let us know that this
was his first coaching job. He found out
about the opportunity from previous Haslett Coach Owen Dunkel while playing a
city league baseball game. Mr. Dunkel
recommended Denny Stolz for the job and it was offered.
Denny was appreciative as
Owen Dunckel had some good teams previous and laid a good foundation for the
1960 team.
Denny then veered off into a
story involving true love, phobias and a Ferris Wheel. (Keep it clean, folks, this was 1960!!!)
Denny met a woman and asked
her for a date. They decided to go on
the Ferris Wheel; Denny agreed to this even though he had a major fear of
Ferris Wheels because of a childhood incident.
Of course, as you would expect in this sort of story, a fuse blew and
left Denny and his date stranded at the top of the Ferris Wheel.
Denny related how he
struggled to fish a cigarette and lighter out of his pockets while his mind
insisted he do nothing except cling to the safety bar of the Ferris Wheel. It sounded like quite the traumatic experience
although when we learned that he earned his first kiss from her, it turns out
that this may be a good lesson about positive rewards from confronting
phobias!
In the happiest of endings,
the story ends with her becoming Mrs. Stolz!!
However, this was just the
beginning of the football team’s story.
Their team had won the old Capitol Circuit league in 1958 and 1959
playing schools with larger enrollments.
First they were able to beat
Durand. Then they faced Mason, which was
a powerful team in the league. He gave
the classic speech about not fearing athletes just because they are bigger and
stronger. He used the line, “They all
put their pants on one leg at a time.”
(This gives me visions of Miguel Cabrera jumping into his baseball
uniform with both feet, but that is probably more suited to another
article.)
The Haslett team scored the
first couple touchdowns and went into halftime with a good lead. Mr. Stolz had to give the “don’t get
overconfident” speech at halftime. They went
on to win the game by a 27-0 score.
They then beat Williamston
and handled Okemos, the biggest school in the league 21-0. They went on to finish the season undefeated
and earn an eventual induction into the Regional Sports Hall of Fame!
Denny cited three standout
players on the team. One was Running
Back Mike Dovan, who was the best high school player he ever coached. Dovan developed health problems and was not
able to take his career further.
Denny Bongarde was the other
running back. He went to Alma College
along with Denny, who took the coaching position there. Bongarde switched to playing defensive back
and was captain of Alma’s first ever undefeated football team.
Jim Bartel was also a
standout player who became heavily involved with Haslett’s athletic programs.
Congratulations to Denny
Stolz and all the team for their outstanding season!
