Ron Myers has been a lot of places on the
professional sports map — baseball, basketball, arena football, golf. He’s been a high-ranking front-office
executive in each of those sports, including his current position with the Detroit Tigers.
But Myers never forgets where he came from
and how his upbringing in Flint is the reason he’s in those positions now.
Forty years after leaving Michigan for his
career, Myers maintains strong ties to his hometown and generously supports athletic programs here, though not
with money. As Director of Florida Operations for the Tigers in Lakeland, he sends Tiger memorabilia,
autographs, travel packages and celebrity speakers to Flint fund-raisers that have raised thousands of dollars for
area sports.
So, despite the fact that he hasn’t lived
here since 1980, Myers’ long-distance support has earned him induction into the Greater Flint Area
Sports Hall of Fame as the Distinguished Service Award winner. He will be enshrined at the 40th annual GFASHOF
induction banquet Dec. 7 at Genesys Conference & Banquet Center.
At the banquet, Myers likely will tell you
that it all started in Flint’s famed community education program pioneered by the Mott Foundation.
“I was there in the mecca in the 1960s,
when every school had a community school director,” said Myers, a Manley Village kid who attended Selby,
Holmes Middle School and Northwestern High and graduated from Powers Catholic in 1974.
“My goal was to be one of them. All the
jobs I had were in that program. I learned that if you have a building, you try to utilize it. It’s part of your
responsibility. Make sure you’re always using that school building after five o’clock.”
Myers also participated in those programs,
learning how to swim at Mott Camp and playing baseball at Selby School. He became a good enough outfielder
to play on Powers’ state championship team in 1974 and then at Mott Community College in 1975-76.
