1978 champions (standing from left): Marvin Pryor, principal; Delois Wilson, Pamela Long, Pamela McGee, Paula McGee, Brenda McMillan, Charlotte Baker, Dorothy Kukulka, coach; Jim Fowler, athletic director; (kneeling from left): Lawanna Hughley, Kim Hughley, Theresa Anthony, Leteia Hughley, Venita Bowie, Kimberly Tartt. Not pictured: Renee Fleming, Pamela Williams.
1979 champions (standing from left): Leteia Hughley, Monica Hamlett, Thelisa Anthony, Judy Tucker, Edyth Childress, Lisha Jamison, Paula McGee, Pamela McGee, Felicia Cooper, Tracy Odum; (kneeling from left): Dorothy Kukulka, coach; Pamela Williams, Lawanna Hughley. Not pictured: DjunaSmith.
1980 champions (standing from left): Thelisa Anthony (24), Lawanna Hughley (14), Tracy Odom (12), Judy Tucker (10), Terita Baker (13), Rebecca Bulmash (54), Charlotte Baker (22), Leteia Hughley (20), Djuna Smith (52), Pamela Williams (11), Tracy Wells (15), (sitting) Dorothy Kukulka, coach. Not pictured: Velma Anderson, Felicia Cooper, Monica Hamlett, Evette Ott, Tanya Thomas.
1981 champions from left: Tracy Wells, Evette Ott, Yvonne Thompson, Vicki Prince, Sarah Jefferson, Dorothy Kukulka, coach; Alayna McGee, Felicia Cooper, Sharon Williams, Monica Hamlett, Velma Anderson; (kneeling from left): Monica Hughes, Tanya Thomas. Not pictured: Charlotte Johnson, Sonja Pearson.
Lady Vikings Ruled Like No Other Has…
The Northern High girls’ basketball dynasty of 1978-81 ran for so long the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame had to expand its induction parameters this year.
The Lady Vikings of those years represent the first time four teams have been combined into a single entry into the hall. Six other entries have combined two teams since the Hall of Fame began inducting teams in 1992.
But no other area school won four consecutive state championships or put together a 75-game winning streak like Northern did two decades ago.
“There were so many young ladies on those teams that played in portions – two seasons, three seasons, one season – it wouldn’t be right if we took just one of those teams,” GFASHF president Bill Troesken said.
Northern posted records of 23-0 in 1978, 25-0 in 1979, 26-0 in 1980 and 20-0 in 1981. The Lady Vikings won the state Class A state title each year, compiling a 31-0 tournament record. After a 56-47 loss to Flushing in the 1977 district opener, Northern did not lose again September 10, 1981 when Grand Blanc beat the Lady Vikings 59-51 in the second game of the season.
Thirty-six girls took part in the dynasty during one season or more, and all of them were coached by a former Michigan State player from St. Clair Shores who helped pioneer girls’ sports in Michigan.
Dottie Kukulka, affectionately known to her players as “Ms. K,” built Northern’s program from the ground up, and molded not only outstanding basketball players but successful students and citizens. Kukulka’s stringent requirement of a C-minus or above grade in every class cost her the services of key players on occasion, but also earned her the undying loyalty, respect and love of her players.
“Ms. K believed in us and we believed in Ms. K,” said Delois Wilson Jackson, a member of the ’78 and ’79 teams. “She stressed education first and foremost, and then sports.”
“We had to take around a sheet every week to our teachers,” recalled Teresa Anthony, a shooting guard on the ’78 and ’79 teams.
Kukulka recalls losing a game to Northwestern by two points, with one of her top scorers sitting on the bench.
“People were calling out her name from the stands, but I wanted a lesson to be learned,” Kukulka said, “what you do affects the team”.
She never had below a C-minus again. She got a scholarship and was voted Most Valuable Player in the Mid-American Conference.
Kukulka had some potent athletic talent to work with. Many of her girls came up through Flint’s flourishing Community School System and practiced their shooting in neighborhood parks.
Two of the best were the McGee twins. Pamela and Paula were both 6-foot-3 juniors in 1978 who put up double figures in both scoring and rebounding and guarded their own basket like the twin towers they were.
Anthony led the team in scoring at 18 points per game, sophomore Leteia Hughley had more than 100 steals on defense, and Kimberly Tartt and Venita Bowie alternated as the fifth starter. Wilson and Kim Hughley were key reserves.
After a 15-0 regular season, the Lady Vikings roared through their first seven tournament games, winning six of them by at least 18 points.
Before 3,576 fans at MSU’s Jenison Field House, a state record crowd for a girls’ game, Northern beat Detroit Mumford, 60-48, for the Class A title.
Pamela McGee had 22 rebounds and 16 points, despite sitting out the entire third quarter with four fouls.
Both McGees won All-State honors, and Journal sports writer Phil Pierson pegged the ’78 team as the start of a dynasty.
The prediction was borne out in 1979 by perhaps the most dominant girls’ basketball team in state history. The McGees were seniors, Hughley was a seasoned junior at point guard, Judy Tucker stepped in to add scoring punch and Lawanna Hughley, Leteia’s sister, added speed. Theiisa Anthony, Teresa’s sister, and Felicia Cooper were the top subs.
The Lady Vikings outscored their 25 opponents by an average score of 77-32, and only one team came within 25 points of them. That was Jackson in a 50-37 semifinal game, and the “close” game only served to motivate the Lady Vikings to a 62-34 rout of Harper Woods Regina for the title, matching the state record for margin of victory in a finals game.
More than 50 college srecruited the McGees, who eventually chose Southern California. Both were repeat picks on the All-State team, and Kukulka was voted Class A Coach of the Year. The winning streak stood at 48 games, breaking the record of 44 set by Marquette in 1976-77.
With the McGees off to the West Coast, the 1980 Lady Vikings were smaller and more vulnerable. Leteia Hughley was their tallest starter at 5-8 and speed replaced size as Northern’s main weapon.
Hughley played everywhere, from point guard to center, and led the Lady Vikings in scoring and rebounding. Tucker and Charlotte Bakeralso scored in double figures, and Lawanna Hughley and Pam Williams were the other starters. Cooper (5-11) and 6-2 Becky Bulmash provided height off the bench, with Cooper occasionally starting.
There were still more lopsided victories, but now there were close calls too. The No. 1-ranked (Class A) Lady Vikings edged No. 1-ranked (Class B) Flint Beecher 57-51 to cap a 19-0 regular season and began the streak to 67.
The biggest scare came in the semifinals, a 65-63 squeaker over Detroit Murray Wright. Leteia Hughley scored a school-record 37 points and Northern overcame a 12-point deficit in the last 5:42 for what Kukulka called “my biggest victory ever” at that point.
The Lady Vikings then beat Jackson, 52-46, despite Hughley sitting out 11 minutes of the first half with three fouls. She came back to hit the clinching free throws with 14 seconds left and Northern had its third straight title and a 74-game winning streak.
Hughley finished her varsity career undefeated and earned All-State and Parade All-America honors. Tucker also was All-State and Kukulka repeated as Coach of the Year.
If the 1980 championship was a surprise, the ’81 title was shocking.
With Cooper the only returning starter, the Lady Vikings lost six games during the season, shared the city title with Northwestern and had nobody on the All-Saginaw Valley first or second teams.
Eight different players started at various times, including Tanya Thomas, Monica Hughes, Evette Ott and sophomore Yvonne Thompson. The top subs were Alayna McGee, the twins’ sister, Vicki Prince and Tracy Wells.
The Lady Vikings (124) were not expected to get out of the district. But after losing twice to Valley champion Saginaw during the regular season,
The Lady Vikings then stunned the 19-1, third-ranked Trojans, 52-43 in the district final.
Northern then survived Midland, 57-50, in overtime and beat Escanaba, 54-42, for the regional title.
Thompson emerged as the heroine in the last three games. She hit both ends of a 1-and-1 free throw situation with 39 seconds left to seal a 55-51 quarterfinals victory over Farmington Hills Mercy, had a steal and four free throws in the last 15 seconds to sink Grand Haven, 35-31, in the semis, then hit two more foul shots at :53 mark of the final to help beat Harper Woods Regina, 37-32.
Cooper led Northern with 10 points and 11 rebounds in the title game.
With nobody back, the Lady Vikings took a 25-2 record into the 1982 state final, where it blew a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost 61-58 to Farmington Hills Mercy.
Otherwise, the hall would be inducting a five-team entry this year.
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