Pat Bentoski, MaryAnn Hodack, Elizabeth Mangett, Madonna Fairman, Shaun Lake, Linda Roster, Clare Tuttle;
(standing)
Theresa Keener, manager; Sally Lipp, Jill Ignace, Karen Lehoux, Kelly Girard, Sandy Histed, Teresa Shaheen, Noel Gilmour, Janice Fitzgerald, coach Jo Lake.
The Michigan high school girls basketball tournament was in its infancy in the mid-1970s, so what Holy Rosary did to the Class D field in those days was like taking candy from a baby.
At a time when many teams in the girls tourney were just learning to walk, the Wolverines in their powder-blue canvas high-tops sprinted past everyone en-route to consecutive state championships in 1974 and ’75. In those two years combined, Rosary went 4-0 and won 15 tournament games by an average of 32 points.
Beyond the basketball court, the same nucleus of girls captured two softball championships and a volleyball crown, giving them five state titles and an incredible three-sport record of 132-7 from the fall of 1974 through the spring of ’76.
These kids were pretty awesome,” said Jo Lake, who coached all three sports, drove the bus, lined the fields and sewed the uniforms.
Her players say it was the other way around, that Lake’s coaching and motivation made them great. But, really, it was a combination of the two.
Lake had been building girls sports at Rosary since the mid-60’s, and when the highly athletic Class of ’76 came into the high school, a dynasty was born.
They might have been crude to begin with, and they didn’t win so much as freshmen and sophomores. But they honed their skills, whipped them into shape and drove them to perfection.
“The practices were intense”, said Sandy Histed, a 5-11 3/4 center who frequently led the team in scoring and rebounding. “You just did it over and over again until you did it right”.
There were consequences for not being aggressive remembered Karen Lehoux, a starting forward, “Double laps, triple laps, itt didn’t matter how hard we played or how much we won by. We went back, the next day and practiced as if we had not played to our potential”. She constantly pushed.
Forward Kelly Girard and guard MaryAnn Hodack and Sally Lipp were the other members of the Class of ’76 in the starting lineup.
READ FULL BIO