Howell athletes, teams, coaches find place in history

By Sports Editor:  Danielle Hamilton

As you walk through the hallway in the field house at Howell High School, you may notice pictures of people up on the wall. There are pictures of high school athletes, coaches, and teams who have all been inducted into the Howell Hall of Fame. These people are the best of the best to go through Howell athletics.

The Hall of Fame was begun by Herm Wilkinson. Wilkinson and the Bauer family are responsible for making it what it is, along with the funds raised by the athletic boosters. Over the years, Wilkinson collected photos and statistics of outstanding athletes and decided to make a way to acknowledge them for their achievements. The first class inducted was large, and since then it has continued to be steady.

Of all the pictures on the wall, there are 146 individual athletes and counting. The first two athletes to be inducted are Ford Beckwith and Weston Edwards. Both were inducted for receiving all state in basketball in 1922. Beckwith was inducted for being a guard, and Edwards for being a forward. At the time, Howell was a Class B school.

Pete Cender has very recently made an impact on Howell athletics. He played football, basketball, and track and field for the Highlanders in his time. Cender was All-State for track and field for discus in both 2012 and 2013, placing sixth and eighth in the state meet, respectively. He placed fourth for discus in the regional meet in 2012 and third in 2013. Cender holds the school record in discus with 165’ 11’’. In 2012, Cender was awarded 1st Team All-KLAA for football. He also received 1st Team All-KLAA for basketball in both 2012 and 2013. Cender now plays football at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Throughout history, the men were the ones who were thought of as elite athletes or athletes in general. Women have definitely proved that they are just as talented. In the Hall of Fame there are many women who were, and still may be, phenomenal athletes.

The first woman to be inducted into the Howell Hall of Fame was Ellen Dempsey. She received All-State in track in both 1976 and 1977. The margin between the initial Hall of Fame inductees and the first woman inducted is rather large. However, after Dempsey, women have continued to make up a good portion of the athletes.

Kaytlin Stroinski is a more recent woman athlete who graduated from Howell in 2011. She was a tri-sport athlete playing volleyball, basketball, and softball all four years of her high school career. She eventually went off to play softball at Tusculum University in Tennessee. But before that, she made quite an impact on all of the sports she participated in.

Stroinski was named an NFCA All-American Scholar Athlete in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In 2008, she was an honorable mention of the All-County Softball Team. Her breakout year seemed to be in 2009, receiving Ann Arbor News All-Area 1st Team and All-County 1st Team for softball, and All-Conference and All-County honorable mention for volleyball. In her next year, she was awarded the softball “Player of the Year” which was voted by her team. She was also a 1st Team All-State Pitcher, along with being awarded All-Conference, All-County, and All-Region. In that year, Stroinski was named an All-County honorable mention for basketball as well.

“It is an absolute honor to be in the Hall of Fame. It means so much knowing that my hard work paid off. It is definitely a good feeling being recognized like that, and it is an even better feeling knowing that part of my high school career will be remembered for some time,” says Stroinski.

Not only did Stroinski leave a mark on the athletic programs, but she also left a mark on those around her.

“It was awesome getting to play with Kaytlin. She’s an incredible athlete and I looked up to her so much throughout basketball season and throughout all the sports she played. She always gave it her all and she’s very inspiring to me and others around her. She taught me to leave everything you got out on the floor and to push yourself like she did every game,” says current senior Tess Weatherly. Weatherly was a freshman on varsity basketball when Stroinski was a senior on the team.

Debbie Ochs participated in archery. She was not an athlete or coach at Howell, nor did Howell even have an archery team. However, she did accomplish something remarkable. In 1988, this Howell graduate won the Olympic Bronze Medal for the U.S. archery team. She was also an individual Silver Medalist in the Pan American Games in 1983.

Thirty-one teams including four relay teams reside on the wall. The relay teams consist of two boys track relay teams, one girls swim relay team, and one boys swim relay team. Equestrian is well represented in the Hall of Fame with a total of ten teams who have been state champions or state runners-up. The first team to be inducted was a baseball team from 1904. The team had a total of ten players. Nowadays, this is quite small of a team.

“I believe the Hall of Fame is a great motivator. Athletes want to be up there and be remembered. We have some tremendous athletes up there and it’s an honor to be in the Hall of Fame,” says Dan Hutchenson, athletic director at Howell.

Hutchenson’s picture is part of the Howell Hall of Fame in the coach’s section along with 18 others. He wrestled for Howell from 1985 to 1987 and went off to wrestle at Ferris State University. Hutchenson is now back in Howell as the athletic director.

While at Ferris State, Hutchenson had many achievements. In 1992, he was voted “Male Athlete of the Year”. He was also a NCAA II Wrestling National Finalist in 1993. Hutchenson was a three-time NCAA II All-American in 1991, 1992, and 1993, as well as a two time NCAA II Academic All-American in 1992 and 1993.

After his time at Ferris State, he was a United States Olympic Festival Greco Roman Champion in 1994, a North Regional Olympic Trial Champion: Greco Roman Wrestling in 1996, and was a piece of the Resident National Team of the U.S. Olympic Training Center from 1993 to 1996.

Paul Bennett was a teacher, coach, and athletic director at Howell. He was the first inductee into the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame, so of course he would be the first coach to go into Howell’s Hall of Fame. Bennett was also Howell city’s first recreation director.

Another well-known name in the coach’s Hall of Fame is Lee Piepho. He led the Lady Highlanders basketball team to be the state runners-up in 1996. That year, he had an outstanding overall record of 26-1. He was named the “Coach of the Year” by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan in 1996. In 1995, 1996, and 1997, Piepho’s teams were the KVC champions. They were also district champions in 1996 and 1997. In 1997, the Associated Press named Piepho the “Michigan High School Coach of the Year”. In the past years, Piepho has settled with coaching boys and girls middle school basketball teams at Highlander Way Middle School in Howell.

This year, Piepho has returned to coach the Lady Highlanders varsity basketball team in hopes to turn things back around. The past few years have been rough for girls basketball and having a playoff veteran coach back is hoping to smooth things out.

“Playing for Coach Piepho is awesome. He really knows what he’s doing and knows how to handle the team. I can’t wait to see how this year goes. I know he will make a huge impact,” says senior basketball player Maggie Jenison.

Not many other schools have something like this Hall of Fame. It truly is a special recognition to the athletes, teams, fans, and coaches. On these walls are Howell legends who current and future athletes aspire to be like. Every day when athletes walk down the hall of the field house and see all of these pictures, they are reminded that greatness has come from within these walls and that they too can achieve and be remembered in such ways.