Benton Harbor and Coach Uzelac
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2015/10/holdholdhold_bent…
As someone from the southwest part of Michigan and who played Benton Harbor all four years in high school this has been awesome to follow and I've been rooting for the school and those kids more than ever. Go Tigers.
October 29th, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 1:39 PM ^
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October 29th, 2015 at 1:55 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 2:58 PM ^
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October 29th, 2015 at 2:03 PM ^
October 30th, 2015 at 12:29 AM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 1:54 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
You serious? That town is ghetto.
October 29th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
CSB:
My dad, grandpa and great uncle used to mow the lawns at the old Whirlpool building back in the day. When Whirlpool pulled up stakes, the town went with it. Sad, really.
October 29th, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^
if you know what I'm saying...
October 29th, 2015 at 4:20 PM ^
Whirlpool is still in BH.
October 29th, 2015 at 5:14 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
They still have about 10,000 employees there (well, 9,999 now). I spent 6 years working for them.
No manufacturing though. Maybe that's what you are referring to. It's all engineering and other headquarter-ish stuff. They actually just built (and are still building) a huge riverfront office building for 3-4,000 folks bringing in some of the people who have been working in St. Joe back into BH.
October 29th, 2015 at 5:44 PM ^
That's good to hear, that area needs a lot of companies to start making jobs for the residents of Berrien and Cass county.
October 29th, 2015 at 6:16 PM ^
The new global headquarters is in the city of BH (it used to be north of the city). They've helped revitalize downtown and together with the Arts District, which had been doing its part for more than a decade, have made downtown BH pretty cool. I hang out there most evenings even though I live outside of the city.
My kids go to St Joseph but I'm always pulling for the Tigers too.
October 29th, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^
October 30th, 2015 at 1:23 AM ^
In fact, the new world HQ is being built right on the river from St. Joe. Whirlpool CEO has been very supportive of the town's efforts to get back on their feet.
Incidentally, you know that Kate Upton is Rep. Fred Upton's niece, right? Fred's descended form the founders of the 1910 Washing Machine Company.
October 29th, 2015 at 3:28 PM ^
Says the guy claiming Romeo? GTFO.
October 29th, 2015 at 4:21 PM ^
I'm also from Romeo. It's not great but not ghetto in the least.
October 29th, 2015 at 2:14 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^
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October 29th, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^
You're doing what they do, you know?
October 29th, 2015 at 2:41 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 3:26 PM ^
There was an MSU bball player from the late 90's from BH Anthony "Pig" Miller.
Also, Wilson Chandler played bball at BH.
From a long time ago Chet Walker
BH has always been a Bball school, but the kids never had coaching or youth FB program to be any good at Football. Very poor area.
October 29th, 2015 at 6:01 PM ^
October 30th, 2015 at 1:27 AM ^
L.C. Bowen followed Walker to Bradley Univ. in the late sixties. Smooth as silk jumper. (I used to play out at Benton Township during the summers.) He, Perry Dodd, and other guys I've forgotten now led BH to consecutive Class A championships in the mid sixties.
October 29th, 2015 at 3:33 PM ^
The Curry brothers went to Bishop Gallagher in Harper Woods
October 29th, 2015 at 4:03 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 4:10 PM ^
No prob. Darnell Hood attended as well
October 29th, 2015 at 6:17 PM ^
Ghostbusters and A Different World, represent!
October 30th, 2015 at 2:36 AM ^
And Sinbad too. My mom grew up with him.
October 29th, 2015 at 2:44 PM ^
"Elliot is a very active man, and he needs to be on the go," Wendy Uzelac said. "I know that about him — we've been married 52 years. She suggested that he consider a return to coaching, perhaps at a school that would be a real challenge, such as Benton Harbor.
You kind of get the sense - just looking at his coaching resume - that Uzelac definitely needs to be on the go and working, his two stints as Michigan's OL coach included of course. Given the state of Benton Harbor football when he arrived, I would say that he not only found a real challenge but has deftly begun to conquer it too.
Very cool article, OP.
October 29th, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
As someone who grew up in the area, its great to hear positive news coming out of Benton Harbor and their high school. Who gonna win tonight? TIGERS! TIGERS!
October 30th, 2015 at 1:29 AM ^
And I also lived in the Rockies--Colorado--for 15 years. A bit different from the Twin Cities.
October 29th, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
is Jackson County Western coached by former Dearborn High coach Dave Mifsud. JCW had never made the playoffs, won just 42 games over 22 years. Mifsud walked in the first day and told the kids in 3 years you'll be in the state playoffs. Year 3 and JCW is in its first ever football playoffs.
Best part is their QB is a kid named Steele Fortress.
October 29th, 2015 at 3:24 PM ^
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October 29th, 2015 at 4:21 PM ^
October 29th, 2015 at 4:24 PM ^
It has always contributed talented individual athletes. I don't know how you can sort them properly.
October 29th, 2015 at 5:47 PM ^
Yea, Benton Harbor has some extremely talented kids in all sports but nearly all of them are in poor families and have very little help from anyone (parents, coaches, teachers, etc). Benton Harbor's basketball team could be one of the best teams in the state IMO if all the talented kids in the school district were more disciplined not only on the court but in the classroom. So much of the top talented kids either fail to qualify to play or just flat out drop out of school.
October 29th, 2015 at 6:22 PM ^
...but also far from true. The biggest issue with BHHS sports is simply how qwful the school is. Most of the top talent ends up at other local schools via School of Choice. Lakeshore and St Joseph have both added a number of BH kids over the years to their athletic programs as parents of talented athletes would rather their kids move to a more stable educational environment. BHHS was about 1300 kids just a decade ago. This year it's down to 675-ish. They were always Class A/Division 1 for football. Now they're Division 4, though 3 of their 5 victories in football were over Class A schools.
Coaches and teachers are huge positive influences on kids in BH. Parents, too. But many are in tough family situations and those around them are the real reason kids struggle. The ply of the drug trade and the lure of easy money gets a lot of kids in trouble at an early age.
And I'm a little sensitive to BH bashing (even if trying to be helpful). I've been working in the city with kids and youth for over a decade and I always see the positives coming from this once great and always proud town.
October 29th, 2015 at 7:37 PM ^
October 30th, 2015 at 1:39 AM ^
Not as much as it was the drug business from Chicago and Detroit moving into fertile grounds in BH. There were plenty of solid blue collar families in BH until the decline in the US auto business in the 70s killed AUSCO (Auto Specialties). You know how many businesses depended on the Big Three manufacturers? A lot. Then Whirlpool closed its manufacturing in the area and shipped it to points south. Had nothing to do with the Delta immigrants.
You wanna blame somebody, blame the auto execs who turned communities like BH into ghost towns where only the pushers and the addicts and too-poor-to-get-out folks would live.
And while we're talking politics, how about the wonderful representation BH has had in Congress from hostiles like Hutchinson, Stockman, and Upton?! You think they've done anything for BH? I know--I sat in one of their offices in D.C. and watched it play out.
October 30th, 2015 at 6:01 AM ^
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October 29th, 2015 at 6:34 PM ^
Coldwater HS was founded in 1862 and has never won a football playoff game. Tomorrow night we host a team that we killed earlier this season so we should get our first one. Not sure why there isn't an article about that?!?
/s
Good stuff for Benton Harbor. They have been in a very tough league for years. I'll be pulling for them.
October 29th, 2015 at 6:50 PM ^
Gotta go 4-40 over 6 years I guess first. :)
October 30th, 2015 at 8:36 PM ^
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