SPORTS COLUMNST PETE JAKEY: Demise of the boosters?

The Rogers City High School athletic department is on the brink of losing a good friend: the Huron Athletic Boosters. Participation, other than the serving officers and a few others, hasn?t been good the last several years, to put it mildly. If no one steps forward in the next month, the organization will shut down, according to booster president Mike Stempky. A meeting June 23 could be the last for the boosters as they will go through the process of dismantling the group.

Stempky says he feels bad, but nobody has offered to step in to take over for a tired group of officers. ?A lot of people come forward with good ideas but nobody wants to help,? said Stempky. Stempky said he would be willing to help another group, if they want to keep it going, but the time has come for new blood to come in and take over.

STEMPKY TOOK the job as president in 1998 and said he would hold the role for two years, but continued until now and has indicated this term will be his last at the end of the school year. The boosters have run the concession stands, initiated fundraisers, contributed to the athletic trainer?s salary, and have hosted the annual sports awards night, to name a few of the projects they?ve worked on. It?ll all fall in someone else?s lap.

Athletic director Pat Lamb will no doubt have more work on his hands if the boosters close up shop and the school district will have to shoulder the financial load. But with extremely tight budgets in the Rogers City schools, who knows how much of what the boosters have had going, will continue? One thing the boosters have taken care of is the purchase of the trophies for the sports awards, which cost $1,044. Where the funds will come from if the boosters are done, is anybody?s guess.

THE SPORTS AWARD night has been a struggle for the boosters the last couple of years. Participation has been low with the problem being, if some athletes were not going to earn an award, they didn?t show up. The boosters this year moved the ceremony from a Sunday to a Wednesday, hoping for more participation, but still failed to bring more people in the door. It?s been frustrating. ?In my opinion this is a very low turnout,? Stempky said at the podium at the awards ceremony May 14. ?I?m disappointed.?

?I don?t know how to make people aware of what?s going on at school and how to honor our students,? he continued. ?It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and to me there should be more students here.? Maybe the awards should be given out at graduation or a special assembly. At the ceremony, Stempky invited anyone interested in running the boosters to Tuesday?s meeting this week, but that didn?t work either as they had their usual participation by the handful of people who?ve been involved this year.

THE BOOSTERS have offered a great deal of financial support to all the sports programs over the years. From bowling and cheerleading to basketball and football, the boosters gave checks of $300 each to all 27 sports teams last year which amounted to more than $8,000. The checks are expected to be smaller this year, probably because the fundraising didn?t go as well as expected. The big fundraiser this past school year was the raffling of a Red Wing stained glass decoration, but again, the failure to find people to help sell tickets hurt the bottom line.

?We hope to have an election of officers and people to volunteer,? said Stempky of the June meeting. ?I will help out anyone to do the work and I?m sure other officers are willing to help out — just to get people up to speed.? Stempky said there are several ongoing projects still being worked on, such as the banners and a new ticket booth for the back gate at Gilpin Field. ?We had plans to expand the concession stand, but I don?t know if that will ever come to pass,? said Stempky.

WHAT WILL happen next? Will the booster shut down in a month and possibly restart again in a couple of years, which happened about a decade ago? And can an athletic department the size of Rogers City?s survive without the boosters? And will one group handling fundraisers turn into 20-plus fundraisers?

> But, to the credit of the serving members, the boosters still plan to offer hot dogs, brats and snacks at a concession stand during the regional baseball and softball games at Gilpin Field June 7. And if the end is here, Stempky said they?ll leave a couple hundred dollars in a checking account for the next group — if there is a next group.

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I believe the Pistons have run out of magic. They pulled off a stunning comeback against Orlando to advance in the Philadelphia series and had an amazing finish in game five of their series with the 76ers, but I think their luck is at an end.

I hate to say it. You get those chances to win close games, such as game two at home with an 11 point lead, and you can?t squander it. If you don?t take advantage of those chances you?re doomed. I?ve enjoyed watching the run the last couple of weeks, and haven?t given up, but Detroit is in a world of hurt.

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