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The success of the athletic program at Michigan Agricultural College during the early years of the MIAA was due to a large degree to Leander Burnett, an American Indian. Burnett is pictured with members of the 1890 MAC baseball team. He is in the top row, fourth from the left, with the mustache. Pitcher, third baseman and outfielder on the baseball team, he also starred in track and field, winning an incredible 37 first places at the MIAA Field Days from 1888 to 1892. |
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In 1894 Albion was crowned the first official MIAA football champion, posting an overall 7-0-1 record. The Britons defeated Michigan, 26-10, and tied Notre Dame, 6-6. |
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The start of the 100-yard dash at a Field Day meet between Alma and Saginaw Valley in June, 1897. |
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Jesse Harper began his coaching career at Alma. Later, as head football coach at Notre Dame University, he introduced an offensive strategy that popularized the forward pass. |
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Frank "Fleety" McComb of Alma (in the
lead) won the 440-yard dash on his home track in the 1908 Field Day. |
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The first MIAA men's basketball season, 1910-1911, ended in a co-championship between Alma, pictured left, and Albion. |
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The results of men's and women's competitions were combined to determine the MIAA tennis champions from 1896 to 1925. Leading Kalamazoo to the 1922 league crown were Leta Hamilton and Dorothy Putt (seated) and Leland Hall and Thomas Vroegindewey. |
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Among the all-time MIAA track and field greats was Lee Bartlett of Albion who set MIAA, AAU, and NCAA records in winning the 1928 national collegiate javelin championship. He went on to compete for the United States in three Olympics, winning the bronze medal in 1928. |
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Famed Michigan restuarateur Win Schuler held a long association with the MIAA, first as captain of Albion's undefeated 1929 football team and later as the league commissioner, 1961-1965. |
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Louis Japinga (ball carrier) was the first Hope athlete to earn All-MIAA honors, gaining recognition in football three straight years, 1931-1993. |
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Kalamazoo established its national tennis reputation under coach Allen B. Stowe. From 1931 to 1956 he guided Kalamazoo to 21 men's and women's MIAA tennis crowns. Stowe Tennis Stadium on the Kalamazoo campus is named in his honor. |
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Bob Devaney, an All-MIAA end at Alma in 1937, went on to become one of the great coaches in American college football history. In 16 years at the universities of Wyoming and Nebraska, he compiled a 136-30-7 record, the best in the nation at the time he retired from coaching in 1972. |
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The MIAA's first football All-American was Walt Ptak of Albion, an All-MIAA end of the 1939 and 1940 Britons. |
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Josephine "Jo" Dunn of Albion can appropriately be called the "Mother of the WMIAA." Her
leadership in women's athletics led to the founding of the women's league
in 1941. The league's most valuable archer award was named in her honor. |
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The first Hope men's basketball team
to go undefeated in the MIAA was the 1942-43 "Blitz Kids." |
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The 1945-46 Kalamazoo women's swimming team competed in the first national collegiate meet for women, finishing second behind Michigan State University. |
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Henry Hughes of Adrian was the MIAA men's basketball scoring champion three years in-a-row in the mid-1950s. He is one of only six players in MIAA history to score over 1,000 points in his league career. |
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John Persons of Kalamazoo is the only baseball player to win All-MIAA honors four years in-a-row. He was also All-MIAA in football three times. |
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Jim Northrup, Detroit Tigers outfielder and hero of the 1968 World Series, was a four-sport standout at Alma, excelling in baseball, basketball, football, and track. |
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An eloquent spokesman for the MIAA has been Morley Fraser, who had a distinguished coaching career at Albion with 11 league champions in football and baseball. |
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A.L. "Tish" Loveless of Kalamazoo is
the winningest coach of women's teams in MIAA history with 28 championships
to her credit in archery, field hockey, and tennis, 1953-1986. |
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George Acker of Kalamazoo College is the winningest coach of men's teams in MIAA history with 35 championships from 1959-93. He also coached Kalamazoo to seven NCAA Division III National Championships. |
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The MIAA's first NCAA Division III national championship team was the 1976 Kalamazoo men's tennis squad, coached by George Acker. Kalamazoo also won the NCAA crown in 1978, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992 and 1993. |
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Mark Veenstra of Calvin is the only player in MIAA men's basketball history to be voted the most valuable player four years in-a-row, 1974-77. He holds the MIAA single season and career scoring records. |
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From 1978 to 1980, Jamie Van Arsdalen of Adrian averaged 24 points a game against MIAA basketball opponents. That still stands as a league record as does her career field goal shooting average of 62 percent. |
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Merry Lu Jordan of Kalamazoo topped MIAA archers in scoring in 1980 and 1981. She qualified for the 1984 Olympic trials. |
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Tracy Garner of Albion was the MIAA's first NCAA Division III national track champion, capturing the high jump in 1983. He won the league high jump title four straight years, 1980-1983, and was both the long jump and triple jump champion three times, 1981-83. |
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Rob Appell of Hope was the first MIAA athlete to be voted the most valuable trackster three years in-a-row, 1984-86. He was the NCAA Division III national high jump champion in 1985. |
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Timon Corwin of Kalamazoo was the 1986 NCAA Division III singles tennis champion and recipient of the Arthur Ashe Award for combining excellent play, sportsmanship, and scholarship. Earlier in his senior year, he became the first player in MIAA history to be named league MVP and to receive the Stowe sportsmanship award. |
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Hope crowned two NCAA Division III swimming champions in 1987, a first for the MIAA. Pictured with Coach John Patnott are Shelly Russell and Rob Peel. Russell set national records in winning two events, the 500-yard and 1650-yard freestyle races, while Peel won the 50-yard freestyle title. Peel qualified for the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic trials. Patnott has coached Hope's swimming teams to 21 league championships. |
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Kalamazoo College has the premier men's tennis program in NCAA Division III. The Hornets have won a record seven national championships, including the 1993 crown won by the team pictured to the left. |
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A new NCAA Division III men's basketball attendance record is established when 11,442 fans watch Calvin play Hope at the VanAndel Arena in Grand Rapids.
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