50 years ago
— Eugene Kruskie took over top spot in the Petoskey Softball League batting race with a .521 average. Dave Kieley followed, hitting an at a .500 clip, while Jack Schlosser, Charlie Paige and Walt Huson rounded out the top five. Dick Bare led the league in wins with 14, and strikeouts with 85. Leo Sobleski had 10 wins and 33 strikeouts.
— The Winter Sports Park facelift was nearing completion. Hodgkiss and Duouma was creating new ski and sled runs while creating a six-lap skating surface for the 1961-62 North America Outdoor Speed Skating Championships scheduled for the Sports Park.
— H.A. Beadell and Mrs. Lou Marshall carded a 61 at the 29-team Petoskey-Bay View Country Club’s annual Screw Ball Tournament. Prizes were given to the last place team of Frank Trulson-Mrs. Art Hitchmough, while Art Hitchmough-Mrs. Stan Sussman earned the best-dressed award.
— Hundreds attended the Charles C. Gray Building Memorial Tournament at Pioneer Park. The Lansing Timberlanes team split the softball action, beating Petoskey’s Fochtman Motor Company, 12-3, and losing the nightcap to Bare Construction, 2-0. The tournament helped to raise $50 for the fund.
— The Rotary Wheels won the 1961 Petoskey Little League Major Division (ages 11-12) with a 9-1 victory over the Kiwanis Yanks. Riley Turcott threw a complete-game one-hitter, striking out seven, for the win. The Yanks’ sole run came on Steven Wolf’s fifth-inning RBI double.
40 years ago
— The Petoskey Major (11-12) Little League All-Stars bowed to defending district champion, Huron Shore, 13-0. The loss came after Petoskey had qualified for the district tournament by beating Boyne City, 19-1. Petoskey rode a 12-run first inning to the victory over Boyne. Jay Rought had two home runs, a double and a single, while Randy Marquardt and Bob Sipel collected three hits apiece.
— The Pearls won the Petoskey Pigtail League championship, beating the Sapphires, 12-9, in a one-game playoff. Martha Schwartzfischer was the winning pitcher while Carla Cavirh took the loss. Both teams finished the season 7-3.
— St. Ignace won the Summer Basketball League championship over Petoskey, 62-59. Petoskey was led by Wayne Blomberg with 14 points and Mike Davies, 13. St. Ignace had extra motivation as it was playing against former coach, Gene Shank, who was hired to replace out-going Petoskey coach Lee Milner.
— Bob Graham and Marty Jensen won the Petoskey Open Doubles Tennis Tournament. The 1971 field was the tournament’s largest ever with 21 entrants.
30 years ago
— The Petoskey Senior League All-Star team swept Escanaba, 5-0 and 3-0, in a best-of-three sectional series to qualify for the five-team 1981 state finals scheduled for Petoskey’s Turcott Field. Mike Faust and Dan Paulus led Petoskey on the hill while Tony Oberg, Tom Nelson and Paulus came up with the big hits.
— Dick Bare came out of retirement to hurl RE/MAX to second place in Charlevoix’s Fast Pitch Softball Tournament at the Venetian Festival. Bare, 50, retired in 1967, and had not thrown a competitive inning since 1968. Bare led Bare Construction to a state championship in 1964, and led the Petoskey Softall League in wins, strikeouts, and ERA for many seasons.
— Petoskey Royals took an American Legion baseball win over Leelanau, 12-6. The winning pitcher was Mark Wagenschutz.
— Bachelor Sales of the Petoskey Women’s Softball League finished runner-up in the 1981 Class A state finals. During the state tournament, played at Pioneer Park in Petoskey, Linda Paggett threw an eight-inning no-hitter against the Ann Arbor Bleus, and a one-hit win over Bargain Center of Benton Harbor. Bachelor Sales and Paggett lost, 2-0, in the championship game.
20 years ago
— The Little League Big League (ages 16-19) team that represents Northern Michigan won the District 8 Championship. Three local players, Larry Maxwell and Dave Helmer of Petoskey along with Larry Kuebler of Alanson, were members of the squad.
— Karla Matchinski of Petoskey had a double win in the 13th Annual Drenth Memorial Foot Race in Charlevoix. Matchinski won the one-mile run, finishing in 5 minutes, 33 seconds and the 10k, in 40:25. Bill Burns of Charlevoix repeated as the men’s one-mile winner, finishing in 4:43.
— Dairy Queen of the Petoskey Women’s Softball League qualified for the Class C Nationals by beating Janson Builders, 3-0, in the Great Lakes Regional. The national tournament was scheduled for Bessemer, Ala. Dairy Queen was managed by Leroy Buchanan.
— Cynosure won the 67th annual Port Huron-Mackinac Yacht Race. The event saw its closest finish in several years with Cynosure, Pied Piper, Sassy and Stripes, the 1990 winner, all crossing the finishing line within minutes of each other while several other boats were still miles away. Cynosure was sailing out of Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
— The Little Traverse Bay Regatta registered its largest field in its 31 years with 87 boats. The 1991 race was its first year as a qualifying race for the J-44 Great Lakes Championships.
10 years ago
— Petoskey American Legion baseball won the district title sweeping Cadillac, 9-4 and 3-2. Marty Jackimowicz and Chris Loper were the winning pitchers. Chris Grice came up big at the plate in the first game with a double and single, while Loper and Kory Ciesielski each singled in both games.
— Ryan Shay of Central Lake won the 10k at the 23rd Annual Drenth Memorial Foot Races in Charlevoix, finishing in 30 minutes, 23 seconds. Shay set a Notre Dame record in the 10,000-meter run during the previous collegiate season. Tarn Leach, a 2001 East Jordan graduate, finished second. Ryan Hagan of Boyne Falls won the 5k run in 15:49. Abby Dart of Harbor Springs won the women’s division of the Masters 5k in 22:04.
— In its 41st year, the Little Traverse Yacht Club Regatta registered 90 boats in two divisions and eight classes. Most of the entries also competed in the Port Huron-Mackinac race.
