Hoop dreams

From staff reports

The Glen Arbor Township Hall’s original basketball backboards have been retired. The Gordon family of Northwood Drive paid for new, retractable backboards and hoops to be installed in advance of their daughter’s town hall wedding ceremony and reception on Jan. 16.

Retired Hall of Fame Coach Don Miller and Cherry Republic czar Bob Sutherland —each of whom can tell countless stories of pickup games played in the town hall — got the original backboards, which date back to the 1930s, and which are now signed by local hoops icons, including Ted Swierad, who first played here in 1951 and who Miller calls “the real legend and father of town hall basketball”. Swierad opened the gym for Miller as a 14-year-old, half a century ago. Miller keeps his backboard in a basketball museum he has set up in the back of his garage.

Former Glen Lake High School hoopsters still play pickup games in the town hall almost every Thursday night. These backboards were a big part of their lives and the history of the game in this area, says Miller. “Five NBA players and countless college players have played here, but mostly those backboards are a part of the great memories for the guys and gals learning and loving hoops in our community.”

And the Glen Arbor Township Hall is no stranger to hosting weddings, regardless of the season. Coach Miller’s son Josh (who drew the setting sun and Sleeping Bear Bay for the Glen Arbor Sun’s masthead) tied the knot with Sarah Jane Ritter this past New Year’s Eve and held their reception in the town hall, under the new hoops. Congrats, Sarah Jane and Josh!