Gathering this week to celebrate 1969 MHS basketball team

submitted by Kathleen Graddy, 1969 varsity cheerleader

It was a big year in basketball for the Manchester High School class of 1969 and their teammates. That was the year the MHS boys topped out their league by winning the Lenawee County Athletic Association championship. This Tuesday, February 12, students of that era will celebrate by looking back 50 years and gathering together for the home game against Columbia Central. 

New MHS head coach Mike Ahrens is inviting his former teammates, fans and cheerleaders to attend the game. Martha Poppink-Melcher, wife of then-coach Cal Poppink, will also attend. Mr. Poppink has since passed away. Ahrens played on the 1969 LCAA championship team and, coincidentally, became Manchester’s head basketball coach last July. 

Although Ahrens has now been coaching for more than 40 years, he credits Poppink as a big influence and reason to go into that career. He recalls the 1969 championship being “a big deal” since Manchester was new to the league that year, the only school in the league from Washtenaw County, and they won over all the “bigger name” Lenawee County schools who had won league titles in the past. And, it was Coach Poppink’s first year in Manchester!

With the help of Class of 1969 alumni Lynn Niehaus and Paul Heinrich, a gathering has been organized at Over the Edge Sports Bar downtown, right after the game. Many former students will be there. All students from the era are invited to come help celebrate and share their memories of a great and exciting year in Manchester sports–1969!

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.