LocalSportsJournal.com
 
How would you like to be part of an evening in which the excellence and accomplishments of our area’s top high school athletes are celebrated?
 
You can so mark your calendar for Saturday, Feb. 17 at the historic Frauenthal Theater in downtown Muskegon.
 
Purchasing tickets can be done by clicking on this link: Varsity Blues tickets
 

“Varsity Blues Athletic Sports Awards Show,” sponsored by the Local Sports Journal and Sport Clips Haircuts, will be an evening of sports and entertainment with athletic awards, sports skits, drawings for prizes for those in the audience, autographs, BBQ, desserts, special on-stage interviews, and live blues music.

Area athletes will be honored at the event with the three-sport athlete being at the top of the list.

Titled the Sport Clips Triple Crown Award, any high school athlete who plays three varsity sports, or more, in a single school year, will be honored during Varsity Blues. All 31 area high school athletic directors have been invited to let their student athletes know about the award. That means the LSJ is calling all three-sport athletes. If you are a three-sport athlete or a parent of one, you are invited to send us your information. The easiest way to get this information to us is by sending an email to [email protected] with a subject of “Triple Crown Award.”

Special entertainment will include The Port City All-Stars, a blues band headlined by legendary blues guitarist, Vincent Hayes. The Muskegon-born Hayes has a Blues Music Award nomination in his career and has been performing across the country for more than 30 years.

Members of the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame will be opening the doors at 5:15 p.m. The athletes of yesteryear who paved the way for today’s local sports stars, will be present to sign autographs in the theater lobby before and during the Port City All-Stars performance at 6 p.m.

Teddy Cerniglia will be serving BBQ sandwiches and desserts during the event.

Muskegon Big Reds football Coach Shane Fairfield is slated to be the first guest sitting down for a special on-stage interview with Local Sports Journal publisher and emcee of the night, Jason Goorman.

And there’s more!

The Earl Morrall Quarterback of the Year award will honor the best high school quarterback in the Local Sports Journal’s coverage area. Three leaders are competing for the award after successful 2023 campaigns. Muskegon’s M’Khi Guy, North Muskegon’s James Young and Whitehall’s Kyle Stratton are up for that prestigious award.

The Paul Griffin Basketball Award will honor current, top cage stars from the area. Griffin is a legendary basketball star who played on back-to-back state championship teams at Shelby High School in 1971 and 1972. The power-forward played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association and finished his career with 2,443 points, 2,650 rebounds and 1,116 assists.

Another award will honor the area’s hardest working athlete. The Mike Teeter Award brings to light the Fruitport graduate who was considered the strongest man in the National Football League during his 5-year professional career. Teeter also was considered one of the hardest working players by legendary University of Michigan coach Bo Schembechler.

The Muskegon Motorcycle Club will also be represented with the Dan Raymond Award. Raymond founded the club in 1920 and established the first professional hill climb event in the United States at its Mt. Garfield location in Norton Shores.

Among the area’s historical athletes who have an award named after them is a local wrestler who finished his high school career with a 260-0 record. Justin Zeerip is a Hesperia graduate who is currently the head coach at Whitehall High School. Zeerip went on to star at the University of Michigan and still holds the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s record for most career wins.

MOTIV Bowling is a locally owned company and national leader in manufacturing bowling supplies. The Motiv Bowling Award will highlight the top high school bowlers.

 In all, there will be more than a dozen sports awards on the night coinciding with the Triple Crown Awards. Those awards will include athletes, coaches and even a prep referee who has dedicated many years of service to area athletes.

 
“It has become clear while following the greater Muskegon area sports scene for all of my life that the LSJ covers the world’s greatest local sports scene,” said LSJ publisher Jason Goorman. “We want to highlight today’s athletes with this show by bringing us back to the legends of the past while connecting them with today.”