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Passion for coaching leads Atkinson to Alpena Sports Hall of Fame

Courtesy Photo In a long coaching career, Tom Atkinson coached everywhere from Alpena to Hopkins to Beal City to Manistee to Johannesburg-Lewiston. During his career Atkinson won a lot of games, won a lot of coaching honors and impacted scores of young athletes. Atkinson will be inducted into the Alpena Sports Hall of Fame in May as part of the 2017 class.

Tom Atkinson has held a lot of titles in his life; Husband, Dad, Athletic Director, Teacher, Principal and Assistant Principal among them.

But for more than 30 years, the title of Coach has held an important meaning for Atkinson.

“Other than being called Dad, being called Coach is the greatest thing in the world,” Atkinson said.

The chance to teach and have an impact on kids through coaching took Atkinson everywhere from Johannesburg-Lewiston to Manistee to Beal City and back to Alpena during his coaching career. Along the way, he won more than 100 games, helped rebuild several programs and impacted scores of young athletes.

For that he’ll be inducted into the Alpena Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 2017 class along with Dan Skiba, Earl Cordes, Jon Kirby Cook, Jan Kaiser and Cindy DeRocher on May 5 at the APlex.

“It’s very humbling. I’m very honored to be part of the Hall of Fame,” Atkinson said of his induction. “There are people very close to me during my career as a coach and as an athlete in Alpena that are in the Hall of Fame.”

From an early age, there was never any doubt what Atkinson wanted to do.

“When I was a freshman, we had to do a vocational yearbook and mine was on being a football coach and teaching history,” Atkinson said. “I loved being part of a team. I enjoyed the kids, enjoyed sports and knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

Atkinson, a 1968 graduate of Alpena High School, grew up learning from some of Alpena’s greatest coaching minds, setting him up for his future career. He had gym classes with Jim Dutcher, watched varsity and college basketball practices with then-JV coach Bill Freider and got rides to school from varsity basketball coach Dick Dennis.

He began his coaching career modestly, coaching his fifth and sixth grade basketball team as a captain.

“In the fifth grade, Jim Dutcher had all the PE classes in Alpena and he organized each group by class. He allowed us to elect a captain,” Atkinson said. “In a way, I was a coach in the fifth and sixth grade. I was chosen captain and I came up with some plays and a game plan.”

After high school, Atkinson coached at Thunder Bay Junior High with Bill Romstadt. He turned down opportunities to play college football and eventually went to Central Michigan University where he coached on Mt. Pleasant’s JV team. That was followed by a year as an assistant at Hopkins before he took on his first head coaching job at Johannesburg-Lewiston in 1973.

Taking over a struggling program, Atkinson quickly turned the Cardinals into winners. They overcame the loss of two key seniors in 1973 to finish 5-3 and went 15-2 over the next two seasons. Atkinson moved on to Manistee for two seasons and went 6-12, unable to run the program the way he wanted.

While he was at Joburg, Atkinson scouted a McBain-Beal City game and was impressed with what he saw from the Aggies. By 1978, he was leading Beal City, turning the Aggies into one of the state’s best programs.

“You’re a catalyst, you’re the vehicle for the team (and) putting them in position to do well,” Atkinson said. “Ultimately your talent is going to take you where you’re going to go and you need to make sure you put the talent in position to do what they do.”

Before his arrival, Beal City was a good program with tradition and talent. Under Atkinson, the Aggies went from being very good to being a consistent playoff team. By his third season in 1980, the Aggies went 9-1-1 and made the playoffs for the first time, advancing to the Class D semifinals. Beal City made the playoffs each of the next five years under Atkinson and has missed the postseason just three times since 1980.

Beal City had plenty of talent, but the expectation of winning, passed down from team to team and family to family also provided motivation for the Aggies.

“You’re playing for the name on the front, not the back. There were big families and it was the expectation that you’re going to be successful,” Atkinson said.

Beal City went 65-6-1 under Atkinson and he was named Coach of the Year in two different seasons (1981 and 1985). His 1985 team went 9-0 and he was named Class D Coach of the Year by United Press International while two of his players earned all-state honors.

Between 1980 and 1985, the Aggies finished in the top 10 in the Associated Press’ Class D poll and finished in the top five three times.

Atkinson’s success at Beal City opened up a plethora of opportunities including the chance to coach at Northwood University. Ultimately, Atkinson gave his commitment to his alma mater and became Alpena’s 18th football coach in 1986, succeeding Lee Hall.

Inheriting a program that struggled in the wake of Black Friday and went 1-8 each season from 1983-85, Atkinson saw a team with some talent that needed to be molded into a collective unit.

“Improvement…coming together as a team…showing improvement in the record…meeting the goals that we determine from week to week…those sorts of things,” Atkinson told The News of his goals for the 1986 season. “Finally, we want to be able to lay the foundation for a solid program.”

Alpena went 1-8 in Atkinson’s first season, but over the next six seasons Alpena went 26-28 and finished with a winning record three times. With Atkinson and a coaching staff that includes four other Alpena Sports Hall of Famers, the Wildcats improved steadily and played an aggressive schedule against consistent playoff teams.

“Once I was back in Alpena we worked really hard and had a really good staff,” Atkinson said. We tried to do a good job and tried to prepare for anything we were going to see.”

In 1991, Atkinson led Alpena to a share of a Great Lakes Athletic Conference championship and a 5-4 record, which included a 12-6 win over a top-ranked Traverse City squad. That win did a lot for Alpena’s confidence and helped restore some luster to the Traverse City-Alpena rivalry and both schools became members of the Great Lakes Athletic Conference from 1990-1996.

Atkinson stepped away from coaching in 1992, but left behind an impressive resume and a record of 123-63-1. His teams won a dozen conference titles and Atkinson earned several Coach of the Year awards. He was named the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association’s Regional Class D Coach of the Year nine times and the AP’s Class D Coach of the Year in 1981. He was inducted into the MHSFCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 1994 and coached for the West High School All Stars in 1995.

After coaching, Atkinson stepped into an administrative role at Alpena and had two different stints as Alpena’s athletic director. He also helped out with and coached in the Alpena Jets youth football program, where he eventually coached his sons Tommy and Tim.

During Tim’s eighth grade season, Atkinson coached the Jets to an undefeated season which included a win over Ogemaw Heights. For all his success as a varsity coach, that win was just as gratifying for Atkinson.

“It felt just as good, just as exciting as dang near any varsity game I ever coached,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson hasn’t ruled out a return to the sideline in the future, but he’s constantly reminded of his impact as a coach. On his last birthday he received greetings and well wishes from players he coached at five different schools.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not they were all-state or all-conference, some of the kids I have great contact with are kids who were glad to be a part of something,” Atkinson said.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.

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