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His time has come

Discher to be inducted in Alpena Sports Hall of Fame

For years, Jack Discher has seen many of his former gymnastics students and assistants take their place in the Alpena Sports Hall of Fame.

Next month, Discher will finally get his turn.

Discher is one of five inductees in the Hall of Fame’s 2016 class and will be inducted along with Jerry LeTourneau, Dick Spencer, Ryan Krueger and Mike Cadarette on May 6.

As one of the architects of Alpena’s dominant gymnastics run in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Discher’s induction honors an important player in Alpena’s gymnastics legacy. Alpena gymnasts have found success at local, state, national and international levels and behind each of their stories is Discher.

“It’s pretty exciting. A lot of good things happened in Alpena when I was there,” Discher said. “It’s truly an honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

Between 1977 and 1982, Alpena won four gymnastics state championships and finished runner-up twice. The driving force behind that success was Discher, who revamped Alpena’s program upon his arrival and turned Alpena into a winner.

Discher arrived in Alpena from North Dakota in 1967 and inherited a program in a state of flux.

“It sounded like it was going to take a certain amount of work,” Discher said. “There ended up being a lot of neat kids on the team. It was a good program with no consistency.”

Over the next 10 years, Discher and his assistants built up Alpena’s gymnastics program at the middle school and high school levels, gradually turning Alpena into a model of consistency. In 10 years, Discher coached eight all-staters and served as a mentor to scores of gymnasts and assistants who helped Alpena become one of the state’s best programs.

Under Discher’s tutelage, Howard Welsh and Scott McKenzie–both Hall of Famers–became all-staters as did Lynn Cousineau, Cory Golder, Ken Donakowski, Tom Nadeau, Ray Werda and Bill Romstadt.

Discher and Alpena’s hard work culminated in a state championship in 1977 and he was named Michigan’s Gymnastics Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. What made the championship even sweeter was the Wildcats won it on their home floor in front of one of the largest crowds ever for a state final. That team also set a new record in its win with 140.9 points. That record was later broken by other Alpena teams.

“It was extremely satisfying to see it happen. As time was going on, for six or seven years, we were getting stronger,” Discher said. “With gymnastics, reputation is extremely important because evaluation is subjective.”

“We were going to be in the eyes of the judges, we were going to be stronger.”

Discher elected to return to North Dakota in 1977 and continued to coach gymnastics. In 1980 he was named North Dakota Girls Gymnastics Coach of the Year. He also coached a two-time boys diving state champion and spent time as an instructor at his alma mater, North Dakota State. When he retires next year, Discher will do so with a teaching tenure of 51 years.

Despite his departure, the Wildcats only grew stronger. Under Discher’s assistant Ray Timm–a Class of 2015 inductee- the Wildcats made five appearances in the state finals and won three titles consecutively from 1980-82. A number of Discher’s former gymnasts went on to become all-staters with Timm at the helm.

“It suggested we developed a program that was so deep. It was going to run and do well,” Discher said of Alpena’s continued success. “I was really happy for Ray and the rest of the kids.”

Discher’s legacy is still felt in Alpena even after the gymnastics program was cancelled in the wake of Black Friday, but his influence extends well beyond that.

John Geddert, a former student of Discher’s, has gone on to a long, successful coaching career in gymnastics which culminated in Geddert serving as coach of the U.S. women’s gymnastics coach at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Kurt Golder, another former student and assistant at Alpena, has coached the University of Michigan’s men’s gymnastics team to four national titles in 21 seasons.

Discher still keeps in regular contact with both coaches and helps Golder out as a freelance photographer for his program.

Both Golder and Geddert have been inducted into the Hall of Fame and Discher was honored along with his 1977 championship team as the Team of the Year in 2006.

Many of Alpena’s former gymnasts and coaches have been honored, particularly in recent years and it’s a trend Discher hopes will continue even after his induction.

“The administrators at that time allowed me to build (a program) and it ended up being a good deal,” Discher said. “I’d like to see more of those kids from that time inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

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