After the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) ruled in 1981 to abolish early signing days, National Signing Day was put into place and the special day where athletes sign their National Letter of Intent to continue their athletic careers has since typically been on the first Wednesday in February.

Today, thousands of athletes around the nation will be partaking in the special day where many will officially take the next step in their athletic and academic careers.

The National Signing Day tradition continues to grow even at area high schools, especially Alpena High School. Over the past few seasons, Signing Day has become a growing tradition at Alpena and today 14 Wildcats will sign their National Letters of Intent.

Alpena’s 14 signees this year is five more than the nine Wildcats that signed during the 2018-2019 school year. Over the last several years, Alpena has had athletes go on to play at the Division I, II, III and junior college levels.

“For a school our size and not just our size, but for being an island where we are as a Division 1, high Division 2 school amongst a lot of Division 3 and 4 schools, it’s really remarkable that so many athletes have practiced their craft so well that they can take it with them to the next level,” Alpena High School Athletic Director Tim Storch said. “At my former school, National Signing Day was a big deal. They did what we do now and I basically borrowed that from them (Troy Athens High School), knowing that the first couple of years, we didn’t have many athletes that were going onto the next level, but it got the idea out there. I always felt like the more you can do to promote your program, promote your athletes, I think it really contributes to a great overall school environment. These athletes are seen as leaders of the school a lot of times and if you can highlight them for their good things, I think that begets more good out of other students as well.”

Storch has been AD at Alpena High since the 2014-2015 school year and over the last six years, many of his visions of what an athletic program should be at a school like Alpena, have come to fruition.

When Storch arrived, he believed the facilities were so subpar, the school didn’t attract athletes. Potential athletes may not have played because the facilities were so bad.

“We feel we don’t have to take a back seat to anybody as far as facilities go and that wasn’t the case before. We kind of felt like the little brother compared to the Traverse Citys and Petoskeys of the world, but you look at our facilities now and we have a top-notch ice arena, we’ve got a tremendous stadium with new lights and a new video scoreboard, new turf and now have a team room for the women athletes that we didn’t have before, the gym has totally been redone for boys and girls varsity basketball as well as volleyball and we’re still making improvements in the gym with the wall padding, window skins, record boards and banners that are going to go up,” Storch said. “Part of it is and people may laugh and say it’s not really true, but you look at the success Oregon has had with marketing Nike and the different uniforms, kids want to go and be part of a good program, where they’re taken care of. Obviously we are not Oregon, but our facilities have really improved and I think it’s made it easier for coaches to go out and recruit in the hallways and get people to come out and want to play because the facilities are better and they sell themselves.”

Storch also believes Alpena’s youth programs have led to the success high school athletes are now having. The high school has made more of an effort to keep its doors open for out-of-season practices and open gyms, which has played a role in helping younger athletes get better and continue on to compete in middle school and high school.

These days, it’s hard to find a high school team at Alpena without off-season training. Training in the weight room and attending camps in the summer are now an expectation and Alpena has also made efforts to upgrade its weight room.

“This was something that I’ve wanted to do and I think it was also a way to challenge the coaches. We have good coaches and we have good athletes, so we needed to push them to play at the next level because a lot of times, I think the athletes lack confidence or didn’t know how to go to the next level. We’ve since been up front trying to make contact and nurture those relationships with schools where we already have kids and once you do that it kind of grows,” Storch said. “Once you have somebody that is the trend setter and cuts the path through the woods, it’s easier for others to follow. Alpena Community College has been a remarkable opportunity for a lot of kids to continue playing sports, but now we’re beginning to expand and not only rely on the junior colleges as a route, but also Division II, Division III and we do have some Division I athletes. Once you have a few that go that route, then all of the sudden Alpena’s not the mystery city that it once was and colleges and coaches in colleges begin to maybe keep an ear open.”

Alpena’s success in many sports can be attributed to athletes gaining exposure in their respective sports. That success tends to be a direct result of the hard work athletes have put in to make themselves and their teammates better.

“I think you’re getting more kids that want to play and with that, they’re doing better too and so are the teams. When we’re now talking about BNC championships for Alpena High, we take a lot of pride in that and not just BNC champs, but we’re competing in the region, the district and state too. That opens doors to play college sports,” Storch said.

Alpena will have more than a dozen signees today, but many seniors are still weighing offers and will wait until the final weeks of the school year to make their decisions. Though nine signed last year on National Signing Day, upwards of 20 Wildcats ultimately when on to play collegiately or at a junior level.

With 14 signing today, that number may grow to nearly 30 athletes going on to play collegiately next season, a further testament to the hard work of Alpena athletics as a whole.

“I know there are some athletes that are still uncertain on where they want to continue their careers. Those numbers can certainly expand and that’s great. Playing college sports is a tremendous experience. You get to travel, you get to see other areas you might not normally see and for an Alpena kid, if they’re going to be able to travel out of state and have some of their college paid for, helping out their parents, if athletics can do that and they can enjoy their experience, it’s a win-win for everybody,” Storch said. “I think there are a lot of people in Alpena that may not even be directly involved in the school system that went on and played college sports and went on and been successful in their professional lives afterwards. I think those that did that would agree that athletics played a role in teaching discipline, dedication, time management and working as a teammate which are all skills you need in the outside world. I’m just really happy for the athletes and excited for them because a lot of them don’t even know what awaits them and the joy that they’re going to have. Wins and losses and titles are nice, but it’s the relationships that you build and self improvement that you get from playing sports and this is all part of their personal growth.”