Wyoming Lee High School athletic department will add four distinguished alumni to its school’s athletic department Hall of Fame Friday, Feb. 18, with a ceremony scheduled between a 5:30 p.m. girls basketball game and a 7 p.m. boys basketball game, both against Byron Center Zion Christian.
The Hall of Fame includes members of both Rebel and now Legends athletics as well as high school distinguished persons. David Britten, former Lee principal and Godfrey-Lee Public Schools superintendent, will speak at the event.
Among the 2021 inductees are long-time teacher Thomas Wier, who taught at the school from 1980-2020; and Larry Landstra (Class of 1956), a student leader at Lee who was captain of his football team and selected in 1955 to the First Team of the Grand Valley Conference. (Landstra is not expected to attend in-person.)
Two other distinguished Lee high persons will also be inducted posthumously: Miss Agnes Noel, who as a teacher from 1892-1932; and Bernard Raterink, who as a Lee teacher, coach, counselor, athletic director and principal — and also played football at Lee and Michigan Site University in the 1950s.
Godfrey-Lee School District athletic director Jason Faasse visits the set of WKTV Journal Sports Connection to catch us up on his Lee High School Legends news. (WKTV)
On the latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, as part of our coverage of local high school athletics, Godfrey-Lee School District athletic director Jason Faasse visited our studios to catch us up on Lee High School sports.
And what’s new with the Legends includes a planned athletic conference change coming in 2021-22, some long-awaited continuity in their coaching staff, and — oh, ya — there is that infrastructure bond measure that was passed last year and what it will mean for the Lee teams and programs.
And, like all schools across Michigan, there have been impacts of COVID-19.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection brings its audience interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports, both on cable television and on our on-demand and YouTube channels. Readers can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting wktvjournal.com/sports.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of highs school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.com. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
WKTV volunteer Greg Yoder, one of the series hosts of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, leads a discussion with Lee High School girls sports coaches. (WKTV)
On the latest episode of WKTV Journal Sports Connection, as part of our continuing series of shows focused on different local high school and their sports departments, we catch up with the Lee Legends.
Led by WKTV volunteer Greg Yoder, one of the series hosts, we talk with two of the girls sports coaches and find out about how they are handling COVID-19 restrictions in practice and in competition, their work in building girls sports programs at the small school, and — yes — we talk about the outlook for their teams.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection brings its audience interviews and stories focused on local Wyoming and Kentwood area high schools sports, both on cable television and on our on-demand and YouTube channels. Readers can catch up on all our local sports coverage by visiting wktvjournal.com/sports.
WKTV Journal Sports Connection is available on-demand, along with WKTV coverage of highs school athletic events and other sports, at WKTVlive.com. It also airs on cable television in the Wyoming and Kentwood areas on Comcast WKTV Channel 26 (For dates and times on Channel 26, see our Weekly On-air Schedule). Individual interviews included in episodes of WKTV Journal Sports Connection are also usually available on YouTube at WKTVvideos.
It was a senior-dominated performance in the Wyoming-Lee Legends’ 4-1 win against the Godwin Heights Fighting Wolverines Tuesday, Sept. 8, in the first soccer matches for both teams amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s tough because the kids are not used to playing with masks on, but we have to follow the state rules and I like what the state said. We are safer by wearing them,” said Wyoming-Lee Head Coach Jaime Ramirez.
The Legends would score early in the first half with a penalty kick from senior Jose Sosa in the second minute. Senior Jesus Gutierrez would follow not that far behind with a goal of his own in the 4th minute to make it a quick 2-0 lead for Lee High School.
Godwin Heights senior Kevin Zarco-Salto would end the shutout in the 16th minute to keep it at a one-point deficit. But Lee senior Gerardo Montanez scored his team’s third goal in the 36th minute on a penalty kick to end the first half, 3-1.
“They (the seniors) are normally the ones who normally take the lead in everything, so I love that,” coach Ramirez said. “This is a really good team right now.”
The second half possession leaned more in the favor of Godwin Heights. The Fighting Wolverines out shot Wyoming-Lee but couldn’t take advantage of three clear shots that soared over the crossbar. But their defense blunted several Lee attacks.
“We dominated the whole game,” Godwin coach Federico Villafuerte said. “We got more shots. Unfortunately we lost on three penalty kicks. … We just did not finish” on their scoring opportunities.
It is quite clear that coach Ramirez likes what he sees in his squad, but he sees his junior center-defender Alexander Ruiz and sophomore Ismael Galvan being key players to watch as the season progresses.
“Well, number 10 (Ismael Galvan) got chosen to spend a month to try out for semi-pro in Mexico. So he is one of them, but definitely my center-defender Alexander Ruiz. He is probably the key for the team, he is blocking everything right now.”
Wyoming-Lee is back in action today, Sept. 10, at Kelloggsville and Godwin Heights travels to Comstock Park, also on Sept. 10.
Wyoming Lee’s football team will be playing an independent schedule for the next two seasons. (2018 photo/WKTV)
By K.D. Norris ken@wktv.org
Wyoming’s Lee High School has historic rivalries in the OK Conference Silver, especially with local Godwin Heights and Kelloggsville high schools. But, in football, it has also had a history of struggling mightily against its conference rivals.
Ultimately, though, it was “doing what is best for the kids” that drove the Rebels — soon to be Legends — to take at least a two-year hiatus from conference play and play an independent schedule this season starting with a home game against White Cloud Thursday, Aug. 29.
While Lee athletic director Jason Faasse said he and others are excited about the possible impact of two years playing an independent schedule, head coach Tom DeGennaro also hopes for a little excitement but wonders if, after decades, Lee football and the OK Conference should part ways for good.
“We’re excited about it,” Faasse said to WKTV. “Our coaching staff is excited about it. Our kids are excited about it. I think it is going to help build our program. It is going to get more kids out. … We are excited to see what this is going to bring.”
The decision to go independent was actually made last season, in the midst of a 1-8 season, and a streak of winning only five games against 22 losses in three years.
“We put together a proposal to do that back in October of last fall, the decision really came because of the state our program has been in the past several years,” Faasse, said. “Just the amount of players we have coming out seems to ebb and flow but we have seen a decrease (and) a lot of that is based on success.”
Faasse said there was some talk about making the jump to independent schedule in 2017, “but we thought we’d be rushing it.”
“We went out to our (varsity) coaches, our other coaches in the program, our parents, our (school governing) board,” Faasse said. “And we just asked for their input on if you think this is a good idea. We got overwhelming support of it.”
Also, there was no serious consideration of playing 8-man football. “We are above the (student count) threshold … we could play, however we would not qualify for the playoffs because of student count,” Faasse said.
Faasse said they would look at resuming conference play again in two years.
DeGennaro, however, says “what is best for our kids” may be no longer playing football in the OK Conference.
Lee head coach Tom DeGennaro. (WKTV)
“We’ve struggled, and it hasn’t just been a short term thing,” DeGennaro said to WKTV, who, like all coaches, had the stats to back up his actions.
The team has had a 61-year history with the OK Conference, it was one of the founding members, he said. And during those 61 years, the team has had 4 winning seasons. The last time they won the conference championship was 1965. They have had 357 total games in conference and 284 losses.
Lee has football players, many of them hitting the weight room this summer. But maybe not enough to compete at there OK Conference level. (WKTV)
“We preach we should do what is best for our kids … last year we had the score run up on us, a team putting their first string back in so they could break 60 points on us. We were not physically able to stay in a game with anybody,” DeGennaro said.
The decision on what will happen in the future is yet to be decided, Faasse said.
“After two seasons of playing an independent schedule, we (will) conduct a review of the status of the program to determine if rejoining the OK Conference schedule is in the best interest of our students,” Faasse said in a previous memorandum to the district governing board detailing the plan to play an independent schedule.
“The goal of this decision is first and foremost putting our athletes in a safe situation,” Faasse also said in the memorandum. “… Under the direction of our coaching staff, this move will help jump-start the development of the program and provide for a culture of success at Lee High School.”
Lee also has history of success when it has gone with an independent schedule — something both coach and athletic director can attest to.
“We pulled out when I was the coach here for my first tenure, we pulled out in ’05 and ‘’06, and we won 13 games (over those two years) and we lost six,” DeGennaro said. “We made the playoffs when we played schools we could compete with.”
Faasse was, coincidentally, a player at Lee when they went independent in 2005.
“Hopefully this gives out kids something to be excited about,” DeGennaro said. “I think they are excited to play teams that they are more on an even par with.”
Lee’s complete football schedule is available at leelegends.org .
Where and when to see Lee football on WKTV
Lee’s Aug. 29 game and all WKTV Featured Games are broadcast the night of the contest and then at least once later in the week.
WKTV broadcasts on Wyoming and Kentwood cable channels. On Comcast cable, Channel 25 is the Community Channel, where sports events and other community events are shown; Channel 26 is the Government Channel, where local government meetings and events are shown. On AT&T cable throughout the Grand Rapids area, viewers go to Channel 99, and then are given the choice to watch Wyoming (or Kentwood) Community (Channel 25) or Government (Channel 26) channels.
All Featured Games, as well as other high school sports and community events covered by WKTV, are available on-demand within a week of play at wktvondemand.com.
For a complete schedule of all local high school sports action each week, any changes to the WKTV feature sports schedule, and feature stories on local sports, visit wktvjournal.org/sports/.
