Posted by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate
March 2013

For the most part, it was a typical spring scene on Saturday, May 7, 1994.

The oval at Onekama was bustling with Portagers, while girls coach Bonnie Brown oversaw the activity from the trenches.

The difference on this day, however, was that Brown was nine months pregnant. After coaching her athletes while helping run the invitational, she was off to the hospital. The next day — Mother’s Day — Brown’s third child Jaylee was born.

From the finish line to the world — a fitting way to arrive into Onekama’s First Family of track and field.

Bonnie, along with her husband and longtime assistant coach, Jerry, decided to make the 2012 season their last, but they leave behind a lofty legacy.

The baby born that early weekend in May would eventually return to the track, time and time again. Last spring — her senior season — she became a Division 4 state champion in the pole vault. But Jaylee is just one of the many successful examples to emerge from her parents’ tutelage. By blood or by Portager pride, the Brown family grew.

HEART AND SOUL

Bonnie Brown has run all her life, and does to this day.

The 1980 Benzie Central graduate ran cross country and track in high school, and, on a whim, walked on to Central Michigan’s teams in her last year of collegiate eligibility.

After marrying Jerry in 1985, and landing an elementary teaching job at Onekama shortly thereafter, it made perfect sense to be part of the track program.

“I’ve always been involved with running, and wanted to be involved with track here,” she said of the early years, when she assisted Carl Foster with his girls program. “Jerry was good friends with the Foster family, so I believe we just volunteered at meets for a while, and then one thing led to another.”

Brown became head coach when Foster stepped down in 1992. She took a hiatus from ‘97 to 2003, and returned in ‘04 to coach the girls through last spring.

“I kind of kept doing the things Carl was doing,” Brown said, “because he had quite a successful program. We built on what Carl Foster had started and went with it.”

In her two tenures, she carried on the tradition Onekama has come to expect from its track and field athletes. Along with having a stronghold on the West Michigan D League, Brown annually sent girls to the state finals, where many earned All-State honors. Her coaching career was recently highlighted when the team won a regional title in 2011, and five girls — Jaylee in pole vault, and the 400-meter relay team of Meredith Hengy, Nisha Collins, Alyson Fink, and Breanna Fink — became state champions in 2012.

“That will be a moment I’ll cherish for the rest of my life,” Brown said of her last meet at the helm of the program.

Accolades aside, Brown said coaching has been fulfilling because of the relationships with her athletes.

“Coaching track’s a tough one … and I’ve learned to have patience and perseverance,” she said, “but mostly I’ve always just loved being around the kids.

“I think the varsity program has always been a hard- working program to begin with,” she added, “and we’ve just been so lucky to have a lot of good talent and hard workers come through it.”

“Bonnie’s really the heart and soul of that girls program,” her husband Jerry added. “With her, it’s always been about the kids. She wants them to have a good time, but wants them to work hard to prosper, grow, and improve.”

RESIDENT EXPERT

The pole vault pit at Onekama has essentially been a classroom.

There’s no mistaking its resident expert, either, as Jerry Brown offered guidance to all who would listen over the years.

No matter the jersey, Brown made pole vaulters better — plain and simple — when running the event during meets. It just so happened his own athletes were the best this past spring as Jaylee, along with fellow 2012 Onekama graduate Tyler Fogarty, capped their prep careers with state titles.

“He’s probably one of the premier pole vault coaches in the state,” said former Onekama boys track coach Mickey Story, who stepped down after 32 years in 2010. “He’s always had great success coaching vaulters, and you could never tell which school Jerry was coaching, either. He really shared his time equally among all the athletes.”

Jerry has 30 years of coaching under his belt as well, in various sports at various age levels. The ‘77 Onekama graduate, who excelled in athletics at the school, has been teaching at Manistee Area Public Schools since 1982, and went from coaching the Chippewas to coaching the Portagers when his sons, Ryan and Danny, became interested in sports.

“I coached (at Manistee) for 14 years,” he said “Then when my oldest, Ryan, was old enough to be involved in sports at Onekama, I wanted to be plugged into their lives, so I started coaching various things up here.”

Bonnie Brown (left) and Jerry Brown (middle) stepped down after long careers as Onekama track and field coaches. (Courtesy photo)

Brown even headed the Portagers’ varsity girls and boys basketball teams in the same year once, and provided his expertise every spring to the track program.

“There’s tremendous athletes there, and great people too, which is the big thing,” he said. “Those kids work so hard, and not just the All-Staters.

“Some of our greatest moments were keeping track of the personal bests of kids who didn’t qualify at a regional or at state,” he added. “There were some fantastic kids with super enthusiasm and great work ethic that went through the program that were just as heartwarming as some of the stuff our All-Staters were able to accomplish.”

FAMILY AFFAIR

Story, a staple of Onekama’s track program in his own right, recalls the early stages of his working relationship with the Browns.

“I remember when we were first coaching, the Brown kids and the Story kids would always be at the track,” he said. “I remember when their oldest Ryan and my youngest son Kellen were just little guys and they’d have fun crawling under the hurdles while we were at practice. It was like the track was just a huge playground.

“It’s always been a family affair for (the Browns),” he added. “As much as I know I love track, I know they love it just as much. They’ve been the number one family as far as track is concerned in Manistee County for years and years. They were totally dedicated to it.”

One of the bonds the Browns are most proud of was that of the co-op with Bear Lake.

“We’ve often talked about how lucky we were to have that,” Jerry said of the marriage the schools have had since 1990. “I think that gets taken for granted sometimes, but to have those fantastic relationships between the two is something to be proud of.

“Two schools coming together for the benefit of each other, when we’ve always historically been rivals,” he said. “It’s awesome to see the track and cross country kids, after a tough basketball game against each other, put it aside and hug each other, congratulate each other, because they know in other walks of life they have that close bond as teammates.

“It’s a relationship we’ve had to work on, and keep in shape, and it’s a family now that we’re proud to be a part of.”

A TRACK TOWN

When Jaylee graduated last spring and decided to join Northern Michigan’s cross and track programs as a walk-on, her parents took the opportunity to step away from their dedicated involvement with Onekama track as well.

“It’s because of family,” Bonnie said. “We wanted to be able to travel and watch Jaylee. She’s up in Marquette and a lot of her meets are in Wisconsin, so it’s just an opportunity to watch our daughter compete in college.”

“I’m just getting old,” Jerry added with a laugh. “I’ve been teaching and coaching for 30 years, so I guess now it’s time to start winding down a little bit.

“When you’ve done it for so long, you may start to think no one can do it better, but we know that’s not true,” he added. “You know someone’s going to step in and take it to another level. We’re excited about the next generation that will come in and take it there.”

Tony Shrum and Nathan Bradford, who were track teammates at Onekama in the late ‘90s, are now the new head coaches, and according to Jerry, enter a very accepting atmosphere.

“We were just privileged to have coached track at Onekama,” he said. “With all the help we received over the years — all the volunteers, the fans, the administrative support — I mean, are you kidding me? It really was an honor, and a blessing. Completely our pleasure.

“Bonnie and I have talked about that a lot,” he added. “It’s just an incredible place to coach track. It’s really a track town that we can’t thank enough.”

Yes, a track town that is surely thankful for its track family.