A Look at History
Basketball
BY FRANK STRAUS
The playing floor took up almost the entire space, and there were no seats for spectators, who had to huddle around the lunchroom doorways. The state schedule allowed Island girls to play basketball in those days, and in 1974, coached by Jack Dehring, the "Lady Lakers" won Mackinac Island's first Northern Lights League championship.

In 2000-01, the school was enlarged. The new $2.5 million wing contained the first regulation sized gymnasium building in Island's history. With bleacher space for fans, the new building could welcome visiting teams and fans to Mackinac Island. It was in this space that the "Lakers" played games and trained for their Northern Lights championship of 2007.

This fourth Island basketball court rests, at least in spirit, upon the basketball courts that were used before it. Three of them have been mentioned in this article. It is possible that some of the people reading this article can remember playing basketball in the Fort's commissary, the Community Hall, or the school lunchroom. Maybe one or two of you would like to share with the Town Crier your memories of basketball on Mackinac Island.