The Toughest Yard
1970 freshman team takes on Ionia prisoners in precursor to Laker football
STORY BY BRIAN VERNELLIS
HISTORIC PHOTOS COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Head west along Main Street out of downtown Ionia and inevitably you will come upon an imposing structure sitting on a bluff.
Michigan Reformatory and its 30-foot-high brick facade overlook the intersection of Main and Wall streets on Ionia’s west side. Originally called the State House of Corrections in Ionia, the prison opened in 1877 and was built by prisoners from Jackson institutions who were transported by train to construct the prison.
After 145 years in service, the prison closed on November 13, 2022. Imposing swing gates restrict the main and auxiliary entrances, prohibiting vehicles and visitors from approaching the facility.
At one time, it was the oldest prison in Michigan. At one time, it was also the site of one of the earliest games in Grand Valley football history.
Lakers take the field
When President Emeritus Arend D. Lubbers arrived on Grand Valley’s campus in 1969, there was one thing noticeably missing — a sense of community among students.
Lubbers had spent 10 years at Central College in Pella, Iowa, before accepting the president’s position for the nascent Grand Valley State College. He said he realized the developing campus needed to build school pride among the undergraduates. What better way than with a football team, he thought.
“I was really into football and was ever since I was a child,” Lubbers said. “I loved the game, even though I was never good.
“Grand Valley needed to have more of an undergraduate feeling and a campus life. [GVSU founder] Bill Seidman and the board were very supportive.”
With the full support of Lubbers, Seidman, and the school’s Board of Directors, Director of Athletics Chuck Irwin went looking for a coach. He found one in an old colleague: Robert “Rip” Collins.
“Grand Valley needed to have more of an
undergraduate feeling and a campus life.”
PRESIDENT EMERITUS AREND D. LUBBERS
“Grand Valley needed to have more of an undergraduate feeling and a campus life.”
PRESIDENT EMERITUS
AREND D. LUBBERS
“Rip was a Navy veteran from World War II,” said former Laker wrestling coach Jim Scott, who was an assistant on Collins’ staff. “He was like most guys who came back from the war. They’d seen and done things nobody else had done, so he was pretty hard on the team.”
The 1970 Lakers were a hodgepodge of incoming freshmen, walk-ons and upperclassmen, who had played high school or college football elsewhere. Gary Sprecken, who played in high school and at Albion College before transferring to GVSC, was one of the few players with any collegiate playing experience.
Because of the lack of talent and experience, the Lakers’ 1970 team was technically a freshman team, not a varsity program, in the eyes of the NCAA. The lack of amenities and facilities highlighted that fact.
“We had jerseys that were hand-me-downs from high schools,” Sprecken ’73 said. “They were these heavy, cotton practice jerseys like I wore in high school and at Albion.
The 1970 Lakers were a hodgepodge of incoming freshmen, walk-ons and upperclassmen, who had played high school or college football.
The 1970 Lakers were a hodgepodge of incoming freshmen, walk-ons and upperclassmen, who had played high school or college football.
The 1970 Lakers were a hodgepodge of incoming freshmen, walk-ons and upperclassmen, who had played high school or college football.
The 1970 Lakers were a hodgepodge of incoming freshmen, walk-ons and upperclassmen, who had played high school or college football.
“It was early in the 1970 season and still warm out, and we had been sweating in these things since the summer. We didn’t even have a locker room to hang clothes up, and a lot of times, the jerseys didn’t get washed until right before a game.”
The Lakers’ first practice field — now paved over by tennis courts and a Hail Mary throw from the Lakers’ indoor practice facility, the Kelly Family Sports Center — was more dirt than grass, said Scott.
“Whatever jerseys we practiced in, we played in,” Scott said. “In our team picture, you can see half of them didn’t have their socks or shoes on yet.
Lakers head to Ionia’s Big House
Sprecken remembers Collins telling his teammates that it was Michigan Reformatory offering the cash to host a game between the Lakers and the prisoners.
It wasn’t uncommon for the prisoners to square off against visiting “civilian” teams, said Kyle Kaminski, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Corrections, but playing a bunch of college students was unique.
Sprecken recalled Collins telling the team that the money would be used to purchase new jerseys and equipment.
“It came around because coach Collins had coached at [Grand Rapids Junior College], and at one point, that team had already gone there,” Sprecken said.
The lure of new jerseys was too good to pass up, especially for the fledgling program.
On game day, Collins issued a dire warning that accentuated the gravity of the situation as the team bus pulled up to the prison.
“Coach said, ‘You’ll probably be strip searched. They’re going to go through your bags,’” Sprecken said. “We were making sure we didn’t have contraband, so stuff like aerosol cans were out. It got real somber after that.”
Instead of a strip search, the players were patted down and their belongings searched. After they were cleared, the players were led into the prison’s rotunda, where they finally experienced the intensity of their surroundings, Sprecken said.
“We got into this rotunda, and it’s three, four stories high with railings around,” Sprecken said. “The prisoners were yelling down at us, greeting us, jeering at us. It was a little intimidating to hear that.”
“The referee told us that at the 30-yard line is a manhole cover surrounded by cement, so try to avoid getting tackled over there.”
GARY SPRECKEN ‘73
“The referee told us that at the 30-yard line is a manhole cover surrounded by cement, so try to avoid getting tackled over there.”
GARY SPRECKEN ‘73
“I remember walking through one of the work areas where they were making clothes,” Scott said. “There was a guy at a sewing machine with scissors who looked up at us, and you could see him thinking, ‘Oh, these poor kids are going to soil themselves.’”
The Lakers’ locker room was a cramped, windowless room that didn’t do much to shield the team from the prisoners’ taunts and jeers. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the game officials led the team onto the field.
Sprecken and his teammates walked into the exercise yard, expecting to see a football field, only to be greeted by a barren, dirt patch with even less grass than their own practice field at Grand Valley.
“It was basically a driveway,” Sprecken said. “Rocks were scattered all over the place. The goal posts were right up against the prison walls. The referee told us that at the 30-yard line is a manhole cover surrounded by cement, so try to avoid getting tackled over there.”
While the team went through its pregame warmups, the prisoners’ team was conspicuously absent. Officials and Lakers lined up for the coin toss, but there was still no sign of the home team.
“About a minute before kickoff, we hear this big, single line of guys coming out of the prison, making this grunting sound,” Sprecken said.
The game resembled the climatic game from the film “The Longest Yard,” the Burt Reynolds feature in which a football team of convicts takes on a team of guards. Against the young Lakers, the Michigan Reformatory prisoners looked to gain any physical or psychological edge they could, Scott said.
“Our kids would come off the field and say, ‘Man, I blocked him or I tackled him, and then he grabbed me,’” Scott said.
Then, there were other prisoners who didn’t want to even give the impression of rough or dirty play.
“The ball would be hiked, and they just kind of fell down on the ground and curled up,” Scott said. “The kids got into some conversations with some of them after the game and they’d say, ‘Well, I’m getting out in a couple of weeks, so I don’t want to get into any fights.’”
Despite the dirty play by the prisoners and a barrage of injuries to the Lakers, Grand Valley had a shot at winning the game. Trailing 13-6 late in the contest, Grand Valley scored to make it a 13-12 game.
As the team lined up for the point-after attempt, Sprecken said an official approached the team’s placekicker, Bob Denison, who had not missed an extra point all season. The referee reminded the players of their situation.
“The ref standing close by was heard whispering, ‘It wouldn’t be wise to tie them either,’” Sprecken said. “[Denison] looked at us, and we all nodded our heads.”
The kick went wide right, careening off the cellblock, Sprecken said.
“I was so eager to get it started,
but we didn’t have a football field.”
PRESIDENT EMERITUS AREND D. LUBBERS
“I was so eager to get it started,
but we didn’t have a football field.”
PRESIDENT EMERITUS
AREND D. LUBBERS
A season to remember
Following the 1970 season, the Lakers gained varsity status in 1971. Collins stayed on as head coach for the 1971 and 1972 seasons, but never won a game as the program’s first head coach.
Jim Harkema was hired as coach for the 1973 season and reset the foundation for the program. The Lakers were 68-29-1 during Harkema’s 10 seasons.
Lubbers’ dream of a stadium for the Lakers came to fruition in 1973. Lakers Stadium, as it was originally called, hosted its first football game on September 15, 1973. Grand Valley beat Kalamazoo College, 27-14. Six years later, the stadium was named for Lubbers.
President Emeritus Arend D. Lubbers in pictured in front center with members of the 1970 Laker football team.
President Emeritus Arend D. Lubbers in pictured in front center with members of the 1970 Laker football team.
“As I look back on it, I think I made one serious mistake,” Lubbers said. “I was so eager to get it started, but we didn’t have a football field.
“I should have been more patient and waited a few years before starting a football team, and we should have had the facilities that a football team needs on a campus. Rip was faced with some difficult decisions.”
As for the $500 promised to the team, Sprecken said it never materialized, and neither did the new jerseys.
“It was definitely the hardest and dirtiest football game I’ve ever played in,” Sprecken said.
Origins of Lubbers Stadium
When President Emeritus Arend D. Lubbers first arrived on campus in 1969, he understood how athletics could build camaraderie among students. Central to his mission was building a football stadium. Opened in 1973, the stadium was initially called Lakers Stadium, and it was the first facility for the football team. Over the next six years, amenities were added like permanent seating for visiting fans. Lakers Stadium was officially renamed for Lubbers in 1979.
Lubbers is third from right in this photo from the dedication ceremony in September 1979.
Lubbers is third from right in this photo from the dedication ceremony in September 1979.
