HS Boys

“Retro” Mr Basketball

For 30 years, BCAM – the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan, in association with the Detroit Free Press, has sponsored the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award, given to the state’s top prep senior.  Lansing Eastern’s Sam Vincent was selected in the spring of 1981 as the recipient of the first award.

BCAM is proud to announce a project designed to recognize the sport’s top high school players from years past. “Retro” Mr. Basketball – honoring the state’s top senior prep basketball players will span the years 1920 through 1980. The project will evolve over ten seasons.  In 2010, BCAM honored seniors from 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1980.  In 2011, the organization honored seniors from 1921, 1931, 1941, 1951, 1961 and 1971.  In 2019, the list will be complete. As with the current honor, the goal is to focus on high school careers.  Hence, information pulled from All-State and All-Tournament teams is used to guide the committee as they select nominees for the award.  

While statistical information on players from the 1920s and 1930s present challenges, BCAM did not want to avoid honoring athletes from the era when the center jump was a dominate feature of the game.

“BCAM has considered trying to go back to years previous to 1981 and coming up with players that would have been named Mr. Basketball if there was such an award at the time,” notes BCAM executive director Tom Hursey. “The Retro Mr. Basketball project accomplishes this goal. The basketball fans of Michigan will enjoy going back in time and either agreeing with or finding fault with our committee’s winners. Either way it will be fun reminiscing about days gone by.”

If you are related to any of these Retro Mr Basketball players or know the current where-abouts of any of these players, please contact Ron Pesch.

“Retro” Mr Basketball Selections
click on the year to see the winners 

2010“0” Years 1920-1980
2011“1” Years 1921-1971
2012“2” Years 1922-1972
2013“3” Years 1923-1973
2014“4” Years 1924-1974
2015“5” Years 1925-1975
2016“6” Years 1926-1976
2017“7” Years 1927-1977
2018“8” Years 1928-1978
2019“9” Years 1929-1979