South Haven High School will mark the 50th anniversary of its girls volleyball team this coming week with a special Alumni Match and cookout.
Dene Hadden was the first coach for the team, way back in 1975, and remained its coach for 19 years. He tells us the MHSAA took on girls volleyball as a sport that year, prompting high schools across the state to start teams. But when he signed on to lead the Rams, he had no idea what he was getting into. Plus, the sport wasn’t well understood.
“It was kind of a backyard sport and beach sport and internationally it was very strong,” Haden said. “But at the high school level, even throughout the country, not particularly strong or even available in many cases.”
Hadden says more than 115 girls tried out that first year, and the first matches were humble affairs.
“We’d get a few hundred people and it was kind of a neat, just girls only situation. So people were interested and it was a great sport to watch, great spectator sport. So the crowds were decent at that time and we were pretty successful to start with, so that helped.”
The first matches, held on January 7, 1976 saw the Rams narrowly losing to Dowagiac before collecting the first of hundreds of victories over the next 50 years. Now, girls volleyball has grown into the most popular MHSAA girl’s sport with more than 19,000 athletes.
South Haven High School will honor the students who have played for Rams volleyball on Friday, August 15 with the Alumni Match featuring many of the athletes from previous teams. Hadden says all former players for the team are welcome to take part, and any who want to sign up should contact current Coach Wendy Spencer.
As part of the Alumni Match, a special banner with all 318 names of players who earned volleyball varsity letters will be unveiled and hung in the high school gym. Also included will be special recognition of the numerous championships earned by each team, including the MHSAA Class B State Championship in 1985, and the other three appearances at the MHSAA Volleyball finals, in 1977, 1980 and 1991.
Above photo: the very first South Haven High School Girls Volleyball team.
The 1985 state championship team:
