Harbor Light's Solid Rock Center completed, a rare gem at the D4 level
HARBOR SPRINGS — Things have changed just a bit over the years since Jeff Jakeway first attended Harbor Light Christian as a student in the sixth grade.
A 1994 graduate of the school and now the head coach of the Harbor Light girls’ basketball team – following a previous stint coaching the varsity boys years before – Jakeway remembers the kind of facilities the Swordsmen had in his playing days.
“We had a cement floor,” said Jakeway with a laugh. “We didn’t get a wood floor here until my sophomore year.”
From cement, to wood to the diamond Swordsmen athletes now call home with its newly constructed Solid Rock Center, it's been quite the rise.
Last Friday night, the first-ever varsity basketball game in the gym took place, welcoming the community to the masterpiece they helped create.
“It’s five years from when the original plan was put together,” said Jakeway. “To be here now, playing our first game, words can’t describe it. This doesn’t happen. This very rarely happens in a wealthy funded Class A school.”
Jakeway isn’t kidding. A walk around the facility and it feels like a small college program’s setup. Along with the new gym, the Solid Rock Center comes equipped with a new cafe and concession area, new locker rooms, a film lounge and hangout area for the players, an upper level full track around the gym, three new classrooms for art, music and science and more.
Jakeway served as project manager on the building and was a donor through his Starboard Builders and North Star companies.
But it also came fully funded and debt free through community support, which Jakeway and everyone else involved are so thankful for.
“It’s been a labor of love here,” said Jakeway. “A lot of time, a lot of hours. My crew and North Star and Starboard Builders. This wasn’t paid for by some mega donor, this was paid for by thousands of community members that gave $100 or $1000 or whatever it was.”
Jason Roussin, the head coach of the varsity boys’ basketball team, had the pleasure of being the first to lead a varsity program on the court when the Hornets took a 76-74 loss from a hot shooting Pellston team Friday, though Roussin was extremely thankful to have the day finally come.
“It was a blessing to have a game in the Solid Rock Center,” said Roussin. “We’re extremely thankful to all the donors, the workers and everyone that had a hand in putting this together.”
Perhaps the part basketball fans will flock to the most at the Solid Rock Center is the piece of NBA history above the main gym, where a mini court contains the former Detroit Pistons floor from the Pontiac Silverdome. Before moving to the Palace of Auburn Hills, the Pistons played at the Silverdome from 1978-88 and through a connection in Novi, Jakeway was able to get the court to Northern Michigan.
“Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Isaiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, the greatest of all time, sweat, dunked and played on this floor,” said Jakeway. “That’s outstanding and it’s in our little school in Northern Michigan. This is a piece of history.”
Through all the improvements and new features, Jakeway hopes it becomes a place that kids and the community want to be and embrace it as a way to stay active and engaged in athletics.
He feels they’ve got something to be proud of now and a place they can really call home. Certainly something more than just a cement floor.
“We’ve got to give kids a reason and this is the reason now,” he added. “We’ve made it clear that this is important to us. This is my classroom. Clark Hewitt was my coach and without him and his classroom, I’m not here right now. I’m not the person I am right now. So it’s important to me.”
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor Light's Solid Rock Center completed, a rare gem at the D4 level
