Petoskey Athletic Hall of Fame announces 2022 class of inductees

Athletic programs as great as that at Petoskey High School don’t just happen.

To build a program that regularly competes at a high level in every sport like Northmen teams do, it takes administrators, athletes and coaches all on the same page and dedicated to their craft. It takes those behind the scenes working scoring tables and scoreboards and even some good press to build excitement and engage the community.

For decades – dating well over 60 years – Petoskey athletics and its fans have been lucky to enjoy a program with all of those key pieces.

But, while the fans and those around the community that enjoy Northmen athletics may feel lucky, luck has nothing to do with foundation building and the people it takes to keep it going.

It’s hard work, knowing what it takes to succeed and a labor of love in all aspects of the job.

Anyone who has been around the Petoskey athletic program over the last few decades could easily see all those things working in unison, from the administrators, athletes and coaches, to the announcers, score keepers and press working the games.

Now, legends of their trade that helped build Petoskey into what it is today will enter the Petoskey Athletic Hall of Fame together as the 2022 induction class.

That class will include Dave Moyer, a former athlete and longtime scorekeeper; Roy Harvey, a longtime announcer and coach at Petoskey; Karen Langs, a PHS girls tennis coach who spent three decades in the positon; Jerry Rosevear, a Petoskey graduate and sports writer and sports editor of the Petoskey News-Review for over 40 years; Gary Hice, an Athletic Director within the Northmen program for 30 years; and Dennis Starkey, a longtime boys basketball coach that’s entered multiple Michigan basketball hall of fames.

Dedication touches only the tip of the iceberg for all of the aforementioned and now the PHS Athletic Hall of Fame is dedicated to giving each their deserving place among the hall of fame and inside the Petoskey High School gym.

The 2022 Petoskey Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Friday, Feb. 11 during halftime of the boys basketball matchup against Alpena, which will have a 7 p.m. tip.

The 2022 class comes after a sabbatical year in 2021, as shutdowns and concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic were ongoing.

The last class inducted came back in 2020, which included former standout track and cross country field athletes Anne (VanDam) Fleming, Katy Hollbacher and Sarah (Jaquith) Myers.

The 2022 class is made up of names, faces and even one golden voice all well known around the Petoskey community.

Moyer was a standout athlete across multiple sports at Petoskey High School, graduating in 1968 with nine varsity letters across three sports. He earned three letters each in football, basketball and track, while earning all-state honors in football and basketball.

The Northmen football team went 6-2 in Moyer’s final season with the team, where he starred as a running back and defensive back, while his senior season Northmen basketball team captured a district championship and fell in the regional by just three points. He also set three scoring records in basketball at the time of graduation.

After graduation, Moyer then went on to compete in both basketball and football at Central Michigan University.

When he returned to Petoskey, Moyer stayed actively involved within the athletic program as a scorekeeper at football and basketball games for over 30 years.

Those who don’t recognize Roy Harvey may just need to close their eyes and listen, as the former longtime teacher and coach was also the voice of Northmen games for decades.

Harvey spent 37 years as a teacher at Petoskey Middle School and was the head coach of both the wrestling team in the late 70s and baseball team for six years in the 80s.

When he hung up the whistle, Harvey picked up the microphone and became the announcer for all Northmen football and basketball games up until 2015. He also sang the National Anthem at those sporting events and many others, which he currently still does on occasion.

For Langs, the PHS Hall of Fame honor will come as her second time entering a hall, as she’s already a member of the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame.

Langs was with the Petoskey girls tennis program from the start, spending 25 years as its head coach. She helped the team earn four regional titles and a 163-57 record in dual meets.

She earned the Class B Coach of the Year honor in 1985 and was also awarded the Stanley Malless Award from the coaches association for her service in development and organization of tennis around the area.

In the days before everyone turned to Twitter for scores and searched online for stories following games, everyone waited anxiously for Rosevear’s write-ups in the News-Review.

For 44 years, Rosevear artfully crafted pieces on the Northmen as a writer and sports editor for the paper, covering the school he graduated from in 1958.

In his time with the News-Review, Rosevear covered over a dozen area programs, though focused most of his attention on the Northmen.

He earned numerous Associated Press and Michigan Press Association awards during his time and in 2008, became the first newspaper writer to ever receive the Bush Award from the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA).

In December of 2005, Rosevear retired from the News-Review having covered 279 of 281 home and away Petoskey football games.

Hice spent exactly 30 years as the Petoskey High School Athletic Director before retiring in 2014, hiring some of the greatest PHS coaches to come through the program, including Starkey.

During his tenure as athletic director, Northmen teams won multiple state championships in wrestling, boys soccer, boys tennis and boys and girls skiing, while also earning state runner-up finishes and countless regional and district titles.

Petoskey added five athletic teams under Hice’s leadership and made countless improvements to its athletic facilities, keeping up with the likes of downstate powers.

In 2016, Hice was awarded the Charles E. Forsythe Award from the MHSAA, was named the Athletic Director of the Year from the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) in 2011 and earned the George Lovich Award of Merit from the MIAAA in 2008. He also received the Bush Award from the MHSAA in 2002.

Those who have followed basketball around Northern Michigan over the last decade or two know the name Starkey quite well, with many opposing coaches happy to see him in the stands and away from the Northmen bench now.

Starkey spent 32 years as the head boys basketball coach at Petoskey, earning a career record of 515-211, with his teams winning over 70 percent of their games in his career.

His teams made two Breslin Center runs, four regional championships and 21 members of his teams earned all-state recognition.

He is a member of both the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Fame and Michigan High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

When he stepped down from coaching in 2018, his 553 all-time wins ranked 16th in the history of Michigan high school boys basketball.

The Petoskey High School Athletic Hall of Fame committee is comprised of Cindy Okerlund, Erin Luckhardt, Gavin Fralick, Bess Bleyaert, Becky Friske, Dave Farley, Brent Hewitt and current PHS Athletic Director Joel Dohm as a non-voting member.

Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey Athletic Hall of Fame announces 2022 class of inductees