Mr. Basketball of Michigan
Each year the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school senior boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Michigan. The award is named in honor of the late Hal Schram, a sports writer at the Detroit Free Press who covered high school sports for 40 years before retiring in 1983.
The award has been given since 1981 by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan. Most of the award winners have gone on to play at the highest levels of college basketball, and many have gone on to play in the National Basketball Association.
Voting is done on a points system. Each voter selects first, second, and third-place votes. A player receives five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote, and one point for a third-place vote. The player who receives the most points receives the award. Only "actively coaching" BCAM members can vote. Beginning for the 2007 award, votes may only be cast for a predetermined group of five finalists, whereas in the past, the pool was unlimited.
Mr. Basketball winners
Retro Mr. Basketball winners
In 2010, the BCAM began a 10-year project to honor 'high school senior' boys basketball players from the period prior to the inception of the Mr. Basketball award. The initial awards were announced for players for the years ending in xxx0 - 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970 and 1980. In 2011, awards for next six corresponding 'seniors' for years ending in xxx1 - 1921, 1931, 1941, 1951, 1961, and 1971 - were named. This pattern continued through the year 2019 when the final award winners were selected for the seasons ending in xxx9.Year | Winner | High school | University |
1980 | Tim McCormick | Clarkston | Michigan |
1979 | Jay Smith | Mio AuSable High School | Bowling Green, Saginaw Valley State |
1978 | Trent Tucker | Flint Northwestern | Minnesota |
1977 | Earvin "Magic" Johnson | Lansing Everett | Michigan State |
1976 | Stuart House | Detroit Denby | Washington State |
1975 | Bruce Flowers | Berkley | Notre Dame |
1974 | Tony Smith | Saginaw | Nevada-Las Vegas |
1973 | Tom LaGarde | Detroit Catholic Central | North Carolina |
1972 | Larry Fogle | Detroit Cooley | Canisius |
1971 | Michael "Campy" Russell | Pontiac Central | Michigan |
1970 | Rick Drewitz | Garden City West | Kentucky |
1969 | Ernie Johnson | Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills | Michigan |
1968 | Ralph Simpson | Detroit Pershing | Michigan State |
1967 | Spencer Haywood | Detroit Pershing | University of Detroit |
1966 | Rudy Tomjanovich | Hamtramck | Michigan |
1965 | L. C. Bowen | Benton Harbor | Bradley |
1964 | Willie Betts | River Rouge | Bradley |
1963 | Craig Dill | Saginaw Arthur Hill | Michigan |
1962 | Ernie Thompson | Saginaw | Bradley |
1961 | Reggie Harding | Detroit Eastern | - |
1960 | Peter Gent | Bangor | Michigan State |
1959 | David Gaines | Detroit Northeastern | LeMoyne–Owen College |
1958 | Chet Walker | Benton Harbor High School | Bradley |
1957 | Ed Burton | Muskegon Heights | Michigan State |
1956 | Mel Peterson | Stephenson | Wheaton |
1955 | M. C. Burton Jr. | Muskegon Heights | Michigan |
1954 | Pete Tillotson | Ludington | Michigan |
1953 | Ron Kramer | East Detroit | Michigan |
1952 | Frank Tanana | Detroit St. Andrew | Cal State-Fulerton |
1951 | Webster Kirksey | Saginaw | Eastern Michigan |
1950 | Charlie Primas | Detroit Miller | Wayne State |
1949 | Ken Burrell | Hamtramck | Lawrence Tech |
1948 | Art McColgan | Saginaw SS Peter & Paul | Villanova |
1947 | Sammy Gee | Detroit Miller | |
1946 | Jack Forestieri | Benton Harbor | Notre Dame |
1945 | Bob Swanson | Lansing Sexton | |
1944 | Dick Rifenburg | Saginaw Arthur Hill | Michigan |
1943 | Don Boven | Kalamazoo Central | Western Michigan |
1942 | Larry Savage | Saginaw | Northwestern |
1941 | Don Osterman | Detroit St. Theresa | Villanova |
1940 | Ralph Gibert | Flint Northern | Michigan |
1939 | Gene Broene | Grand Rapids Christian | Calvin College |
1938 | John Maartens | Kalamazoo Central | |
1937 | Bob Osterman | Detroit St. Theresa | Notre Dame |
1936 | Charles Pink | Detroit Northwestern | Michigan |
1935 | John Zwier | Holland Christian | |
1934 | Earl Brown Jr. | Benton Harbor | Notre Dame |
1933 | Lincoln Dodson Truss | Flint Northern | |
1932 | Lowell Matteson | Portage | |
1931 | Edward Huttenga | Grand Haven | Western Michigan |
1930 | John Tooker | Kalamazoo St. Augustine | Michigan |
1929 | Lou Jagnow | Jackson | Carnegie Mellon University |
1928 | Francis 'Dink' Doolittle | Detroit Northwestern | |
1927 | Bill McCall | Muskegon | Dartmouth |
1926 | Roger Grove | Sturgis | Michigan State |
1925 | Joe Truskowski | Detroit Northeastern | Michigan |
1924 | Bennie Oosterbaan | Muskegon | Michigan |
1923 | Henry Schrumpf | Niles | Western Michigan |
1922 | Royal Cherry | Grand Rapids Union | Michigan |
1921 | George Haggarty | Ypsilanti | Michigan |
1920 | Harry Kipke | Lansing Central | Michigan |