One of Detroit's finest is now on the sidelines. But football has been in James Reynolds Jr.'s blood for virtually all 64 of the years he's been living, and the retired coach from Detroit Martin Luther King plans to be involved in the game he loves as much as possible.
He's the only coach to lead a Detroit Public School League (PSL) team to a state title, and retired a few days before the season started in late August.
Reynolds, 64, coached King for 35 years and had a 253-112 record. His team won the Division 2 title in 2007. King was 14-0 that season and beat Midland 47-21 in the championship game at Detroit's Ford Field. On the morning of that game, Reynolds suffered chest pains and was taken to a local hospital. He was released and able to coach the game.
But Reynolds suffered a stroke on May 6. On the morning of King's title game against Midland, Reynolds complained of chest pains and was taken to the hospital. He was released and made it to the game minutes before kickoff.
“We won many championships,” Reynolds said. “I had good people around me and some good kids.”
Reynolds, who grew up in Georgia, had a lot of success at Detroit King in the past 23 seasons. Since 1986, the school won nine PSL titles and reached the final six other times.
He later came to coach football as an assistant at Detroit Persching, Detroit Central and Detroit McKenzie before starting his 35-year stint at King. He had 41-year coaching run overall.
“They had a coach who went to the college level,” said Reynolds, who took the MLK job when he was at McKenzie. “There was a period of rebuilding. For eight years we struggled.”
But then Reynolds was able to turn King into a Detroit powerhouse. Dale Harvel, an assistant at King for 24 years, was named to replace Reynolds.
“He did a heckuva job in a very difficult situation,” said Larry Merx, an assistant football coach at Dexter High and executive director of the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association. “We know the difficult situation with the Detroit Public Schools. He's made the most out of that situation.”
Reynolds recalls that as a coach, his emphasis was on defense first. Football players now are better than they were 30 years ago, he admits.
“But we had some good players all along the line,” he said.
Perhaps the best player Reynolds coached at Martin Luther King was Darnell Dickerson, an all-stater in football, basketball and baseball who played football at the University of Pittsburgh.
Reynolds said he'll miss the players, and especially “watching them mature and grow.” Reynolds is a retired teacher at the school. Along with watching football, he's focusing on physical therapy. He misses coaching but said, “I want to get well. So I need to get rest. I wasn't getting well staying on the field.”
Does he miss it?
“Of course,” Reynolds replied. “I've been doing it all my life as a player or a coach.”
The quarterback factory
Farmington Hills Harrison has produced several all-state quarterbacks over the years, such as Drew Stanton, who went on to start at Michigan State and was a No. 2 draft choice by the Detroit Lions in 2006. But it appears that John Herrington, coach at the school since 1970, has found another gem with Vince Salatino, who last weekend competed 13 passes for 276 yards. The Hawks are 2-0.
“This is his first year as a starter,” Herrington said. “He threw for 240 the first game. He didn't play hardly last year. He threw 10 passes.”
Herrington admitted that Salatino's performance has been “a pleasant surprise. I didn't think he'd be that good. We have great receivers at Harrison this year. They really can go get the ball. They don't drop any and they can outjump people for them.
“He's starting to throw good backside patterns. We run a lot of play-action passes. He's been faking the ball really well. We're trying to establish the run better. We think we can run the ball better than we have.”
Mr. Explosion
Senior Kyle Sampson returned a kickoff 93 yards to lift Dearborn Divine Child to a 42-14 victory last week over Pontiac Notre Dame. Sampson plays receiver and cornerback. He's also caught two touchdown passes so far this season. As cornerback he hasn't allowed a touchdown pass. It was his first-ever kickoff TD return. But he also returned one for 73 yards, despite not scoring.
The team's wedge blocking opened up the explosive runs, the Divine Child coaching staff said.
“He got into the wedge up the middle and broke to the sidelines,” said Divine Child coach Jack Masserang. “He had a lot of injuries last year and didn't perform the way we expect him to because of that. We did expect him to do this on kickoffs and be our go-to receiver. “
Divine Child quarterback Marty Mitchell, who has 4.5-second 40-yard dash speed, has gotten interest from Bowling Green and Wisconsin. He is 14-of-23 for 285 yards and four TDs with no interceptions.
Other recent stars
• Michael Burise had four sacks in Detroit Osborn's 20-0 victory over Detroit Kettering.
• Jordan Sanders returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown in Rochester Adams' 49-0 win over Rochester Hills Stoney Creek.
• Kenny Dennis and Mustapha Bazzi combined for 233 rushing yards in Dearborn's 42-0 victory over Dearborn Heights Crestwood. They also teamed up for four TDs.
A dream matchup
Two of West Michigan's most successful football schools, Rockford and Lowell, have arranged to open the seasons in 2011 and 2012 against each other. Since 2002, Lowell has won two state titles. Rockford has won three state crowns since 2004.
