Class of 01



Glenn "Fuzz" Corey Troy	Robert Darbee Bay City Western	Ron Kunold Hemlock

(click on Inductee's name to read 'description')

Glenn Corey, Troy High School

Fuzz Corey went out for tennis at Royal Oak Kimball High School because he thought it would be the quickest way to gel a varsity letter. Through a series of circumstances and mishaps (a bout with mononucleosis was one of them). he didn't get that award until his senior year. Long after it would do him much good on the high school social scene. But of course, the experience was the start of something much bigger.

Some coaches start and end in one place. Sometimes, they establish a program in a school district that has never heard of the sport, nurture it from nothing to State power, set records, and retire as "Mr. Tennis" of their community.

Not so with Fuzz, whose journey was long and winding, very much a work in progress. He continued to develop his game at MSU without the aid of then-varsity men's coach Stan Drobac (who didn't seem interested in a 3rd doubles player). After graduation. he became boys varsity coach at Troy High School, quit to go back to grad school, resumed to coach boys JV at Troy, quit to teach college art history, returned as JV coach at Rochester Adams, and then went back to Troy High School, again as boys varsity coach. Recently, he took the opportunity to organize a new team at Dakota High School, to experience a starting over of sorts and "to see what life is like in Macomb County."

This is not the saga of a wandering, itinerant tennis bum who is "coach of all schools, master of none." Getting into the Hall of Fame involves, among other things, accomplishment and service. And while his record doesn't involve multitudes of conference and regional championships, insiders know that year-in and year-out Fuzz fielded skilled teams who competed against some of the best squads in the state. He regularly coached some of the best boys and girls in the state who didn't appear in the final tournament because they competed in regional tournaments against the likes of Bloomfield Hills Lahser, Rochester and Rochester Adams, Birmingham Seaholm and Groves, Brother Rice and Marian, and Troy Athens.

In addition, these regional tournaments, annually some of the strongest in the state, were very often managed by none other than Fuzz, whose soft-spoken authority has been praised far and wide. In fact. a typical season will see him presiding over one or more Saturday events, a league tournament, and a JV league tournament. He seats on the MHSAA Rules Committee, has been on the MHSAA seeding committee for a number of years, and is on the MHSTeCA board of directors. For the past two years, he has designed the cover of our association's directory.

Learning for Fuzz, it seems, has never stopped. He has attended numerous coaches and teaching professional clinics, became a certified member of the United States Professional Tennis Association, and worked with some of the best players in his area in the summertime as a coach of the Southeastern Michigan Junior Davis Cup team. He plays for USTA summer teams, still plays tournament tennis, and has a SEMTA ranking in the Men's 45s. He has attended the U.S. Open several times, been there to see the Canadian Open, and even journeyed to see a WTA tournament in Kitzbuhl, Austria.

Induction into the Hall of Fame, undoubtedly is just a pause in Fuzz's journey. Not one to sit still for long, he will continue to refine an already impressive set of coaching skills, improve an already competent game, and serve in a variety of capacities, not heretofore attempted. Truly a work in progress, he is asked to pause long enough to accept our congratulations and receive a plaque that commemorates extraordinary accomplishment and service.

Bob Darbee, Bay City Handy, John Glenn, Western

At first glance - especially if the glance is at the statistics - Bob Darbee's record as a high school tennis coach is not the stuff of legends. While coaching at three different Bay City area high schools during 25 years, he directed teams that won less than half of their matches - 147 dual wins as against 163 losses - and qualified for state competition but twice as a regional runner-up.

But as anyone who knows him can testify, Darb's influence went far beyond the numbers. An accomplished tennis player from East Jordan who was a Class C state champion in 1955, he took his considerable skills to a community that was blessed neither with facilities nor with tennis tradition. Bay City Handy had only two courts, Bay City John Glenn had none, and Bay City Western had but four, yet despite these handicaps, Darb left quite a legacy.

Bob, who played No.1 singles at both Alma College and Central Michigan University, succeeded in making tennis fun by employing many unique ideas for practice sessions and matches. As a physical education teacher and swim coach, he recruited strong athletes to fill out teams, then set about teaching them another lifetime sport.

In Darb's words, "incentives were all over the place." He had a pack of tickets printed up. lf you won a match 0-0, you got a ticket for a Big Mac. If you won 0-1, your ticket was for a cheeseburger. An overhead that bounced over the back fence got you a coke. The list went on and on.

But Darb's efforts went beyond ticketed incentives. He frequently spent weekends traveling to tournaments and bought his team food after road trips. He arranged indoor court time and then picked his kids up on a daily basis to transport them to better practice courts. Typically, he once handed one of his players $20 of his personal money to buy much-needed replacements for some very worn tennis shoes. Indeed, players describe Bob using such adjectives as "kind," "caring," "competitive," "humorous," "intelligent," "calming," "insightful," "humorous," and "dedicated."

"One of a kind" according to Western High School principal Alan L. Bryant, Darb is no stranger to Hall of Fame honors. He was inducted into the Michigan High School Coaches Association in 1998 in recognition of 40 years as a swim coach whose teams won 419 meets, 15 conference championships and three Top Ten finishes. He was inducted into the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and received the Michigan High School Swim Coaches Association's highest honor: the Matt Mann award, in 1988.

Typically self-effacing, Darb gives credit not to himself but instead to several athletic directors and principals with whom he has worked, in part because "they put up with my asking forgiveness instead of permission." An innovator, he represents the "ultimate quality coach."

Ron Kunold, Hemlock High School

The numbers: 21 years as boys coach, 3 as girls. Total record: 2O8-40-5. Teams finished 5th in the state in 1993 & 97, 6th in 1992, 9th in 1999, and 10th in 1991 & ‘95. MHSTeCA’s Coach of the Year in 1991.

But Ron Kunold’s impact on the tiny farming community of Hemlock goes far, far beyond the numbers. Consider the overwhelming testimony:

In my eyes, he has been the best coach I have ever seen through all my sports experiences. Mr. Kunold has been there when I have needed someone to talk with and someone to help me progress in my favorite game. He taught me how to coach myself.
That summer and the summers that followed, Coach was on the phone and knocking on doors. He contacted team members, recruits anyone who wanted to play. If he couldn’t get a team together, he’d play one on one.
I couldn’t afford to pay the steep cost of participating in high school tennis. Coach Kunold realized the situation and found a “sponsor” (which I still believe was mainly himself) to front the money for me to join the tennis team.
He would take us to professional tennis events, to a tennis club for extra hitting, or even with his family on a fishing trip.
I live in Hemlock right across the street from the tennis courts and there are not too many days that he isn’t there working with someone, whether it is someone on his roster or just a local town kid hitting on the board.
There would be nights where he would work with students individually until dark if they were willing to put the time into their game. Coach Kunold used to open his home to us, share a pizza at his house with us the night before a tournament. He used to loan out his many racquets to students who didn’t have one or if they were waiting for theirs to be restrung.
I have watched him stay up to the wee hours of the morning trying to help one of his players through personal difficulties or fulfilling his coach supervisory duties at an overnight tennis meet. Or I could tell you about the numerous community tennis “fun days” and cookouts that Ron helped to plan and organize as a way of giving back to the community by creating a positive environment where kids could belong.
There has hardly been a time that one of his players has called and Ron was not willing to go up and spend two hours or three hours of his own time to work with them.
My coach (Ron Kunold) begged me for three years until he got me out to play. He made a two and a half hour call and wouldn’t hang up until I told him I’d come out. Now I’m glad he did it.
In a small farming community, I have and will continue to think of Ron Kunold as the Pied Piper of Hemlock tennis.
In 1986, Ron took my husband’s 14 year old brother “under his wing” after his father died of cancer. He guided and encouraged him into becoming a fine athlete. Due to Mr. Kunold’s assistance, he won many tournaments and had several jobs at various tennis facilities to earn money for his college education.
I find it amazing that he can take players that have never picked up a racquet until high school and have many of them competing in the state tournament by the time they graduate.
I have known Ron at Hemlock High School since my school days in 1971 and can truly say I have I never seen a coach put in as much time as he does with the kids.
We have lost track of the number of times Ron has called our house asking the boys to play tennis, join tournaments, or attend camp. He has restrung racquets the evening before a tournament and assisted with court time.
Although I have played for many dedicated coaches in basketball, volleyball, and track, I have never seen this quality. He never says he is too busy, or can’t take it that day.
Even as I am writing this letter, I have just returned from morning drills with him and several of my friends. Darkness forced us to come inside for the night. Although I’m sure if he could find a way around that, he would have. I have personally practiced with him at all times of the day; from sunrise to sunset.
For me, this letter is a very delayed thank you to a man who has unselfishly dedicated himself to the sport of tennis, who has given enormously of himself in patience, talent and time. He is a treasure to the game as well as the citizens of Hemlock and I've no doubt his legacy will remain long after he retires.

It is the enormous privilege of the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association to extend that legacy with induction into our Hall of Fame.