PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - A girls basketball team in the Grand Rapids area got a pep talk from a former player: a 104-year-old woman who played on the first squad at Comstock Park High School.
“That was kind of a new thing: basketball,” Madelyn Klenk said of the 1930 team.
WOOD-TV reports Klenk met Comstock Park players Friday as they snapped pictures and swapped stories.
She told them about the big plays and the best players.
My teammate “always knew where I was going to be, and she always handed me the ball and I made the basket,” Klenk said.
Players laughed when Klenk told them about tension with boys.
“Oh, the boys teams coach never liked us,” she said. “Us girls would win the game, and the boys would lose.”
Comstock Park athletic director Tony Petkus witnessed the visit. The Panthers later won their game, 40-33.
“I think that’s important for her to share those stories,” he said. “She’s got a lot of history.”
Klenk turns 105 in April.
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