Brosovich utlitizes height advantage to shine for GV

Apr. 6—You can't teach height, which is one reason so many high school basketball coaches patrol a school's hallways in search of tall students.

One day a sharp-eyed Grand Valley coach spotted an unfamiliar face in the hallway. To his delight, the coach had to glance upward to look Mike Brosovich in the eye.

Brosovich remembers it this way.

"I started playing basketball just to make friends in a new school," he said. "As a little kid I played football in Chardon's Lions Club program and played baseball in the Munson Baseball League.

"My parents were divorced and my mom had custody during the week. When she moved to the Grand Valley School District in seventh grade, it made more sense to go to Grand Valley than drive back to Chardon. I was in between my sports I played growing up.

"At that time I had a growth spurt and was taller than most kids my age. The new tall kid was encouraged to play basketball and I thought I knew nobody in this school and knew nothing about basketball. Prior to that year, I may have played a dozen games of HORSE and that's it."

The first beneficiary of the Mustangs' new find was Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Famer Mick Zigmund, who coached seventh grade basketball for Grand Valley at the time.

Then came Mike Dingman in the eighth grade, Shane Blanford when he was a freshman and Russ Bell for the JV team. By the time he reached varsity status with ACBF Hall of Famer Tom Henson, Brosovich had developed his skills and was a proven commodity.

"I think all of them added a little piece of their personalities and work ethic to me and the guys that I played with," Brosovich said of his coaches.

From never having played the game, Brosovich, a 2001 Grand Valley graduate, improved enough to become Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County Co-Player of the Year with Conneaut's Jeff Dinger in 2000-2001. He will be inducted with 10 other men and women into the ACBF Hall of Fame during its induction ceremony on Sunday.

At 6-foot-6m Brosovich played the post for the Mustangs. Zach Baker and Chad Limestall were the point guards, he recalls, with a host of juniors that included Nick Smith and Greg Moyer contributing to the team.

As his coach, Henson had a big effect on Brosovich.

"He was a great person and was always there if you needed something," Brosovich said. "He would find a way to help you out. I remember once we had a snow day and we still had practice.

"I must have not had a driver's license yet because he came and picked me up in Hartsgrove for practice, but before we went back to the gym we had to swing by coach Bell's place and dig him out of the snow.

"When I was a kid coach Henson was a 'You either hated him or loved him' guy. As an adult, I reflect back on it and those who hated him also were guys that didn't want to put the time and effort into the game. In college football and as an assistant coach, in high school football, you hear the chatter of guys saying they don't like coach because of this and that ... but again you see those are the guys that are not giving their all when it comes to it."

Brosovich admits to being a person that doesn't dwell on past achievements.

"I was a do-it -and-forget-it kind of player," he said. " When seeing old friends they will remind me and say things like, 'Remember when?'

"The only game that bothered me for a long time was a game, I believe it was against Ashtabula Harbor, maybe. There was another post player that had a chip on his shoulder and the whole game was very physical and I had four fouls on me. I went for a loose ball at mid-court and got there. He jumped on top of me and I twisted to get rid of the ball, and the referee said I had thrown a punch. He ejected me.

"I wish he would have just given me a foul and I would have been sitting and not out for the next two games. We watched the tape over and over again in the library and I'm not sure how anyone thought a punch was thrown. It was tough sitting on the bench for two games. In one of those games I had to sit for was against Bloomfield, which at the time was not a very good team, I don't think they had a player over 6-feet tall. I remember the guys saying, 'If you were playing we would have fed you the ball in the paint until coach T, took you out. '"

During his career at Grand Valley, Brosovich became the school's third-leading rebounder with 495 (Jeremiah Arrington recently passed him) and was 10th in scoring with 855 points.

In his senior year, Brosovich averaged 22.3. points, 11.0 rebounds and .9 blocks per game. He was named first -team all-conference, all-county and all-district, in addition to being third-team All-Ohio.

"I always joke with my eighth-graders when they ask me if I was good at basketball, saying 'I was okay. I was third team all-state,'" Brosovich said "Some guy named LeBron James was first team and player of the year in my division when I was a senior.

Brosovich also played football and baseball at Grand Valley.

"I had a very successful football career in high school," he said. "Baseball was the sport I really enjoyed playing, but I was an average player in my opinion."

The first in his family to go to college, Brosovich found making a selection as mysterious a process as most of us who found ourselves in that situation.

"I had no idea how anything really worked," he said. "I went on a handful of college visits. Colleges were looking at me for football and basketball. They were mostly OAC [Ohio Athletic Conference] schools and small colleges like Hiram to play basketball. I had a couple recruitment letters from Buffalo and Colorado, but no one kicking the door down and no coaches were sitting in my living room."

He wound up going to Baldwin-Wallace University to play football.

"But I really didn't know what I wanted to do and I thought at that time I'd have more opportunities for internships closer to Cleveland," Brosovich said. "I ended up missing playing basketball and I stopped in and asked if I could play my sophomore year."

Brosovich played one year of basketball at B-W, his sophomore year, but continued to play football there.

"I broke my ankle going into my senior year and sat out," he said. "I was able to shift my schedule around, delay graduation for one more semester and play football my fifth year.

"By that time, I had chosen my major. I graduated with a bachelor of science degree in middle school education with a focus on science, social studies and reading in 2006."

But after graduation, he found the teaching market flooded and it was tough to find a job.

"I didn't use my degree right out of college," Brosovich said. "While in college, I was working for Integrated Handling and Storage Resources, which was a small company specializing in the design and installation of custom storage and retrieval systems.

"I was responsible for going into old warehouses or companies that were relocated to dismantle their shelving and storage units and then reassemble in new locations. The pay was great and I was able to travel across the country for some jobs.

"I enjoyed the west side of town so I was looking in that area [for a teaching job]. Eventually, I met my future wife and she was also looking for a teaching position, I remember sitting in the Lakewood Library with both of us with laptops filling out application after application.

"Her family was from a little town southeast of Columbus called Lithopolis. We decided, 'Let's start applying in Central Ohio and if we land something we'll move down there and stay with her parents until we find our own place and go from there.'"

But the couple had to go even a little farther south to find work as teachers.

Mike landed his first teaching job at Chillicothe City Schools as an eighth-grade social studies teacher, while also serving as an assistant football coach and eighth-grade girls basketball.

"I was at Chillicothe for three years," he said. "Then a friend suggested I come coach with him at Amanda Clearcreek. I got a fourth-grade reading teacher job.

"Eventually a position opened up in eighth-grade science. I took that position and stayed in that position until COVID. During the pandemic, I became an instructional leader, mainly helping teachers to develop lessons for them to teach online. After a brief stint as an instructional mentor, I was hired as the elementary principal at Amanda Clearcreek Elementary School.

"I have the privilege of working with over 350 students in my 3-5 building," he said. "This is my third year as principal."

Hannah didn't find anything that first year and wound up subbing in Chillicothe, Circleville, and Teays Valley.

The following year she was hired for a third-grade position at Teays Valley Local Schools.

"We got married in 2011," Mike said. "We built a house just outside of Amanda and have four kids — Arlo,11, Cecilia, 9, Dean 7, and Max 5.

"Arlo enjoys playing basketball and baseball. His recreation baseball team has been very successful the past two years, winning the league championship twice in three years.

"Cecilia is a very talented artist and loves to dabble in everything. She is currently taking guitar lessons. She enjoys playing basketball and softball.

"Dean is our future linebacker. He is a spitting image of his father. He plays flag football and has a knack for finding the ball. He also plays basketball and baseball.

"Max is our youngest and he is a bundle of excitement. He is not interested in playing organized sports at this time. He has some funny one-liners as to why this is not the year. He is just as athletic as his older siblings in the backyard or basement."