Kelly Gerritsen-Michano was on her way to Thunder Bay with her sister Carrie in March when her phone rang.
“It was my former coach Deb McPherson and she said to me ‘Kelly, are you sitting down?’ Gerritsen-Michano said. “I told her, ‘Well, I actually am as I’m in the passenger seat right now.’”
McPherson soon informed Gerritsen-Michano that she had been selected for induction into the Lake Superior State University Lakers athletic hall of fame.
The Marathon product had played for the Lakers volleyball team from 1985 to 1989.
“When she told me that I was going into the hall I said ‘No way,” Gerritsen-Michano said. “I looked over to my sister and she had tears running down her face.
“We were both crying and screaming the rest of the way. It was a pretty awesome moment.”
Gerritsen-Michano was officially enshrined in a ceremony on Oct. 14 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
She was joined in the 2023 class by Red Lake’s Mark Vermette, who played for the Lakers hockey team from 1985 to 1988.
“I used to watch Mark and his team back in the day, so it was pretty amazing that two of us Canadians finally got on that induction wall,” Gerritsen-Michano said.
Gerritsen-Michano played a variety of sports growing up and also suited up with the Lakers softball squad during her time at the school.
In her Grade 12 year, she won a silver at OFSAA with Marathon High School and was named most valuable player at the prestigious Madawaska Volleyball Camp, which is located about two hours west of Ottawa.
It was her all-star team performance at the Lake Superior State Invitational Tournament in February 1985 that put her on the radar of coach McPherson and eventually led her to joining the Lakers that fall.
“My coach and my teammates allowed me to settle in pretty well once I got to Lake State,” Gerritsen-Michano said.
“The Soo is a small place too, not as small as Marathon mind you, so there wasn’t a total shell shock as there would have been if I had gone elsewhere.
“Plus, it was only four hours away from home too, so I was able to make a few trips back home during the season.”
Gerritsen-Michano made an immediate impact for the Lakers as she led the team in kills, attack percentage, service aces and blocks as a freshman.
In her senior campaign, she earned first-team GLIAC (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) honours and had a conference-best 454 kills, which is the second most in a single season by a Lakers player.
She currently sits eighth in program history for kills in a career with 946 and her 33-kill showing against Grand Valley State on Oct. 22, 1988, is tied for the second-most ever by a Lakers player.
“Now that some time has passed and I looked at my stats again, I kind of realized, ‘Hey, you know what, I did pretty good,’” Gerritsen-Michano said with a laugh.
While the induction weekend was spent catching up with old teammates and friends, Gerritsen-Michano was grateful to share the moment with her husband Daniel and their daughters Kailee, Kiara and Danielle.
“We’re an athletic family and I’ve enjoyed both coaching them and now playing alongside them,” Gerritsen-Michano said.
“It’s kind of come full circle in a way.”
