Top 100 male and top 100 female student-athletes honored during CHSL’s centennial-year Prep Bowl
DETROIT — After being an all-American wrestler, winning two track state titles for shot put, starring in football at the University of Michigan and playing four seasons in the National Football League, there aren’t too many settings in which Mike Martin may be awestruck.
But we might have found one.
As part of the Catholic League’s centennial celebration, Martin, a 2008 graduate of Novi Detroit Catholic Central, was named as one of the 100 Greatest Male Athletes in CHSL History — and the honor was not lost on him.
“A lot of gratitude goes into this. It’s an opportunity to look inward and toward those who helped me get to this point,” Martin said. “The guys who I watched growing up, before me. Guys who were there with me, making me better, keeping me accountable; and the guys who came after me, when you’re looking to see how they’re upholding all the philosophies and the things you care about as a person that we were all taught. It’s a beautiful full-circle thing that I’m really fortunate to be a part of.”
Based on a nomination process and reviewed by a dedicated subcommittee, the CHSL generated lists of its top 100 male and top 100 female athletes in league history. The breadth of honorees range from 1938 (Vince Banonis, football, baseball) to 2025 (Trey McKenney, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, basketball, and Kaitlyn Pallozzi, Farmington Hills Mercy, softball).
The Catholic League unveiled the lists and introduced honorees during the Prep Bowl on Oct. 24 at Ford Field. About 50 honored athletes attended the event, which included a reception on the club level of the stadium.
During the reception, Martin struck up a conversation Casey Rogowski, who had graduated from Catholic Central nine years earlier. Rogowski was a part of five Shamrock teams that won state championships: two in football, two in wrestling and one in baseball. He went on to play professional baseball for 10 years.
“Your names are with a Frank Tanana or an Al Moran, or a Mark Messner, Chris Sabo — all these guys who came before you, I think that’s why you wanted to excel,” Rogowski said. “You saw their picture, and you wanted your picture on the wall, too, so to be a part of those names, and among those guys, it’s really a blessing.”
Rogowski’s school hall of fame biography lists him as “arguably the greatest athlete in CC history,” but he was humbled to be among those with a similar level of success during last Saturday’s event.
“It’s a moniker, it’s something somebody said, but it’s great to be in great company,” he said. “To see these guys come after me — with Mike, or if it’s Gideon or Samson Gash, or anybody on the baseball team — watching these guys succeed is greater than anything than you could have put on my name. Watching these guys come through the school like we did, and then succeed themselves, is really great. I’m a big fan of Mike’s. Watching his career at CC was a joy, and then to see him to go on past high school and do what he did, I’m a big fan.”
Those kind of success stories will influence Catholic League student-athletes for the next 100 years, CHSL director Mike Evoy told the crowd gathered at the reception.
“These kids want to win state championships, get drafted, go play in the NFL, and it’s because you guys were directly or indirectly role models for all those kids,” he said. “The ones that are on the field, the ones that are getting ready to kick off at 7:30, and even the little pee-wees that kicked off at 8 a.m. this morning — they’re all part of this because of you.”
Martin says Catholic League athletes have a special bond — regardless if they were teammates, opponents or connected in some other way by their shared experiences.
“As you get older and you meet people from other places, and you go and you play at Michigan, you play in the NFL like I had the blessing to be able to, you meet guys who went to Orchard Lake, Brother Rice, or other schools in the Catholic League,” he said. “T.J. Lang’s a great friend of mine, and Josh Ross, who played at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, he’s also a friend of mine now. There are guys who are currently now at Michigan who played in the Catholic League — and you have this connection. I might not know them personally, but (if) I hear they went to CC, or went to Brother Rice or De La Salle — now we’re talking and it’s a special thing.”
While Martin made it clear to Rogowski that he would trade a couple of his individual state championships for the team titles that Rogowski helped the Shamrocks win for football, he also made it clear that he wouldn’t trade his experience being a Catholic League student-athlete.
“It’s a very special night; the recognition is something everyone here has earned, and I’m just proud to be part of it,” Martin said. “You really are a product of your environment, and I’m a testament to that.”
