2009 All Star Coach West
Assistant Coach Lenny Brinson
Traverse City West High School
Lenny is a 1963 graduate of Flat Rock HS where he played football, baseball and wrestled. After high school he attended Alpena Community College and then Eastern Michigan University where he played baseball football for one year. He also played semi-pro football for the Ypsilanti Vikings and the Michigan Indians for four years. He is currently a wrestling official and baseball umpire with the MHSAA.
Lenny began his football coaching career at Southgate Aquinas, then Woodhaven High School, and currently is at Traverse City West Middle School. He, Bill Hollenbeck and the local YMCA Youth Director Barb Beckett also helped start a Youth Pop Warner Football program in the Northwest. The league has grown from 8 teams and 120 kids to 86 teams and 2500 kids in just 13 years.
Lenny was very fortunate to get his start in coaching and to learn from and be mentored by some great coaches like, Dick Comar, Jim Buttson, Tom Mack, Keith Froelich and Ralph Carducci who are all in our MHSFCA Football Coaches Hall of Fame.
Lenny and his family moved to Traverse City in 1981. He works in the community and has been employed with Grand Traverse Auto for 23 years. He is also working in the Oil & Gas Industry. His wife of 29 years and best friend, Lynn, is an elementary school teacher for Traverse City Schools. They have two sons, Jeff is a graduate of Ferris State University, Marcus attends Columbia College in Chicago and a new grandaughter, Elsie (Jeff’s daughter) born in May 2009.
Coach Brinson said, “Coaching in this All Star Football Game and having an opportunity to work with and learn from other coaches in our association is truly my greatest honor in coaching. I am also looking forward to working with, coaching and getting to know some of the most talented kids from our state. It is a memory I will always have and an honor I will never forget.”