Jay Stielstra - Legacy 2007

Jay grew up in Ludington, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan where he participated in Basketball and Track.  In 1955 he won the Yost Honor Award for scholarship and athletics and was the Big Ten long jump championship. 

 

In 1959 he became the head Football coach for the Ann Arbor Pioneers.  During his eight years here the Pioneers had fifty-one wins, twelve losses and one tie, three League Championships and one State Championship.  In 1962 he was selected Michigan HS Coach of the Year.  He authored a book:  Winning Michigan High School Football.  During his coaching years he also taught American History and other social studies.

 

Jay’s love of literature and Michigan’s great outdoors led him into song writing and theater.  Best known for his North Country Opera’s, he has written several other produced plays, including Tittabawassee Jane and Old Man In Love as well as countless songs.  He performs several times a year at Ann Arbor’s The Ark and the Old Town Tavern, as well as other venues around the state.