MHSAA State Final: Division 4
Charlevoix Takes the Title One Year After Fatal Car Crash
By Tom Lang
Charlevoix golf head coach Doug Drenth will never forget the program’s first ever state championship – the Division 4 title earned by a 17-stroke margin at Forest Akers West in mid-June.
But thankfully, he has no memory of that ill-fated day in April, 2025, when he was at the wheel of the team van full of seven golf team members when it was struck by a man who crossed the center line fleeing the police in northern Michigan. That driver died.
Drenth took the brunt of the crash, but Joe Gaffney was also seriously injured and spent about a dozen days in the hospital. Both required surgeries and specialized physical therapy at a treatment center in Florida. An outpouring of prayers and financial support from the Charlevoix community and the ‘family’ of golfers across the country covered those extra costs.
Drenth is still in process for full recovery, but Gaffney made so much progress he was able to rejoin the basketball team for part of the winter season and then help the golf team to the state championship title. Bryce Boss led the team by tying individually for the championship, before getting knocked off in a playoff. Gaffney took 9th overall. In many ways, HE is the story for making such a miraculous return, physically and mentally.
“My wife and I, we just kind of realized that on the 13th of June (2025) is when I finally came home,” Drenth told me in a radio interview on The Long Drive. “You know, the accident was April 27th, and I was still in a wheelchair into July. And so yeah, it's hard because I really don't remember the accident at all – and I don't even remember much about the tournament at Arcadia. I just think our brains and our bodies protect us, and so thankfully I don't remember a lot. Unfortunately, the guys remember. There were eight of us in the van, seven players and myself, and they remember, and I kind of imagine sometimes how bad it is. But I also know that I don't want to remember sometimes.”
Drenth has had a hard time putting into words his and the team’s gratefulness to the community of Charlevoix and beyond for the support. But he sure has tried.
“It's overwhelming,” he said. “I mean, I truly believe it's a lot of the reason we're alive. I mean, we've had to fight a lot, and it's brought so much good out of something so bad. I mean, I can't put it into words. I'm just grateful. And it's not just Charlevoix, I mean the greater Michigan golf community. But more than anything, I'm just grateful we're still here and I was able to experience this. Like you said, what an amazing story.”
Drenth’s own son, Maxwell, was injured in the crash as well, and Doug said his son took 36 staples in his arm for healing, and still has plates and a chain in his arm. Despite those challenges, Maxwell, a junior, finished 47th overall for the team’s final score. Teammate Landen Whisler, also a junior, finished just outside the top 10 where he finished 12th.
“When I think about what Coach Drenth, his players, their families and the community went through over the last year it is a combination of heartbreak and profound happiness,” said Debbie Williams-Hoak, president of the Michigan golf coaches’ association. “Their story in my mind epitomizes what our high school golf community is all about. This story transcends a game and is real life. To see how Coach Drenth and his team overcame a tremendous tragedy and unthinkable adversity and to come back to win a state championship is something that we can be so genuinely happy for. It is beyond inspiring – it provides life changing opportunities to so many."
The Long Drive co-host Jack Ebling asked Drenth: Do you think there was divine intervention, fate, karma? Is there something else in play here besides swinging a club.
“For us, we knew we had a good chance,” Drenth replied. “I wouldn't say that we felt that we were a favorite. We felt like we’d be in that mix. It truly was magical. I mean… we knew we could go low. But I also feel like to do that when it's in the highest-pressure setting is pretty amazing for a group of high school kids.
“If it’s an intervention or something I'm going to have to ask God about that.”
Like I and many others have asked – when does the real-life movie start filming ?
