"The Big Dog" Mitch Vosburg

You know, this job can be a lot of fun.

I mean, I get paid to watch high school sports and create something that is limited by only the English language and my imagination.

I also get paid to ask questions. But now, I’m forced to ask myself a question. It’s a tricky one, and one that, quite honestly, I didn’t think I’d have to answer for a little while.

How do you say goodbye to a place that magically served as everything I needed out of life?

Today, I’m announcing that after two life-changing years I am leaving The Daily Press at the end of July. And while I’m sad that I have to say goodbye to many people and families I’ve built amazing relationships with, I am beyond grateful for what I’ve been able to accomplish during my time here.

See, this job gave me an opportunity to heal emotionally and mentally. I moved here mentally and emotionally shattered without knowing a person, where to get my car fixed or where the nearest grocery store was.

Nothing about the early stages was easy. But hey, I’m still alive, right?

This job also gave me an opportunity that I didn’t know. This job gave my life the opportunity to come full circle in more ways than one.

Let’s go back to the year 2004 for example. More specifically, November 26, the day after Thanksgiving. My Climax-Scotts Panthers brought home their lone state championship in the Pontiac Silverdome.

It was a 42-8 win which united my hometown, a town one square mile with a blinking red light in the middle of town.

The team who C-S defeated? Crystal Falls Forest Park.

My first official taste of U.P. sports. The black jerseys with wicked striped socks which felt like they were worn by a witch in “The Wizard of Oz” are forever burned into my brain.

Fast forward a little over 20 years and there I am in Eddie Chambers Gymnasium. The Trojans knocked off Norway 58-35 to claim the district title before reaching the state semifinal round.

That memory from 2004 came full circle.

Crystal Falls Forest Park senior Kevin Giuliani holds the district championship trophy while being mobbed by students after a district championship game win over Norway on Feb. 28, 2025 at Eddie Chambers Gymnasium. (“The Big Dog” Mitch Vosburg/Daily Press)

I can also take you back to March 12, 2012. For the first time in my school’s history, the boy’s basketball team advanced past the state quarterfinal round. For the first time ever, they were playing at the Breslin Center.

My Panthers won 52-44 as Aaron Cook and Malachi Satterlee, both standing a 6-foot-8, proved to be too much. The opponent — Carney-Nadeau, one of four teams in my coverage area I actually knew of when I first moved to take this position.

Again, full circle.

There’s also a core memory from Feb. 15, 2022. My first assignment as a rookie sports writer for the Manistee News Advocate. It was a girls basketball game between Bear Lake and Brethren.

And in typical Michigan fashion, the weather was cold, windy and snowy. My first trip down the twists and turns of Coates Highway felt like something out of a horror movie. I made that trip down Coates Highway a lot in my time there, but that first one always gives me the heebie jeebies looking back.

In the end Brethren won 44-14. I was low-key petrified to do postgame interviews with coaches. But that game welcomed me to their sports scene.

See Brethren, the former high school of James Earl Jones, had a good crop of female athletes. There was Halle Richardson, who went on to play softball collegiately.

There was Abby Kissling, now competing in track and field at Saginaw Valley State University. Maddy Biller, a self-taught thrower, now competes at Ferris State University.

It also so happens that one of the girls playing that night just so happens to play at the college level. That was Elly Sexton, a forward at Kirtland Community College. I had the chance to watch her play against Bay College at the end of January.

That moment came full circle. The circle is also frozen, but full.

Kirtland freshman Elly Sexton closes in on defense during a game against Bay College on Jan. 29, 2025 at Bay College Gymnasium. (“The Big Dog” Mitch Vosburg/Daily Press)

I can also tell you about my friend Alex.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic I worked as a delivery driver for Papa John’s. That period of time was when I was at rock bottom. It was a time when things felt like they couldn’t go right and where I felt like I didn’t have a friend in the world.

I did have one friend though, and it was Alex, our in-store ace. We bonded quickly over our love of baseball, especially the Detroit Tigers. As I departed that pizza shop to reclaim my life as a sports reporter at Central Michigan University, she fell in love with a guy named Gage.

On May 4, 2024 Alex and Gage got married. And luckily for me, I had the honor of performing the ceremony. Alex now runs that Papa John’s in Mount Pleasant, and they have their first child on the way.

That moment came full circle. The circle is also filled with sauce, cheese and pepperoni, but a circle nonetheless.

There was also the day before the wedding. The day where I went back to C-S to speak about my mental health. All of it.

There were at least three classes that heard me speak. One was a career development class taught by Kevin Langs, who sits in the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He’s still one of my biggest cheerleaders and still sends me a card on my birthday every year.

There was one of the classes taught by Josh Vick, my high school English teacher who I still keep in touch with. And while his fashion sense may be questionable, he was one of my favorite teachers ever.

Then there was a class taught by Lark Murphy. She retired at the end of this school year, and was the ultimate tough, old-school teacher. She was strict and thorough, but for reasons high school students couldn’t see yet. She played a huge role in preparing me for life after high school.

She also rarely pulled her classes out of the room for anything unless it was mandatory. But for some reason, she pulled her class out so they could hear my story.

I left my old hallways knowing deep down that I was one of the kids that made it to be successful, and that the teacher that was the bane of most students’ time at C-S showed me respect in a way I didn’t know could be shown.

And suddenly, everything from my days as a student at C-S came full circle.

And there’s also the most recent item. See, my journey as a sports reporter began at Central Michigan Life, CMU’s student operated media outlet. My confidence grew when covering CMU softball.

It was watching Hanna Warren in the circle and Maison Kalina assuming duties behind the plate. There were quite a few days spent at Margo Jonker Stadium.

Then we proceed to last month. Escanaba softball plays Hudsonville Unity Christian in the state quarterfinal round.

At Margo Jonker Stadium.

The Eskymos won 3-0 in eight innings. I remember interviewing Grayson LaMarche after the game. I forced her to chat with me inside CMU’s dugout. I mean, I forked over $40,000 to that school, and if we’re being honest the Taco Bell down the road probably swiped four figures off me too, how could I not do that in the dugout, right?

And as I gazed outward at the infield from the dugout, my time as a journalist at CMU came full circle.

Am I sad to leave? Yes, but that’s not entirely why I’m shedding tears.

I’m shedding tears because I made the most of this opportunity. I’m shedding tears because this chapter of my life, no matter how hard I try, will be one I never forget.

I’m shedding tears because I know that I left this place better than I found it. I’m shedding tears because no matter how hard times got, no matter what went wrong, no matter how bad life felt like it was bending me I did not break.

And for that, and all of you, I am grateful.