May 18, 1981 — Stock car racing made a successful return to the Escanaba Raceway and a trio of hometown drivers took the checkered flag in four races within their respective divisions. Duke Gardiner took the 20-lap late model feature ahead of Rick Pepin and Marquette’s Allan Yelle in front of a crowd of approximately 1,500.

Dale Peterson passed Tim Peterson in the sixth lap en route to winning the sportsman’s feature and Darrell Gagnon was the hobby stock feature winner, taking the lead in the second lap and holding off Chuck Dubord.

May 19, 1981 — The Escanaba boys retained their Upper Peninsula Class A-B golf title with 316 strokes. Runner-up Gladstone finished at 327 and Marquette placed third with 336. Esky’s Jeff Koch earned medalist honors with 75, followed by teammates Gary Greis 77 and Barry Nelson 78. John O’Leary was Gladstone’s leader at 79. He was followed by Pat Quinn 81 and Pete Peterson 82.

The Esky girls were also repeat winners at 396, followed by Menominee 405 and Marquette 423. Esky’s Kaye Corriveau shot 94, followed by Chris Martin 95 and Shelly Livermore 97. Gladstone was led by Lori Boutillier at 103.

May 21, 1981 — Jim Groos and Ray Payment of Escanaba paddled to victory in the Gwinn to Rock Canoe Race on the Escanaba River. Groos and Payment, winners of the cruising class, completed the course in 2:17.53, nearly eight minutes ahead of Joe Johnson and Kathy Palzewic of Menominee. Dennis Slaga and Mike Makosky placed third.

Tony DeGrand and Dave Carignan took the 18-foot standard hull division at 2:19.53, followed by Jim Larsen and Terry Brayak (2:20.89) and Bud Moll and Jeff Platske of Bruce Crossing (2:25.89).

May 23, 1981 — The Escanaba Eskymos were captured the U.P. Class A-B tennis title with 15 points. Marquette, which won the past 12 years, was runner-up this time at 13. They were followed by Gwinn 6, Menominee 4 and Gladstone 2.

Esky’s Dean Altobelli gained the No. 2 singles championship in a 6-4, 6-2 conquest of Marquette’s Bill Peterson. Mike Seymour and Ron Schwalbach topped Gladstone’s Todd Wulf and Bob Delisle 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 for the No. 2 doubles title and Mark McGovern and Roger Lueneburg defeated Gwinn’s Jeff Barr and Jeff Erickson 6-3, 6-3 for the No. 3 doubles championship.

May 18, 1996 — The Escanaba boys captured the Class A-B track and field championship with 73 points, followed by Kingsford 35, Menominee 34 and Gladstone 33.

Esky’s Jeff Hansen won pole vault at 12 feet, edging Gladstone’s Casey Young on a tie-breaker in the fog at Menominee. Nick Anderson won shot put (48-8) and Bob Kaikkonen copped discus (139-1). Ryan Horgan added a first in the 800 (1:34.82). Kevin Dufresne copped the 400 in a personal-best 52.59 and Josh Jupe captured long jump (21-1).

The Rapid River girls were crowned Class D regional track and field champions with 70 points. They were followed by Rock Mid Peninsula 48 and Bark River-Harris 22. Freshman Sara Boyer won the 100-meter dash in 13.52 seconds, 100 hurdles (16.75) and long jump (14-9). Stacey Boyer added a first in the 400 (1:04.8). Sarah Greenlund captured shot put with a school-record toss of 37 feet, one inch and Kristina Peltier copped discus at 114-10½.

Mid Pen’s Faye Peterson collected four firsts, taking the 800 (2:34.87), 1600 (5:49.83), 3200 (13:20.7) and anchoring the winning 3200 relay (11:01.53).

The Rapid River boys also won with 73 points, followed by Powers North Central 48 and Carney-Nadeau 26. Dave Larrabee paced the Rockets with victories in the 200 (24.39) and 400 (53.19) and anchored the winning sprint relays. North Central’s Curtis Grondin copped the 800 (2:09.03) and 1600 (4:52.31) and joined Chad Holle, Cory Fossen and Andy McPherson on the winning 1600 relay, clocked in a school-record 3:43.74. Big Bay de Noc’s Bruce Spaulding became a double-winner, taking high jump (5-8) and shot (44-6).