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Page 4 — Thursday, June 3, 2021 — The Hastings Banner

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Did you see?

Win, place and show our greed

They tell me this past weekend was a fine

Memorial Day holiday. I wouldn’t have

known.

That’s because I never thought Helio

Castroneves could win the Indianapolis 500

with odds of 30-to-1 Sunday. My money

was on Scott Dixon as the safer bet at 4-1. I

lost my Over/Under bet of 8 in the Tigers-

Yankees game Saturday and my pick of

Naomi Osaka to win the French Open,

which began Monday, never even reached

the start line.

Sports betting ruined my Memorial Day

weekend and it’s ruining sports for poor

schmucks like me who think we’re going to

make it big because we know so much

about sports. I should have known because,

more than 35 years ago, I was told this day

would come when, as a brash and cocky

sports reporter in Grand Rapids, I scoffed at

my editor who refused to run the betting

lines on the agate page. Bets were made

through bookies then, so why should the

paper encourage illegal activity?

But then came the 2018 U.S. Supreme

Court decision that allowed any state to

legalize sports betting. Michigan put down

its bet in 2019, and now the horses are out

of the barn in 25 states and Washington,

D.C. When Michigan legalized online gam-

bling – via laptop computers, iPads and cell

phones – in January, it became obvious that

the greed drive cannot be corralled.

A Feb. 25 Forbes magazine article report-

ed that sports betting in the U.S. generated

$1 billion in 2020, and that number is

expected to grow sixfold by 2023. Forty-

five percent of sports betting takes place

online, which is an obvious clue to the

demographic driving those numbers:

According to Forbes, 75 percent of students

gambled in 2018.

“Recent research suggests that gambling

problems may increase as sports gambling

grows explosively at the same time that

mobile and online technologies evolve to

create seemingly unlimited types of wager-

ing opportunities,” said the National Council

on Problem Gaming, as quoted in the Forbes

piece. “Sports bettors have higher rates of

gambling problems than other gamblers by

at least two times.”

I am generally not in favor of prohibi-

tions. Gambling in one of the state’s 26

casinos can be entertaining, an escape from

life’s routines. And I certainly value our

nearby Gun Lake Casino as an admired

employer and as a caring contributor to

causes in the greater community. But casi-

nos are highly regulated by gaming com-

missions. Likewise, we need equally strong

statutes to hold online operators account-

able.

The greater problem that undergirds this

entire discussion is the basic human desire

for more. A gambler focuses on self and his

or her possible financial gain. As an avoca-

tion, as an escape, as a hobby, gambling is

enjoyable. In larger investments of time and

money, though, gambling takes one’s focus

away from others; those who encourage it,

market it and sell it take our focus away

from the greater needs in our society.

Included in that gambling broad brush are

state lotteries.

“You can’t win if you don’t play,” is the

catchy come-on line from the Michigan

State Lottery. The state lottery actually pio-

neered online betting in 2014 and, through

its smooth marketing campaign, sells the

state’s gambling house as a way to support

public education. As if the focus of buying

a lottery ticket is on a struggling public edu-

cation student and not on an instant windfall

so we can quit our jobs and stick it to The

Man.

In 2018-19, the school aid fund account-

ed for only 1 percent of the state’s general

fund, and lottery revenue accounted for

only 7 percent of the overall school aid

fund, numbers assembled by Ken Haddad,

digital content manager from Detroit televi-

sion station WDIV. Sales and income taxes

far outweigh the contribution to school aid

than does the lottery. In 2019, only about 27

cents of every lottery dollar spent went to

the school aid fund; the rest was paid out in

administrative fees and prizes. Buying a

lottery ticket to support public education is

a clever ruse to excuse individual greed.

Today, the lottery dream is even being

used in the drive to achieve the level of

COVID-19 vaccines needed to reach

herd-immunity-level protection. Ohio

opened the bidding by offering four $1 mil-

lion lottery prizes to entrants receiving the

vaccine. Maryland, West Virginia and

Arkansas also offered $1 million prizes

along with the ultimate ironic gift to thou-

sands more: $20 scratch-off lottery tickets.

Inoculation betting is the emblem of cap-

italistic greed: Choosing the opportunity for

individual fortune over the wish to help the

greater society. It’s the lottery as the symbol

of America at its best and most caring.

Gambling – and especially sports betting

–also is seeping into the foundations of our

culture, bending perspectives even on fami-

ly life where odds are being calculated by

parents on their children’s futures.

Twenty-six percent of parents whose

children play high school sports hope their

child will become a professional athlete,

according to a 2015 study commissioned by

National Public Radio, the Robert Wood

Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H.

Chan School of Public Health. For families

with annual incomes of less than $50,000,

that hope increases to 39 percent. The odds:

Of 168 high school baseball players, one

gets drafted by a Major League Baseball

team; out of 2,451 high school basketball

players, one gets drafted by National

Basketball Association teams.

“Parents see those odds, but figure, ‘I

better get started early with my kid,’” said

author Tom Farrey who, in his book, “Game

On: The All-American Race to Make

Champions of Our Children,” describes the

merry-go-round parents ride from private

coaches to travel teams to playing one sport

all year-round. “Basically, they’re feeding

these kids with a fire hose from a very early

age.”

If you don’t win your sports bet or the

Powerball jackpot, then play your luck on

the children.

Fortunately, my weekend bets did not go

to an online sports book, they were merely

friendly family wagers. The betting culture,

though, has altered the sports we follow.

When we wager the margin by which a

team might win or lose, when we bet on the

total amount of points scored or even who

will win the opening coin toss, the focus no

longer remains on the game itself. The

beauty of play, the artistry of performance is

only secondary.

A Detroit sportswriter told me many

years ago not to be concerned about the

already then-skyrocketing player salary lev-

els. “The game will always be bigger than

the players,” he maintained.

I hope that maxim applies amidst today’s

sports-betting mania. That’s why I follow

the words of legendary college basketball

coach John Wooden who said, “If you want

to see the game of basketball played in its

purest form, follow the women’s game.”

That’s true with women’s softball, too,

and with Division III college sports where

athletic scholarships are not allowed. There

are still places where players play for the

love of the game.

I guess I can make my peace with how

the world and culture are changing. Just

don’t tell me that a 13-year-old kid ever gets

recruited for a Division I full-ride college

football scholarship.

Oh, that’s already happened? Yep,

then-seventh grader Isaiah Marshall was

presented an offer by Coach Jim Harbaugh

of the University of Michigan in 2019 and,

since then, six more Division I offers have

followed. Now, as a freshman quarterback

at Southfield High School in Detroit,

Marshall better be ready: There are a lot of

sports bettors thirsting to put their wagers

down on him.

Doug VanderLaan,

Guest Columnist

Golden anniversary

class

Banner June 16, 1960

Members of the Hastings High School

class of 1910 were especially honored

Saturday night at the 73rd annual HHS

Alumni banquet. Twenty-two members of

the golden anniversary class were at the

reunion, and here are 18 who met at the

community room of the City Bank to talk

over old times before having lunch

together Saturday at noon at Pleasant

Point. Photographed by Leo Barth of

Barth’s Studio are (front row, from left)

Mrs. Hazel Rounds Brooks, RFD

Hastings, Mrs. Ella Scobey Burd,

Nashville; Mrs. Pearl Lawrence Boyes,

Delton; Mrs. Vesta Bostwick MacGregor,

Flint; Mrs. Florence Bump Green,

Woodland; Mrs. Mae Cairns Bauman,

Plainwell; Dr. Malissa Cobb Worth, Ann

Arbor; (standing) Floyd Wood, Hastings;

Charles Belson, Athens; Mrs. Verna

Blakeney Gelston, Alma; Mrs. Ethel

Robinson Bechtel, Hastings; Mrs. Ledah

Aspinall Freed, Toledo, Ohio; Mrs. Artie

Fuller Densmore, 206 W. Court; Mrs.

Ferne Bray Barnes, Plainwell; Miss Ethel

Copenhaver, Hastings; Dr. Ethel

Williams, Kalamazoo; Melburn

Laubaugh, Grand Rapids; and Floyd

Duryea, Birmingham. Others attending

the reunion but not in the photo were

Miss Alice Foley, 812 S. Church St.; Mrs.

Katherine Ironside Dolan, 336 W. Green

St. and Gun Lake; Mrs. Lena Otis

Laubaugh, Lansing; and Mrs. Hazel

Nevins Weldermuth, Richland.

From singing in a European cathedral with

the Lakewood Choral Society to being the

first female president of Hastings Rotary,

Patty Woods, 70, loves being involved with

her community.

Growing up in Redford Township on the

west side of Detroit, Woods remembers

stuffing envelopes and knocking on doors to

help with her father, Eldon Funk’s, campaign

for township board trustee.

“My father was really active in just our

little local area in the political scene. So, he

would have us kids passing out literature

and, you know, drop things off at people’s

houses when they ran for races,” Woods said.

“He’s had a lot of influence on my life.”

He also was involved with local charities,

and her mom, Shirley Funk, volunteered at

their church. Her parents’ work impacted

Woods and instilled in her the importance of

community.

“I’ve always looked at it as ... important

to give back to my community. You’re

supposed to share your time and your talents,

so what better way to do it?” Woods said.

Woods volunteered with her youth group

and while attending the University of Detroit

(now, Detroit Mercy) she joined a sorority,

despite the time constraints of commuting

and working at a bank.

But her community involvement truly

began to blossom when she moved to

Hastings 43 years ago.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in

education, Woods had a difficult time finding

a job teaching.

“When I got out of college, there were a

lot of teachers — no one was retiring. So, I

went back to banking because, all through

college, I worked in a bank in the Detroit

area,” Woods said.

She remained in the banking business until

three years ago when she retired from

Highpoint Community Bank.

Woods had been a teller, loan officer,

customer service representative, branch

manager and even district manager,

overseeing three branches. She worked at

Great Lakes Bank Corps (now TCF bank),

MainStreet Bank and HCB.

Ironically, Woods found her background

in teaching aided in her banking career.

“I had all kinds of different jobs. You

know, teller, officer, branch manager,

different things. But it always really involved

some teaching. It’s funny some of the

background I had, it never hurt me. It’s

interesting. So, I have no regrets. I worked at

three banks just here in Hastings,” Woods

said. “[I worked] an awful lot of jobs and I

think what got me through the years — and

it’s true even in all of my volunteer stuff — I

really liked helping people. ... there’s a lot of

detective work to it when something really

doesn’t go right. So, I got to know a lot of

customers really well.

“You didn’t just know them as a face in

front of you. Half the time you knew how

many children they have, maybe where they

live.”

Banking prompted Woods to join Hastings’

Downtown Development Authority board so

she could monitor local economic

development. She continued to serve on the

DDA for 24 years and has been the board’s

chairperson for the past 10 years.

Woods joined the Barry County United

Way board at about the same time and still

serves on the public relations committee. She

is also chairperson of the St. Rose Educational

Trust and became the first female president

of Hastings Rotary Club in 1989, an

organization with which she continues to be

involved.

“I’ve been in Rotary 37 years. And it’s

been a great thing because one of the things

about Rotary is it allowed me to sit down and

have lunch every week [with people in the

community]. You can move around if you

want. I had lunch with people that I would

probably never have talked to in the

community for any other reason: doctors,

lawyers, other bankers, body-shop guys,”

Woods said. “I’ve met a lot of people through

all these different things, and it just kind of

shows you there’s a lot of good people out

there.”

Since retiring, Woods has invested more

of her time in community involvement, and

recently began volunteering at the Barry-

Eaton District Health Department’s vaccine

clinics, where she sometimes sees customers

from her banking days.

In her free time, Woods sings with the

Lakewood Choral Society, and has for 28

years, as well as the St. Rose parish choir.

She also enjoys walking, reading and

spending time with her two daughters,

Colleen and Molly.

For engaging with the Hastings community

and volunteering to make it a better place,

Patty Woods is this week’s Banner Bright

Light.

Best advice ever received: Be willing to

learn and adapt.

First job: Sales at Federals Department

Store in the Detroit area.

Favorite TV program: “NCIS New

Orleans.”

Book I’d recommend: The “Outlander”

series.

Favorite teacher and why: Fifth-grade

teacher at St. Agatha, Ms. Benz. She instilled

my desire to travel.

Person I’m glad to have met: Former

boss, Mary Spackman.

Favorite vacation destination: Any

beach house.

Events that changed my life: The birth of

my daughters.

I’m most proud of: Being the first woman

president of Rotary.

What the world needs now is: Love and

hope.

Greatest thing about Barry County: The

scenery and its wonderful people.

Best invention ever: Electricity.

Favorite season and why: Fall because

the colors and weather can be so beautiful.

What motivates me: The desire to help

others.

Patty Woods

Now that’s a really

tall treehouse

When about 200 visitors descended on Hastings’

Tyden Park Monday for the Memorial Day service,

the big treehouse in the park got some attention

after the observance. Here, from left, Cheri Heilman

of Gun Lake and Dorothy Hooker of Hastings check

out the exterior while their husbands, Darwin Hooker

and Ron Heilman, check out the inside.