“History is 
bunk.” — Henry Ford
This I know is true: Wayland High School senior point guard Avery Hudson broke the individual single game school scoring record Friday night with 53 points against Forest Hills Eastern.
Also true: He broke a record that has stood for 54 years because Wildcat all-stater Ron Kidney had 45 points in a game against Nashville in 1963.
Also true: Avery Hudson’s 11 three-pointers is among the most in the state for one half of play. And his 36 points in one half is another school record he set Friday evening.
But there has been some confusion about the record he broke for one player in one game.
Late in the third quarter of the game, announcer Cheri Ritz told the assembled crowd that he had just tied the school record of 43 by Alex Lyle in 2009. I yelled at her by saying, “It’s not true. Ron Kidney scored 45 in 1963!”
Immediately afterward, Wayland head coach Mike Hudson took his son out of the ballgame and the Wildcats had a comfortable lead, and I worried that the coach might sit his son for the rest of the game, content with just matching the record.
My fears were unjustified, as Avery trotted back out to play at the start of the fourth period and proceeded to score 10 more points and shatter the old record.
Ritz, herself the coach of two state softball champions, was concerned enough to bring Athletic Director Justin Wilson to speak to me about it. After I told him the facts, he noted Lyle’s name is up on the record board at the gym and not long ago he posted it on the school district’s web site. He said I should have let him know that it was in error.
Yet I have posted stories on this on-line rag about Kidney’s record, even writing once in a column suggested by Jon Gambee that I set the record straight. I also reported this fact in the “Bygone Days” feature when it happened in March 1963.
The Cornerstone University and Grand Rapids Community College web sites, in biographical sketches about Lyle, both indicated he held the school record with 41 points.
The GRCC site reported, “Lyle recorded a school record 41 points in a game in 2009 and is Wayland High School’s all-time (career) scoring leader with 1,111 points.”
The Grand Rapids Press, aka MLive.com, in a story by Steve Ungrey, said, “
Depending on who you talk to, there are two records on the Wayland scoring wall. Avery thought the previous record was 41 points by Alex Lyle, set in 2009, but Mike said there was a 46-point scorer once in a game during the 1970s.”
As a community service, I wish to set the record straight once and for all. Avery Hudson unquestionably now holds the record. The old mark was Ron Kidney with 45 in 1963. Ironically, both Lyle and Kidney played their post-prep hoops at GRCC, where Kidney was all All-American twice.
For what it’s worth, there also was some confusion about Presley Hudson setting the girls’ individual game scoring record three years ago against Mattawan with 40 points. I learned from a good source that she and Angie Farmer share that record. But Presley’s 31 points in one half, like Avery’s 36, stand alone as records, and probably will remain so for a long time.
Since then, Presley has set the Central Michigan University record with 43 points in one game.
What is it with these Hudsons and their drive to prove that records are made to be broken?
PHOTO: Ron Kidney Avery Hudson
Alex Lyle
