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Updated: September 4, 2025 @ 2:11 am
Mike Oatley, standing back right, is pictured with some of his players from the 75-76 Cadillac boys basketball team. Nearly 50 years after leading one of Cadillac High School’s most memorable basketball teams, coach Mike Oatley’s influence is being carried forward through a new scholarship in his name.
Staff Writer/Reporter
Mike Oatley, standing back right, is pictured with some of his players from the 75-76 Cadillac boys basketball team. Nearly 50 years after leading one of Cadillac High School’s most memorable basketball teams, coach Mike Oatley’s influence is being carried forward through a new scholarship in his name.
• A new scholarship through the Cadillac Area Community Foundation honors late coach and counselor Mike Oatley, created by his 1975-76 “Forever Basketball Team,” to support Cadillac High School student-athletes while carrying forward his legacy of mentorship, teamwork, and lifelong impact.
CADILLAC — Nearly 50 years after leading one of Cadillac High School’s most memorable basketball teams, Coach Mike Oatley’s influence is being carried forward through a new scholarship in his name.
The Cadillac Area Community Foundation recently announced the creation of the Mike Oatley — 1975/76 Forever Basketball Team Scholarship, honoring the late coach and counselor whose lessons extended far beyond the court.
For the members of Oatley’s 1975-76 basketball team, the scholarship is more than a tribute. It’s a way of preserving the spirit of a man who taught them about defense and discipline, but also about resilience, responsibility and family.
“Coach Oatley was not only our basketball coach but also our counselor in high school,” said Chris Reitmeyer, a 1977 Cadillac graduate who played under Oatley. “He was a father figure you feared but revered. He worked us hard, but what he taught wasn’t just about basketball — it was about life.”
That season, Oatley’s varsity team won championships and produced standout players, but his players say the real victory was the lifelong bond they formed. Even today, nearly five decades later, the teammates remain connected through reunions, luncheons and a group text chat that rarely goes quiet.
To them, Oatley never lost a game.
His wife, Joyce Oatley, said the team’s decision to create a scholarship in his honor deeply touched the family.
“I was thrilled. I just thought it was a wonderful gesture,” she said. “He was the head varsity coach but people didn’t realize he put as much enthusiasm into every level he coached. He invested himself. He could motivate people to run through walls and was one of the greatest motivators around.”
While he is being recognized through the scholarship for his impact on the basketball court, Joyce said he had a huge influence on students in his role as a counselor. Her husband wasn’t one-dimensional.
“He had a fantastic sense of humor and could relate well to kids,” she said. “I’m very happy that his team is doing this and it is a fitting tribute to a wonderful person.”
The scholarship will be awarded annually to a graduating senior or current college student from Cadillac High School with a grade point average of 2.5 or higher. Student-athletes of any sport, past or present, are eligible to apply.
Oatley, who died in February 2024 at age 80, spent decades at Cadillac High School as a counselor and coach. He led boys’ basketball for 10 years, football for 16, girls’ basketball for one season, and track for five. But those who knew him say his greatest victories came in the lives he shaped — encouraging students to pursue careers as teachers, pharmacists, lawyers, business leaders and law enforcement officers.
Joyce said her husband would have wanted the scholarship to be about the students, not about himself.
“If it serves as motivation for other people and makes a difference in their lives, that’s what he would want,” she said. “It’s not about who he was, but what the scholarship helps them become.”
For more information about the scholarship, contact the CACF by calling (231) 775-9911.
Story Highlights • A new scholarship through the Cadillac Area Community Foundation honors late coach and counselor Mike Oatley, created by his 1975-76 “Forever Basketball Team,” to support Cadillac High School student-athletes while carrying forward his legacy of mentorship, teamwork, and lifelong impact.
rcharmoli@cadillacnews.com
Staff Writer/Reporter
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