A Detroit, Michigan, newsman isn't even trying to hide that he's playing favorites—but the bias is understandable. WXYZ-TV Channel 7 senior anchor and reporter Dave LewAllen's daughter Sarah LewAllen is a member of the Michigan Technological University Women's Basketball team.
Safe to say he's not the only proud parent who wants to tell the whole world about the team's four-spot climb to No. 12 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll this week—but he's got a bigger audience than most.
"Number 14. Number one in my heart," LewAllen said during Wednesday's news broadcast, after sports anchor and reporter Brad Galli pulled up a photo of Sarah LewAllen, who plays guard for the Huskies and whose photo in her number 14 jersey was featured in the poll report, and explained the special reason for sharing it.
The spotlight on the Michigan Tech women's basketball team was a surprise. "I did not know Brad was going to mention Sarah and the Huskies in his broadcast that night," LewAllen says. "Earlier in the day I showed the photo of Sarah used in the (news) release to another colleague of mine, and apparently he told Brad about it."
Galli posted the news segment on Twitter with a shout-out to @michigantech (the University's Twitter handle) and LewAllen.
Despite his surprise, LewAllen, who previously covered sports for more than 25 years, deftly delivered some fast facts about the Huskies team. Which is not surprising: a past president of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association, he called play-by-play for University of Detroit basketball and has covered numerous major sports events, including three Super Bowls and a World Series.
Sarah LewAllen is the first Husky in the family. "I believe Sarah felt it was an ideal fit for her—both academically and athletically," her dad says. "She is an excellent student and she also wanted to be part of a basketball program that was successful, with a tradition of excellence and expectations—and that's Michigan Tech!"
The senior, a kinesiology and exercise science major in Michigan Tech's Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology Department, also works as a student athletic trainer. "For her parents the distance has obviously been difficult, but we've come to love MTU and have certainly gotten to know the whole of the UP much better in the last four years," says LewAllen.
The Huskies, 14-3, take the court next against Davenport in a rescheduled matchup in Sault Ste. Marie before returning home for a Saturday, January 27 matchup against Northern Michigan University.
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
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