CHARLEVOIX — Three Charlevoix boys golfers have been released from the hospital while four more — and their coach — remain at Munson Medical Center after a driver fleeing police slammed into the team’s van Sunday night.
“That’s the most important thing is everybody is alive,” said Aaron Gaffney, whose son Joe was seriously injured in the crash on the way back from the opening round of the Traverse City Junior Golf Association 2-Day Invitational. “Everybody’s lives are going to be changed, but they’ll be OK.”
Gaffney said Rayders golf coach Doug Drenth improved to stable condition Tuesday after he was air-lifted Sunday night to Munson. Drenth underwent surgery Monday. Three of the seven Rayder golfers were released from the hospital Sunday night, while four and Drenth remain in the hospital.
Michael Austin Plichta, 32, of Cedar, was pronounced dead Sunday at the scene of the crash on M-115 in Benzie County’s Joyfield Township, according to a news release from the Michigan State Police.
In Antrim County earlier that day, Plichta allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old Mancelona woman and stole her black 2008 Ford Escape, police said. There was a “be on lookout” for the suspect.
When Benzie County Sheriff’s deputies spotted the vehicle around 8:50 p.m., they attempted a traffic stop, but Plichta fled. Sheriff’s deputies said that, 1½ minutes later, he crossed the centerline and crashed into the Charlevoix van.
Junior Joe Gaffney, also a star on the Rayder boys basketball team, is scheduled for surgeries Wednesday and Friday to repair a shattered pelvis.
“He’s got a long rehab round ahead just to get back to walking,” said Aaron Gaffney, adding that the trauma team at Munson did an incredible job. “There’s been a tremendous amount of support from the Charlevoix community. Joe has received a ton of messages.”
A gofundme page — https://gofund.me/ba76b7a0 — started by Charlevoix County Junior Golf president Scott Kelly to help with medical costs had almost 500 donors and raised more than $105,000 by Tuesday evening.
“We’re focused on supporting our students, coach and their families,” Charlevoix Public Schools Superintendent Mike Ritter said. “Counseling services have been made available, and we’re working closely with those directly affected to provide care and resources.”
The Rayders were coming off a Northern Shores Conference quad win Thursday at Antrim Dells and were headed back to their hotel at Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville when the accident occurred Sunday.
“This hurts,” said Traverse City St. Francis coach Jim Hornyak, whose team also played in this weekend’s tournament. “Coaches are a small community and pretty much all of them are good friends. Doug is one of those guys and we’ve been close. He’s good for the game.”
Assistant coach Bruce Beaudoin is expected to lead the Rayders the rest of the season.
Charlevoix was scheduled to host Division 3 regionals May 28 at Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix, but TC St. Francis volunteered to take on that responsibility in the wake of the crash.
Northern Shores Conference golf teams will wear “Rayder Strong” hats at the upcoming league championship tournament May 15 at Harbor Point Golf Club in Harbor Springs, and the league’s baseball and softball teams are having stickers made to put on their batting helmets.
The Rayders and Traverse City West played together in the two-day tournament that started Sunday, hosted by West at Arcadia Bluffs. They were the final two teams on the course.
“It made it tough,” West head coach Todd Hursey said. “We played with heavy hearts and had a cloud over the day.”
The tournament featured eight teams and eight additional individuals playing Sunday and Monday at Arcadia’s South Course. TC West ultimately won the tournament Monday and TCSF took third.
“It was rather subdued,” Hornyak said. “There wasn’t really as much banter between the boys.”
Hursey said he received a message from Charlevoix athletic director Alex Tiseo late Sunday about the crash.
“I didn’t get much sleep Sunday night,” Hursey said.
Coaches and players from other teams back at Crystal Mountain heard sirens, but didn’t know they were for the players and coach they had competed alongside earlier in the day, Hursey said.
The Traverse City Junior Golf Association 2-Day Invitational, is run by the TCJGA. Hursey also is executive director of the TCJGA and said all six Charlevoix players who played Sunday are members of the association.
Seniors Brady Warchol and Jackson Crouse, juniors Joe Gaffney and Bryce Boss and sophomores Max Drenth and Landen Whisler played Sunday’s first round. Senior Emmett Bergmann also was in the van, although he didn’t play in the tournament because of a previous injury.
Plichta has a record with the Michigan Department of Corrections for aggravated stalking and second-degree arson in 2016 in Newaygo County, was convicted on both counts in June 2017 and released from Ojibway Correctional Facility in September 2022.
Sunday’s crash occurred 12 years and two days after the Grayling golf team was involved in a crash near Kalkaska on the way back from a tournament at the Grand Traverse Resort in which three people died, including Vikings coach Jason Potter and 18-year-old player Louis Menard. A passenger in the other vehicle, 27-year-old Kalkaska resident Cassandra Stapleton, perished in the crash and six others were injured.
“The Grayling accident will haunt me as long as I’m a coach,” Hursey said. “It’s rare I’m in a van with players when those thoughts aren’t in my head.”