U.P. Power! at NMU

A celebration of 130 years of U.P. high school athletics kicks off this weekend.

A new exhibit called ‘U.P. Power! — High School Sports in Upper Michigan’ opens Saturday at Northern Michigan University’s Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center.

The exhibit will feature stories and artifacts related to U.P. high school teams, players and coaches.

Dan Truckey of the Beaumier Center says because the exhibit is high-school focused, there will be people included that may surprise you and other people well-known in U.P. sports circles who won’t be included.

The display includes photos, trophies, uniforms and other memorabilia on loan from high schools, historical societies and individuals.

Truckey says they’ve been traveling the U.P. for three weeks to gather the pieces for the exhibit from Ewen-Trout Creek and Chassell to Sault Ste. Marie and many more.

There will also be an interactive computer station.

The name of the exhibit comes from the popular chant of U.P. high school teams and their fans when they go downstate for state tournaments.

No one is sure exactly when ‘U.P. Power!’ originated, but it became widely known in the region after the 1975 Michigan state football championships, when Ishpeming and Forest Park won state titles on the same day.

The ‘U.P. Power!’ exhibit will be on display at the Beaumier Center, inside NMU’s Cohodas Hall, through next March.