Charger football kicked off a new era with a 14-13 win against Northwood University last weekend in Midland. 

Hillsdale made a defensive stand late in the 4th quarter to hold off the Timberwolves. The victory adds a few tallies under Hillsdale’s name in the competition for the “Jack” as fall sports reach their stride.

When legendary Hillsdale head football coach and athletic director Jack McAvoy retired in 1996 after 21 years as the face of Charger sports, he earned a trophy.

He did not win this trophy for his own display, but it bears his namesake as a tribute to his legacy. In 1996, the Hillsdale College Chargers and Northwood University Timberwolves all-sport rivalry was coined the “Jack.” The rivalry forged an all-sports traveling trophy named for McAvoy and longtime Northwood University Athletic Director Jack Finn. That trophy will be awarded this year for the first time in seven years.

The Hillsdale College and Northwood University athletic departments announced that they will step back into tradition this season and once again award the “Jack” to whichever program wins the rivalry this 2024-25 all-sport season. 

The “Jack” has collected dust since 2017 after Hillsdale left the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to join the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Northwood stayed in the GLIAC, and the rivalry went dormant as the two schools no longer went head to head in every sport. But in July 2022, the Timberwolves left the GLIAC and joined their former rival in the G-MAC. The tradition picked up where it left off, with only the trophy missing.

“We have had a competitive and respectful rivalry with Northwood for a long time and this trophy celebrates that tradition,” said Hillsdale athletic director John Tharp. “It also gives our athletes something more to battle for in these matchups, and something that connects all our teams together in pursuing a unified goal.”

Jack MacAvoy oversaw Hillsdale Athletics from 1975 to 1996. He also coached football for four seasons before stepping down to focus on his duties as athletic director. He facilitated Hillsdale’s jump to the GLIAC in 1975, eventually guiding the program from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics to the second division of the National Collegiate Athletics Association in the early 1990s.

Jack Finn served as athletic director at Northwood for 20 years and coached football for 18. During his tenure, he was a founding member of the GLIAC and led the Timberwolves to three conference championships. He was inducted to the Northwood University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.

“He was certainly a man who got stuff done,” said Shreffler. “He bled Charger blue more than anyone I’ve seen in my time here.”

MacAvoy also helped start and foster women’s sports during his time at Hillsdale. That legacy lives on as Hillsdale women’s volleyball continues a rampage through the conference this fall. The Chargers defeated the Timberwolves 3-0 a few weeks ago to score the first points in the competition for the “Jack.”

“We were fortunate to get the win,” said head volleyball coach Chris Gravel. “We are hoping to repeat that performance and result in a couple of weeks.”

Gravel, who was McAvoy’s last hire, said the Hillsdale legend was the kind of person anyone would want to work hard for.

Moving forward, the Chargers and the Timberwolves will receive points for victories in head-to-head regular season competition between the two schools, as well as for the team with the better finish at conference championship events in sports without head-to-head contests, according to the Charger website. The winner will take home the “Jack.”

“Jack McAvoy is a legend who accomplished big things for Hillsdale while representing this college with honor and dignity for over two decades,” Tharp said. “We couldn’t be more excited to continue to recognize his impact on this college through this trophy.”