The 6-foot-8 Kevin Haverdink starred in basketball and football at Hamilton High, became a team captain of a conference championship team at Western Michigan University and played three years in the NFL before a freak back injury ended his athletic career.
Haverdink was named to All-State teams in football and basketball at Hamilton High and is remembered as the enthusiastic big center for the Class C state championship basketball team of 1984.
Recruited by Western Michigan for football as a defensive lineman he went on to earn All-Mid-American Conference honors and third-team All-American honors in 1988. He was also the team captain of the team that won the Mid-American Conference title and played in the Blue-Grey and Senior Bowl all-star games.
The New Orleans Saints made him their fifth-round pick and put him on the offensive line as a tackle. He made an immediate impact being named to the 1989 NFL All-Rookie Team.
In his third year in the league he was hurt while stretching on the sidelines. Two players came from the field of play and landed on him causing a permanent back injury.
After football, he returned to Western Michigan and earned a degree in economics. In 2004 he founded Haverdink Financial Management in Portage, a successful financial planning and portfolio management company.
He is also a member of the Western Michigan University Athletics Hall of Fame.