Mel Atkins, a Grand Rapids native and 1968 graduate of the now defunct South High School, served as Director of Athletics for the Grand Rapids Public Schools as well as Executive Director of the Grand Rapids City League for 25 years.
His leadership was instrumental in fostering growth and co-operation in a unique conference of public, Christian and Catholic schools, and he was lauded by school leaders for work with individual student athletes in helping them reach their potential in the classroom and on the playing field.
Before he was inducted in 2011, he also accepted the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame Team induction in 2008 for the City League after the 99-year-old league disbanded.
He confessed at his induction that he helped athletes in any way he could within the rules, and admitted he sometimes was creative. He said a trip to take a young City League athlete back to college in Ohio was once sold to his wife as a family trip to Cedar Point.