Joann Spencer called Cass Tech looking to donate a scrapbook of sports articles that had been completed by her son, Crathman Spencer in the 1980s. The athletes from these years may be unfamiliar to our generation but for anyone that was in DPS in the 1980s and knew Crathman would know that he was a very passionate sports journalist.
Growing up, Crathman was deeply fascinated by sports and got a head start at covering many events while only in the 8th grade at Noble Middle School. He went on to attend Cass Tech in the early 1980’s where he was a part of the newspaper staff during his high school career.
“He loved writing and loved sports,” said Mrs. Spencer. “He loved to go to the sports events just to write about them.”
Crathman was truly dedicated to his craft, and allowed nothing to slow his passion down. While in high school, he took multiple busses to Cass every day. Even after having the choice to attend his neighborhood school Oak Park, Crathman knew he belonged at Cass Tech.
“Crathman was the only one of my three children to come to Cass,” Mrs. Spencer explained. “They didn’t want the bus rides to come all the way downtown but Crathman had his heart set to continue high school at Cass.”
In high school, Crathman set out to cover every sports event that he could. He didn’t limit himself to a specific sport and wrote not only about Cass but every Detroit Public School. Even with no reliable source of transportation, Crathman always found a way.
Much of Crathman’s work contained historical information from the best players in the state at the time to the renovations being made to the old building that was once Cass Tech. Teachers found this information to be amazing and bring back memories that they truly appreciated.
“I was playing high school basketball when many of these articles were written. I’m so happy someone made a scrapbook of these times. Magic Johnson’s sister was playing basketball during that time. It’s even articles of Coach Wilcher’s track days at Central High School in these. “ Said Steve Hall, CT alum and Varsity Boys Basketball Coach
Crathman went on to continue his study in journalism at Michigan State University and was a Sports intern for Fox 2 News following graduation from MSU. He moved to California hoping to take his career to the next level, however, his plan came to an unexpected stop. Crathman was diagnosed with several illnesses that claimed his life.
Crathman’s dedication and work will live on as an exhibit of the scrapbooks he collected that his mom donated to CT Visionary and the Cass Tech Athletic Department to remember what it means to truly be a dedicated and passionate journalist.
