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That is, until now.

In a Thumb Sportswriters Association first, Millington's Dustin Griesing has been named the 2007-08 All-Thumb boys basketball Player of the Year, this coming after the 6-3 senior was also awarded the All-Thumb football Player of the Year after the fall sports season.

Griesing, a 6-3 senior who led the Cardinals to a 14-6 regular season record, received a total of four first-place votes from the six-member Thumb Sportswriters Association. Overall, Griesing was voted number one on four ballots and number two on two ballots, giving him 26 out of a possible 30 points for Player of the Year honors. Voting is on a 5-3-1 basis with five points for a number one vote, three points for a number two and one point for third place.

Griesing is joined on the All-Thumb First Team by Brown City's Donovan Ogboh, Owendale-Gagetown's Brandon Dubs, Reese's Ty Graham, Unionville-Sebewaing's Tim Holland and Peck's Zac Overstreet.

The Thumb Sportswriter's Association is a cumulative association of Thumb-area sports editors and sports writers from nine Thumb-area newspapers, those of which include: The County Press, The Brown City Banner, The Tuscola County Advertiser, The Sanilac County News, The Sandusky Tribune, The Huron Daily Tribune, The Huron County Press, Newsweekly and The Harbor Beach Times.

In order to be considered for nomination to the All-Thumb basketball teams, students must attend one of the following schools: Akron-Fairgrove, Carsonville Port-Sanilac, Caseville, Bad Axe, Brown City, Caro, Cass City, Croswell-Lexington, Deckerville, Harbor Beach, Kingston, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port, Marlette, Mayville, Millington, North Branch, North Huron, Owendale-Gagetown, Peck, Port Hope, Reese, Sandusky, Ubly, Unionville-Sebewaing and Vassar.

Perhaps the best overall athlete in the Thumb, Griesing accounted for more than 2,400 yards of offense as a quarterback in leading Millington to a 9-1 record and a playoff berth in the fall. He was a near-unanimous selection as All-Thumb football Player of the Year by the TSA, keeping the All-Thumb Player of the Year trophy in the Tri-Valley East conference (North Branch's Duncan Bone was the first recipient of the award in 2006).

For the basketball season, Griesing was a unanimous First Team selection in the Tri-Valley East Conference and Honorable Mention All-State Class B for the Associated Press after leading the Cardinals in nearly every major statistic, including scoring (18.9), rebounding (6.2), assists (3.1) and steals (3.5). He logged more minutes on the floor than any other Cardinal, converted more three-pointers (20) than anyone else on his team and had the best free-throw shooting percentage (72.4) than any other player on his team.

In a word, he was everything to his team in 2007-08.

"No player meant more to the direct success of his team in the entire Thumb-area than did Dustin Griesing," Millington coach Walt Kujat said. "He is a natural-born leader whose leadership during our practices carried over to the games. He sets the tone in practice and for three years now, he has led us in scoring.

"Dustin is going to be awfully tough to replace."

Griesing's finest performance may have been in Millington's 54-44 win over Frankenmuth on January 21. That night, Griesing led his team with 22 points and 16 rebounds as the Cardinals defeated the Eagles and soon-to-be Mr. Basketball Brad Redford on Millington's home court. It was Millington's first win over Frankenmuth in over six years, and it was the first time Griesing has bested Redford since the two played against each other in grade school.

"Dustin just wants to win so badly," Kujat said. "He takes games like that against Frankenmuth personally. That night, he made a few mistakes in the first half, turned the ball over and missed some shots, but he came back. He gave more than 100-percent, and he starts rolling in the right direction, he can change the momentum of a game.

"He got our offense going that night and he carried us to the win."

Griesing also carried Millington further into the playoffs this season than the school had ever advanced. After winning a District title on their home court over North Branch, Griesing scored 20 points in the Cardinals 61-57 Regional semifinal win over Fowlerville. Two nights later, Griesing and the Cardinals were blown out, 81-39, by eventual Class B State-runnerup Flint Powers and Griesing and his team's magical run in the state playoffs came to an end.

"It's really an honor for Millington to have Dustin win this award," Kujat said about the All-Thumb Player of the Year award. "We are very happy to have Dustin represent us as a community. As a town, Millington couldn't ask for a better kid to represent us in the Thumb. He meant a lot to the success of this school in both football and basketball.

"Replacing a player like Dustin is not going to be an easy task."

Andrew Selich is Sports Editor at The County Press. He can be reached at (810) 664-0811 ext. 8124 or andrew.selich@lapeergroup.com