Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Matthew Ritzman and Mike Strantz are being recognized as the 2025 Lake Local Schools District Distinguished Alumni. Strantz, who passed away in 2005, is being honored posthumously.
The awards, now in their eighth year, recognize and honor Lake High School graduates who have uniquely distinguished themselves through excellence and outstanding accomplishment.
Distinguished Alumni are honored at the Lake High School Honors Banquet and receive a plaque that is hung on the wall at the high school entrance. They also receive a desktop award.
Matthew Ritzman (`03) was nominated by his brother, Glenn.
At Lake, Ritzman lettered in football and wrestling. He earned Most Improved Player Awards in both football and wrestling his senior year. He was also elected team captain of the wrestling team his senior year.
After high school, he attended Owens Community College and the University of Toledo and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice. In 2008, he earned a Master’s in Education at UT. He subsequently earned a Ph.D. in Education from UT in 2014.
But he wasn’t done yet. In 2019, Ritzman earned his J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree from the UT College of Law, where he was the executive editor of the Law Review and graduated with cum laude honors.
While pursuing his master’s, Ph.D., and J.D. degrees, he was also busy working. From 2006-2008 he was a case specialist at the NW Community Corrections Center, where he coordinated treatment services for incarcerated individuals.
From 2008-2012, he was an adult probation officer for Wood County. From 2012-2019 he was a drug treatment specialist at the Federal Prison in Milan, Michigan. While there, Ritzman was elected president of the local union of federal prison employees, representing over 200 federal employees at three facilities. That experience sparked his interest in labor and employment law.
From 2019-2024 he was an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, where he led hundreds of unfair labor practice charge investigations and served as lead counsel in numerous successful cases before administrative law judges. In November 2024, he joined the Honigman Law Firm, one of the nation’s largest law firms focused on labor and employment law.
Ritzman also enjoys teaching. He is an adjunct professor at Youngstown State University, Oakland University and Terra State College. He has published eight academic and professional articles.
The Federal Bar Association recently presented him with the prestigious Younger Federal Lawyer Award.
Ritzman, who is still a proud and loyal Flyer, was an assistant wrestling coach at Lake from 2004-2010, and was a wrestling referee for three years.
He and his wife, Katherine, just welcomed their first child in February.
Mike Strantz (`93) was nominated by two 1973 classmates, Brooke Harvey Stagner and Dr. Mike Omori.
At Lake, Strantz was the senior class president and graduated with academic honors. An accomplished athlete, he earned nine varsity letters – three each in football, hockey and baseball. He held most of the Lake place-kicking records when he graduated.
In addition, Strantz excelled at art and demonstrated his sketches and drawings at several art shows. His classmates recall him routinely drawing beautiful landscape and architectural sketches as they traveled to away sporting events.
After graduation, he attended Miami University of Ohio from 1973-1975, where he studied studio art. He then attended Michigan State University from 1976-1978 and earned a bachelor’s degree in turf grass management.
Subsequently, he joined the grounds crew at the Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, which was being prepared for the 1979 U.S. Open. Golf course architect, Tom Fazio, recognized his talent and hired him to his firm. Strantz then spent most of his next eight years on the road, designing golf course layouts in the Carolinas and Florida.
In 1987, he left Fazio’s company and settled in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife, Heidi, and two young daughters to pursue a career as a commercial artist. He opened his own art business, Mike Strantz Studios.
In 1989, his commercial art plans were changed by Hurricane Hugo, which badly damaged the nearby Wild Dunes Golf Course. The course owners recruited him to oversee the Wild Dunes reconstruction and renovation. That drew him back into the golf world.
Strantz was then hired by The Legends Group as Director of Golf Course Design. This eventually led to the formation of his own company, Maverick Golf Design. In 1994, he completed his first golf course, the Caledonia Golf & Fish Club on Pawley’s Island, S.C. That was the first of nine award-winning courses that Strantz designed.
He received many accolades and awards, but perhaps the pinnacle was when he was named by Golfweek Magazine as “One of the Top Ten Greatest Golf Course Architects of All Time.”
He is renowned for his “hand-drawn sketches that served as blueprints for his dramatic golfing landscapes.” His blossoming career was cut short by his death from cancer in 2005.
In his book, “The Evolution of Golf Course Design,” author Keith Cutter honored Strantz with these words: “The world of golf architecture has lost a vastly talented artist. One, indeed, who courted genius at close range.”
On a personal level, Mike loved horses and was known to ride a horse around his courses while they were under development.
