DEARBORN, Mich. – The University of Michigan-Dearborn Department of Athletics & Recreation is proud announce the induction of Joe Aho (Men's Ice Hockey), Ibrahim Baydoun (Men's Basketball), Heather Larson [formerly Boni] (Volleyball), Michael Macari (Men's Ice Hockey), and Heather Towery (Women's Basketball) into the UM-Dearborn Athletics Hall of Fame as the Class of 2020. Due to the pandemic, the Hall of Fame Ceremony has been pushed back to September 24, 2021.
Joe coached UM-Dearborn upon his graduation in 1993 through the 2001 season. He earned a Bachelors in Economics from UM Dearborn, earning the Honor Scholar in Economics award. He eventually earned his Masters in Business Administration from Wayne State University in 2001. Joe worked at Compuware Corporation for 25 years, holding the Chief Financial Officer position for the last 6 years through September, 2020. For the last 10 months, Joe has worked as the CFO for Majesco Corporation. He has coached off and on for various youth and high school teams since coaching at the collegiate level. He has spent most of his time raising a family with his wife Jean (also a UM-Dearborn graduate). They have 3 daughters who continue to be very active in sports. Haley and Brooke will be entering their 2nd year at Xavier University, and will run for the Cross Country/Track team. Lyndsey will be a senior at Divine Child High School where she runs cross country and plays soccer.
Ibrahim "Juice" Baydoun was born on September 1, 1964 in Bint-Jebail, Lebanon. His entire family came to the United States in September of 1970. He began his hardwood career in 1975, playing three seasons in the Dearborn Recreation Departments youth leagues. Afterwards, he played for three years at Lowrey Junior High, where in ninth grade he led his team to an undefeated season (10-0) and the city championship. After a great career at Fordson High School, he had to decide between playing football or basketball in college. He eventually decided on accepting a basketball scholarship to the University of Michigan-Dearborn. He was the starting point guard for the men's varsity team for four years from 1983 to 1987. After only three years, he became the all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,030 points, breaking the old school record of 1,015 points held by David Goode. During his senior season, he averaged 21.7 points/game along with 5.9 assists, and 3.5 steals. He was named first team All-American for his accomplishments. In his final game of his career at UM-Dearborn, he scored 40 points on the road against Northern Michigan. During his four years, he broke nearly 20 school records. Some of those records included: most career points with 1,809, most assists (495), most steals (292), most free throws made (381) and most field goals made (685). Some of his single season records included: most points (779), most made field goals (263), most made free throws (195), and most steals (124). Some of his game records included: most assists (16), most steals (9), and most free throws made (13). He also scored 41 points in a game; four points shy of the single game records. He did all his scoring while having played with a three-point line only during his senior year (1986-1987). Besides being an outstanding athlete, he was an amazing student as well. During the 1985 and 1987 season, he received the UM-Dearborn Scholar-Athlete Award. He graduated with High Distinction as one of the top students in his graduating class. After graduating from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with a Bachelor's Degree, he attended the University of Detroit-Mercy and received his Master Degree in Guidance and Counseling. He started his career as a high school counselor at Dearborn Edsel Ford High School in 1990. He has remained as a counselor for the past 29 years at the school. During that time, he has never missed a single day of work. Additionally, he has been the boys' varsity basketball coach at the school for the past 24 years. During his coaching career, he has won 295 games and numerous championships. Throughout his coaching career, he has helped numerous players play at the collegiate level. Additionally, many of his former players went on to outstanding coaching careers. He was inducted into the Dearborn Recreation Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Hype Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016. He currently resides in Dearborn Heights with his wife, Houda, and his five children Jihad, Mahdi, Hadi, Jalal, and Hilal.
Heather Larson graduated from UM-Dearborn in 2000 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, earning the Engineering Department Mechanical Engineer award two years in a row. After graduation, Heather worked for Ford Motor Company for 3 years as a Research and Development Engineer. From there she attended the University of Southern California and earned a MS in Biomedical Engineering, with a focus in Biomechanics, in 2005. While at USC, Heather captained the club Volleyball team and coached youth teams in the South Bay area. With the completion of her Masters degree, Heather moved to Boston and worked at Reebok for 3 years as a Human Performance Engineer, then moved on to Boston Scientific where she worked as a Senior Research and Development Engineer for 10 years. During that time she continued to play competitive volleyball with a women's travel team and also played in a ton of coed tournaments, eventually meeting her husband Dave while playing. Heather continues to live in the Boston area with her husband and their 3 kids, Jacob (10), Nathaniel (7) and Anna (4). All three kids are active in sports - soccer, baseball, football, basketball, swimming and gymnastics. She is working on adding Volleyball to their list!
Heather Towery played for UM-Dearborn from 1992-96, leaving her mark as one of the best to play in the programs history. She is third is career points (1,645), first in career freed throws made (465), second in career rebounds (966), fourth in career steals (178) and third in career blocks (77). Heather's senior season saw her register 521 points, 310 rebounds, 70 steals, and 37 blocks. Her rebound total ranks fifth-most in a single season. Her performance her senior season also earned her All-Section Team honors.After receiving her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology in 1996 from UM-Dearborn, Heather then attended Michigan State University Medical School. She graduated in 2002 with her Doctor of Medicine degree. Dr. Towery moved to the Boston area a few years later where she has served as a physician, Medical Officer, and currently serves as the Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Enterprise Partnerships for Eden Health. Heather be inducted in June 2022 as she cannot attend next week's ceremony.
After graduating in 2012 with a bachelor's in Accounting, Michael Macari started his business career with an internship at General Motors. Upon completing his internship he started at Ferrous Processing & Trading as an Accountant in 2013 and is currently still with them as Group Controller. During his time at Ferrous, Michael earned his MBA in management from Wayne State University in 2015. Michael is a proud father of his daughter Liliana who turned 3 this year. He enjoys spending time with his family, golfing and still playing hockey. During Macari's collegiate career, he was a four-time American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) First-Team All-Athletic, ACHA Rookie of the Year, and a two-time ACHA All-Academic Team Member. He also represented Team USA at the World University Games in 2009 and 2011. For his career, he scored 143 and added 169 assists. His number 12 was retired in 2015 by UM-Dearborn.
The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on September 24th at 11am behind the University Center on UM-Dearborn campus followed by a luncheon. Please contact the athletic department for further details – 313-593-3534
