Growing up in Indiana it should come as no surprise that my formative years of fandom centered around two things: college athletics and basketball.
When I saw a gap in my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events calendar that would allow for a quick-hitter event, I remembered something my friend Todd had mentioned a few months earlier:
“If you have a chance to attend the Hope-Calvin Basketball Game you have to do it.”
Todd would know.
He’s a Hope College alum and his son was in his final year as a dual-sport Hope athlete (football and track and field).
I should know.
The Hope-Calvin rivalry, known simply as “The Rivalry,” has been well documented. ESPN has featured it on several occasions, including on its website, noting that it was “a great, under-the-radar college sports rivalry.” The network had cameras out to cover the series in 2005 and it was rated as the fourth-best rivalry in a vote of fans and “experts.” There was even a photo shoot from teh 2009 installment in its ESPN The Magazine. In lieu of New York Knicks’ coverage, The New York Times had a reporter out to cover the game during the 2014-15 season (read reporter Scott Cacciola’s story here).
I do recall seeing some highlights on my local television news in Detroit. The gyms are always packed and the games, from my memory, were usually closely contested.
What I was completely unaware of was how closely contested!?!
As I write this, the all-time series leans slightly toward Hope with 112 wins. Calvin has 107. The schools have won or shared the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular-season championship 34 times each.
In terms of total points scored? Calvin 14,876 to Hope’s 14,862.
To me, it’s absolutely nuts that after nearly 100 years and 219 total games played, the two schools are separated by a mere 14 points.
It was even closer, still, when I found my way to Hope’s DeVos Fieldhouse for the January 24, 2026, matchup between the two schools. Just four – four! – points separated the schools at the time.
My Gracious Host and Sidekick
Thanks to both of us working in education and with our local and regional union leadership, Todd and I have known each other for over a decade.
We both share an upbringing in small midwestern towns (he Illinois, me Indiana) and a love of basketball, so it was a fun hang with Todd in his old college stomping grounds. That he’s re-established his Hope bonafides thanks to his son’s athletic career certainly benefitted me on this night
We met at the New Holland Brewpub in downtown Holland.
It was a fitting locale as Todd, an original investor in New Holland Brewing Co., secured a pair of these hard-to-come-by tickets from one of his fellow investors, Brett, who now sits on the Hope College Board of Trustees.
We enjoyed catching up over some appetizers and a beverage (or two;-) before Todd took me on a swing through campus.
Hope is a small private college of under 3,500 students in Holland, MI (population of about 34,000). Founded in 1866 by members of the Reformed Church in America.
Similarly, Calvin University is a small private college of just over 3,500 students. Dissimilarly, Calvin is located in Michigan’s second-largest city, Grand Rapids (population 201,000). It was founded in 1876 by members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
The two schools are located just a 30-minute drive apart, recruit the same high schools, households, and even have staff with connections to both schools. (Hope’s athletic director, Tim Schoonveld, actually played basketball at both schools!)
The founders, both from Dutch-American Calvinist West Michigan immigrants, is the through-line for The Rivalry.
While it’s not exactly a holy war, it is quite the heated rivalry.
The Environment
Clockwise from upper left, a shot of the packed DeVos Fieldhouse; the Hope Cheer Team in action; MLB umpire D.J. Reyburn is a Hope product; Calvin goes to work on the offensive end during the second half; Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Kaat is also a Hope alum.
This is NCAA Division III basketball which means … junior varsity action!
Yes, there are still JVs at the collegiate level, and while there may have been fewer folks in the stands for this one, it was no less intense than the varsity matchup that followed. (Hope won, 68-61, by the way.)
It made for a nice distraction as I wandered about the elevated concourse to check out the historical showcases by sport. Imagine my surprise to see that that nearby Zeeland native and Baseball Hall of Famer, Jim Kaat, played baseball at Hope. He, in fact, is the last of three Hope products to reach the Major League. Also spotted in the Hope Baseball Showcase was MLB umpire, D.J. Reyburn, who played outfield for the Flying Dutchmen in the late 1990s.
As the later-arriving fans continued to filter in, I found myself in a corner of the Fieldhouse absorbing the scene.
The fact that this wasn’t Michigan-Michigan State or Kentucky-Louisville or Indiana-Purdue didn’t much matter to the 3,400 who eventually filled DeVos. These are two long-standing rivals who, apparently, play nothing but competitive games, and the fans appreciate this brand of competitive basketball.
One other thing I noted that would never happen at one of the aforementioned big school rivalries: A section in the DeVos Fieldhouse was set aside for what appeared to be Calvin students, which I found to be simultaneously mind-boggling and one of the coolest things I’d witnessed during my journey.
Presuming there is reciprocity when the Flying Dutchmen visit Calvin’s Van Noord Arena, I say kudos to both schools for allowing (some) students to enjoy the rivalry in both locations.
The Game
From left, some second-half action from The Rivalry; plenty of banners adorn DeVos Fieldhouse; Hope Coach Greg Mitchell works the sideline; Flying Dutchmen player, Parker Hovey, went down with an apparent knee injury early in the second half.
As expected, it was a back-and-forth affair … until the second half, at least.
Calvin scored the game’s first eight points, before Hope responded with nine straight of its own. From there, it was back-and-forth for much of the half.
The host Flying Dutchmen opened a 12-point lead with just over six minutes remaining in half before the Knights closed with a 16-6 to finish the half with Hope leading 36-34.
From there, it was all Calvin in the second half, outscoring their hosts 46-29.
The difference was 6-foot-10 Calvin center, Jalen Overway, who finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds. In all, the Knights’ outscored Hope, 42-26, in the paint.
The final score was Calvin 80, Hope 65.
Calvin also won the rematch a month later in Grand Rapids, 96-88, but Hope extracted a bit of revenge in the MIAA Tournament Semifinal at Olivet College, 73-63, en route to the MIAA Tournament Championship.
