Jon Zulauf
Year Inducted: 2011
In high school athletics coaches and athletic administrators dream of that “special” athlete that usually comes around only every eight to ten years. In the late 1980’s this occurred at Port Huron High School with the arrival of the Zulauf twins, Jon and Jay. They took their place in PHHS history along with the likes of Lysle Smith, Richie Robins, Brett Mullins, Ryan Mullins, Booker and John Hazley and Al Davis along with others. They dominated the basketball courts from 1985-88. Quoting their basketball coach Ed Peltz, “They are gentlemen, scholars and very fine basketball players. They are definitely fine kids and coachable kids”.
As a sophomore forward the left handed Jon Zulauf was named MVP, 1st Team All-EML, All-Area, All-Metro East and was named honorable mention All-State in his sophomore season. Jon averaged 16 points and 8 rebounds in his sophomore season while leading the Big Reds to an EML Championship. In tennis Jon posted a 26-0 record playing number 3 singles before giving up tennis to concentrate on basketball. He not only was an All-Area tennis player but he also won numerous tournaments growing up including the Robinson.
As a 6’7” junior he averaged 21 points per game, had a 60% field goal average, 74% free throw average, averaged 10 rebounds per game and 4 assists per game leading the Bid Reds to the EML Championship and earned Team MVP and 1st Team All-State honors.
As a senior Jon led the Big Reds to a 24-2 season record, District and Regional titles, before losing to Detroit Southwestern the #1 ranked team, in the Quarter Finals 66-59 while being the #2 ranked team in the state. Jon averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds per game. He was again named 1st Team All EML, All-Area, All-Metro East and 1st Team All-State and Detroit News Dream Team while again leading the Big Reds to a third straight EML title. Along with his state wide accolades, Jon was named to the Nike All-American team, the McDonalds All-American Team, was rated in the top 60 players in the country and rated the 4th best player in the state his senior year. Jon still holds the PHHS season and career rebound records and field goal percentage.
Upon completing his high school career, Jon accepted a scholarship to Michigan State University where he joined state wide players Matt Steigenga, Mike Peplowski and Mark Montgomery in forming a four year core of talent at MSU. Jon played 99 games for MSU with a career high 19 point game, a career high 10 rebound game. He was a member of the 1990 Big Ten Championship Team. Jon was a key reserve his sophomore, junior and senior season while starting 4 games as a senior. His junior year he led the Spartans in scoring on a summer trip to Australia while averaging 18 points per game.
After completing his career at MSU, Jon played professional Basketball for three years in Austria for UBSC-Graz with a team record of 55 points in one game while averaging 32 points per game. In addition to basketball, Jon excelled in baseball, football and tennis. He was recently named to St. Clair County’s All-Time 50 Best Athletes list. Jon and his wife Tracy live in Naperville, Illinois and have daughters Jenna and Ashley and a son Brian.
