L’ANSE — Jennifer Kangas-Brody always had something extra going for her during a fine athletic career.

She would stick with whatever she was doing until it came to a statisfactory conclusion.

That determination has netted her a number of achievements — the most recent coming earlier this year when she was voted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame.

“Yes, I did stick to things,” she said after hearing of the honor. “It was one of my strong points.”

An outstanding athlete at L’Anse High School, where she starred in basketball, volleyball and golf, Kangas-Brody was able to parlay the latter sport into a scholarship at Michigan State University.

A three-time all-state and U.P. prep golf champion, she did well enough at MSU and was an All-Big Ten choice as a senior.

MSU coach Mart Fossum said Kangas-Brody showed potential from the start.

“Jenn always worked hard,” Fossum said in a 1996 interview. “I felt she had the skills to play at the next level.”

Those skills on the links led to her getting a chance to compete on the Ladies PGA Futures Tour, where she captured four tournaments in five years.

She later gained a spot on the LPGA regular tour by placing 19th out of 140 players at the qualifying tournament at Daytona, Fla.

In her first tourney on the regular PGA Tour, she finished 13th at the Hawiian Open.

But after two years on tour, Kangas-Brody decided to spend more time with her husband, Doug. The couple have two children, a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son.

In her early years, Kangas-Brody was a constant presence at the L’Anse Golf Course. Her father, Larry, introduced her to the sport at the age of 4.

“That was where I learned about golf,” she said. “I’ve always considered the (L’Anse) course as my home course.”

Having cousins who were on the L’Anse course almost as much as she was didn’t hurt. The Koskinen brothers, Mike and Jim, “always provided a good challenge for me.”

She and her husband own and operate a golf accessories shop at Warwick Hills GC in downstate Grand Blanc.