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The Terry Duerod Interview

Written By:  Michael D. McClellan |  Garbage time is hardly the place where legends are born – those moments are usually reserved for the huge, pressure-packed situations, when everything is on the line and the fans are on their feet, their throaty roar engulfing the participants, swallowing them whole – but all of that changed on December 12, 1980, when then-head coach Bill Fitch emptied his bench in a home game against the New Jersey Nets.  The final score read 119-104, but it really wasn’t that close.  A young triumvirate of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale had just finished toasting a horrid Nets squad, putting on a basketball clinic and, in the process, earning some well-deserved time on the bench.  With less than four minutes remaining, Fitch turned toward the direction of Terry Duerod – the same Terry Duerod who had been signed to a ten-day contract only eight days before – and motioned for him to enter the game.  The Boston Garden faithful welcomed the University of Detroit product onto the parquet floor, where he quickly rubbed off his defender on a pick and nailed a mid-range jumper.  Chants of “DO-O-O-O” cascaded from the partisan crowd, many of whom had stayed just to cheer the scrubs.  Two possessions later he found the ball in his hands again, and once again he had an open look at the basket.  Heeding the advice of Fitch, who had given him the green light, Duerod did what all shooters do in that situation:  He let one fly.  The baseline jumper found the bottom of the net, and the spontaneous, heartfelt chant grew stronger.

Had it ended there, the Garden faithful would have gone home happy and Duerod would have simply become obscure trivia fodder.  Instead, Duerod found himself twenty feet from the basket, launching a shot that would instantly elevate him to cult-hero status.  With the remaining crowd now chanting “DO-O-O-O” in unison, the ball followed an almost impossibly high arc before dropping cleanly through the hoop.  Everyone on the bench jumped to their feet, Bird included.   There was still time on the clock for one more possession, and one more chance for Duerod to cement his place in Boston Celtics lore.  With Bird directing his teammates to get Duerod the ball, the Net reserves inexplicably backed away from the hottest player on the court.  Duerod drained the open three – and with that final basket, a legend was born.

Terry Duerod’s circuitous journey to the Boston Celtics began in Highland Park, Michigan, during the mid-1960s.  He was an athletic child, strong for his age, and plenty tall as well.  He played a little bit of everything – baseball, basketball, football – but mostly with other kids in his neighborhood, and in the parks and on the playgrounds near his home.  When he did get around to playing organized sports, Duerod proved to be a quick study on the hardwood – he was a key player on every team from sixth grade through twelfth, and over a six year span those teams would lose only a handful of games.  As a senior at Highland Park, Duerod and his teammates were considered frontrunners for a state championship.  A tragic car accident involving two his closest friends – and two of Highland Park’s biggest cage stars – derailed those title dreams, yet Duerod played well enough to catch the eye of Dick Vitale, the frenetic coach at the University of Detroit.  Already a salesman extraordinaire, Vitale preached the history of Detroit basketball, invoking the names of Dave DeBusschere and Spencer Haywood, and the promise of an up-tempo system in which to showcase Duerod’s deceptive speed and shooting accuracy.

It wasn’t a tough sell:  Duerod preferred to play his collegiate basketball close to home, where friends and family could come out and cheer him on.  And with Highland Park just a stone’s throw to the north (Henry Ford opened a Model T Factory there in 1909, giving birth to the automotive industry), there was always plenty of support in the stands.  Duerod worked hard to hone his skills, while waiting patiently for his time to shine.  He was there for Detroit’s 21-game win streak in 1977, which included a wild victory over Al McGuire and eventual-champion Marquette.  He was there for three post-season tournaments, and a truckload of memories.  He led Detroit in scoring as a senior, averaging 23.3 points-per-game.

Ironically, it was Vitale who would pave the way for Duerod to enter the NBA.  Vitale, who had accepted the head coaching job with the Detroit Pistons, wasted little time selecting the sweet-shooting guard in the third round of the 1979 NBA Draft.  It seemed like the perfect fit, as Duerod’s professional career got of to a promising start; the rookie averaged 9.3 points-per-game on 47-percent shooting, and he looked comfortable playing against some of the best guards in the league.  Vitale, however, lasted only 12 games into the season before being replaced by Richie Adubato, and Duerod then found himself available in the 1980 expansion draft.  The Dallas Mavericks quickly snapped him up.

The marriage between Duerod and the Mavericks seemed ill-fated from the very beginning.  While head coach Dick Motta clearly gave his new guard a chance to prove himself, there was very little communication between players and coaching staff.  A revolving door mentality took hold, as twenty-one players donned a Maverick uniform for at least one game that season.  Duerod lasted just eighteen games before getting the boot.

Duerod didn’t stay out of work for long.  Fitch lobbied for the team to sign the sharpshooter, which is exactly what happened after Duerod cleared waivers.  He worked hard, didn’t complain, and played the role of twelfth man to perfection.  And after signing a second consecutive ten-day contract, the Celtics rewarded him with a season-long offer.  He quickly became a welcome sight at the end of games, taking to the court with the outcome no longer in the balance, the Boston Garden crowd serenading him with chants of  “DO-O-O-O”.  Legendary announcer Johnny Most loved to talk about him on the air.  Cedric Maxwell good-naturedly nicknamed him ‘The Human Cigar’, a reference to Red Auerbach’s penchant for lighting up when the game was well in hand.  And everyone on the team, from Bird to Gerald Henderson to M.L. Carr, had only positive things to say about the team’s mid-season acquisition.

While Duerod’s NBA career was short-lived – he would play in just 143 games over four seasons, with the Pistons, Mavericks, Celtics and Warriors – he was able to win a championship following Boston’s memorable 4-2 series win over Moses Malone and the Houston Rockets.  Still, he is best remembered for that magical night in the Boston Garden, when a garbage-time player simply couldn’t miss, when Larry Legend became a fan of the fan favorite, and when everyone in the building found themselves caught up in doing the “DO-O-O-O”.

Let’s start at the beginning.  Take me way back to your childhood at Highland Park, Michigan.

I grew up in Highland Park, which is located just north of metro Detroit, and I went to school right there in town.  I liked playing sports as a child, but I really wasn’t involved in any organized leagues early on.  That changed when I reached the sixth grade – I was pretty tall for my age, and the basketball coach suggested that I go out for the team.  I didn’t know what to expect because up until then I hadn’t played a lot of ball.

I’d say things worked out pretty well. 

I tried out and made it, and that’s the first time I really took playing seriously.  I remember that my mother bought a basketball hoop and set it up for me, which really helped me work on different parts of my game.  Our eighth grade team went undefeated.  I could jump, although I really didn’t know it at the time.  I’d never tried to dunk a basketball, but I went up and dunked, and from then on I was hooked.  I worked hard on my jump shot.  I played freshman basketball at Highland Park High School, and our team went 22-3 that season.  I believe that our tenth grade team was also 22-3.  I didn’t play varsity ball because the coach didn’t want me to sit on the bench behind the older, more experienced players.  So I was able to play quite a bit those first two seasons.  I played varsity as a junior and senior.

How did your senior year play out?

We had a lot of expectations going into that final season, but two of my friends on the team – Steve Martin and Eugene Littleton – were involved in a car wreck.   Martin was 6′-8″ and could really play.  He died in the crash, while Littleton was somehow able to survive.  That accident was just terrible for the families and their friends.  It also hurt the team – we finished up just over .500, which was very disappointing because a lot of us had been together since the sixth grade, we had experienced a lot of success together, and we had a lot of high expectations going into the start of the season.

From Highland Park you stayed close to home, playing college basketball at the University of Detroit.  You followed in the school’s great tradition of talent, joining Dave DeBusschere, Spencer Haywood, Terry Tyler and John Long as distinguished basketball alums.

Dick Vitale was a great salesman.  He recruited me, and said that he wanted to bring basketball back to the University of Detroit.  He talked about the great tradition, the players like DeBusschere and Haywood, and about the guys that were just a recruiting class ahead of me, like Terry Tyler and John Long.  That first year we went to the NCAA Tournament behind veteran players like Dennis Boyd and Ron Bossie, but lost in the first round.  The next season we were led by Tyler and Long, and we played in the NIT tournament.  My junior year we were back in the NCAAs.  By then I was playing a much bigger role on the team, and I was able to help these guys on both ends of the court.  It was great to be a part of the team’s success.

Detroit had a 21-game winning streak during the 1976-77 season, including a victory in Milwaukee over eventual national champion Marquette.

I remember that game like it was yesterday – it was an exciting contest and a great college atmosphere, and probably the greatest game I’ve ever been involved in.  It was very close all way, the Warriors had the one-point lead, and it came down to one possession.  Dennis Boyd hit a shot from the top of the key with one second left to give us the win, setting off a wild celebration at the buzzer.  It was a lot of fun to be a part of that.

Players today are all about the tattoos.  When you played, it was more about the nicknames – from George “Ice Man” Gervin to “Daryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins, it was a great era for colorful handles.  How did you get the nickname “Sweet Due”?

Because of the way I shot the basketball [laughs].  Somebody in the media talked about the way my jumper grazed the net going in, and how sweet the shot looked.  The fans really picked up on that, and they would chant ‘DO-O-O-O’ at the games [laughs].  It was great.  From then on I became known as ‘Sweet Due’!

You scored 1,690 points during your career at Detroit, this before the advent of the three-point line.  Where, on the court, did most of your points come from?

From the top of the key, and from the corners.  I really didn’t pay attention to how far out I was shooting, because it just came naturally for me.  That’s where I felt comfortable shooting from – that was my normal range.  Someone brought that up later, and pointed out that a lot of my shots would be from behind the arc today.  So I think having the three-point line back then would have played right into my strength as a long-range shooter.

In 1993 you were honored by being inducted into the University of Detroit’s Athletic Hall of Fame.  What was this like for you?

It was great accomplishment, and very nice to be recognized for my achievements at Detroit.  It’s something that will be with me for the rest of my life, no question about it, and I’m proud that the University honored me in that way.  I don’t think it’s something that I would have appreciated at a younger age.  Now, I think about it and I’m very grateful for the recognition.  I think every person wants to be recognized in some way, shape or form, and that it’s important to have something to point to down the road.  When I go to the games in Detroit people still know me, which is also a good feeling.  They might announce my name over the loudspeakers and introduce me, and mention what I have accomplished, and it still makes me tingle.

Following college, you were drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the third round of the 1979 NBA Draft.  Ironically – and briefly – Dick Vitale was your first professional coach.  What was it like to be drafted by your hometown team?

I was very excited.  I’d played basketball in-or-around Detroit my whole life, from middle school to high school, and then on into college.  So to be chosen by the Pistons was like a dream come true.  All of the fans knew me.  They were very supportive and cheered for me when I got into the game.  It helped a lot.  It made me work that much harder.  Having them behind me was a special feeling, and one that’s hard to explain, but it gave me the added confidence to play against the top talent in the league.

You played in 67 games as a rookie, averaging 9.3 points-per-game.

From a team standpoint, we were really struggling.  We were 16-66 that season, we were the worst team in the NBA.  Coach Vitale lasted twelve games and was replaced by Richie Adubato.  It didn’t really matter who coached us, though, because we were a team with a lot of rookies and old veterans, and not a whole lot of anything in-between.  There were four rookies – myself, Greg Kelser, Earl Evans, and Roy Lee Hamilton.  Terry Tyler and John Long were also on that team, and they were just in their second seasons.  We had Bob Lanier but he ended up getting hurt.  We had Bob McAdoo.  The injuries did help me in a way, because it allowed me to play and to show what I could do on the court.

You hear players talk about the dreaded “Rookie Wall”.  Did you hit the wall that season, and what was it like adjusting to all of that travel?

I think there really is something to that.  There is just so much travel – much more than you ever experience in college – and the season is so much longer as well.  You have to adjust to getting up earlier.  For a college kid, getting up at 5 AM is a big change.  I ran into all of these things my rookie season.  I just kept working hard and trying to make it through.

You played one season in Detroit, and then ended up a member of the Dallas Mavericks.  You only played 18 games before being waived.  What happened?

I was showing a lot of promise, enough that the Pistons protected me during the expansion draft, but I later ended up going to the Dallas Mavericks in the supplemental draft.  I was averaging double figures before I got hurt, and when I came back from injury the team had chosen to go in another direction.

After Dallas waived me, I received a call from Red Auerbach.  He was awesome.  He told me about wanting to draft me in ’79, but that the Pistons had gotten to me first.  He said that he wanted me to play for the Boston Celtics.  It was a very good conversation.  Red went on to say that Coach [Bill] Fitch had a problem with free agents, and that it had something to do with an experience that he had in Cleveland.  But he also assured me that everything was going to work out if I joined the team.  So I signed with the Celtics on December 4, 1980, and I played hard.

What was it like to join a young, championship-caliber team like the Celtics?

It was a great experience.  The coaching staff, the players, the fans – it was all very special for me.  Being a part of something like that was another dream come true.  Max – Cedric Maxwell – was my man [laughs]!  Robert Parish and Kevin McHale were great teammates.  We had Tiny Archibald and Larry Bird – I couldn’t have asked for better teammates!  It was a very positive situation, which was nice because I’d come from a negative situation in Dallas.  It was totally different.  The team was focused on winning, and it was loaded with great, young talent.

Big Chief [Parish] took me under his wing.  He helped me a lot.  A lot of people don’t realize this – I didn’t until I got there – but Chief, Kevin and Larry are all very funny people.  Great jokesters.  They all talked some trash, told some jokes, and pulled some pranks.  So there was never a dull moment [laughs]!  In addition to being great players, they were a great bunch of guys.

You played 32 games for the Celtics that season, becoming a fan-favorite.  The familiar chant of “DO-O-O-O” could be heard at almost every home game.  Please tell me about the fans in Boston.

Best fans in the world.  Period.  They treat the players great, and support the team no matter what the record is  It was a super experience for me to play in front of them!

The legendary Nate “Tiny” Archibald was also on that team.

Tiny was also giving me pointers and showing me things.  He was left-handed but could shoot right – it wasn’t the prettiest sight, but it went in [laughs].  He was always teaching the young guys.  I don’t know if he did a lot of that early in his career, but by the time I got there he was a very good mentor.  He was a funny guy as well.  He has a reputation for being quiet and shy, but once he starts talking you can’t get him to stop [laughs]!

Another player with Motown on résumé was M.L. Carr.  Please tell me about M.L.

M.L. had a great personality – he didn’t call me “Sweet Due”.  He always called me “Dip” [laughs].  He stayed in shape and was always ready to play.  We played one-on-one all the time, and had some great battles.

What was it like to meet Red Auerbach?

I remember the smoke!  I can’t stand cigar smoke, but I didn’t tell him that [laughs].  I remember him coming to the practices and just watching, taking it all in.  He didn’t miss anything – he’s so smart, and he understands the game so well.  He took an interest in me, and took me under his wing.  He was always very positive.

Please tell me about the Boston Garden – what are some of the memories that stand out about that fabled arena?

The mystique.  When you played in the Garden and you saw all of those banners – no other arena in the league was like it, and the same holds true today.  You couldn’t help but think about Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek and all of the other Celtic greats that helped to put those banners in the rafters.  I was in awe.

Final Question:  You’ve achieved great success in your life.  If you could offer one piece of advice on life to others, what would that be?

If I’m speaking to aspiring basketball players, it would be simply:  Get your education.  Basketball is secondary to the real world, and you need an education if you’re going to succeed off of the court.

Michael McClellan
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