The Terry Duerod Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Saturday, April 16th, 2005
Let’s start at the beginning. Take me way back to your
childhood at Highland Park, Michigan. What are some of
the things that stand out in your mind after all of
these years?
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.
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. 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. Please
tell me about some of these gentlemen, and also about
your coach at Detroit, Dick Vitale.
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.
Marquette, coached by Al McGuire, won the 1977 NCAA
basketball championship. Detroit had a 21-game winning
streak that season, including a victory in Milwaukee
over Marquette. Please share your memories of that
streak, and of Detroit’s big win against the eventual
national champions.
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'!
