Back in the day when Derrick Coleman was in high school, word of mouth on the streets of Detroit would spread the news that George Gervin was coming to town to play at the tiny little gym on Livernois Avenue and Stearns Street known as ”The Saint” – aka St. Cecilia.
Sam Washington, the gym’s caretaker back in those days, doubled the price of admission from $1 to $2 when the “Iceman” was coming to town.
Washington was the gatekeeper at the 300-seat gym where high school, college and pro basketball players gathered every summer for pickup games in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, and players from the state of Michigan feel it should have the same exposure as the Drew League in Los Angeles or the Rucker League in New York.
“The whole reason I wore No. 44 throughout my career was because of what George Gervin meant to me. The first time I met him I was a junior in high school and there were whispers going around that he was up in the stands, and I went up and introduced myself, and he took the time to mentor me.”
Coleman is holding an event in Dearborn, Michigan the week after the All-Star game to honor Gervin and Washington, but that is not the main purpose of the event. The Detroit chapter of the Retired Players Association is trying to raise $20 million for a full makeover of the Saint Cecilia gym, which has been more or less shuttered for the past 4-5 years.
“I used to take the bus down there for a quarter at 8 in the morning, eat lunch at Burger King, play ball all day and not leave until 9 o’clock at night,” said Earl Cureton, who played in the NBA, in Italy, in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico before returning to Michigan, where he is now a team ambassador for the Pistons and also calls University of Detroit games as a broadcaster. “Kids these days do not have a safe place like that where they can be surrounded by role models, and we want to bring that back. It kept you around the right mentors and the right people.
Cureton, former Mayor Dave Bing and Coleman are heading a group that is trying to raise $20 million for a full reconstruction of the iconic gym where generations of the best players from Michigan gathered every summer. Cureton remembers Spencer Haywood being especially excited to be driving up in a brand new Cadillac after he made it to the NBA and he got his first big contract.
Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Rudy Tomjanovich, Voshon Lenard, Walker D, Russell, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Campy Russell, Dave DeBusschere, Tom LaGarde, Roy Tarpley, Mo Taylor, Voshon Lenard, John Long – they all played at St. Cecilia – Known in The D as “The Saint,” during the summers. Like many old Catholic school gyms, it was small with a stage at one end covered with padding and had a largely unused stage at the other end. The ceiling was low, and longer shots would scrape the paint above the court.
This is how they envision the rebuild looking:
Cureton remembers showing up with Darryl Dawkins, and when they got to the door where Mr. Washington was controlling the show, Dawkins was told that he would not be allowed to play because there were not any spare backboards.
Coleman and the Detroit chapter of the NBRPA are holding that dinner to honor Gervin, but the bigger goal is to raise roughly $20 million for a full renovation of the building, removing the low ceiling, allowing skylight to flow through new windows, installing bleachers, and building community fresh markets on one side of the building under the stands, and meeting spaces under the other side of the bleachers. The architectural firm Jeffrey A Scott L.C. from Farmington, Mich. has already put together a comprehensive 39-page rehabilitation plan, the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit is on board, and the goal is to get the project completed sooner rather than later so that young Detroit and Michigan ballers can have the same iconic hoops destination as their predecessors had.
Often nicknamed “The Mecca,” Saint Cecilia is the most famous gym in Detroit but has been mostly shuttered for the last 4-5 years. Coleman, Cureton and Bing, the former Mayor of Detroit and one of the NBRPA’s founders, are trying to change that.
“The most memorable thing I remember was watching Chris Webber as a high school junior grabbing a defensive rebound, taking it the length of the court and dunking on some unfortunate defender. I knew right then he would be a pro,” Bing said.
Coleman remembers Steve Smith, now on NBA-TV, perfecting his “Smitty” hesitation move. “You would go into that sweatbox – it was like 110 degrees in there in the summertime – and you would look at the layup line and see 10 to 15 NBA players on any given Saturday,” Coleman said. “Dave Bing brought guys from the Pistons in to play with high school kids.
“For me, could you imagine what it as like walking into a gym and seeing your idol, which is what happened with me and George Gervin? I am still I awe, and people need to recognize how many NBA players the state of Michigan has produced. A terrible job has been done telling that story,” Coleman said.
“When I won a championship with the Philadelphia 76ers, folks from Detroit still wanted to know if I was going to win the title at The Saint later that summer,” Cureton recalled. “Guys came from Flint, from Saginaw, from Pontiac, and Bernard King and a team of the best young New York players once made the trip. It was a place where young kids could talk to real NBA players in the parking lot.”
Earl Cureton, Dave Bing, Greg Kelser, Derrick Coleman and Grant Long Discuss St. Cecilia’s Gym.
The story of Saint Cecilia would make a great documentary if there as any footage of those games, but this was in the pre cell-phone age, and 8-millimeter and/or VCR or Betamax tapes of those games have never been located. What endures are the stories.
Coleman’s event on Feb. 23, 2024 at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. will specifically honor Gervin and Washington, and interested parties (whether to attend or to donate) can contact sunni@nbrpdetroit.org.
If all goes well, a good time will be had by all.
If all goes much better than expected, a sizeable chunk of the $20 million will be raised with a lump sum donation from someone with a fat wallet, and the rebuild of Saint Cecilia goes from the drawing board to the construction phase on an expedited basis. If that happens, the most famous gym in Detroit is back up and running again in 2025 instead of 2027 or 2028.
Think about how many young lives that will impact in a positive way. Coleman, Cureton, Bing, Gervin, Washington and others want it, but they cannot do it alone. And anyone who has been keeping up with the ongoing efforts to revitalize Detroit understands that one of America’s historically great cities could use this boost sooner rather than later. Let’s see if someone special makes that happen.