From Glory Days featuring Thomas “Hitman” Hearns

The Kronk Gym represents one of the golden eras of boxing in Detroit and one of the more well-known names to come out of Kronk is Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns. Hearns spent the first five years of his life on his grandparents’ farm in Grand Junction, Tennessee. He credits helping on the farm at such a young age as the foundation of his strength and work ethic that would benefit him later in life. At age five, his mother moved the family to Detroit and that’s when he began to have an interest in boxing. Although his mother was against his involvement with boxing at first, by age 12 she allowed him to box and he began to get serious about the sport. He feels his mother was one of the largest reasons why he became so successful and that she instilled in all of her children that “we have to stand up for ourselves no matter what we do for a living.” As a teenager Hearns boxed as an amateur under legendary Kronk trainer Emmanuel Steward, who was like a father to him. Hearns believes that without people like his mother and Steward, his talents would’ve probably been wasted and he would’ve never reached his full potential. By 1977 Hearns fought in 167 amateur fights, only losing eight of them. Although Hearns is best known for his devastating punches, it was not until turning pro that he learned how to punch even harder, which was a skill directly attributed to Emmanuel Stewart at the Kronk Gym.

Beginning his professional debut in 1977, Hearns won his first 17 professional fights by knockout. Four years later, with an undefeated 32-0 record and a WBA Championship, Hearns went up against “Sugar” Ray Leonard from the WBC. After 14 grueling rounds, Hearns was dealt his first loss as a pro. In 1985 he would have another high-profile fight against Marvin Hagler. During the second round Hearns broke his hand and eventually lost the fight. This fight would go down in boxing history as one of the most grueling and known as the “The War” to boxing fans around the world. Hearns would have a rematch in 1989 against “Sugar” Ray Leonard after winning the WBO title but the judges called it a draw, which drew a lot of controversy from the fans.

Thomas “Hitman” Hearns would go on to have an incredibly long career, spanning decades since his first amateur fight and his last professional fight at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2006. His professional career finished with a 61-5-1 career record. “I give all the blessings to God,” Hearns says looking back at his success. Since his retirement, Hearns has been focused on giving back to both the sport that helped him become famous and the city he loves and learned how to box. Part of McGraw Avenue by the original site of the Kronk Gym is now named Thomas “Hitman” Hearns Avenue. “It shows the people who make those kinds of decisions do care,” he expressed.

Hearns wants to go even further and rebuild the original Kronk Gym, which has seen some tough times with looting and fires since its closure. He wants to train and promote new fighters in what he calls The Thomas Hearns Boxing Academy. Boxing promotions is something he along with his mother have done in recent times, including for boxing legend Mike Tyson. Thomas also prides himself on being humble, “there’s nothing wrong with being humble,” Hearns believes. An example of this is how he wants the citizens of Detroit to decide where his place in Detroit’s history is and that no matter what, he always did his best.

When it comes to transitions in life, Thomas “Hitman” Hearns believes, “if you have an idea in your mind, stick to it. Don’t let anyone dissuade you from it and stay focused,” he shared. This was the mentality he had throughout his nearly three-decade career.

You can catch Thomas Hearn’s full TV interview this Sunday, April 29th on From Glory Days, on TV20 Detroit at 6:00 a.m. Set your alarms or DVRs to hear Thomas’ story directly from this seven time World Boxing Association Champion himself.

Check out other athletes featured on the From Glory Days page.

Michael Holzman is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn with honors, with a BA in Communications.  He also has a communications and broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Media Arts. A native of the Detroit area, Michael is now an associate producer for the TV show, “From Glory Days” and also works for Yellow Flag Productions, primarily reporting and gathering video for their popular show, “State Champs Sports Network.”   

The post From Glory Days featuring Thomas “Hitman” Hearns appeared first on In Play! magazine.

Photo: Darren McCarty, May 24, 2008 during a post game interview after a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena. Photo Jack Rosenberg – In Play! magazine

From Glory Days Featuring Darren McCarty

You cannot think about the Detroit Red Wings four Stanley Cups in eleven years without thinking about Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, and Darren McCarty who were affectionately known as the Grind Line. Although McCarty grew up just on the other side of the border in Leamington, Ontario, McCarty felt like he was a Detroiter from the very beginning. “My childhood home was about five to ten minutes to the border and then about 40 minutes to the Joe, about the distance most suburbs are from downtown,” he shared. At the time of his childhood the Red Wings were not playing well, a time known as the “Dead Things” era, and most people in Leamington were either fans of the Montreal Canadiens or Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite all of that, McCarty still rooted for his hometown Red Wings, even attending a game at Olympia Arena when he was five years of age, which eventually was torn down by the time he turned pro.

Although he loved hockey, Darren’s first love was baseball. He was a huge fan of the Detroit Tigers and idolized Lance Parrish, painting his catcher glove orange to look like Parrish’s. Like Parrish, McCarty played catcher and went on to win three Ontario provincial championships in high school. “I could not hit a curveball and was better at hitting people in hockey,” McCarty joked, which became a big reason for switching from baseball to hockey. Since the age of eight he worked for his stepdad’s refrigeration business and used that experience as a motivation to do something different in life while paying for extra weeks at hockey camp.

In 1992 Darren McCarty was drafted by the Red Wings and immediately made an impact as a scorer but also realized he needed to do something more to make it in the NHL. He always felt he was good with his hands and quickly earned a reputation as an enforcer on the ice. McCarty really put himself on the map on March 26, 1997 against the Colorado Avalanche and the famous fight he had with Avalanche player Claude Lemieux. “A lot of people say I sucker punched him but if you look at the way we were looking at each other, it was really a cold-cock,” McCarty quipped. The Red Wings had yet to beat the Avalanche in a playoff series, yet that fight and the game winning goal in overtime by McCarty, changed fortunes for the Wings.

The Red Wings would win their first Stanley Cup championship in 42 years in 1992 and would win two more by 2002. McCarty thinks the Red Wings were successful because of how Mike and Marian Ilitch, the team owners, treated the players as if they were the Ilitchs’ own kids. He also felt Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman was unique in being like a psychologist, knowing that he could treat every player different to be successful. Bowman knew that what motivated one player wouldn’t necessarily inspire another, and he learned to leave McCarty alone because Darren would motivate himself to deliver every night.

After the NHL installed the salary cap following the locked out 2004-05 season, the Red Wings released Darren to save money and he was signed by the Calgary Flames. Things began to look grim for his career as he would only score seven goals in two years and was released by the Flames. The Red Wings picked him back up in 2007 and allowed him to work his way up through the minors to be back in the NHL. He returned just in time to get his fourth Stanley Cup in 2008. After one more year in the NHL, McCarty’s body was done. He was satisfied with his comeback and getting that last cup. During this transition, McCarty also struggled quite publicly with addictions and financial troubles.

He started to get things together by moving to Clearwater, Florida and marrying his longtime girlfriend Sheryl Sirmons. By 2013, Darren was off both alcohol and pills and began advocating for medical marijuana, which he claims helped him quit other drugs. He also attributed the writing of his book, “My Last Fight: The True Story of a Hockey Rock Star” as a way for him to clear the air on things in his life. Darren has been part of the Detroit Red Wings alumni travel team, which allows him to not only keep playing with his old teammates, something he really missed when he first retired, but also raise money for charity. Although McCarty is not the most active guy on social media, he is part of an interactive service called FanCrater which, for $10 dollars a month, allows fans to hear from him one on one with daily updates and chatting. This service is available at DMac.FanCrater.com. Darren also has a podcast with Red Wings alums on PodcastDetroit.com.

When it comes to transitions in life, Darren McCarty wants people to be aware of their credit score, something people may not always think about. Hindsight has helped him understand that good credit can open more financial doors but can also close doors as he’s experienced because of bankruptcy and poor credit.

You can catch Darren McCarty’s full TV interview this Sunday, April 22nd on From Glory Days, on TV20 Detroit at 6:00 a.m. Set your alarms or DVRs to hear Darren’s story directly from this former Stanley Cup Champion himself.

Check out other athletes featured on the From Glory Days page.

Michael Holzman is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn with honors, with a BA in Communications.  He also has a communications and broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Media Arts. A native of the Detroit area, Michael is now an associate producer for the TV show, “From Glory Days” and also works for Yellow Flag Productions, primarily reporting and gathering video for their popular show, “State Champs Sports Network.”   

The post From Glory Days Featuring Darren McCarty appeared first on In Play! magazine.

Photo courtesy University of Michigan

From Glory Days featuring Maceo Baston

By: Michael Holzman

Many people may not see a connection between professional basketball and cupcakes but the story of 2x EuroLeague Champion, Maceo Baston, creates one. Baston grew up in the Dallas, Texas area and like most Texans, his first love was football. He started playing the game at the age of eight and continued to play for most of his childhood. By seventh grade he was very tall for his age, six foot three, and began playing basketball, despite having no skills or experience. His size would make the other teams nervous but he did not see the court until the final game of the season where he scored only one point. After talking his Dad into building a hoop for him that following summer, Maceo realized he could get better. In eighth grade he immediately made an impact, scoring 16 points in the season opener as well as getting the attention of college scouts. He did so well that season that he was invited to play in an all-star game in Helsinki, Finland.

Despite growing up in Texas, Maceo was a big fan of the University of Michigan. Maceo Baston loved their football team and the school colors. He also watched the Fab Five play while in high school. When they came to recruit him, Baston was excited to commit to the Wolverines. Although Michigan did not enjoy the same amount of success they had during the Fab Five era, Maceo would appear in the NCAA Tournament twice and win the National Invitational Tournament, although Michigan had to later vacate that season due to a booster scandal. He felt that the pressure and the expectations he had from playing for such a big school prepared him for the pressure he would face as a professional.

In 1998, Baston was drafted in the second round by the Chicago Bulls but didn’t play a single game for them because the NBA was in a lockout that year, so he decided to keep playing and join the Quad City Thunder in the CBA where he would stay for the next two years. “I never could escape the Midwest,” Maceo gests. After the CBA, the rest of his pro career was mainly spent in Europe, with a few brief stints with the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, and Detroit Pistons. His greatest success as a pro would come with the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team. While playing for them, Tel Aviv made the EuroLeague Final Four for three years in a row and won the championship twice. “It was beyond my wildest dreams,” Baston says about winning a championship at that level. His passion for the game matched the passion of the fans and Maceo would become a nationwide celebrity in Israel.

By 2011 the opportunities for Baston were dwindling and he had to begin to plan his life after pro sports. “It is like parting with one of your limbs,” is how Maceo describes retiring from professional sports. What prepared him for this major transition came while playing with the Toronto Raptors and being told in a team meeting that out of the 15 players in the room, ten of them would be broke when they retired. This information really stuck with Maceo and motivated him to enroll in the NBA’s entrepreneurs program, in which he and 10 to 15 other NBA players were given a crash course in business. Baston viewed that course as a great foundation and was taken under the wing of other Detroit area basketball players turned businessmen like Dave Bing, Earle Higgins, and Antoine Joubert.

His first project was a cupcake business called “Taste Love” in of Royal Oak, Michigan. That business would be recruited to be on the Food Channel show “Cupcake Wars,” which Maceo then won. After winning “Cupcake Wars,” he was invited on the ABC food talk show, “The Chew” which allowed him to promote his business on the big stage even more. He has also partnered with Joubert in the construction business and sells real estate as well. “I’m just enjoying the fruits of my success, giving back and enjoying life,” Maceo shared. He gives back by mentoring both kids in grade school as well as college athletes by helping give them confidence and direction in their athletic careers and their lives.

When it comes to transitions in life, Maceo Baston knows that change can be tough and while you should reflect on your “glory days,” you should avoid getting hung up on them. You should also take care of yourself and your body, give back to people and find yourself.

You can catch Maceo Baston’s full TV interview this Sunday, April 15th on From Glory Days, on TV20 Detroit at 6:00 a.m. Set your alarms or DVRs to hear Maceo’s story directly from this former EuroLeague and Cupcake Wars Champion himself.

Check out other athletes featured on the From Glory Days page.

Michael Holzman is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn with honors, with a BA in Communications.  He also has a communications and broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Media Arts. A native of the Detroit area, Michael is now an associate producer for the TV show, “From Glory Days” and also works for Yellow Flag Productions, primarily reporting and gathering video for their popular show, “State Champs Sports Network.”   

The post From Glory Days featuring Maceo Baston appeared first on In Play! magazine.

Photo: Cory Schlesinger teaching technical drafting and computer-aided design at Allen Park High School. Lions photo courtesy the Detroit Lions.

From Glory Days featuring Cory Schlesinger

National Champion and Former Detroit Lion, Cory Schlesinger, came from a very humble beginning. His house was so far away from his high school in Columbus, Nebraska, that he was allowed a farmer’s permit to drive at age 14. Cory was a multi-sport athlete in Nebraska, but since kindergarten he’d been competing in wrestling and went on to win the state championship during both his junior and senior year in high school. “In wrestling, just like in football, you must be aggressive but smart,” he shared.

Wrestling was not the only aggressive sport Schlesinger enjoyed. At age 15 Cory made his debut in a demolition derby, something his dad frequently competed in. During the first round, Cory was black flagged for not hitting anyone, disqualifying him from the race, however, he was given a second chance in the consolation race. Taking advice from his dad, Schlesinger won that consolation round, which qualified him for the finals. As fate would have it, that final demolition race came down to Cory, his dad and his brother, with Cory taking home the trophy.

Since his days in pee wee football, Schlesinger only played linebacker until his senior year in high school. A friend pushed him to train harder than ever so that when the season started they both would be good enough to play offense and defense, a common thing for small town high schools. Cory quickly became a natural at the running back position and his running abilities caught the attention of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

He was immediately intimidated by this major college program, as the team started out with 11 fullbacks. Through working hard and hitting hard in practice, Cory quickly rose to the top of the depth chart. Old teammates would tell him years later that because of how hard he would hit them, they would try to hurt him as payback.

During his senior year in 1994, the Cornhuskers made it to the NCAA Championship game against the University of Miami Hurricanes. Although Schlesinger would score the go ahead and winning touchdowns in that game, his best memory of that game was on the opening kickoff. “As the kick returner ran the ball back, I hit the one coverage guy so hard that he was instantly knocked out,” he said. In his autobiography, NFL Hall of Famer Warren Sapp who was a member of the Hurricanes that day, wrote that they were not intimidated at all by Nebraska until they saw how hard Cory hit his teammate on that opening kickoff.

After that season, Schlesinger was not invited to the NFL draft combine but when scouts came to the Nebraska pro day, he surprised many NFL teams. “Growing up in a town of 410 people, nobody would think that I would make it to the NFL,” Cory shared, but he proved that thought wrong in the sixth round of the 1994 NFL Draft when he was selected by the Detroit Lions. As soon as he was on the team, he was told that he was not drafted to run or catch the ball but to block for superstar running back Barry Sanders. For most of his rookie year, he would serve as Barry’s lead blocker but as the season was coming to an end, Barry began to run his own routes. The Lions decided to switch to an offense that normally did not use a fullback, so Cory became more of a special team’s specialist. Despite the challenge of not being on the offense a lot, as well as the frequent coaching changes the Lions went through in those days, Schlesinger managed to have 12 years in the NFL. He would try for a 13^th with the Miami Dolphins but was cut during the preseason.

From the start of his NFL career, Cory began to think about what would come next. Fullbacks do not get paid like other starters and Cory always believed that it only takes one hit for your career to be over. In the off-season, he would go back to Nebraska and take some classes, slowly finishing his teaching degree. Cory then began to substitute teach at his old high school in the following off-seasons. He was then recruited by Allen Park High School, right around the corner from the Lions’ headquarters. He taught technical drafting and computer-aided design or CAD for short. “Being in the classroom that first semester was much more terrifying than playing in the NFL,” Cory recalls. He has now been teaching, as well as coaching football, at Allen Park High for ten years. His goal is to teach kids something greater than football and make his student athletes aware that sports do not last forever and they need to be prepared for the real world afterwards.

When it comes to transitions in life, Cory Schlesinger tells his students that no matter what you want to do in life, you need to have a desire to go out and do it. You have to have a passion for it, work hard at it and not make excuses for it. This is how he got from a small town in Nebraska to the NFL and wants his students to use that same mentality in their everyday lives.

You can catch Cory Schlesinger’s full TV interview this Sunday, April 8th on From Glory Days, on TV20 Detroit at 6:00 a.m. Set your alarms or DVRs to hear Cory’s story directly from this former NCAA Football Champion and Detroit Lions Alum himself.

Check out other athletes featured on the From Glory Days page.

Michael Holzman is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn with honors, with a BA in Communications.  He also has a communications and broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Media Arts. A native of the Detroit area, Michael is now an associate producer for the TV show, “From Glory Days” and also works for Yellow Flag Productions, primarily reporting and gathering video for their popular show, “State Champs Sports Network.”   

The post From Glory Days featuring Cory Schlesinger appeared first on In Play! magazine.

From Glory Days featuring Terry Duerod

Terry Duerod is the definition of a hometown kid. After being born and raised in the city of Detroit, he would go on to play basketball at every level for his hometown. “It was great growing up playing in front of my home fans,” Duerod says. “It was one of the best feelings ever.” Terry’s love for basketball really grew when he was in high school. While on a travel team in the tenth grade, Duerod and his teammates went to an NBA game in New York where he watched the legendary Julius “Dr. J” Irving. “I lost my mind seeming him play,” Duerod shared. While in high school at Highland Park, Terry Duerod was often told by his coach that he would have a lot of options provided he kept practicing. In his junior year Highland Park high school won the state championship, which was dedicated to two of his teammates that were in a serious car accident, one of whom died. They nearly followed it up with a second championship his senior season but lost in the state championship game.

Just like his coach said, Duerod was highly recruited by numerous colleges but chose to stay in his own backyard and play for the University of Detroit Mercy and their coach, the now legendary Dick Vitale. Terry explains that he picked U of D over other schools because he really enjoyed playing in front of his friends and family in high school and he did not want to move. One thing Vitale would always preach to his players is that it was never too early to think about life after basketball, something that would stick with Terry throughout his career. He played all four years for the Titans and scored 1,690 points, with an average of 23.3 points per game.

Shortly after Duerod finished his fourth and final year at U of D, Coach Vitale made a move to the Detroit Pistons as their new head coach. He convinced the Pistons to draft Duerod in the third round of the 1979 NBA Draft, which gave Terry even more time in front of the home crowd. During his NBA rookie season Duerod averaged 9.3 points per game and shot 47 percent from the field. Unfortunately for Terry, Vitale would be replaced at the beginning of the 1980 season and the new Pistons head coach, Richie Adubato, decided not to protect Duerod in the expansion draft. Terry was then selected by the newly- formed Dallas Mavericks. Dallas, however, decided to use Duerod’s value as a bargaining chip to get assets from other teams, a common practice for expansion teams, and they traded him to the Boston Celtics. Although he was pretty far from Detroit, Boston quickly treated him as one of their own and he became a fan favorite. In 1981, the Celtics became NBA Champions, an experience that Terry now says was “like no other.”

His NBA career however, did not last much longer. After the 1982 season he was left without a team and found himself playing in the Continental Basketball Association, then a second-tier pro basketball league like the NBA G League of today, where he came home to play for the Detroit Spirit. Although he loved being back in Detroit and winning a CBA Championship, there were some things that made Terry feel like his career was coming to an end. At one-point Duerod drove himself 15 hours to a game in Bangor, Maine, versus flying on a private plane as he was accustomed to while playing in the NBA. After the 1983 season, the Spirit relocated to Savannah, Georgia, but Duerod decided to try something else. Terry Duerod finished his pro basketball career playing two seasons for the Scavolini Pesaro in Italy. “Italian fans are nutty but they are also really into basketball,” Terry said.

After moving back from Europe, Duerod realized, like Dick Vitale told him all those years ago, there is a life after sports and he needed to move on from basketball. “You want to keep playing but sometimes you need to look in a different direction,” Duerod said. Times were tough for Terry at first. He briefly drove a shuttle bus at Metro Detroit Airport but quickly realized that job was not for him. Terry Duerode still played recreational basketball and many of his friends happen to be members of the Detroit Fire Department. After being told they only worked eight or nine days a month, Duerod decided to give firefighting a try. Duerod’s firefighter friends tried to warn him about the challenging agility test, but he passed without a problem because he was still in great shape from his professional basketball days.

Quickly he began to love this new career and has loved it ever since. His goal was to be an engine driver but he needed two years of field work before he could put himself on the driver’s list. During those two years he had to run into burning buildings and follow the veterans so he knew what he needed to do. His first big fire was a ten-story apartment building, which required him to walk up all ten flights of stairs with full fire gear, something that he says is a lot more physically demanding than anything in the NBA. After becoming a driver, he worked his way up from the squad cars to the fire engines and drove them every day for over 20 years. After a total of 27 years of service with the Detroit Fire Department, Duerod had to retire because of an age restriction but still hangs out with his firefighter friends while playing basketball on the Detroit Fire Department’s team.

When it comes to transitions in life, Terry Duerod knows firsthand through his experiences that you will have bumps in life but no matter what, you must keep going and going and never give up. He also looks back at something his legendary college coach, Dick Vitale use to tell him: “No matter what you want to do, be great at it.”

You can catch Terry Duerod’s full TV interview this Sunday, March 25th on From Glory Days, on TV20 Detroit at 6:00 a.m. Set your alarms or DVRs to hear Terry’s story directly from this NBA Champion himself.

Check out other athletes featured on the From Glory Days page.

Michael Holzman is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Dearborn with honors, with a BA in Communications.  He also has a communications and broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Media Arts. A native of the Detroit area, Michael is now an associate producer for the TV show, “From Glory Days” and also works for Yellow Flag Productions, primarily reporting and gathering video for their popular show, “State Champs Sports Network.”   

The post From Glory Days featuring Terry Duerod appeared first on In Play! magazine.