Detroit Sports Zone Website
DETROIT (8/19/2015) -- Former University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball assistant coach Lydia Sims along with men's basketball stars Earl Cureton and Wilbert McCormick will receive one of the highest accolades in their career as all three will be honored in the Detroit Sports Zone High School Hall of Fame Program on September 19, 2015.
The Detroit Sports Zone's "High School Hall Of Fame Awards And Induction Ceremony" will be held at Bert's Warehouse Theatre in downtown Detroit. The cost to attend is $50 for the reception and dinner as the event will benefit youth and seniors in "quality of life" programming.
Sims – who led Cass Tech to a Michigan AAU State Championship in high school - was the first assistant coach in school history under head coach Sue Kruszewski when the women started its varsity program in 1977-78. In her three years, she helped recruit some of the best basketball players of all time, including Titan Hall Of Famers Lisa Blackburn, Coretta Daniels, Mary Lillie and Cheryl Williams. In her three years, Detroit was 70-15 and won three state titles with an appearance in the 1980 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) National Tournament, the precursor to the NCAA Tournament.
A 2007 Titan Hall of Fame inductee and the 2014 John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award winner, Cureton – known as "The Twirl" in his playing days - starred for two seasons as a Titan after transferring to the University from Robert Morris. The Detroit Finney product helped lead the Titans to a 36-19 record in his two active campaigns, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 1979. He averaged 20 points and 9.1 rebounds to lead the team in both departments and finished his career ninth all-time on school's block list with 79. He was drafted in the third round of the 1979 NBA Draft by Philadelphia and went on to play on two NBA Championship teams (Philadelphia and Houston) during his 12-year professional career.
McCormick was the floor leader for the Titans and helped the program to some of its greatest years in school history with two appearances in the NCAA Tournament and one NIT showing, all while recording an 86-27 mark. He ended his career with a school-record 611 assists and that number currently ranks second in school history. He also finished with 979 career points and 129 steals and was tabbed Honorable Mention All-Midwest by Basketball Weekly as a junior. In high school, he was All-City and All-State and led Northeastern to a PSL, district and regional title.
The three inductees will move the number of Titans to five in the organization's Hall of Fame as former men's basketball coach Perry Watson and standout player Spencer Haywood were honored in 2013.
The Detroit Sports Zone was formed exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. Specifically, The Detroit Sports Zone's objective is to provide opportunities and to educate youth, adults, and older adult populations of Detroit (and surrounding areas) as to the benefits of participation in sports and related cultural and performing arts activities. The Detroit Sports Zone was established in February 2012 as a State of Michigan/Non-profit organization and has applied and been approved for IRS/501 C-3 status. We host a Hall of Fame event each September to honor those champions (All City of Detroit and/ or All State of Michigan) who have committed to the quality of education through athletics.
