The 1976-77 Titans Men’s Basketball Team is among the best athletic team the University has had in any sport and on Feb. 10, most of the team will reunite to be honored on the 40th anniversary of their historic season.
Then head Coach Dick Vitale, in what was his fourth and final year, led the team to a 25-4 record (24-3 regular season), which resulted in an NCAA tournament invitation, where they made it to the Sweet 16. The team lost to the University of Michigan in the second round.
Vitale, now an ESPN broadcaster, and most of the team, including John Long, Terry Duerod, Dennis Boyd, Ron Bostick and Wilbert McCormick, will attend a special luncheon open to all fans. At halftime of the evening’s game against Oakland University, the team will be honored with the John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award. Before the game, the University will retire Duerod’s jersey. He was an All-American and former NBA player. Sweet Doo, as he was known, is in the Titans Hall of Fame and the winner of the 2016 Conti Award.
Many other things are going on that night, too. The Alumni Chili Cook-off pits seven alumni chefs from the colleges and schools against each other and attendees vote on whose chili is the tastiest.
In addition, Feb. 10 marks the end of the Giving Challenge, a contest with Oakland University to see which school has the most loyal supporters, as counted by number of people who make a gift to their university from Feb. 6-10. The losing school’s mascot will wear the winning school’s jersey at the game. In the first challenge last year, Detroit Mercy beat OU.
The luncheon with the basketball team is at 3 p.m. at the University Ballroom in the Student Center on the McNichols Campus. Tickets are $50. Register here.
The Chili Cook-off begins at 5:30 in the Student Fitness Center. Tickets are $20 and include a ticket to watch the Titans take on the Grizzlies. You can register for that here.
For those only able to make it to the game, it starts at 7 p.m. and tickets start at $10; $6 for children and seniors.
