DETROIT (1/20/2019) -- Tom Ryan — the long-time public address voice of the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team, former radio and television broadcaster in Detroit and member of the Titans' first NCAA Tournament team — received this year's John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award during Saturday's #MetroSeries men's basketball game against Oakland.

The John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award was established by Anheuser-Busch to honor its long-time employee upon his induction into the Titan Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. Conti was the captain of the 1949 Detroit football team that won the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. At 6-foot-1 and 300 pounds, he was an Honorable Mention All-American and the biggest man in college football. His spirit and charitable enthusiasm have always seemed to be even larger. In tribute to that spirit, the John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award is presented to former Titan varsity athletes who go above and beyond at work and in the community.

"Anytime I think you get an award from someplace you work at, it just shows that people think about you, they know you're there and it means a lot. It really does," Ryan said.

Ryan, 76, has been involved with Titans athletics for over 60 years. It all started with a special friendship he developed as a youth with Titan legend Bob Calihan.

In 1955, Ryan, an eighth-grader at the time, along with his mother, aunt and grandmother, moved to Fairfield St., kitty-corner of the university's arena, then known as the Memorial Building. One of his neighbors was Calihan, the Titans' men's basketball coach, and the two met while taking trash out to the alley.

Calihan quickly became Ryan's mentor and gave him a job with the men's basketball team, after he confessed to the coach that a classmate snuck him into the building to see the Titans open the 1955-1956 season. Ryan's role was simple, yet significant: use numbered paddles to alert to the crowd how many fouls a player had accrued.

Ryan worked in that capacity for two years, before inputting scores on the scoreboard during his final three years of high school. 

"He reaches in his pocket and he hands me a little card that says, 'Official Pass, University of Detroit Basketball Season, 1955-56,'" Ryan recalled. "He said, this is it. … You are now working for us. You don't have to sneak into any more games; you're an employee. 

"Of course I didn't make any money, but I thought I died and went to Heaven."

Calihan allowed Ryan to use his backyard basketball hoop, teaching him how to dribble and shoot. Four years later, Ryan, who played the sport in eighth grade at Gesu Catholic School and as a prep at St. Anthony High in Detroit, was offered a basketball scholarship by his neighbor.

Ryan played for the Titans and Calihan for two years. He was a member of second NIT team in university history in 1960-1961 and the 1961-1962 NCAA Tournament squad. 

Ryan played alongside Dave DeBusschere and, as a sophomore, would occasionally substitute in for the Titan Hall of Famer and NBA legend during the 1961-1962 season. DeBusschere would receive enthusiastic cheers from the Titan faithful when departing to the bench, which led to a running joke that Ryan was the actual recipient of the standing ovations.

"I said, you hear it, they love me! Then he got what I was saying and he said to me, 'The next time you come in for me, I'm not coming out,'" Ryan recalled.

Ryan is in the midst of his 53rd season as the in-arena voice for Titans men's basketball, a position Calihan offered him in 1967. His mentor is the reason why he's remained steadfast in his commitment to the university and its athletics.

"My wife says to me, 'Why do you keep doing this?' And I said, 'I do this because of Bob Calihan,'" Ryan said. "He was the most important person, to me, in basketball and part of my life. I do it in his memory because I loved the guy so much and he did so much for me as a human being.

"It's still fun for me. I still do enjoy it. As for how much longer I'm going to do it, I'm 76, but you don't lose your voice. That's something you can always do, and I can still drive and I get nice parking. Does life get any better than that?"

The role has also provided memorable perks, as Ryan has worked as a PA for four NCAA Regional Finals. He worked last year's NCAA Tournament contests at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena.

Some of the past winners of the John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award include Detroit firefighter and former men's basketball star Terry Duerod, Detroit police officer and former women's soccer standout Abby (McCollum) Campbell, former men's fencer and Olympian Tyrone Simmons, former baseball player in the late Reginald Hall, former men's basketball star Jermaine Jackson and former Titan football player Dennis Flynn.