DETROIT (6/30/2025) -- The Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation honored the late
Earl Cureton '11 with a commemorative plaque that will be displayed at Calihan Hall on Monday.
Family, friends, Detroit Mercy staff, and members of the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation were on hand for a small ceremony.
"Earl was more than a basketball player. He was a friend and not just to me, but to the Detroit community," said Rick Kaczander, a member of the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and a board member. "Everyone had a story about Earl, just meeting him, he would talk to everyone and help everyone he could."
Known as Earl "The Twirl", Cureton passed away on Feb. 4, 2024, at the age of 66.
A 12-year NBA veteran and a two-time NBA champion, Cureton suited up for the Titans from 1977-80, playing two seasons after sitting out following his transfer from Robert Morris, a junior college transitioning to DI. He would later be inducted into both school's Hall of Fame.
He averaged 11.7 points and a team-high 9.0 rebounds with 1.3 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 steals per game in 1978-79 and then topped the team in scoring (20.0) and rebounding (9.1) to go with 1.6 assists, and 1.7 blocks and steals in 1979-80. He is still 12th all-time in school history in career blocks with 79 - second when he graduated - and was inducted into the Titan Hall of Fame in 2007 and had his famed No. 24 jersey retired by UDM on Jan. 23, 2020.
A Detroit native and graduate of Finney High School, he was drafted by Philadelphia with the 58th pick in the 1979 NBA Draft and began his professional career in the 1980-1981 season as the 76ers advanced to the NBA Finals during his rookie season. They would later break through to win the 1983 title, and he was also part of the Houston Rockets championship team in 1994.
In his 12 years in the NBA, he played for seven playoff teams, including three years in the mid-1980s with the hometown Pistons, and averaged 5.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game over the course of 674 regular-season contests. He scored a career-high 25 points with 14 rebounds off the bench in a 129-113 Pistons win over the Nuggets on Jan. 17, 1986, and posted a career-best 18 boards as a member of the Clippers against the Rockets on Apr. 7, 1987.
In 2011, Cureton made national headlines by earning his degree from Detroit Mercy, a promise he had made to his mother to graduate from college.
