Prayers answered: Detroit's St. Cecilia gym to receive big renovation
“My hope is that we raise [all] the funds [we need] to redo the project here at St. Cecilia,” says former NBA All-Star and Detroit resident, Derrick Coleman. “For the neighborhood and the community.”
This week, refurbishing efforts for the unused St. Cecilia took a major step forward. The building got a much-needed infusion of support from businesses and the community. The local Belfor Property Restoration has pledged to donate resources to aid in the gym’s renovation, as have the hometown NBA squad, the Detroit Pistons. Even basketball and media icon Jalen Rose has gotten into the mix in recent months. And with that influx, the gym’s floor, outer façade, windows and more will be redone. Even new classrooms are intended for students. With restoration set to span a few years.
Last year, the Pistons created city edition jerseys that represented St. Cecilia. There were also promotion photos taken with the entire team standing outside on the gym’s stone steps (located at 6340 Stearns Avenue). Yes, in cities all across the country, there are important courts and organizations. In Philly, there’s the Baker League. In New York City, it’s Rucker Park. But in Detroit, it’s always been the Saint (and many of its players have gone on to suit up for the Pistons, including Coleman). “Everybody here has a story to tell,” says the former New Jersey Net. “Not just the guys who were able to make it to the pros.”
Coleman remembers. He can easily picture it. Those summers as a teen playing in the hallowed St. Cecilia leagues. In college and later in the pros, he would also come back and coach in the leagues and play in the pro-ams. But more recently, the Saint’s doors have been closed. Its gym has gone unused. And the leagues? Nonexistent. But Coleman, along with other NBA pros like Earl Cureton, George Gervin, Spencer Haywood, (former Detroit mayor) Dave Bing, Greg Kelser, Grant Long and others, want to bring it back, from pick-up games to formal leagues for all ages. Not to do so would be like letting one of the city’s basketball limbs atrophy and shrivel off.
“Legacy,” says Coleman, who played for the Pistons during his final season in 2004-05. “That’s what St. Cecilia means. To stand on the shoulders of all the legends that’s came through this gym and played the game of basketball. So, the legacy of that, the friendships, the relationships, the brotherhood.”
For Coleman, who was born in Mobile, Alabama, his life brought him to Detroit as a young person. He and his family were part of “The Great Migration,” where Blacks traveled north out of the harsh, often racist deep south to find a better future for their families. Raised by his grandmother, Coleman began living full-time in the Motor City by the time he was in his early teens. For the burgeoning baller, who would go on to earn a scholarship at Syracuse University and become the No. 1 pick in the NBA’s 1990 draft, he also remembers the big names who have played on the Saint’s floor. From Olympic gold medalist Haywood to music giants and part-time hoopers like Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson.
“We have such a rich history in everything,” Coleman says about his hometown of Motown. “[But] we do a terrible job of telling our own stories. So, I really feel that with rebranding [St. Cecilia] and what’s going on [today], we have the opportunity to tell those stories ourselves.”
Coleman knows that if he and his Detroit basketball brethren don’t take control of the city’s history – at the center of which stands St. Cecilia – then they will lose more than a simple hardwood-floor gymnasium. They’ll lose a piece of themselves. “If we don’t control the narrative, somebody else will,” says Coleman. “From entertainment to sports to inventors to everything, it starts right here. We are the first Mecca. When you’re talking about culture, everyone talks about the Harlem Renaissance, which is great. But we are the first Chocolate City.”
Indeed, until recently, the place has been a home for Detroit hoops throughout the decades. The only question now is whether the place will stand tall again for more decades to come? For Coleman, he hopes the answer is a resounding yes. For him, there is but one clean and simple mission when it comes to the Saint and its future. “To bring it back to its essence,” he says. To open its doors. But from the looks of it, thanks to some much-needed care ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season, the historic spot’s restoration is off to a tremendous start.