Former Piston Earl Cureton, 'a true Detroit Titan', dies at 66

Detroit — Earl Cureton had a long and well-traveled professional basketball career, which spanned nearly two decades and saw him play with seven NBA franchises and multiple organizations overseas.

But Cureton always had just one true home. That was always Detroit.

Cureton, who played for the University of Detroit and later the Detroit Pistons and for many years has been working as a tireless ambassador for both, died Sunday morning, the Pistons and Detroit Mercy confirmed. He was 66. A cause of death wasn't immediately known. He collapsed at his Farmington Hills home Sunday morning.

"Earl was one of the most generous, positive and caring people I know," Tom Gores, Pistons owner, said in a statement announcing Cureton's death Sunday. "He was a loving father, and I was honored to be his friend.

"He was a champion as a player and an important ambassador in our community. We are heartbroken over his loss."

Cureton had worked on the ESPN+ broadcast for Detroit Mercy's game against Robert Morris at Calihan Hall on Saturday afternoon. That game was always a favorite matchup on Cureton's broadcast schedule, as he's in the athletics Hall of Fame at both Detroit Mercy and Robert Morris.

Cureton grew up in Detroit in the 1960s, amid the race riots, playing basketball at famed St. Cecilia's on the city's west side, before going on to star at Detroit Finney High School. He then attended Robert Morris, playing a season there — Robert Morris' first in Division I, after making the jump from junior college — and averaging 17.9 points and 10.5 rebounds, before he decided to transfer back home, to what then was known as the University of Detroit.

Cureton had shot up four inches to 6-foot-9, between high school and his arrival at the University of Detroit. He sat out a season per NCAA transfer rules, meaning he never got to play for then-Detroit coach Dick Vitale, who left for the Pistons the next year, and eventually a legendary broadcasting career — but Cureton long considered Vitale a mentor. It was Vitale, after all, who brought him from Robert Morris to Detroit.

"I am heartbroken," Vitale said in a text message to The News on Sunday. Vitale has been in a long battle against cancer, and is following doctors' orders not to speak. He underwent a four-hour surgery on his vocal cords last month. "He loved the Motor City and was so proud of working so hard to make it to the NBA.

"And Earl was always trying to inspire young people to chase their dreams."

Cureton did so, on and off the court.

Cureton, along with the likes of Terry Duerod, who died in 2020, Jerry Davis, Wilbert McCormick and Dave Niles, led the Titans to the 1979 NCAA Tournament. The Titans finished that season ranked 20th in the nation. Cureton averaged 11.7 points and nine rebounds as a junior, and 19.9 points and 9.1 rebounds as a senior.

He was selected in the third round of the 1979 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, and he also played for the Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets. The power forward won NBA championships with the 76ers in 1983 and Rockets in 1994, and averaged 5.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in a 12-year NBA career that ended after the 1996-97 season.

During his career, Cureton called some of the NBA's greatest players his teammates, including Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Moses Malone and Charles Oakley, among others.

He played for Detroit from 1983-86, averaging 8.6 points and 6.3 rebounds his final year here, 1985-86.

"All of us are hurting with the unexpected loss of Earl Cureton," Pistons legend Isiah Thomas said in a statement. "He was a tremendous teammate, tough competitor, a champion and a great human being. Earl always held the Detroit community close to his heart and worked tirelessly to make a difference for the city he loved.

"He will be greatly missed."

Cureton rejoined the Pistons in an official capacity in 2013, to help lead Gores' efforts to renovate basketball courts throughout the city. He also hosted community events and was key in Gores' annual Toys for Tots drive.

Late last year, Cureton released an autobiography, "Earl the Twirl: My Life in Basketball," in which he talked about his NBA journey and the importance of being a good teammate. In his case, it led to a long and prosperous career, even though he wasn't the star on the professional teams for which he played. He starred in college, though.

Cureton saw his No. 24 retired by Detroit Mercy in 2020, and he's one of 11 Detroit/Detroit Mercy men's basketball players to have that honor. Cureton had been inducted into Detroit Mercy's athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. In 1991, he was an inaugural member of the Robert Morris athletics Hall of Fame.

"That's pretty incredible. It gives you a little bit of bragging rights, where I went I was impactful," Cureton, one of just two former Robert Morris players to play in the NBA, told The News during an interview in 2021.

Cureton, whose Titans won 36 games during his two seasons playing for the team under the late head coach Smokey Gaines, rejoined the Detroit Mercy men's basketball broadcasts in the early 2000s, working alongside play-by-play man Dan Hasty and Jeremy Otto in recent years, always dressed to the nines, and always with perhaps the nicest chair on campus. Cureton worked both of the Titans' games on TV this past week, Thursday and Saturday.

In 2011, Cureton earned his degree from Detroit Mercy, fulfilling a promise that he made to his mother after he left school early to turn pro, that he would one day finish school.

Detroit Mercy athletic director Robert Vowels said Cureton was a near-daily presence at Calihan Hall, even on off-days. He regularly attended practice, and was scheduled to co-host a Detroit Mercy night Tuesday at Wayne State, where the Motor City Cruise of the NBA G League are set to host the Rip City Remix, for whom former Titans star Antoine Davis currently plays.

"What he means to the city and what he means to this program and what he means to the community, it is really, really sad," Vowels said. "Earl is a true Detroit Titan if there ever was one.

"He loves this school, he loves the people, he loves the community, and thrives on it.

"That's what got him out of bed every day."

After his playing days, Cureton did some coaching in the WNBA, the United States Basketball League and the Continental Basketball Association. He also did some broadcasting work for Bally Sports Detroit.

Cureton is survived by wife Judith and daughter Sari, who played basketball at Georgetown.

Funeral arrangements were pending Sunday.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984