Terry Duerod
In sports, there are normally second acts for professional athletes, be it as a TV commentator, restaurant owner, coach, sales rep or investment counselor.
Few, fair to say, end up as firefighters.
Fox 2's Hannah Saunders reports that Terry Duerod, after a four-year career with the NBA, joined the Detroit Fire Department. Now, 27 years later, in July he'll retire at 60, the mandatory retirement age.
Duerod, a 6 feet, 2 inch point guard from Highland Park High School, played for Coach Dick Vitale at the University of Detroit, Fox 2 reports. When Vitale became the Pistons coach in 1979, Duerod played for the hometown team, the Pistons, but shortly after went off to play for the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics, where he earned a championship ring, Saunders reports. He played only briefly for the Golden State Warriors before getting cut and ending his NBA career.
"It has been a great ride. I met a lot of wonderful guys, I played on the fire department team, and we won a lot of championships," he told Fox 2, commenting on his public service career.
