Basketball
Clarkston mourns passing of legendary hoops coach Dan Fife
Legendary longtime Clarkston basketball coach Dan Fife has passed away. (DREW ELLIS – MediaNews Group, file)
The Michigan basketball community has lost one of its pillars.
Legendary Clarkston boys basketball coach and athletic director Dan Fife has passed away.
The Clarkston basketball X (formerly Twitter) account posted a memorial to the program’s former leader, reading in party: “Coach, the lives you impacted on and off the court are truly remarkable. Your commitment to Clarkston Athletics and in particular Clarkston Basketball is second to none. It is amazing how much you got out of your players and teams consistently year after year.”
A player for the Wolves in the 1960s, Fife returned to his alma mater, and coached the varsity for 36 seasons, retiring in 2018 with 703 wins, 29 league titles, 30 district titles, 13 regionals — along with the pair of state titles that were the cherry on top, late in his career.
“Coach Fife was like a second father to me. He was my coach, my friend, my mentor. The life lessons he instilled in me will stay with me forever. Coach Fife drew parallels between life and every sport kids played,” said current Wolves head coach Tim Wasilk, a former Fife player who followed his mentor on the bench,” He truly has impacted thousands, and we are all better to have known him. Coach Fife’s legacy will continue in Clarkston and beyond for decades to come. I am honored to help carry on the legacy he built. I miss him dearly.”
He was third on the MHSAA’s boys basketball coaching wins list behind Beaverton’s recently retired Roy Johnston (833), and River Rouge’s legendary Lofton Greene (728), and was elected to both the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan’s hall of fame.
The Clarkston gymnasium was renamed Dan Fife Fieldhouse in his honor on Dec. 14, 2018.
“Coach Fife is a legend. … We’ve been honored to have him as our coach, and we’re going to miss him,” current Clarkston athletic director Jeff Kosin said at the time of Fife’s retirement, a sentiment that has surely increased exponentially now with his passing. “He really has become synonymous with the school. When you think of Clarkston, you think of Dan Fife.”
Drafted by both the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA and the Detroit Tigers in MLB, Fife pitched parts of two seasons (1973 and 1974) with the Minnesota Twins, before returning to his collegiate alma mater, Michigan, as a basketball assistant for more than four seasons.
Then he came home.
He spent one season as the freshman coach (1981-82), before moving up to the varsity job the next year.
The Wolves won 20 games or more in 22 of Fife’s 36 seasons on the bench, including each of the last five, when they went 117-11. They went 97-6 over the four-year career of last year’s Mr. Basketball, Foster Loyer, whose No. 1 jersey was retired, along with his coach’s old 33.
Fife, who scored 1,589 points in his own prep career, coached three players who went over the 2,000-point mark in their high school careers: Loyer and his own sons Dugan and Dane (the 1998 Mr. Basketball), who did it before moving on to Big Ten playing careers.
As the basketball program’s memorial pointed out, though, his impact on the community wasn’t just on the hardwood at the high school.
“You were, and still are the best basketball coach in the state of Michigan. From coaching your own kids, to remembering every kid’s name in our McGrath Basketball league for years, to coaching your former players’ kids, your impact will be felt for generations. More importantly, your love for (wife) Jan, Dugan, Jeremy, and Dane are something to be admired. Family was always (No.) 1 for you, and you poured your heart and soul into them. We will always continue to Play Hard, Play Smart, and Play Together! We love you and miss you Coach Fife.”
[This is a developing story, and will be updated.]
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