Terry Duerod spent a moment in the sun and years in the heat. He was a bench player on the 1980-81 NBA champion Celtics before becoming a Detroit firefighter, a position he's held for 27 years. He's set to retire from his second career in July, when he turns 60, because of the department's mandatory retirement policy.
He took the test to become a firefighter and was hired in 1989. Most of his career has been driving fire trucks.
Despite his former notoriety, Duerod says he’s able to fool fellow firefighters during pickup basketball games.
“When I first start playing with some of these young guys, they don’t know who I am, and I don’t say anything,” Duerod said. “Their friends will finally tell them, ‘Don’t you know who you’re playing with? He was in the NBA.’ ”
Duerod plays on the fire department’s basketball team.
“We won 11 championships,” he said. “The big rivalry was between us and the cops. They wanted to beat us so bad, but they couldn’t until we got old.”
Duerod, who lives in Westland with his wife of 34 years, Rosemary, said he’ll miss the camaraderie of the firehouse.