Detroit Southwestern

I remember that back in the 70s, Detroit Southwestern always seemed to have one of the toughest basketball teams in the state of Michigan. In general, if you played for a team from outside of Detroit (like I did, in Ann Arbor), you measured yourself against Detroit teams. You wanted to be able to compete against the kids from "the City."

Looks like times have changed for Southwestern H.S. and other Detroit schools. Like the city itself, Detroit high school basketball has fallen off dramatically, according the Yahoo! Sports article by Dan Wetzel, "The game dies at Southwestern High."

That heartbreaking article talks about the murder of 86 year-old Clarence "Sonny J" Jones. As Wetzel relates:

The August 2009 murder shocked and outraged Detroit, which isn’t easy to do these days. Jones wasn’t just any person though. For decades he was the final safety net in his Southwest Detroit neighborhood, someone who would help people find jobs, pick up the groceries when times got tough and serve as a father figure to generations of kids in need of one.

“A great man,” Detroit police chief Warren Evans declared.

He was perhaps best known as a constant presence around the powerful basketball team at Southwestern High School, which has churned out dozens of Division I basketball and NBA stars such as Jalen Rose...


Michigan Class A Semi-Final match-ups at the Michigan State University's Breslin Center, Friday, March 26th:

Ann Arbor Huron (22-4) vs. Southfield (18-5)
Kalamazoo Central (25-1) vs. Detroit Denby (16-9)

Class B, also Friday at the Breslin Center:

Detroit Country Day (24-2) vs. Muskegon Heights (21-4)
Lansing Sexton (20-5) vs. Richland Gull Lake (22-3)