Tradition 'an opportunity to use sports as a unifying tool,' Grosse Pointe Park parish's pastor says

GROSSE POINTE PARK — He hadn’t been back to the old neighborhood since the early 1970s.

“I drove around where I grew up, saw the house I lived in, and saw some of the old stores,” Tim McCormick told the congregation Sunday during the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Clare of Montefalco Church in Grosse Pointe Park.

“But I remember we had the premier basketball gym in the whole Catholic League,” McCormick said. “We were the first to get glass backboards and a wooden floor, not the tile many schools had where you’d slip and slide.”

Those were the fifth- and sixth-grade years of his life when he wore No. 12 for the St. Clare Falcons.

Then, McCormick was probably half the size of his adult 7-foot frame that he employed to display his considerable basketball skills as an all-state athlete at Clarkston High, All American at the University of Michigan, eight years in the NBA, and currently a career as an analyst on ESPN and the Pistons on FOX Sports Detroit.

He also directs the NBA Players Association TOP 100 Basketball Camp for elite high school players. His book, “Never Be Average,” contains a motivational message to help one reach his or her potential based on his experiences as a player, consultant and broadcaster.

McCormick and FOX Sports Detroit broadcaster Trevor Thompson were lectors at the sixth annual Super Sunday Sports Mass celebrating student-athletes at St. Clare of Montefalco School, in its religious education programs and other schools or clubs in the community.

Thompson, a native Canadian, reported sports in Toronto and Vancouver before joining FOX Sports in 2000. He has won four Emmy Awards for his coverage of the Tigers and Red Wings, and in 2014, Thompson earned Detroit Sports Media’s Ty Tyson Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting. He also was president from 2016-19 of the Detroit Sports Media Association.

Five years ago, St. Clare pastor Fr. Andrew Kowalczyk, CSMA, began inviting sports celebrities and athletes to participate in the Mass as lectors, along with an up-close reception in the gym for photos and autographs.

“This way,” Fr. Kowalczyk said Sunday, “Students can learn what it takes to be a star athlete and get them thinking that, ‘Maybe I, too, can someday become a star in athletics or in occupations’ as these athletes are.”

In a news release for the event, Fr. Kowalczyk added, “It’s an opportunity to use sports as a unifying tool, bringing the community together to share and give thanks for their God-given talents and efforts.”

St. Clare athletic director Bob Conway, a “lifelong member of St. Clare,” said more than 100 boys and girls who attend the school or the parish’s religion education classes participate in soccer, basketball, track, baseball and softball.

Conway, a member of nearby Austin Catholic’s last graduating class in 1978, officiates high school baseball and basketball and is a member of the Catholic League’s Hall of Fame.

Among celebrities Fr. Kowalczyk has invited in the past are Ken Kal, Karen Newman, Al Sobotka and Darren McCarty from the Red Wings; Lomas Brown and Greg Landry representing the Detroit Lions; Earl Cureton and George Blaha representing the Detroit Pistons; Andy Dirks representing the Detroit Tigers; journalist Terry Foster and WDIV-TV sports anchor Jamie Edmonds.

And Paws, the Detroit Tigers mascot, too, who greeted folks at the church door and the reception.