Joe Dumars (Photo: Sacramento Kings)
Detroit Pistons Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, who went on to become the team's president of operations, is shutting his entertainment and atheletic facility on Mound Road in Shelby Township after 25 years, WXYZ reports.
Joe Dumars Fieldhouse, which helped millions of local athletes, is a victim of the pandemic.
Dumars, 57, owned the facility with two partners. They plan to liquidate everything.
"We respect the governor's desire to keep everybody safe, but I think the indeterminate nature of the length of that closure put a burden on our lease that we couldn't sustain forever," said Brian D. Siegal, managing partner with the Joe Dumars Fieldhouse.
A Facebook post in March suggested the fieldhouse might be done for good:
We are writing this as the Governor has instructed that all sports facilities, entertainment centers, bars and restaurants immediately cease business today (that covers all of our operations) to minimize the spread of the coronavirus and we support her efforts to do so.
Because it is hard for us to say whether we will be able to open again after this mandated and extended closure we wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to each and every one of you for your continuous support over all of these years.
Over the quarter-century, the business says, "we entertained over 30 million visitors who participated in basketball leagues (over 7500 teams), pickup basketball (over 1.5 million visits), roller hockey leagues (over 9,000 teams), roller hockey tournaments (over 4,000 teams), volleyball leagues (over 3,000 teams) and birthdays and events (over 10,000 parties)."
Dumars, an NBA All-Star, spent his entire career with the Pistons from 1985-99. From 2000-14, he was president of basketball operations. In 2004, the team won the NBA championship.
He was inducted into the national Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in 2006.
