Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • B5

1981 PHOTO BY MARY FREE PRESS general manager Jack McCloskey, right, and first-round draft choice Isiah Thomas sign a contract. Jack McCloskey, who served as general manager of the Pistons in 1979-92 and helped the Bad Boys win two NBA championships, died Thursday in Savannah, Ga. He was 91. The Pistons organization announced the news in a release and sent its and prayers to wife, Leslie, and the entire McCloskey The Free Press ran a feature article May 17, saying McCloskey was battling disease. has his good days and not so good Leslie said at the time.

days very happy and talks to everybody. Then, some days just very tired. You never know. not really eating a lot. I go over every day.

Today Itook a bunch of food from home to see if I could make him eat that. doing pretty well. in a really good place. He was starting to get really bad at home, and I take care of him anymore because he was McCloskey assembled teams that won the 1989 and 1990 NBA titles. He had a banner at the Palace, an honor he received in 2008, which now will be hung at Little Caesars Arena.

He left the Pistons in 1992 for the Minnesota Timber- wolves. His Pistons teams made nine straight playoff appearances, with five straight trips to the Eastern Conference finals, three straight NBA Finals appearances and two titles. Always with an eye for talent, McCloskey drafted Isiah Thomas in 1981 and Joe Dumars in 1985, then picked Dennis Rodman and John Salley in the 1986 draft. They helped form the nucleus of the championship teams. McCloskey was nicknamed for his many astute trades during his tenure as GM.

He was honored by the franchise on March 29, 2008, with a retirement ceremony, where his name was lifted to the rafters among the greats. Leslie said last month that memories of being in Detroit were still vivid. always talk about it, and a couple of the guys here, especially a guy named Jarvis, are here at night and watched 30 for 30 (by ESPN) a couple of Leslie said. all really interested. This place finds out about their lives and what they were interested in.

Of course he (Jack) had the most interesting life of any of McCloskey hired another future Hall of Famer Chuck Daly in 1983. As head coach of the Pistons, Daly holds the franchise records for regular season victories (467) and playoff victories (71). NBA Jack McCloskey, architect of Bad Boys champs, dies at 91 Detroit Free Press News Services and Perry A. Farrell FRIDAY, WWW.FREEP.COM 5B JointPainRelief WithoutSurgery! ContactUStotake thefirststeptoward wellnesstoday! PainManagement 248.712.4641 www.StemTherapeutics.com Loveyourjob? 2017 TheDetroitFreePressis acceptingnominationsfor TopWorkplaces2017.Does yourcompanydeserveto beonthiselitelistoftop employersinMichigan? Registernowat Freep.com/nominate. NominateYourCompany Visitwww.freep.com/nominate COVER STORY that covers the upper part of the arena.

There will be more than 1,200 television and bars everywhere. As recruiting tools go, the Wings have gone from selling the nostalgia of an old barn to letting the new barn do the talking. The locker room is palatial in size. be a protein bar, a dining area, and spa- cious lockers. a little more than 20,000 square feet of luxury.

Another big selling point is the practice rink that sits attached to the locker room, beneath ground. When the Wings use the Joe, go to the Joe, change into their gear, drive to the old city rink or, in recent seasons, Grosse Pointe Liggett, then return to the Joe to change. The bell tolls for the and no one is weeping. There is also a family lounge above one end, where players can drop off their loved ones en route to work. When the Wings are out of town, Little Caesars teams can use the practice facility, which is why there are almost 300-seat stands.

The arena seats under 20,000 for hockey games, more than that for basketball games and concerts. The Jumbotron, which is square, retracts into the ceiling if performers prefer. Standing at event level and looking up, the arena, even incomplete, promises to be a treat for players and fans. a welcome and needed change from the Joe. No more going inside and having no idea what the weather is like.

No more calculating how much time it will take to get refreshments, as two concourses should greatly reduce the crowds that could make maneuvering around the Joe prohibitive. And the location Woodward Avenue just north of the ballpark beckons people to check out the surrounding area. The Wings celebrated their last game at the Joe with a grand farewell. When the team opens its new home in October, the party promises to be equally exciting. Contact Helene St.

James: Follow her on Twitter ARENA: New digs for Wings, Pistons are airy yet intimate FROM PAGE 1B If one thing driver Christian Fittipaldi has learned in more than two decades of professional racing best to look forward. not only important from the seat on race day, but over the course of a career as well. Fittipaldi, 46, races in the IMSA WeatherTech Sport- sCar Series, where he and teammate Joao Barbosa won series titles in 2014-15 driving aChevrolet Corvette. They finished second last season. Fittipaldi successfully has raced in Formula One, Indy- and NASCAR since 1993.

When visiting the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix track on Belle Isle on May 23, he said after his final season racing IndyCars in 2002 it was the right time to try something else and keep moving forward. Despite that decision, he has been invited back for a run in as many as 10 Indianapolis 500s since. His best finish at the iconic oval was second in 1995, when he was named rookie of the year at Indy. be honest, I was never comfortable going back for a one-off, just to be a he said about racing again at Indianapolis. face it, if doing it for a one-off, your chances of realistically winning the race, going against the (Scott) Dixons and the (Simon) Pagenauds and the (Will) Powers, (Tony) Ka- naans all the guys racing the whole season.

Your chances of beating them are going to be very, very Fittipaldi said the last time he felt the urge to race Indy- Cars was in 2002 at Mexico City. following season, I was going to give it a go in he said. one of those guys that, an ex-girlfriend is an ex-girlfriend, because if she was supposed to be with you, she be an ex-girlfriend; you would be together. And I think life is full of those changes and, OK, I did Formula One, then I did Indy- Cars, then I tried doing NAS- CAR, then went from there, and doing sports cars, and whatever is His famous last name is a combination of his career, plus his father, Wilson Fittipaldi of Formula One, and his uncle, Emerson Fittipaldi, who won two Formula One championships and two Indy 500s. Despite the family lineage from Brazil, Christian Fittipaldi said a career in racing never was assumed during his youth.

think indirectly we always spoke about he said. remember when I was alittle kid, we probably had tires for breakfast, an engine for lunch and a chassis for dinner. But one thing when you dream about it, and something else really getting to the higher ranks. my dad and my uncles helped me a lot especially in the early stages of my racing career, but at the end of the day, if you know how to kick a ball, you know how to kick a ball, no matter who is behind you and helping you and teaching Fittipaldi still teams up with Barbosa; this season in the No. 5 Cadillac.

The IMSA series is scheduled to race on Belle 2.3-mile track Saturday at 12:40 p.m. Fittipaldi agreed fans nationwide pay as much attention to the SportsCar series as other forms of racing and interest can vary from market to market but said: is on the high end of the While Fittipaldi is past the age many racers have retired, and in spite of suffering two broken legs in his career, he have an end date to his career in mind. the chill factor every time I hop in a Fittipaldi said. day I feel the butterflies anymore that means car racing mean nothing else to me and going to quit, while still competitive, which I think is important because at the end of the day, all about the stop watch you need to be Fittipaldi added that as long as those factors remain in his life, he will keep racing, and said that everyone should keep their options open and try new things, you only live Be sure to follow Freep Sports on Twitter and Instagramand like us on Facebook. SportsCar Series Veteran Fittipaldi still sees more racing down the road By Tom Lang Special to the Detroit Free Press BRIAN IMAGES Christian Fittipaldi, left, and teammate Joao Barbosa won SportsCar Series titles in 2014-15..