Clarkston’s Dan Fife will be a Michigan sports icon forever. He was an even better human being and the teams he coached became the standard-bearers for class, character and fundamentals in MHSAA basketball for the better part of four decades.
The legendary hoops coach, former MLB pitcher and University of Michigan basketball captain died at 74 this week.
Fife was a three-sport superstar for the Clarkston Wolves in the 1960s, went on to play basketball and baseball at the University of Michigan and eventually settled into a historic coaching career; first with the UofM 1976 NCAA Men Basketball Finals squad and then from 1983-2018 on the bench at his alma mater, turning the program into the gold standard for a suburban Detroit public-school hardwood power. He claimed 703 victories in his MHSAA tenure pacing the sidelines, good for third-most all-time in state history. His final two C-Town clubs won repeat state crowns in 2017 and 2018, respectively, coached two Mr. Basketball winners (his son Dane in 1998 and Foster Loyer in 2018) and got to mentor all three of his boys to all-state cager careers (Dugan, Dane & Jeremy).