Utica's Coach Dame honored after 55 years of service

by Matt Hermiz
UHS Arrow newspaper Viewpoint Editor

Members of the basketball team lined up on the court, surrounding Coach Cleland Dame, waiting to congratulate him and show their appreciation. After fifty-five years of coaching, Dame was being inducted to the Utica High School Hall of Fame. Dame is known for his work with the players on the fundamentals of basketball.

"I’ve loved coaching all these years," Dame said. "Over the years you start to lose friends, maybe you lose contact or drift apart, but when coaching basketball, I know I am changing students’ lives in a good way and teaching them something that they can enjoy. Over the years, the players have became my friends."

He is at Utica every morning at 6:30 AM to help the kids with their basketball skills. Dame has been at Utica for several championships that have been won here, for both the boys' and girls' programs.

"Coach Dame is loved by all of the players that have ever played for him at Utica," boys' varsity basketball head coach Gerry Kraemer said.
Athletic Director Jim Vigus presented Dame with a plaque at the ceremony, held at a varsity basketball game.

"I hope I can be the kind of person Coach Dame is when I am eighty," Vigus said. "He is a great person to be around."

Coach Dame has been coaching for a total of fifty-five years. He has spent the last fourteen of them coaching at Utica High. Dame is also a member of the Macomb County Coaches Hall of Fame, as well as the Basketball Coaches of Michigan Hall of Fame.