The Craziest Moments In Detroit Sports History

Colton Wesley

Oct 17, 2015; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans defensive back Jalen Watts-Jackson (20) dives into the end zone for a game winning touchdown as the clock runs out in the fourth quarter against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. Michigan State 27-23. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Detroit sports has a long history of amazing plays and moments, some of which were truly unprecedented and have become defining moments in that history.

One of the defining elements of sports fandom is the fantastic. That’s true for Detroit sports as well. However, while walk-off home runs, buzzer-beaters and spectacular comebacks are special and might make Sports Center, ultimately they are to be expected. We watch sports in part because those things are part of the experience.

Sometimes, however, things happen that are just not normal. They break our understanding of the games we think we know and change the way we think and talk about sports. They are, in short, unprecedented. Sometimes they’re controversial, but controversy alone is not what sets them apart. Sometimes, it’s a bone-headed decision with unforeseen consequences, an unexpected bounce or a statistically near-impossible circumstance.

In any case, they weave themselves into the lore of sports history until they are more recognizable as legend than history. They aren’t as much about individual brilliance or superhuman achievement as much as they are about, “oh, wow, that just happened.”

There have been several of these moments in Detroit sports history: plays that have made us all wonder what just happened and how it happened, events that we never could have anticipated. These moments are crazy and iconic. They flip the script on what a sports miracle or tragedy looks like, and sometimes they themselves stop a potential miracle in its tracks.

A note about the selections

Given that there are so many options and criteria to choose from in the long history of Detroit sports, I had to narrow the field. This piece is about moments in Detroit sports history that are completely unprecedented and/or unexpected, so out-of-the-ordinary that no one would have or could have anticipated occurring.

Sometimes, however, things happen that are just not normal. They break our understanding of the games we think we know and change the way we think and talk about sports.

I opted not to include moments that were simply great plays in their own right, such as Steve Yzerman’s 1996 double-overtime winner or Tayshaun Prince’s block in the 2004 playoffs. Those plays are outstanding moments, but they were also simply great plays made at crucial times in the normal course of games and there will be another piece soon for such moments.

I also chose not to include moments that are remembered for being heartbreakers, such as Larry Bird’s steal against the Pistons in 1987, or controversial officiating decisions, such as the no-calls and clock controversies in the 1990 and 2001 Michigan-Michigan State football games or the picked-up pass interference flag in the Lions’ 2014 playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Although significant and memorable, close losses due to controversial decisions or events which are part of normal play are not unprecedented or particularly out-of-the-ordinary, the kind of events with which this piece concerns itself.

Finally, I also chose not to include events that were publicity stunts or had little to do with the gameplay itself, such as 3’7″ Eddie Gaedel’s plate appearance for the St. Louis Browns against the Tigers in 1951 or the Chicago White Sox’s odd Disco Demolition event that got out of hand and caused the White Sox to forfeit a game against the Tigers in 1979, although both of those events are certainly worth mentioning because of just how different they were.

So, all of that being said, listed in chronological order, here are some of the craziest moments in Detroit sports history.

“I don’t believe it! The field goal attempt was good from 63 yards away!”

Normally a game-winning field goal in a regular-season game wouldn’t make this kind of list, but Tom Dempsey hit an NFL-record 63-yard field goal to beat the Detroit Lions, and did so with only half of a foot. Just about every element of the story is improbable.

Tom Dempsey was born with no fingers on his right hand and no toes on his right foot. He stood 6’2,” weighed 255 pounds and was undrafted out of Palomar College, where he actually played defensive end before the coach discovered he could kick the ball out the back of the end zone on a kickoff. After college, he was signed by the San Diego Chargers to their practice squad before being picked up by the New Orleans Saints before the 1969 season.

Dempsey was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie after making 33 of 35 extra point attempts and 22 of his league-leading 41 field goal attempts. (To be fair to Dempsey, while he was still below the league average for field goal percentage at the time, the Saints called on him to attempt 11 field goals of 50 or more yards that season, far and away the most in the league. He made one of them.)

The 1970 Detroit Lions were actually quite a good team that season, boasting three Hall of Famers in tight end Charlie Sanders and cornerbacks Lem Barney and Dick LeBeau as well as star defensive tackle Alex Karras while being coached by one of the great Lions ever, former linebacker Joe Schmidt.

Detroit had started the season 6-2 but was coming off a loss to the NFC Central-leading Minnesota Vikings the week before meeting the Saints at Tulane Stadium.

The Saints, on the other hand, were having an awful season, having started the season 1-5-1. They were quarterbacked by former San Francisco 49ers first-round pick Billy Kilmer, who would throw 17 interceptions and only six touchdowns that season, and finished next to last in the NFL in scoring offense and offensive yards.

The Lions led for most of the game, but the Saints’ defense kept it close, picking off Detroit starting quarterback Bill Munson three times before he was benched for Greg Landry.

A four-yard run by Tom Barrington gave New Orleans the lead in the fourth, but an 18-yard Errol Mann field goal put the Lions ahead 17-16 with 11 seconds left.

Coming into the game, Dempsey had hit only five of fifteen field goals on the season but made three of his first four attempts that Sunday, as well as an extra point. So, when Kilmer completed a pass to Al Dodd at the Lions’ 45-yard line with two seconds left, head coach J.D. Roberts, in his coaching debut after the firing of Tom Fears the week before, opted to send out Dempsey to try to win the game and break a 17-year old record by seven yards.

ESPN Sport Science analysis reportedly determined that Dempsey’s shoe did not give him an advantage, and may, in fact, have made it more difficult given the smaller striking surface.

Roberts reportedly asked his offensive coordinator Don Heinrich if they had a play for that situation, to which Heinrich reportedly replied, “Not really. We could go trips and throw it up for grabs.” Dempsey, who was with the coaches, said he could kick it, and says he heard Heinrich say “tell Stumpy to get ready.”

You seriously can’t make this up.

Joe Scarpati held the ball at the Saints’ own 37-yard line, 63 yards away from the goalposts at the front of the Detroit end zone. The ball was snapped and placed, and Dempsey ran straight on towards the ball and swung his leg. “It was like a cannon going off when you heard it,” said Scarpati, “He really thumped it, really got into it.”

Alex Karras said after the game that he considered the kick such a longshot that he didn’t even rush. After the game, Lions linebacker Wayne Walker said, “Tom Dempsey didn’t kick that field goal, God kicked it.”

The Saints reportedly celebrated the win past 7:00 a.m. the next morning in New Orleans. It was their last victory of the year as they lost their last six games and finished 2-11-1. The Lions finished 10-4 and made the playoffs as a wild card team before losing to the Dallas Cowboys, 5-0.

In 1977, the NFL required that kickers’ shoes “must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe,” in order to prevent any potential advantage gained by having a differently-shaped kicking surface, although an ESPN Sport Science analysis reportedly determined that Dempsey’s shoe did not give him an advantage, and may, in fact, have made it more difficult given the smaller striking surface.

Dempsey himself said at the time that he had no advantage. “Unfair, eh?,” he said, “How ’bout you try kickin’ a 63-yard field goal to win it with two seconds left an’ yer wearin’ a square shoe. Oh, yeah, and no toes either.”

The current NFL record for the longest field goal is held by current Detroit Lions kicker Matt Prater, who made a 64-yard field goal in 2013 with the Denver Broncos.

“He called a timeout and Michigan doesn’t have any!”

In 1992 and 1993, Michigan basketball was headlined by one of the best teams ever assembled in Detroit sports history. Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson made up the “Fab Five,” a unit of five top recruits—four of whom were McDonald’s All-Americans—who attracted national attention on and off the court with their flamboyant and entertaining style.

After reaching the NCAA Tournament final in 1992, the Wolverines returned to the title game once again in 1993 and faced North Carolina at the Superdome. Trailing 73-71, Webber grabbed a defensive rebound off a missed free throw with 19 seconds remaining, giving the Wolverines a chance to tie the game or take the lead.

Webber hesitated for a second and nearly traveled before bringing the ball across midcourt. He ran into the corner in front of the Michigan bench and after quickly being double-teamed, he gestured for a timeout to the official standing nearby. The official blew his whistle, but instead of a timeout he awarded Webber with a technical foul, as Webber had attempted to call a timeout Michigan did not have.

The rest of the Fab Five stayed at Michigan in 1993-94, reaching the Elite Eight where they lost to Arkansas.

The foul gave North Carolina two free throws and an extra possession, which they cashed in on to take a 77-71 lead to the 1993 national championship.

After the 1993 season, Webber was drafted by the Orlando Magic with the first overall pick in the 1993 draft and traded to the Golden State Warriors. He was the league’s Rookie of the Year in 1994 and was named an NBA All-Star five times during his 16-year career.

The rest of the Fab Five stayed at Michigan in 1993-94, reaching the Elite Eight where they lost to Arkansas. Only Jackson and King stayed on for the 1994-95 season, which saw Michigan eliminated from the tournament by Western Kentucky in the first round.

In 2002, after it was revealed that Webber, among other Michigan basketball players, had received money from a booster, all of the Fab Five’s wins in 1992 and 1993, including their Final Four appearances, were vacated and Webber was formally disassociated from the university until 2013. He attended the 2013 NCAA Tournament championship game, the first for the Wolverines since the 1993 game.

“Hockey players have long memories…”

One of the oddest elements of hockey is the fight. In a society which is becoming more aware of the violence in itself and a sports world which is growing increasingly concerned with its image and stipulations on player safety, the hockey fight sticks out as a primordial holdover of a time when brawling was seen as a feature of masculinity and fisticuffs considered a proper way to settle a dispute.

Adult men who have no dispute with each other besides that of wearing two different sweaters suddenly begin swinging at each other because they do not approve of the way their opponents play a game which involves skating around and hitting a piece of plastic with a stick.

Perhaps this archaic spectacle was never so demonstrably exposed as it was on March 26, 1997, when the Colorado Avalanche faced the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

Colorado winger Claude Lemieux drew some scorn the previous season when the teams had met in the 1996 Western Conference Finals. Lemieux had checked Red Wings center Kris Draper into the wall game six, shattering Draper’s jaw as the Avalanche won the series on their way to their victory in the Stanley Cup Finals.

In 1997, the teams met several times although Lemieux did not play until their fourth regular-season meeting on March 26, when tensions boiled over in several different altercations.

After a couple of fights broke out in the game’s opening minutes, the first of which between Colorado’s Brent Severyn and Detroit’s Jamie Pushor, Detroit’s Igor Larionov and Colorado’s Peter Forsberg began sparring late in the first period.

Detroit’s Darren McCarty saw his opportunity and attacked Lemieux, who tried to cover his face while McCarty punched him.

While the officials tried to pry McCarty off of Lemieux, Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy came out to join the fracas and was hit by a flying Brendan Shanahan of Detroit. Colorado’s Adam Foote then went at it with Shanahan while the two goalies, Roy and Detroit’s Mike Vernon, began swinging at each other as the crowd at the Joe cheered the combatants on.

After all was said and done, Lemieux ended up bloodied in the Colorado locker room, blood was splattered all over the ice and boards and eight different players were assessed fighting majors in the first period after Colorado’s Adam Deadmarsh and Detroit’s Vladimir Konstantinov decided to go at it as well. McCarty actually was not assessed a fighting major for his attack on Lemieux, but rather a double roughing minor. Draper himself missed the entire fracas, sitting on the bench at the time.

The two teams were not finished after the first period. 18 total fighting majors would be assessed in the first two periods, including more penalties for Foote, Shanahan, Deadmarsh, McCarty and Severyn, although the brawl did not re-escalate to the point it had in the first period and the teams managed to get through the rest of the game without a fight after the second period.

The result of the game itself was almost an afterthought. The teams were tied at four after the second and tied at five after three periods until McCarty scored the winner in overtime to give the Red Wings a 6-5 victory, despite a hat-trick from Colorado’s Valeri Kamensky.

After the game, McCarty defended his actions. “Guys just got paired off. I guess it was just God’s will I got paired off with Lemieux,” he said. “Forsberg started the whole thing. But that’s the way hockey is. Sometimes things like that happen when you’re 7 years old and you have to wait until you’re 10 to get back at the guy. Some guys are still getting even for things that happened when they were kids. You just wait for your chances. It was intense.”

Vernon said afterward, “this is a game that brought the Red Wings together. Whether it was the first-period fighting or the overtime goal, a game like this only helps give you confidence to go into the playoffs. When you go to the playoffs, everybody has to be ready to do the job and stay together. Tonight showed the guys were willing to pay the price.” The game was Vernon’s 300th career win as a goalie.

No players were suspended or fined after the game.

In May, the two teams met again in the Western Conference Finals. Fighting broke out in the Red Wings’ 6-0 win the game four as Colorado coach Marc Crawford shouted at Detroit coach Scotty Bowman. Detroit would go on to win the series 4-2 and sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals.

“Artest has jumped over the scorer’s table… Artest is in the stands!”

A fight between players is one thing, but when a brawl breaks what Jonathan Abrams called “the invisible wall that separates athletes and spectators… the social contract of arena behavior is left in shreds.”

The Detroit Pistons came into the 2004 season as reigning NBA champions, having knocked off the star-studded Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. On their way to that title, the Pistons had defeated the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals.

The two teams met for the first time in 2004 on November 19 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The game was a national broadcast on ESPN. Indiana quickly opened up a double-digit lead and held on to it for most of the game.

With less than a minute to go, having led for pretty much the entire game, the Pacers held a comfortable 97-82 lead. There had been a couple of incidents of chippy play, particularly between Detroit’s Ben Wallace and Indiana’s Ron Artest, but nothing too out of the ordinary for a series between physical division opponents.

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With about 46 seconds left, Wallace was fouled by Artest on a layup. He expressed his disapproval by shoving Artest in the chest after the play. Officials and teammates quickly moved to keep the two players separated.

While Wallace was being calmed down, Artest made the odd decision to lay down on the scorer’s table by the bench. While Wallace, who was still upset, threw an armband at him, Artest grabbed a headset from the Pacers’ play-by-play unit and put it on, a gesture Indianapolis Star writer Mark Montieth suggested was Artest “clowning around… saying ‘I’m trying to be good.'”

A Detroit fan in the stands named John Green decided this was an opportunity and lobbed a cup filled with liquid at Artest, hitting him in the face as he lay on the table. Artest sprang to his feet and bolted into the crowd, trampling Pacers’ play-by-play announcer Mark Boyle, who suffered five fractured vertebrae.

Pacers guard Steven Jackson joined his teammate in the stands as Artest ran toward the area from where the cup had been tossed and proceeded to attack a fan, Michael Ryan, who Artest thought had thrown the cup. While Green tried to fight Artest as Artest tangled with Ryan, another cup of liquid was thrown, hitting Steven Jackson, who by then was right where the fracas was taking place. Jackson responded by punching the thrower, a fan named William Paulson, in the face.

Several fans and Pacers’ players, as well as the Pistons’ Wallace, were involved by this point, trying to separate teammates from fans. Artest punched another fan, A.J. Shackleford, who confronted him after he had returned to the court. Shackleford’s friend Charlie Haddad came to Shackleford’s defense and shoved Artest, but was punched in the head by Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal.

As the Pacers’ players were led by team officials into the tunnel after the game was called, Pistons fans rained down food and drinks and other items, including a chair, at the players and team personnel leaving the court.

After the game, Wallace, who was playing in his first game back after the death of his brother the week before, said that “(Artest) told me he was going to hit me, and he did it. That was just one of those things. It happened in the heat of the battle.”

Five Pacers were charged for their roles in the brawl and each received one year of probation, a $250 fine, community service hours and anger management counseling.

Auburn Hills Police Chief Doreen E. Olko said, “We have zillions of security plans for the Palace, for all kinds of things. But none included a player going up in the stands. That just is not something anybody foresaw.”

Rick Carlisle described the situation tersely. “I felt like I was fighting for my life out there,” he said.

The next day, Artest, Jackson, O’Neal and Wallace were suspended indefinitely. Artest was eventually suspended for the entire season without pay, while Jackson, O’Neal and Wallace were suspended 30, 15 and six games respectively.

Five Pacers were charged for their roles in the brawl and each received one year of probation, a $250 fine, community service hours and anger management counseling. Several other players on both teams were suspended for one game by the NBA. Five fans, including Green, were charged in some manner. Green was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years of probation for his role and was banned from attending future Pistons’ home games.

Backlash surrounding the game was immediate, and much of the vitriol was directed at the fans. Some perceived the game as a realization of the NBA’s oft-stereotyped “thug” image. In the aftermath, radio commentator Rush Limbaugh famously referred to the NBA as the “Thug Basketball Association.” The league implemented a dress code for players the next season, which was seen by some as an attempt to clean up the perception of the league, while other saw it as a racist attack on urban, and specifically African-American, culture.

The NBA changed security rules for its arenas soon afterward, adding security between fans and the court and limiting alcohol sales.

The Pistons went on to defeat the Pacers, who had only a moderately successful season after the suspensions, in the playoffs before losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals in seven games.

“Appalachian State has stunned the college football world!”

Michigan came into the 2007 college football season #5 in the AP Poll and looking to make a run at a national championship. Appalachian State had won the two previous FCS national championships and entered the season ranked #1 in the FCS. However, Michigan still understandably came in a heavy favorite in their first matchup against an FCS team.

Michigan led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter, but three second-quarter touchdowns by quarterback Armanti Edwards swung the lead in the Mountaineers’ favor and they led Michigan 28-17 at halftime. Both offenses stalled somewhat in the third quarter until a four-yard run by Mike Hart cut the lead to 31-26 going into the fourth.

The game was the first-ever football broadcast on the recently-launched Big Ten Network.

With 4:36 left, Hart scored on a 54-yard run, giving the Wolverines a 32-31 lead after their second failed two-point conversion attempt of the game. Michigan had another chance to score with 1:47 left, but Jason Gingell’s 43-yard field goal attempt was blocked and the lead remained at one.

Appalachian State made the most of the miscue, driving down the field and kicking a go-ahead field goal 25 seconds left to take a 34-32 lead.

Michigan quarterback Chad Henne gave the Wolverines one more chance on a deep completion to Mario Manningham to set up a 37-yard attempt for Gingell with six seconds left to win the game, but three-time All-American Corey Lynch broke through the line and blocked Gingell’s kick—the second blocked kick by the Mountaineers in the game—and returned it down the field, running out the clock to seal the 34-32 upset win.

The game was the first-ever football broadcast on the recently-launched Big Ten Network. Appalachian State was paid $400,000 to play the game. The Mountaineers would go on to finish 13-2 and win their third-straight FCS Championship. The Wolverines finished 9-4 after defeating #9 Florida 41-35 in the Capitol One Bowl in their final season under Lloyd Carr, but would not return to national championship contention until the 2016 season, when they started 8-0.

“He’s out- No! He’s safe!… He is safe at first base!”

I said at the top that I wouldn’t be including controversial officiating decisions. This is the exception due to two unprecedented elements. One, although the call cost a player a significant milestone that had little to do with the final score and two, the call was not controversial, it was simply incorrect, and the official who made the call admitted as much.

On June 2, 2010, the Detroit Tigers were 27-25 and hosted the 19-32 Cleveland Indians. Tigers’ right-hander Armando Galarraga got the start and pitched through the first inning without surrendering a baserunner. Miguel Cabrera‘s home run in the second gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead and Galarraga continued to pitch right through the Cleveland order, fanning 24 straight batters without conceding a base heading into the middle of the eighth.

Magglio Ordóñez drove in two runs on a single to build a 3-0 lead for the Tigers going into the final inning. Mark Grudzielanek hit a Galarraga pitch deep to center, but Detroit outfielder Austin Jackson tracked it down and made a difficult catch in stride to keep Galarraga’s perfect game alive. After Cleveland’s Mike Redmond grounded out for the second out of the inning, Galarraga faced Jason Donald for the final out of a perfect game.

In the days before official replay review, the tape confirmed that Galarraga had indeed tagged the bag before Donald and that Donald should have been ruled out

Donald made contact on the 1-1 pitch, grounding it to the right. Cabrera scooped up the ball and threw it to Galarraga, who ran over to cover first. Galarraga caught the ball and tapped the bag with his right foot as Donald approached the base. First-base umpire Jim Joyce called Donald safe at first.

In the days before official replay review, the tape confirmed that Galarraga had indeed tagged the bag before Donald and that Donald should have been ruled out, but there was nothing that could be done about it and Donald remained safe at first, denying Galarraga his perfect game.

The Tigers retired the next batter and won the game, 3-0, although the Fox Sports Detroit play-by-play announcer said that he had “never been this disappointed after a Tigers’ win.”

Afterward, Galarraga was very gracious, saying that Joyce probably felt worse about the play than he did and that “nobody’s perfect.” Joyce recognized the mistake afterward and was very apologetic. “I just cost the kid a perfect game,” he said, “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw until I (saw) the replay. It was the biggest call of my career.”

At the Tigers’ next game the next day, Galarraga met Joyce on the field and patted him on the shoulder as Joyce’s eyes welled up with tears. Joyce, who is one of baseball’s most respected umpires, was widely praised for admitting his error, as was Galarraga for accepting Joyce’s apology.

In the days that followed, there was some controversy over whether or not MLB commissioner Bud Selig would or should overrule Joyce’s call and award Galarraga a perfect game. Selig opted not to do so, which prompted some ire, although most players agreed that the game ought to remain as originally scored. The play prompted some calls for an increase of the use of instant replay in baseball, which took place in 2014.

“And he scores! On the last play of the game!”

There is a temptation to include this game based off of recency bias, but the finish to the Michigan-Michigan State game in 2015 was truly as unprecedented as any in college football since the band on the field.