BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Staff Writer
Dennis Storrs graduated from Clarkston High School in 1970, meaning his 50-year reunion is next year.
“We had an opportunity the other night to get together with some people I used to play ball with, some I’ve known over 50 years,” said Storrs. “Some days it feels like it’s definitely been 50 years since high school, and some days it doesn’t.”
Storrs, who grew up in the area of Sashabaw and Maybee roads and also attended Pine Knob Elementary and Clarkston Junior High School, said he remembers “a lot of really good people” in town.
“As a matter of fact, (longtime Clarkston basketball coach) Dan Fife was in our neighborhood and I played ball with him,” Storrs said. “Larry Miracle, who became the police chief down in Pontiac, was another one. Just a bunch of good people. Bunch of good ball players, too.
“I always liked the feeling of a close-knit community in Clarkston. I always said if you messed up in town, no matter where you lived, your mom was going to hear about it before you got home. I also remember having a lot of good teachers and educators and some really good coaches that kind of pointed me in the right direction.”
Retired from the Waterford Township Fire Department, Storrs now runs his own company, SES Restoration, and coaches youth baseball and soccer in Goodrich, where he has lived more than 30 years. He led his youth baseball team to a second-place finish in the league playoffs on July 18.
Perhaps most notably, Storrs was elected in 2017 to the Michigan chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a coach, something he said he was humbled by and never expected.
“I was a wrestler way before I was a coach and actually coached baseball before wrestling,” said Storrs. “I actually starting coaching baseball when I was 12 years old, helping my brother’s team.”
Storrs coached wrestling at Clarkston from 1970 until the early 1980s, and also coached football, baseball, and softball.
Back in 1999, a son, Derek Storrs, passed away. Storrs and his wife of nearly 50 years, Sue, have two other grown children, Andy and Nicole, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Sue, whose maiden name is Rizzuto, is a second cousin of former New York Yankees baseball player Phil Rizzuto.
“I met her in high school and knew she was the woman of my dreams the first time I met her,” said Storrs. “She didn’t pay any attention to me whatsoever, but I didn’t care. I made friends with her dad first, and he loved me. Eventually, she started liking me, too.”
With a little bit of summer left before Michigan fall hits, Storrs will surely be keeping busy.
“We’ve got some construction projects going on and maybe we’ll do a little bit of traveling,” he said. “Looking forward to coaching soccer in the fall.”