Coach Dan Fife’s beloved grandkids check out the new Dan Fife Field House plaque as they gather with him and his wife Jan, sons, friends, and current and former players, in center court. Photo by Phil Custodio

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Coach Dan Fife’s list of accomplishments, statistics, and broken records could fill an evening, but hardly any were mentioned at his community honors program before last Friday’s varsity basketball game.
Instead, people talked about the impact he made on the lives of those he loves.
“He taught us about leadership, work ethic, how to win and lose the right way, how to be humble, how to be a competitor,” said Tim Wasilk, who took Fife’s place as Wolves head coach. “He was a mentor to so many kids, so many players. He coached not in wins and losses, but in life lessons, relationships, teamwork, those are the things that matter. Treat people the right way.”

“We learned so much in our pre-practice talks,” said Jeremy Fife, who flew in from Texas to be there midcourt with his brothers Dane, from Lansing, and Dugan, from Ann Arbor, Dan’s wife and the boys’ mom Jan, and the grandkids. “He would teach you life lessons. He would talk about business, like, ‘guys, when you go out and try to get a job, no one is going to care who you are. You’re going to have to work hard.'”
Dugan said his father finds joy in meeting student and athlete alumni, and seeing how they’re doing.
“Players coming back and shaking his hand mean more than anything to my dad,” he said.
That legacy will live on the newly renamed Dan Fife Field House, said Superintendent Shawn Ryan at the Dec. 14 event.
“Everybody who enters this place will know this is the place you helped build, where your traditions will live on and your legacy will always remain intact,” Ryan said.
The superintendent shared some advice Dan gave him when he took over the top spot last year.
“He said, ‘don’t ever forget, Clarkston’s a family. Relationships matter, and in good times and bad, if you focus on those relationships, you’ll do alright here,'” Ryan said.
Dan was presented to much applause, a golden broom with his number on it, 33, from his days as a Clarkston athlete. He graduated from Clarkston High in 1967.
“A reminder of the Clarkston gym, where little things made big things happen,” Wasilk said. “For 36 years, before every practice and every game, coach loved to sweep the floor. He did this religiously. It was his broom it was his floor. He had a special relationship with this broom. Coach Fife was never too big to do the little things, to do the dirty work, and he coached the same way.”
Jan was also honored for her support over the years.
“The sacrifices she made have not gone unnoticed,” Wasilk said. “For coach to be able to fulfill his passion and teach kids and coach kids throughout his life and make an impact on those kids, that was possible because of you.”
“I always tell my players, you can have girlfriends as long as they’re good rebounders. My wife is outstanding so I had to marry her right when we got out of college,” Dan said.
Mel Vaara, who met Dan 60 years ago and was his first boss in the Clarkston school district, shared some memories, as did his sons.
Jeremy remembereed a time when he was a 6-year-old team manager and his dad motivated his players with a well-placed kick to an ice bucket, inspiring a come-from-behind win and maybe breaking his toe.
Dan coached the Wolves basketball team to back-to-back state championships in 2017 and 2018, served the district as head coach for 36 years and athletic director for more than 20 years. Career accomplishments a coaching record of 703-170, all at Clarkston High School.
Loyalty was a big value for Dan, as were selflessness and integrity, Dugan said.
“Through the years, he’s had a lot of different high schools coming to his school,” the younger Fife said. “Colleges offered him jobs but he never once entertained any of those offers because he had loyalty to the people that hired him, like Mr. Vaara, to the kids in his program, but ultimately to the community.”
Dan is the third winningest coach in Michigan high school basketball history, with 29 OAA league championships, 30 district championships, and 13 regional championships. He was inducted to the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Fame in 2009, and two of his players were named Michigan’s “Mr. Basketball,” Foster Loyer in 2018 and Dane in 1998. Dugan was Mr. Basketball runner-up in 1992 and Jeremy was Mitch Albom’s Senior Student Athlete of the Year.
Dan was a standout student athlete in Clarkston beginning in 1957, and he created the McGrath youth basketball league in 1983, naming it after his high school coach Bud McGrath.