Pistons Honor Legendary St. Cecilia Gym With New City Edition Jerseys
The Detroit Pistons are paying homage to the unofficial mecca of basketball in Detroit, St. Cecilia Gym. Located near Livernois and I-96 on Detroit’s westside, St. Cecilia’s gym occupies an important place in Detroit basketball history. A new set of City Edition uniforms was unveiled by the team on Thursday morning. The jerseys are a pine tree with white and blue stripes down the sides. The Jerseys also feature the quote “Where stars are made, not born” is written on the bottom right corner of the uniform. This same quote is also written on St. Cecilia’s basketball court as well. Over the “D” in Detroit on the jersey and shorts, there are three stars representing that message, as well as the Pistons’ three championships.
Often referred to as “The Saint” by many who frequented the facility, The Saint served as a measuring test to see who some of the best talents in basketball in the city were. Some of the most notable names that visited St. Cecilia were NBA players like Isiah Thomas, George Gervin, Dave Bing, Magic Johnson, Grant Long and Draymond Green, just to name a few. 15-year NBA pro Grant Long and Piston analyst, who is also a Romulus High School graduate and Eastern Michigan alumni, told the Detroit Free Press, “To walk in this building and see Dave Bing, George Gervin, sometimes Darryl Dawkins, all of the guys that were pros, or going to be pros, it was like Christmas. You came in here, you had no idea what you were going to see or what you were going to get, how competitive it was going to be. It was just a treat every time you walked in the door.”
Detroit rapper Big Sean, who is the teams creative director of innovation since December of 2020, collaborated with the Pistons on the jersey design. Sean’s signature is on the bottom corner of the jersey underneath the quote mentioned earlier. Pistons chief marketing officer Alicia Jeffreys released a statement saying, “We took (Big Sean’s) excitement about designing a jersey with our excitement about telling the story, and he loved the fact that we wanted to tell St. Cecilia’s story. The green jersey comes from inspiration from the logo and then also the green mats that are on the wall in the gym. When we built St. Cecilia’s jersey with Nike and the NBA, they asked for brand inspirations. We used a ton of photography, a ton of video assets that show the gym, and they pulled pieces of the physical assets into the jersey. The green color is really a nod to what you see at The Saint.”
Besides the new uniform, the Pistons are also committing $250,000 toward renovating St. Cecilia’s gym in partnership with JDS Sports and The Knight Foundation. The Pistons will wear the uniforms six times this season.
🚨The Saint is Live🚨
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) November 10, 2022
Our 2022-23 City Edition is available now!
Click link to purchase: https://t.co/Vx6eToYRup pic.twitter.com/TMaMwUL5LW
