Sports / Press & broadcasting
Kelly Tripucka
born 1959 · basketball forward, broadcaster
High-scoring Pistons forward of 1981–1986 and two-time All-Star, later the team's TV color commentator.
- Born
Glen Ridge, New Jersey
age 67- Birth name
- Peter Kelly Tripucka
- Detroit years
- 1981–1986, 1993–2001
- Field
- Sports, Press & broadcasting
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
The Pistons drafted Tripucka, a Notre Dame star and son of NFL quarterback Frank Tripucka, twelfth overall in 1981, the same year they took Isiah Thomas. In the Pontiac Silverdome era he was the team's scoring forward, a fearless shooter who averaged more than twenty points a game in several seasons and made the All-Star team in 1982 and 1984. With Thomas he helped lift the Pistons from the bottom of the league to the playoffs. In 1986 general manager Jack McCloskey traded him and Kent Benson to the Utah Jazz for Adrian Dantley, one of the moves that shaped the "Bad Boys" champions. Tripucka came back to Detroit after his playing career and spent eight seasons, from 1993 to 2001, as the color commentator on Pistons television broadcasts.
Highlights
- Pistons first-round pick in 1981
- NBA All-Star in 1982 and 1984
- Averaged more than 20 points a game in several Detroit seasons
- Pistons TV color commentator 1993–2001
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Played here · 1981–1986
Pontiac Silverdome
Demolished · 1975–2013
The Pistons' home during his playing years in Detroit; demolished in 2017–2018.