As we await the return of sports and any sort of sense of normalcy, we have some unfortunate news to pass along that’s affected a huge part of the Michigan sports community.
Dwayne Stephens Sr., the father of Michigan State Spartans basketball coach Dwayne Stephens, succumbed to COVID-19 earlier this week after contracting the illness.
“DJ (Stephens Jr.) is doing OK,” Missouri assistant basketball coach Cornell Mann and Stephens’ cousin explained. “It’s rough because my aunt is at home alone and has to deal with this after not being able to be with him at the hospital, so that’s tough.”
“He was like a father to me,” Mann continued. “A tough, stand-up guy that made good men out of DJ, (DJ’s younger brother Jarrett) and me. He was tough, but humble. A hard worker. A loving granddad.”
According to Mann, the elder Stephens lived in Oak Park and was in his 60’s. The younger Stephens has been a member of head coach Tom Izzo‘s staff now for nearly two decades.
– – Quotes via Graham Couch of The Lansing State Journal Link – –
