Joe Kopicki (Class of 1978)

 

Joe Kopicki is a graduate of Fitzgerald high School’s Class of 1978. During his basketball career at Fitzgerald, Kopicki holds the school record of most points in a game with 51.  After graduating, Kopicki played for 4 years at The University of Detroit Mercy. In those 4 years, he totaled 1,410 points and 771 rebounds and was inducted into the Detroit Titans Hall of Fame in 2010.

Kopicki was drafted in the 3rd round of the NBA draft and went on to play 3 seasons with the Washington Bullets and Denver Nuggets. After his NBA career, he played 8 years of professional basketball in Europe and was named the Spanish League’s MVP for the 1986-1987 season.

Kopicki then came back to his alma mater, Fitzgerald High School, and was the head coach of the Spartan Varsity boys basketball team for 11 seasons.