Detroit high school basketball star Tony Tolbert dies at 50 from COVID

DETROIT – A man who had one of Michigan’s most prolific high school basketball careers at Saint Martin de Porres High School in Detroit has died after contracting COVID-19.

In the world of Detroit basketball Tony Tolbert was a legend. He died at the age of 50 after contracting the coronavirus. He was not vaccinated.

He played high school basketball at Saint Martin de Porres High School. He began his college career at Michigan and then went on to play for two years at the University of Detroit.

Tolbert is known to his friends as a man who loved his family, friends and community. Tolbert was hospitalized on July 28. His friends said he was laughing with them on the phone Monday afternoon, and by Monday evening he had died.

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Read: Michigan weekly COVID-19 vaccinations starting to rise again


About the Authors

Paula Tutman is an Emmy award-winning journalist who came to Local 4 in 1992. She's married and the stepmother of three beautiful and brilliant daughters. Her personal philosophy in life, love and community is, "Do as much as you can possibly do, not as little as you can possibly get away with".

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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