The late Julie Serges wasn’t lucky enough to have been blessed with an imposing physical stature.
Yet that didn’t stop him from having a major impact on the Flint-area sports scene.
“I was never an athlete,” the 5 foot 9 Serges admitted in a 1991 Flint Journal story. “I was too small. But I love sports and athletes so I turned to being a sponsor and coach.”
And he was so successful in both roles that Serges has earned a spot in the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame as this year’s recipient of the Special Services Award.
Serges already has a spot in the Hall of Fame thanks to the 1972 Julie’s Pawn Shop City AA Basketball League team he that sponsored and coached to the National Amateur Basketball Association championship. Now, he’s one of those rare individuals who has made earned induction twice.
“I don’t think he ever thought about (making) it individually,” said son Drake Serges, who played on that ’72 title team. “He thought his team would (earn induction) when we won that national championship. But I don’t think he ever thought about himself going in so this would be a surprise.”
“It’s a thrill. The whole family is really proud of him. We think he should be in there.”
Serges was involved in sponsorship at virtually every level, including men’s City A and AA basketball; men’s and women’s fastpitch softball; professional bowling; and the Flint Pros of the Continental Basketball Association.
His involvement began when he heard about a City AA Basketball team that had some talented players but needed financial help to take the floor.
“They were the No Names,” Drake Serges said. “They called dad, he went to look at the team one time and said “I want that team.”
Serges best year was unquestionably 1972, when his teams won two national titles. In addition to the NABA crown Julie’s Pawn Shop won in Springfield, MA.-the home of basketball-his men’s fastpitch team also won a Class A national championship in Port Huron that year.
After winning the national crowns, Serges took things to another level when he brought the Continental Basketball Association to Flint. He not only sponsored the Flint Pros, but doubled as the team’s head coach and general manager.
Playing their home games at Hamady High, the Pros won their first five games and were averaging 1,451 fans a night. They were led by local legend Justus Thigpen, a member of the GFASHOF fame who finished second in the CBA scoring race that season at more than 40 points per game.
But after hot start, the Pros lost four of their next five games and attendance began to plummet. Thigpen signed with the Detroit Pistons before the end of the season and without him, the Pros finished with a 10-10 record.
Serges brought the Pros back the next season-he was no long coaching after suffering his first heart attack-and this time the team played its home games at IMA Sports Arena. But attendance was awful in the 4,021-seat facility and the team folded in early December.
Serges was also heavily involved in bowling.
His teams won city championships and in 1973 put up the money to fund the Central States Women’s Classic, a professional tournament consisting of weekly events in the Flint area.
Serges left the Flint area in 1974 after undergoing double-bypass heart surgery and being advised by doctors to escape Michigan’s cold winters. He relocated to Fort Lauderdale, FL., but it wasn’t long before he got restless and was backin business.
While his family continued to run the empire in Michigan, Serges opened National Pawn and Jewelry, a 23,000-square foot establishment in Fort Lauderdale that he claimed was the largest pawn shop in the world. His inventory featured a 1966 Rolls Royce, 15 Rolex watches and a 1983 Super Bowl ring.
Serges advertised the business on the outfield wall at the New York Yankees spring training home in Fort Lauderdale and also held an ownership stake in Pompano Harness Race Track.
An avid collector of sports memorabilia, his pieces included boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali, who wore them in a 1986 fight vs. Mike Tyson; original paintings of Sugar Ray Leonard and Alexis Arguello; and pictures of Serges alongside the likes of former NFL quarterback Ken Stabler, actor Sylvester Stallone and the late Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.
True to form, sports was a big part of Serges’ life until the moment he drew his last breath. When he died of a heart attack at age 68 in August of 1992, Serges was at his home in Fort Lauderdale.
He was watching the Olympics on TV.
