DENVER, Jan. 10, 2014 – On Jan. 25, the Denver Nuggets will honor former team president and general manager Carl Scheer, a visionary who helped usher the franchise from the American Basketball Association to the NBA.
Scheer arrived in Denver in 1974 and quickly built a reputation as a leading executive in professional sports, winning ABA executive of the year in 1974-75 and 1975-76 while overseeing a resurgence of the Denver Rockets.
After playing a key role in executing the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, Scheer helped the Rockets continued their success as the Nuggets; Denver won back-to-back Midwest Division titles and advanced to the Western Conference finals in 1978.
During his tenure, Scheer hired coach Doug Moe and acquired All-Star talent in David Thompson, Alex English and Dan Issel. All three players went on to have their numbers retired by the Nuggets, and Moe was honored for his franchise-record 432 victories.
Scheer also created the first NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest in 1976 as part of All-Star Saturday, and he later implemented the iconic “Rainbow Skyline” logo worn by the Nuggets from 1982 to 1993.
The Nuggets led the NBA in attendance under Scheer and reached the playoffs in eight of his 10 seasons.