The Mirriam-Webster Dictionary defines character as “moral excellence and firmness.” Dave Bing is one such person. Bing is, and always has been, a character guy, a sustained character guy. Bing is a guy that showed it on the court and later in the business world. Ask Oscar Robertson, the NBA Hall of Famer who played against Bing in the 1960’s. During his Hall of Fame induction speech for Bing, Robertson said, “Dave Bing is the perfect example of professionalism, class, dignity, and humanity. He cares. He gets involved with the world.”

It was Bing’s character that led to his inclusion in the 1996 list of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players of All-Time. It was his character that propelled him to Hall of Fame status, after signing his first pro contract for only $15,000. Character has made Bing a pillar of the Detroit community and the leader of the Bing Group, a $350 million manufacturing company.

On the court, Bing made the game look easy. A 6’3” guard from Syracuse, Bing exploded onto the NBA scene in 1967, averaging 20.0 points per game for the Detroit Pistons and was named Rookie of the Year. Over his 12 season NBA career with the Pistons, Washington Bullets, and the Boston Celtics, Bing averaged 20.3 points per game, was a three-time All-NBA player, and was named to the NBA All-Star Team seven times.

Off the court, Bing worked just as hard. An avid reader, Bing would finish hundreds of books throughout the year. During the off-season, Bing worked for a bank, Chrysler, and a small steel company in the metro Detroit area. After retiring, Bing applied the same dedication and perseverance he displayed on the court in his business life. He became CEO of the Bing Group.

The son of a bricklayer father and a homemaker mother, Bing grew up in the same northeast Washington, D.C. neighborhood that produced NBA Hall-of-Famer Elgin Baylor. Money was tight for the Bing family and Bing and his three brothers and sisters slept two to a bed. The family was a tight-knit group, but life got a bit harder when injuries struck the Bing clan. At age five, while improvising a game of “horsey”, young Dave tripped and a nail plunged into his left eye. An operation saved his eye, but the fuzzy vision would never go away. While working on a construction site, a brick fell four stories and struck Bing’s father on the head. The injury resulted in a blood clot on his brain. It was at that time that Dave decided that construction was not the life he wanted.

Unfortunately, the injury to his eye wasn’t the only obstacle in Bing’s path to becoming an NBA player. Because of his size, bigger players pushed Bing away from the basketball courts on local school playgrounds. Bing gravitated toward baseball and it wasn’t until his years at Washington’s Springarn High School that basketball coach William Roundtree encouraged Bing to focus on basketball. During his All-American senior year, Bing was one of seven players on his varsity squad to average double figures in points. Though Bing excelled as a two-sport athlete, a scheduling conflict between tournaments in baseball and basketball forced him to make a choice. Bing chose basketball and went on to be named MVP of the tournament.

Though everyone saw his talent, most still didn’t believe that Bing had the size necessary to be successful at the elite Division I level. Luckily, there were college coaches who did not subscribe to those thoughts. Bing was recruited by powerhouses including UCLA and Michigan. At the urging of Ernie Davis, an All-American football player and 1961 Heisman Trophy winner at Syracuse, Bing became an Orangeman in 1962. He would later confess that he chose Syracuse partly because he was unsure of his own abilities to play at the elite Division I level and believed that it would be easier to stand out at a lower profile school.

Stand out is exactly what he did. A three-year letter winner, Bing is still recognized as one of the best players in Syracuse basketball history. Bing led Syracuse in scoring during each of his three years, amassing a career scoring average of 24.7 points, the highest career scoring average in school history, an impressive stat when you consider that the lineage of Syracuse basketball includes players like Rony Seikaly, Derrick Coleman, Lawrence Moten, and Sherman Douglas. During his senior year in 1966, Bing was arguably the best college player in the country. He led the Orangemen to a 22-6 record and its second NCAA tournament birth. Bing led the team in scoring 22 times and rebounding 19 times. He scored a career-high 46 points in a 113-98 loss to Vanderbilt in the 1966 Los Angeles Basketball Classic. Named the Syracuse Athlete of the Year in 1966, Bing was the school’s first consensus All-American in 39 years, finishing the season averaging 28.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game. Even with those numbers, Bing was not expected to be the number one pick in the 1966 NBA Draft. That honor belonged to Michigan’s Cazzie Russell. But as always, things had a way of working out for Bing.

The Pistons were coming off a 22-win season in 1965-66. At the time, the NBA held a coin flip between the last place finisher in the East (New York Knicks) and West (Detroit Pistons) conferences to determine the first pick. Pistons player-coach Dave DeBusschere called tails. When NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy picked up the coin from the carpet of the Plaza Hotel, heads was showing and the Knicks had won the number one pick. The Knicks drafted Cazzie Russell. The Pistons, with the second pick, chose Bing. The next day’s newspapers read “Sorry, Pistons – Knicks Draft Cazzie.” Bing signed for $15,000 and a $500 bonus.

In the first two weeks of the 1966-67 season Bing came off the bench, missed his first six field goal attempts and recorded the first scoreless game of his career, another inauspicious beginning for a number two pick. Bing, a man of character, turned a bad situation into a good one in the blink of an eye. Bing was given his first start two weeks after his scoreless game and promptly hit his first eight shots. He didn’t stop scoring until the end of the season, finishing the season scoring 1,601 points and averaging 20.0 points per game. He became only the sixth rookie in league history to score 1,600 points and edged out Lou Hudson and Cazzie Russell for Rookie of the Year honors.

There would be no sophomore slump for Bing. He scored 40 or more points four times during the 1967-68 regular season, leading the Pistons to their first post-season appearance since 1963. Bing finished the season averaging 27.1 point per game, and won the NBA scoring title, outscoring legends such as Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe. Bing became the first guard to win the league’s scoring title since 1947-48, and was named All-NBA First Team and an All-Star.

Bing’s basketball career would sail relatively smoothly over the next several years, although the Pistons were a study in futility. Bing established himself as one of the premier players and leaders in the NBA and in 1971, former player and Pistons scout Earl Lloyd told Sport Magazine, “Maybe some other player does this better, and another does that better. [But] nobody does as much as Dave does.” However, in 1971, Bing’s career would hit rough water.

In a preseason game against the Lakers, Bing was guarding Happy Hairston when Hairston made a sudden cut. As he passed Bing, Hairston accidentally poked Bing in the right eye, the same eye that had been injured as a child. Though the pain was intense, Bing thought he had only suffered a scratch. The morning after playing the season opener, his vision was severely diminished. Bing was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a partially detached retina and required immediate surgery. Bing spent the next three days in complete darkness.

After a three-month recuperation period, Bing defied doctors’ warnings that 90 days wasn’t enough time to heal, to return to the Pistons’ line-up in late December and promptly scored 21 points in his first game back. After the injury, Bing rededicated himself to the game, becoming a better defender, free-throw shooter and passer.

While the Pistons’ team success increased through the first half of the 1970’s, Bing’s production would decrease. The 1973-74 club finished with the franchise’s most successful season since moving to Detroit in 1957, amassing 52 wins. Unfortunately, the Pistons lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Chicago Bulls. The team followed a 52-win season with a 40-42 campaign and another first round playoff loss, this time at the hands of the Seattle Supersonics.

Based upon a contract dispute, Bing was traded to his hometown Washington Bullets for Kevin Porter following the 1974-75 season. The homecoming did not work out as planned. Though Bing was named MVP of the 1976 All-Star Game, his scoring average dipped to 13.4 points per game with the Bullets. The Bullets made the second round of the playoffs in 1977, but a change in coaching change from K.C. Jones to Dick LaMotta and Bing’s vision problems led to his release at the end of the season.

Bing played one more season with the Boston Celtics, averaging 13.6 points per game. He retired following the 1977-78 season, with a career scoring average of 20.3 points per game through his 12 NBA seasons. In his nine years with the Pistons, he led almost every career statistical category, including points and assists. Though many years have passed, Bing still ranks in the Top Ten among Pistons’ all-time categories including points, assists, and games. His 22.6 points per game average as a Piston remains second on the franchise’s all-time list, behind only Bob Lanier (22.7).

On March 18, 1983, Bing became the first Pistons player to have his number (21) retired. With over 18,000 fans and many former players, including former teammate Bob Lanier in attendance, the Pistons celebrated Bing’s career. As his number 21 was hoisted into the rafters, Bing said in his typically reserved manner, “This is a great honor and I deeply appreciate it.”

Bing was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 15, 1990.

After hanging up his sneakers, Bing became a student of the business world, teaching himself finance and deal-making. In 1980, Bing returned to Detroit to begin Bing Steel. Within 10 years, Bing Steel had grown to annual sales of over $60 million, making it one of the 10 largest African-American owned industrial companies in the nation according to Black Enterprise. Later, Bing acquired Superb Manufacturing, a metal stamping company, and a small construction firm.

Today, the Bing Group consists of 10 companies, whose 1,400 employees make steel parts for the automotive and metal furniture and appliance manufacturers. Bing’s leadership and a $5 million investment in 1980, much of which he borrowed from people who saw something in him, have produced a company that now boasts annual sales of over $350 million and expects to top the $1 billion mark within the next five years.

Dave Bing is also a pillar of the Detroit community. He is in the process of building 40 middle-income homes in the Highland Park area surrounding his manufacturing location. He is also in discussions to support 15 charter high schools, including a technical high school near Bing’s Highland Park headquarters. Both are part of his larger plan to transform Highland Park into the working, middle class area it once was. Bing is also active on several boards of directors, including the Detroit Renaissance, the Michigan Business Development Council, the National Association of Black Automotive Suppliers, and the Super Bowl XL Planning Committee.

Sport Magazine once called Dave Bing “Mr. Unsung-About” for his quiet demeanor on the court. It is this quiet demeanor that has enabled Bing to become one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA and one of the great leaders of American business. It’s also about character.

STATISTICS

Year G FGM FGA PCT 3FGM 3FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT REB AST PTS AVG 66-67 80 664 1,522 .436 --- --- --- 273 370 .738 359 330 1,601 20.0 67-68 79 835 1,893 .441 --- --- --- 472 668 .707 373 509 2,142 27.1 68-69 77 678 1,594 .425 --- --- --- 444 623 .713 382 546 1,800 23.4 69-70 70 575 1,295 .444 --- --- --- 454 580 .783 299 418 1,604 22.9 70-71 82 799 1,710 .467 --- --- --- 615 772 .797 364 408 2,213 27.0 71-72 45 369 891 .414 --- --- --- 278 354 .785 186 317 1,016 22.6 72-73 82 692 1,545 .448 --- --- --- 456 560 .814 298 637 1,840 22.4 73-74 81 582 1,336 .436 --- --- --- 356 438 .813 281 555 1,520 18.8 74-75 79 578 1,333 .434 --- --- --- 343 424 .809 286 610 1,499 19.0 Det. Totals 675 5,772 13,119 .440 --- --- --- 3,691 4,789 .770 2,828 4,330 15,235 22.6 NBA Totals 901 6,962 15,769 .441 --- --- --- 4,403 5,683 .775 3,420 5,397 18,327 20.3

HONORS

Dave Bing Wallpaper 1278x1024 | 1024x768 800x600 Sporting News All-American first team (1966) NBA Rookie of the Year (1967) NBA All-Rookie team (1967) All-NBA first team (1968, 1971) All-NBA second team (1974) NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (1976) J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (1977) First player in Pistons history to have his number retired (1983) Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996) Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1990) Video: Take a look into the life and basketball career of Dave Bing. 56K | 256K