When I think about all the great athletes that played in Detroit one always sticks out above the rest. Many would say Barry Sanders, Gordie Howe, Al Kaline, Isiah Thomas or Steve Yezerman.All great athletes, but the one I would want my kids to look for in a role model is Dave Bing. In nine seasons with the Detroit Pistons, followed by two with the Washington Bullets and one with the Boston Celtics, Bing amassed 18,327 points in 901 contests (20.3 ppg). His efforts earned him a spot on the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. The league's Rookie of the Year for 1966-67, he went on to make the All-NBA First Team twice and the Second Team once, and he played in seven NBA All-Star Games. In only his second season, 1967-68, he led the NBA in scoring with 27.1 points per game.
I admired his basketball skills because he overcame obstacles involving his eyes as a child (at five, he tripped and fell in to a nail that went into his left eye) and as a player (partially detached retina in right eye). Yet what I found to be his best qualities are his skills as a human being. Mr. Bing is the ultimate example of professionalism, businessman, gentleman, class, dignity, and humanity. Basically he cares; there is no finer “quality” than that in a world of me, me, and me.
Let me share a “few” examples of what he has done for the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan. Mr. Bing whose auto supply company employs 1,400 and expects to have $575 million in annual sales this year (he opened his first plant in 1980 with $5 million dollars), has a plan to fix Detroit: one neighborhood at a time.
His Bing Group houses six of its 10 companies at its headquarters in the northern part of Detroit near the Highland Park and Hamtramck borders. He opened his first plant with $5 million in 1980 and hopes the group will reach $1 billion in sales by the end of the dacade.
His automotive activities include the assembly of car seats, the production of steel blanks and welded sections, and stamping services. The company sells its services to auto parts manufacturers and metal furniture and appliance makers.
Bing Industries is not unlike many companies today that are looking for a more skilled workplace. His company has spenthundreds of thousands of dollars training his employees in the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic that should have been taught in the schools.
He did not sit back and whine about the problem, he gets involved and he has been doing something about it for years. He even avoids the politics of the local so called do-gooders who criticized him for doing business with a man from outside of Detroit who also wants to help the Detroit School System. Dave Bing is his own man.
He supports 15 charter high schools,he even set up a technical high school near his steel company that is part of his plan to transform a dying community into the productive and safe place it once was.
Mr. Bing’s most current project is helping to give a new lease of life to Detroit's north side by building 40 middle-income homes. His group is building the brick homes, ranging in price from $170,000 to $200,000, next to his Bing Group headquarters.
Dave Bing is a graduate of Syracuse University, where he earned a Bachelor ofScience degree in economics. If you think the leaders of other organizations don’t appreciate his talents and skills take a look at some of the boards and organizations he is involved in: Bing serves on the boards of directors of Detroit Edison, Standard FederalBank and Steelcase, as well as Detroit Renaissance, Economic Club of Detroit,Michigan Minority Business Development Council, National Association of BlackAutomotive Suppliers and Oakland University Foundation.
He also serves on the boards of advisors of Boy Scouts of America Council,Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, Caring Athletes Team forChildren's/Henry Ford Hospitals (CATCH), Children's Hospital, Detroit BlackUnited Fund, Detroit Urban League, Junior Achievement, New Detroit, Inc., and Share House Drug and Abuse Center.
I think it is time for local papers and newscasters to address Dave Bing, as a humanitarian and business man who used to play basketball for the Detroit Pistons.
Respectfully,
qualityg
More great work from Mr. Bing!
Dave Bing part of Detroit plan to redevelop, strengthen 6 areas
A riverfront condominium project headed by Detroit industrialist and sports legend Dave Bing took a step closer to reality.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006612130308
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/pistons/2005-08-24-rebuilding-detroit_x.htm?csp=34
2 comments:
Nice write-up qualityg, I see why you like Dave Bing.
Dave in Denver
Thanks, some in Michigan might remember that many fans were upset becasue we drafted Dave Bing and not Cazzie Russell from Michigan.
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