Dave Bing
David "Dave" Bing (born November 24, 1943) is an American businessman, retired Hall of Fame basketball player, and former mayor of Detroit, Michigan.
After starring at Syracuse University, Bing played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a guard for the Detroit Pistons (1966–75), Washington Bullets (1975–77), and Boston Celtics (1977–78). During his career, he averaged over 20 points and six assists per game and made seven NBA All-Star appearances, winning the game's Most Valuable Player award in 1976. After retiring, the Pistons celebrated his career accomplishments with the retirement of his #21 jersey. In addition, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all-time.
Upon his retirement from professional basketball, Bing founded Bing Steel, a processing company that earned him the National Minority Small Business Person of the Year award in 1984. Soon the business grew into the multi-million dollar Detroit-based conglomerate, the Bing Group, one of the largest steel companies in Michigan.
Bing entered Detroit politics as a Democrat in 2008, announcing his intentions to run for mayor in the city's non-partisan primary to finish the term of Kwame Kilpatrick, who had resigned amid a corruption scandal. After winning the primary, Bing then defeated Interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. and was sworn in as mayor in May 2009. Later that year, Bing was re-elected to a full term. However he lost most of his power to Detroit's emergency manager Kevyn Orr, had numerous health problems, and suffered approval ratings as low as 14%. Bing thus did not seek re-election in 2013 and was succeeded by politician and businessman Mike Duggan.
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