Forgotten NBA legend is wealthiest player you’ve never heard, turning paltry $15,000 rookie contract into staggering $300m business empire
Dave Bing was all about business, on and off the court.
The high-scoring guard played 12 seasons in the NBA, suiting up for the Detroit Pistons, Washington Bullets and Boston Celtics in the 1960s and '70s.
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After an illustrious collegiate career at Syracuse, the backcourt maestro was selected second overall by the Pistons in the 1966 NBA Draft.
His first professional contract was for all of $15,000 per year.
The silky shooter was an immediate hit in The Association and was named the NBA's Rookie of the Year in 1967.
He was far from the flashiest player in the league but his basketball fundementals and excellent leadership made him a head coach's dream.
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Bing went on to make the All-NBA First Team twice and the Second Team once during his playing days. In only his second season, 1967-68, he led the NBA in scoring with 27.1 points per game.
Bing also starred in seven NBA All-Star Games, winning the exhibition's MVP award in 1976.
During his career, he averaged over 20 points and six assists per game, but sadly it was cut short due to the long-term effects of a devastating eye injury he suffered as a child.
When Bing was five, he tripped over and accidentally poked his left eye with a rusty nail. His family could not afford the surgery, and so his eye was left to heal on its own and diminish his vision thereafter.
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He retired after the 1977-78 campaign, having scored 18,327 points and dished out 5,397 assists. He ended his career as one of the greatest Pistons in franchise history and had his No.21 jersey retired by the organization.
Bing was also inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was named to the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary All-Time Teams - joining the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James.
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The former pro made a more than respectable living in the NBA, signing a three-year, $500,000 contract with the Bullets and a three-year, $450,000 deal with the Pistons.
Bing was especially savvy with his finances, and was planning for life after basketball way before he officially hung up his jersey.
He would spend his offseasons with the Pistons reading as much as possible and worked in Detroit for a bank and the Chrysler Corporation, teaching himself finance and deal-making.
Immediately after retiring, he worked at a warehouse of the steel processing company Paragon Steel and was paid $35,000.
He left after two years, after stints in the company's shipping and sales operations.
With $80,000 in savings from his NBA career and a $250,000 loan, Bing started Bing Steel in 1980.
The company started out with four employees and within six months Bing had lost all his money.
However, after pivoting from manufacturing to processing and landing General Motors as its first client, Bing Steel grew exponentially.
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Within ten years the firm had grown to annual sales of $61 million, making it the 10th-largest African-American-owned industrial company in the nation and one of the largest steel companies in Michigan.
Bing was named National Minority Small Business Person of the Year by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.
He eventually turned the company into The Bing Group, which supplies metal stampings to the automobile industry.
Bing was always about giving back to a local community which was experiencing a sever economic downturn, leaving thousands impoverished.
He built a 56,000-square-foot factory for his metal-stamping business in one of the city's worst neighborhoods in order to provide local jobs for citizens.
The 6ft 3in former hooper went on to acquire Superb Manufacturing, a $28 million-per-year metal-stamping company, as well as a small construction firm, cementing his status as a self-made industrial magnate.
By the time Bing sold his company in 2009, it had 1,400 employees and was making $300 million in annual sales.
He ultimately decided to walk away from his multi-million dollar conglomerate to focus on politics.
In 2008, the now 80-year-old announced he would run for mayor of Detroit, and a year later was elected to replace former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Bing was then re-elected to a full term in November of 2009 before opting to not run for re-election in 2013.
Instead, he decided to launch BINGO, Boys Inspired through Nurturing Growth and Opportunities, a program aimed at matching up young men with mentors help them make the choices that will put them on a path to success.
In 2009, Bing received the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award, for his contributions to civil and human rights.
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Bing's impact on the Pistons, and the city of Detroit as a whole, is difficult to quantify.
His journey is one of grit, determination and overcoming adversity to succeed in sports, business and life, and is one of the greatest rags to riches stories in NBA history.
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