David Bing
*David Bing was born on this date in 1943. He is a Black former professional basketball player, businessman, and politician.
Bing was born in Washington, D.C., to Mother Juanita, a housekeeper, and Father Hasker, a bricklayer and deacon for the local Baptist church. He was the second child of four living in a two-bedroom, one-story house in the northeast part of town. In his childhood, Bing received the nickname "Duke" from his father, because, according to Bing, he always "wanted to be top dog."
He suffered a traumatic eye injury at age five, when, while playing with an improvised hobby horse he constructed with two sticks nailed together, Bing tripped and accidentally poked his left eye with a rusty nail. The family could not afford emergency surgery, leaving the eye to heal on its own and diminishing his vision thereafter. Bing's father also suffered a severe head injury during the boy's childhood. While working on a construction site, a brick fell four stories onto his head, causing a brain clot. The episode led young Bing to promise himself that he would never work in such a profession.
In athletics, Bing played basketball and was a friend of musician Marvin Gaye, who, after not performing well on the court, chose to sing on the sidelines. Bing excelled in baseball at Spingarn High School, where the school's head basketball coach, William Roundtree, encouraged him to revisit basketball. Though he felt he was better at baseball, Bing was aware of the path taken by Elgin Baylor, a Spingarn alum. In 1962, he was named to the All-American Team. After starring at Syracuse University, Bing played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a point guard. During his career, he averaged over 20 points and six assists per game and made seven NBA All-Star Game appearances, winning the game's Most Valuable Player award in 1976. The Pistons celebrated his career accomplishments with the retirement of his #21 jersey.
Additionally, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and named to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team and the NBA 75th Anniversary All-Time Team. Bing founded Bing Steel, a processing company that earned him the National Minority Small Businessperson of the Year award in 1984. Soon, the business grew into the multimillion-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 intention 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, who 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.
