DeBusschere, Dave

Dave DeBusschere, byname of David Albert DeBusschere, (born October 16, 1940, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.—died May 14, 2003, New York, New York), American basketball player who became the youngest coach in National Basketball Association (NBA) history when at age 24 he became player-coach for the Detroit Pistons; he later provided tenacious defense and sturdy rebounding during six seasons as a forward with the New York Knicks, and he went on to become an executive with two franchises and commissioner of the American Basketball Association (ABA).

DeBusschere was both a basketball and baseball star in high school in Detroit and at the University of Detroit. He began as a baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, winning three games and posting a sparkling 2.90 earned run average (1962–63). Uniquely, he also began a pro basketball career in 1962, with the Pistons, and two years later became the Pistons’ player-coach; he led Detroit to a 79–143 record over three seasons.

Traded to the Knicks in 1968, he was, according to teammate Walt Frazier, “the difference in turning a team that was mediocre around.” In 1970 DeBusschere sparked the Knicks to their first NBA championship, and they repeated the feat in 1973. Throughout his NBA career DeBusschere averaged 16.1 points and 11 rebounds per game and was an eight-time All-Star. After retiring in 1974, he became general manager of the New York Nets, in the young ABA; the next year he became the ABA’s commissioner, and he was instrumental in the league’s merger with the NBA in 1976. As general manager of the Knicks (1982–86), he selected another great, Patrick Ewing, in the 1985 draft. DeBusschere was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983, and in 1996 he was chosen one of the 50 greatest players in the NBA’s first 50 years.