Dave Bing Podcast Transcript
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This transcript was exported on Nov 23, 2020 - view latest version here. Dave Bing: And it would have been easy for me to make an excuse not to succeed because of the challenge, but I wanted to overcome that. And that has happened. Chris Velardi: In fact, it's happened in pretty much everything Dave Bing has set out to do in his remarkable career. Glad you found the 'Cuse Conversations Podcast, I'm Chris Velardi, Director of Digital Engagement and Communications in Syracuse University's Office of Alumni Engagement and a 1995 Syracuse grad. In the forward to Dave Bing's new memoir, Attacking the Rim, out November 17th from Triumph Books, NBC sportscaster, and Syracuse University trustee and alumnus, Mike Tirico points out that Bing could be introduced by a different title of a claim every day of the week. College All-American, Basketball Hall of Famer, founder and CEO of Michigan's largest steel company, Detroit mayor, life- changing mentor. Bing has embraced all of these roles with his signature drive. As he lays out in his memoir and shares with us in this Cuse Conversation, his philosophy of attacking the rim applies to much more than just basketball. Dave Bing: Absolutely. Basketball was a mainstay in my life for a period of time, but beyond basketball, there were years when I was in the business arena. There were years when I was in the political arena and now they're years that I'm doing the foundation work on mentees. So it's been a lot of different areas for me to dip into and try to remember some of the important things that happen in each one of those careers. Chris Velardi: Tell me a little about that philosophy of attacking the rim and why it proved successful for you no matter what arena you were in. Dave Bing: Well, I think, attacking around the rim is about being aggressive in terms of what it is that you wanted to achieve. And all through my life, I've had challenges. Going back to childhood when I had an eye injury in an accident that is with me today, and it would have been easy for me to make an excuse not to succeed because of the challenge, but I wanted to overcome that and that has happened. When you look at the childhood and the area that I grew up in, in Washington DC, and compare that to what's happening in our country today, especially in urban America, it's not a big difference. I grew up at a time and a place where a lot of people in my community were challenged. And whether it was being Black, or whether it was being poor, whether it was having a subpar education system that you grew up in, all of those things was a challenge to me as I grew up. And as I see it today, when I fast forward, I see a lot of young men in particular, men of color, they have the same kind of challenges. But if you succumb to those challenges, then there's no way to succeed. And I'm lucky that I had a two parent home, my dad was there and he worked hard to make sure that my mother, her responsibility was to take care of the home and raised the kids. And today is quite different because with so many broken homes, with so many fatherless homes, these young boys don't have much of a chance unless somebody comes to try to help them. Now, I had a lot of help growing up, even though my dad worked, I had surrogate dads if you will. My Cuse Conversation with Dave Bing '66, H'06 (Completed 11/17/20) Page 1 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Nov 23, 2020 - view latest version here. coaches in junior high and high school, the guys who were directors, the direct centers that I grew up in, some of the guys in the neighborhood that I grew up in, who were older than me, they were all my mentors. And when I look back and see all the people that played a role in my life, mentoring was very important. And so that's what I've gravitated to make sure that I don't take for granted that these boys are going to be successful. They won't be successful unless there's somebody in their life that believes in them and supports them. Chris Velardi: You gravitated to it, but it is something that you were doing long before it became your main mission. Obviously, the stories of Jalen Rose and one we're interested here in Central New York, Derek Coleman of course, are two that you took under your wing. That obviously had an impact on you, knowing that you were able to provide that type of mentorship to them. Dave Bing: No doubt about it. Derek and I have a very unique relationship in a positive way. And I met Derek because he was not a Detroit guy. And I was already done with my career when he moved from Alabama to come here, I knew his high school coach and his high school coach asked me, could I help this kid, he doesn't know his father, he's a big kid, he's growing, he needs somebody as a role model and I like for you to be that? And so when Derek and I met, it was funny because I was in my business and he was trying to figure out who I was and he had no idea. And as he saw people coming in and talking about basketball, he finally asked me the question, did you play? And I said, yeah, I played. Chris Velardi: A little bit, I did all right. Dave Bing: Who did you play for? Yeah, I played for the Pistons. And then I think he started doing a little research and he was a little embarrassed, but that was okay because I think our relationship was not built on basketball. It was built on two Black, young people that cared for each other. They wanted to make sure that there was an avenue for success. And obviously, he's done well. And we are still very close friends, but you got another one though, Todd Bergen is another one from Detroit and all of us are in contact with each other consistently. So there's a little Syracuse club here in the metropolitan Detroit area, where we get together so often and we reminisce and we talk about things that Syracuse did for us. Chris Velardi: And those are, I can imagine, just amazing stories. One of the things that is a consistent theme through your life and certainly plays out in the book is that idea of relationships. When you first came to Syracuse, it was the relationships that you started to build with two pretty well known names here on campus that made you think, I think this could be a place for me. Dave Bing: Yeah. Syracuse, when Fred Lewis became the coach and recruited me in my senior year in high school, there were no Black players at the university in terms Cuse Conversation with Dave Bing '66, H'06 (Completed 11/17/20) Page 2 of 7 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Nov 23, 2020 - view latest version here. of basketball. So the guys that he introduced to me were two Black football players, Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy and John Mackey, who was an All-American. And those are the two guys that recruited me and convinced me that Syracuse was a good place for me to come. When I looked at the history of Syracuse from a basketball perspective, it was obvious that they needed some talent. They had lost 27 games in a row over a two year period. So one of the things that was obvious to me early on is that with that kind of losing record, I wasn't going to play. And I had never been to Syracuse or upstate New York, and Syracuse was the last school that I visited. And with a new coach coming in, with an uptempo kind of game, I thought it was a good match for me. So I made the decision to come to Syracuse and that's one of the best decisions that I think I've made in my life. Chris Velardi: And when you were here, you got to know a guy who, some of us may be familiar with named Boeheim, who hasn't left. Dave Bing: No, Jim, our freshmen team was pretty unique. Fred, our coach did a nice job of recruiting some pretty good players. My roommate, my freshman year was Frank Nicoletti, who was an All-American high school player out of Weehawken, New Jersey. And then Sam Penceal out of Boys High in New York had already committed to Syracuse. Then you had Rex Trowbridge and Dick Ableman out of the upstate area. And there was a guy from Long Island, Norman Goldsmiths, who was an outstanding high school player. But the other guy that was going to be very incremental in our upcoming season was a guy who was a transfer from West Point, Chuck Richards, and Chuck was about 6'8", 6'9", but he had to sit out a year because he transferred.