Pistons owner Bill Davidson dies at 85

Friday, March 13, 2009
Pistons owner Bill Davidson dies at 85
Detroit News staff

William Davidson, 85, longtime owner of the Detroit Pistons, died late Friday night. Davidson owned the Pistons since 1974 and also owned the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League. He is also the owner of Auburn Hills-based Guardian Industries

Davidson was the first owner to provide his team with their own plane, Roundball One, before the Pistons' first NBA Championship. The Palace of Auburn Hills, built in 1988, was professional sports' first privately owned and funded facility.

Davidson was known for his philanthropy, donating millions to the University of Michigan, his alma mater.

I wasn't expecting that.

catbox_9 wrote:

I wasn't expecting that.

Me neither

Pistons reflect on life of Bill Davidson

BY VINCE ELLIS • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • March 14, 2009

The huge neon sign that towers just off I-75 near the Palace exit had a simple message Saturday afternoon:

Bill Davidson: 1922-2009

That short — yet powerful — passage was a reminder to thousands of passersby about Davidson’s legacy, about how he turned a $7 million gamble in 1974 into a state-of-the-art arena, a sports and entertainment empire, three NBA and three WNBA championships, a place in the Basketball Hall of Fame and a model NBA franchise worth nearly $500 million.

Despite the wealth of achievements by Davidson — the Pistons owner who died Friday at his Bloomfield Hills home at 86 — team personnel said Saturday that they would miss Davidson because he was a man of integrity.

“The last time I felt like this in the middle of the season was when my father passed in 1990,” said a somber Joe Dumars, the president of basketball operations who learned of Davidson’s death while attending his son’s high school basketball game. “Just losing someone that you’re that close to, that you spend that kind of time with over the years.

“It’s a tough one to lose him. Most of the conversations I had with him had very little to do with basketball. It was just about people, life and families and that kind of that stuff.”

A cause of death was not released, but Davidson had been in ill health in recent years. His courtside appearances at Pistons games dwindled over the years since their last championship in 2004. He was confined to a wheelchair, from which he delivered his acceptance speech last September at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Despite his health issues, Davidson remained involved in the day-to-day operations of Palace and Pistons until the end.

Palace Sports & Entertainment president Tom Wilson spoke with him Friday and while he said Davidson was weak and didn’t say much, he was very much interested in what was going on.

“I just talked,” Wilson said. “They just put the phone to his ear and I just told him what was going on here and tried to be positive.

“The interesting thing about him he was relentlessly upbeat and optimistic. And even in the worst of times, even when we were having trouble on the basketball side, he would say remember one thing: A year goes by really fast. Do the right things and ultimately you will be OK and don’t worry about what happens today or tomorrow. And that’s sort of the way he always ran his life.”

Guard Richard Hamilton remembered a vibrant man who would drop by for therapy and workouts at the Pistons’ practice facility, across the parking lot from the Palace and near his Guardian Industries headquarters.

“We’re so used to him coming around here, being in the training room, talking to us,” said Hamilton, who was at a loss for words when told of Davidson’s death after Friday’s 99-95 overtime victory at Toronto. “His mind was always sharp as a whistle and not to have him around and not to come to the games is tough.”

And that feeling of loss will be shared from the millionaire athletes that fans cheer at every home game to the Palace employees who Davidson always had kind words for.

Coach Michael Curry was it was those relationships that showed you what kind of man Davidson was.

Curry got to know Davidson when he played for the Pistons for two stints (1995-97 and 1999-2003), and Davidson expressed confidence in Curry when he was hired last summer by Dumars to coach the Pistons after one season as an assistant.

“When we talked about things, we talked about handling situations and dealing with people,” Curry said. “You should be upfront and honest, pretty much just straight-forward and stand behind the things you believe.

“Those are the things I heard growing up and hearing it from him just echoed and makes you understand that doing things the right way, regardless of how it’s taken some times, is still the best way to do business.”

Davidson is survived by his wife, Karen, and two grown children, Ethan and Marla.

Services are scheduled for noon Tuesday at Congregation Shaarey Zadek in Southfield.

Wilson said there would be some type of remembrance at Sunday’s home game against the Memphis Grizzlies, but nothing had been finalized. (Davidson’s Palace opened in 1988, costing $90 million, none of it from public funds.)

But whatever is decided, some might think it isn’t sufficient.

Take Dumars’ comments when he presented Davidson for induction into the Hall of Fame.

“He handed the keys over to a franchise to a 36-year-old African-American guy and said run with it,” said Dumars, who assumed his position in 1999 after a 14-year Hall of Fame career, all with the Pistons. “I’m appreciative of that because that doesn’t happen often. I recognize that and I recognize how special that is. I’ll forever be indebted to him for that.”

And so will Pistons fans.

Contact VINCE ELLIS at 313-222-6479 or vellis@freepress.com. Check out his Pistons blog at www.freep.com/sports.

Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson dies

By DREW SHARP AND VINCE ELLIS • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS • March 14, 2009

Six months after he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson died Friday at the age of 86.

Davidson became majority owner of the Pistons in 1974. He also owned Palace Sports & Entertainment and the WNBA's Detroit Shock. He owned the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning until 2008.

Services are scheduled for noon Tuesday at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, according to the Ira Kaufman Chapel Funeral Home.

The Pistons players and coaches learned of Davidson's death shortly after the team's victory over the Raptors in Toronto. Many expressed disbelief and declined comment.

“We are all deeply saddened by the news of Mr. D's passing,” Pistons coach Michael Curry said in a statement. “He's been a great owner who genuinely cared for players, coaches and employees.

“He will not only be remembered as a great owner but also as a person who made a difference in many people's lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. D and the entire Davidson family.”

Davidson died at his Bloomfield Hills home, team spokesman Matt Dobek said. A cause of death was not immediately known. Davidson has been in ill health the last few years, but he leaves behind a legacy of innovation and excellence.

Nobody told Davidson what to do. He remained his own man.

Many thought he was crazy buying the majority interest of the Pistons. It was considered a dying franchise, playing before sparse crowds at Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit. It had its stars in Dave Bing and Bob Lanier, but NBA basketball never captivated any more than a niche interest in Detroit during those days. The Pistons were basically a laughingstock when Davidson purchased them.

Davidson proved the doubters wrong, eventually turning the Pistons into one of professional sports' more profitable and more identifiable brand names.

He bought the Pistons from automobile parts magnate Fred Zollner for $7 million. The franchise is reportedly now worth more than $500 million.

Many questioned his judgment once again when he insisted that his new palatial arena in a previously anonymous suburb north of Pontiac be fully privately funded.

That's not how it was done. Owners demanded some taxpayer subsidies in constructing their profitable playpens, but Davidson wanted the Palace of Auburn Hills privately financed so that he didn't have to answer to anybody else.

Twenty years old, the Palace remains a state-of-the art facility.

The man affectionately called “Mr. D” created an entertainment empire that also included the DTE Energy Music Theatre (formerly Pine Knob) and the Meadowbrook Music Festival, but Davidson will be remembered most for making NBA basketball credible in Detroit - even if it meant moving “the city game” out of the city. The Pistons left Cobo Arena for the Silverdome before the Palace opened in 1988.

The Pistons were the first team to have its own private plane because Davidson thought if his players could travel more comfortably, their on-court performance would improve.

And Roundball One was born.

Other teams soon followed Davidson's lead.

He became the first owner to win championships in three professional sports with the Pistons, the WNBA's Shock and the NHL's Lightning. In fact, the Pistons and Lightning won championships within days of each other in 2004.

Davidson was also a noted philanthropist, donating millions to charities. He graduated from the University of Michigan and earned a law degree from Wayne State University.

“Southeastern Michigan and the Detroit area really lost a visionary and someone who's been very generous to the community and supported a lot of things,” said Robert Kennedy, executive director of the William Davidson Institute. “He also gave away a lot of things that were never in the paper.”

Davidson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last September.

Along with basketball greats Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Dick Vitale, Pat Riley, Adrian Dantley and Cathy Rush, Davidson was thanked for his contributions by being inducted.

“It's a much-deserved honor,” Pistons president Joe Dumars said at the time. “He's an innovator and a trailblazer, and in this industry the way you're recognized at the highest level is being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“So I think that it's only fitting that he's a Hall of Famer as of now.”

At the end of his induction speech, Davidson said: “Thank you, I've enjoyed tonight more than you can imagine. Thanks for your attention.”

Davidson's athletic career began when he was a high school and college trackman and played football in the Navy during World War II. Davidson was an inaugural inductee into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Davidson received a bachelor's in business administration from U-M.

After three years, Davidson gave up his law practice to take over a wholesale drug company. He then he did the same with a surgical supply company. Next he took the Guardian Glass Co., the family business, and built it into a global leader.

In 1997, the Council of Michigan Foundations honored Davidson for his lifelong philanthropic efforts locally, nationally and internationally. The honor reflected an ethic fostered by his mother when he was a child.

“For any successful organization or business, you have to have integrity,” Davidson told the Associaed Press. “And you have to make everything as straightforward as you can make it.”

Today, Guardian Industries Corp. is the flagship of his corporate interests. Its world headquarters is located on the same property as the Palace and the Pistons practice facility in Auburn Hills.

Davidson, a resident of Bloomfield Hills, is survived by his wife, Karen, and two grown children, Ethan and Marla.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Saturday, March 14, 2009
Davidson's wife, son could see increased roles with Pistons
Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

AUBURN HILLS -- Nothing is going to change.

That was the word from Palace Sports and Entertainment president Tom Wilson on Saturday regarding how the business of running the Pistons and The Palace moves forward following the death of owner William Davidson.

"It's the way he set things up both with Guardian Industries (Davidson's flagship corporation) and here," Wilson said. "He was always saying, 'I want this to outlive me.' He always viewed his people as not only employees, but as partners. He had an amazing run of success here and at Guardian and he always said, 'For the people who took this ride with me, they should enjoy it and continue it in my memory.'"

Wilson said he would continue to run the day-to-day operations of the entertainment side and Joe Dumars, president of basketball, will continue to run the basketball side.

Ownership, Wilson said, will remain with the Davidson family. His wife, Karen, and son, Ethan, could be taking on more responsibility. Ethan was at the practice facility Saturday, speaking with Wilson and Dumars.

"I can't get into the particulars because it's family related," Wilson said. "But the pertinent thing is that Joe stays in place overseeing basketball operations and we will do the same on the Palace side."

But since he bought the team in 1974, Davidson has been actively involved in every aspect of the team. Wilson has been answering to Davidson for 30 years and Dumars has been answering to Davidson for 20. Who will they answer to now?

"It was always Mr. D and it will remain a family decision," Wilson said. "Without getting into the details, his wife will succeed him and there is always a Trust that's established when you have the magnitude of his wealth and influence. How it will work exactly, I can't tell you except to say that everything is in place."

Davidson passed away at his home in his Bloomfield Hills home Friday night. He was 86. The cause of death was pneumonia.

"It is inappropriate to get into (how the organization moves forward) right now," Dumars said. "There will be another time to talk about that."

As both Wilson and Dumars pointed out in separate interviews, Davidson spent a lifetime grooming his employees to think and act independently of him. His approach to management was to hire good people and let them work.

"He always said, 'Whatever decision you make, I agree,'" Dumars said. "And I would be like, 'But I haven't even made a decision yet.' And he'd say, 'But I agree, because I know you are going to do what's right. I know you are going to do things for the right reasons.'

"When you have an owner that says that, gives you that kind of freedom, you feel a certain obligation to do it the right way all of the time."

Said Wilson: "Joe has had an awful lot of autonomy even when Mr. D was here. That will continue."

That's not to say the organization isn't going to go through a transition.

"It's going to be a big adjustment, no question," Wilson said. "But the great thing is, he has molded people that will work for him, whether it is on the basketball side or the entertainment side. He's molded them to think the way he thinks. So many of us, when we have an important decision to make, often say to ourselves, 'What would Bill do?'

"But it will be different and there will be a learning curve and there will be some adjusting to a different reality. But at the end of the day, we've been well-trained to carry on his legacy."

The Ira Kaufman Chapel Funeral Home said services are scheduled for noon Tuesday at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.

You can reach Chris McCosky at (313) 222-1489 or chris.mccosky@detnews.com

Davidson Rules


Why can't more sports owners build arena and stadiums with 100 percent private money