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David Bing (born November 24, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player, businessman and politician who served as the 74th mayor of Detroit, Michigan from 2009 to 2014. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
After starring at Syracuse University, Bing played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a point guard for the Detroit Pistons (1966–1975), Washington Bullets (1975–1977) and Boston Celtics (1977–78). 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 Retired number of his #21 jersey. In addition, he was elected to 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 Business Person 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. In 2013, Bing lost most of his power as mayor to Detroit's emergency manager Kevyn Orr. Also having numerous health problems, and suffering approval ratings as low as 14%, Bing did not seek re-election that year, and was succeeded as mayor by politician and businessman Mike Duggan.
In athletics, Bing played basketball, but older children often told him he was too small for the game. However, he played well, triumphing over such older and bigger children as future Motown musician Marvin Gaye, who, after not performing well on the court, chose to sing on the sidelines. Bing and Gaye forged a friendship, which continued later in life. Despite his basketball play, Bing, a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson, focused primarily on baseball, the neighborhood's preferred game.Sharp, p. 21-23
Despite his fuzzy vision, he excelled in baseball at Spingarn High School, where he enrolled in 1958. Nevertheless, the school's head basketball coach William Roundtree encouraged him to revisit basketball. Roundtree became a fatherly figure to Bing, who decided to join the team. He developed into a double-digits per game scorer, noted for his jump shot and knack for driving to the basket. He continued also to compete in baseball into his senior year, but was forced to choose between it and basketball when a scheduling conflict between two tournaments arose. Though he felt he was better at baseball, Bing opted for basketball, believing it gave him a greater chance at a full-ride college scholarship,Sharp, p. 21-22 well aware of the path taken by Los Angeles Lakers forward Elgin Baylor, a Spingarn alum. At the tournament, Bing led his team to victory and earned MVP honors. All in all, in high school, Bing was a three-year letter winner, all–Inter High, all-Metro, and all-East member. In 1962, he was featured in Parade magazine and made the All-American Team.
In his three-year varsity career at Syracuse, Bing averaged 24.8 points and 10.3 rebounds, with 1883 total points and 786 total rebounds in 76 games.
While attending Syracuse, he became acquainted with Joe Biden, who was as student in the law school. Biden would later serve as a U.S. senator, vice president, and president of the United States.
On November 23, 1968, Bing recorded a triple-double of 39 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in a 127–128 loss to the Baltimore Bullets.
Bing sat out 2½ months of the 1971–72 season due to a detached retina incurred from a preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers, playing in only 45 games that season. While with the Pistons, he played in six NBA All-Star Games (1968, 1969, 1971, 1973–1975), and was named to the All-NBA Team in 1968 and 1971.
Overall, in his NBA career, Bing averaged 20.3 points, 6.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 901 games over 12 NBA seasons, scoring 18,327 points with 5,397 assists.
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.
At the 1990 NBA All-Star Game, Bing received the Schick Achievement Award for his work after his NBA career.
Bing led Detroit's effort to receive the rights to host the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In November 2002, Detroit lost to Boston. The Detroit bid's weak spot was considered to be its smaller number of hotel rooms compared to other cities seeking to host the 2004 convention.
In January 2009, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Bing received the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award. The award honors King's legacy as a leader of the civil rights movement, by acknowledging athletes who have made significant contributions to civil and human rights and who helped establish a foundation for future leaders in athletic careers. The honor was to be presented during the half-time show of the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Detroit Pistons in Memphis, Tennessee.
Bing volunteered in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program.
Bing was reelected to a full term on November 3, 2009. The inauguration for his full term was held at the Fox Theatre.
Due to the importance of the automotive industry to Detroit, Bing was involved in discussions related to the 2009 auto bailout. These discussions also included Vice President Joe Biden, who Bing had first known when they were students at Syracuse University.
In 2011, Bing proposed that the city's next budget include a $4 million decrease in funding for City Council staff, and fund new hires for the city's fire department. In mid-2011, Bing the budget passed by the City Council, claiming its cuts were excessive and could be to the detriment of the services of the city's police and fire departments. The City Council's budget made $50 million more in cuts than Bing's initial proposed budget had made. Bing's budget proposal was for $3.1 billion in spending. The City Council overrode this veto in an 8–1 vote. The city's 2012 budget made a 20% decrease to the city's fire department. This has been seen as having a detrimental effect on the city's ability to handle fires, including arson. In mid-2012, the fire department announced 164 layoffs. In 2013, Bing proposed a $1 billion budget, a $300 million decrease from the previous year's budget.
By the time he was reelected to a full term, Bing had dismissed more than 400 city employees and had ended 16 out of 51 contracts that the city had with . Bing faced protests by unions during his mayoralty. By the end of his mayoralty, Bing had eliminated 1,000 positions in the city government, a 9% decrease to the municipal workforce. Additionally, many city employees faced decreased salaries, decreased benefits, and even . Bing also many roles of the city government. The city's public health department was replaced by the Institution for Population Health public-private partnership. The workforce-development department was replaced by Detroit Employment Solutions, a nonprofit organization. Management of payroll and benefits for city employees was also outsourced.
The city enjoyed new private development over the course of Bing's tenure. This included both the opening of new , an investment of $198 million by Chrysler in its Mack Avenue Engine Plant (which created 250 new jobs), and significant development in the city's downtown by businessman Dan Gilbert.
Bing launched the Detroit Works Project (later renamed Detroit Future City), an effort to create a 50-year outline for the city's future. The project was intended to create a community-planned vision for how the city would manage its problems. The city government underestimated how many citizens would attend community meetings. Controversy arose during the process, when Bing publicized his intention to depopulate certain neighborhoods by forcibly relocating residents to denser neighborhoods. The public anger at this threatened the project.
Bing sought to fix the city's broken , which were considered a serious problem. In 2012, Bing persuaded the state legislature and governor to create the Public Lighting Authority of Detroit and dedicate utility and income tax revenue for the $185 million in bonds for this purpose. Bing appointed a lighting authority board, which then signed a contract with DTE Energy to repair the city's streetlights. However, the contract did not take place until early 2013, by which time Bing had left office. Bing's successor Mike Duggan built upon Bing's efforts to repair the city's streetlights to significant success. It has been noted that, due to Bing being out of office when the work was carried out, he has not received much public credit for it.
Bing established the city's Active and Safe Campaign public-private partnership to raise funds for public safety initiatives, as well as raise funds for recreational programs and enhancements to the city's recreation facilities.
Bing made an unpopular proposal to decrease city bus service on Sundays. This never came into fruition.
In July 2013, before Bing left office, Detroit became the largest city in United States history to declare municipal bankruptcy. This was the decision of emergency manager Kevin Orr. Many criticized Bing for not doing more to fight this move by Orr.
In August 2023, Bing endorsed Elissa Slotkin's candidacy for the 2024 United States Senate election in Michigan.
| 1966–67 | Detroit | 80 | 34.5 | .436 | .738 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 20.0 | ||
| 1967–68 | Detroit | 79 | 40.6 | .441 | .707 | 4.7 | 6.4 | 27.1 | ||
| 1968–69 | Detroit | 77 | 39.5 | .425 | .713 | 5.0 | 7.1 | 23.4 | ||
| 1969–70 | Detroit | 70 | 33.3 | .444 | .783 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 22.9 | ||
| 1970–71 | Detroit | 82 | 37.4 | .467 | .797 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 27.0 | ||
| 1971–72 | Detroit | 45 | 43.0 | .414 | .785 | 4.1 | 7.0 | 22.6 | ||
| 1972–73 | Detroit | 82 | 41.0 | .448 | .814 | 3.6 | 7.8 | 22.4 | ||
| 1973–74 | Detroit | 81 | 38.6 | .436 | .813 | 3.5 | 6.9 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 18.8 |
| 1974–75 | Detroit | 79 | 40.8 | .434 | .809 | 3.6 | 7.7 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 19.0 |
| 1975–76 | Washington | 82 | 35.9 | .447 | .787 | 2.9 | 6.0 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 16.2 |
| 1976–77 | Washington | 64 | 23.7 | .454 | .773 | 2.2 | 4.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 10.6 |
| 1977–78 | Boston | 80 | 28.2 | .449 | .824 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 13.6 |
| Career | 901 | 36.4 | .441 | .775 | 3.8 | 6.0 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 20.3 | |
| All-Star | 7 | 17.9 | .372 | 1.000 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.9 | |
| 1968 | Detroit | 6 | 42.3 | .410 | .733 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 28.2 | ||
| 1974 | Detroit | 7 | 44.6 | .420 | .733 | 3.7 | 6.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 18.9 |
| 1975 | Detroit | 3 | 44.7 | .426 | .615 | 3.7 | 9.7 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 16.0 |
| 1976 | Washington | 7 | 29.9 | .447 | .800 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 13.7 |
| 1977 | Washington | 8 | 6.9 | .438 | 1.000 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 4.0 |
| Career | 31 | 31.1 | .423 | .748 | 2.7 | 4.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 15.4 | |
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