Dave Bing established himself as one of the NBA’s best players during the league’s rise in the 1960s and ’70s. In his 12 seasons, he played for the Detroit Pistons, where he was drafted second overall in the 1966 NBA Draft, the Washington Bullets and the Boston Celtics.
Bing’s impact in the league was immediate; he won the 1967 Rookie of the Year award, which would later earn him the reputation as one of the best players in the NBA. In his second season, he led the league in scoring with 27.1 points per game.
Bing would continue his dominance every year of his career, averaging 20.3 points and 6.0 assists per game. However, his career was cut short due to a severe eye injury he suffered as a child.
Although Bing’s career couldn’t have lasted longer, he earned himself a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a seven-time All-Star, a two-time All-NBA First Team member and an All-NBA Second Team member. He was also named a member of the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary teams.
With the impact and career Bing had, one would assume he set himself up for life financially. But that is far from the truth, because he didn’t make his fortune during his playing days, but rather outside of them.
Bing’s rookie contract earned him $15,000 annually, which later grew to a $500,000 deal with the Bullets. Despite that, he saw the vision for his generational wealth early on, as he read and taught himself as much as he could about finances every offseason.
He worked for a bank during his years with the Pistons, as well as the Chrysler Corporation. After he retired, Bing immediately put his talents to work at Paragon Steel, where he spent two years earning $35,000.
In 1980, Bing quit his job, took out a $250,000 loan and used his $80,000 in savings to start his own company, Bing Steel. After six months, he lost all of his money. Still, a pivotal moment came when he transitioned his company from manufacturing to processing, landing General Motors as the company’s first client.
Ten years later, the company made its mark, growing exponentially and generating $61 million in annual sales. Eventually, he renamed the company The Bing Group, which supplied metal stampings to the automobile industry.
Bing would later sell his multi-million-dollar company in 2009, which was generating $300 million in annual sales, to focus on politics. In 2008, he announced his intention to run for mayor of Detroit, and he was elected a year later to replace former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. He would serve as the city’s 74th mayor until 2014.