Bing, "Dave" (David)
Basketball
b. Nov. 19, 1943, Washington, DC
An outstanding shooter and playmaker, Bing starred at Syracuse for three seasons, 1963-64 through 1965-66. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound guard was a consensus All-American as a senior, when he finished fifth in the nation in scoring. He set school records for points in a season with 794, points per game with 28.4, and career points with 1,883. Remarkably, he also set a one-game rebounding record with 25.
Bing joined the Detroit Pistons of the NBA in 1966 and was the league's rookie of the year. After five seasons, he held all of the team's important scoring and assist records. The first guard ever to lead the league in scoring, with 27.1 points per game in 1968, he was a first-team all-star that year and in 1971.
A detached retina suffered in a 1972 pre-season game forced him to miss two months of the season, but he played all 82 games in 1973-74, averaging 22.3 points a game. The Pistons traded him to the Washington Bullets in 1975. After two seasons there, he finished his career with the Boston Celtics in 1977-78, scoring 1,088 points.