Sports Poets Society

https://andscape.com/features/from-hall-of-fame-player-to-title-winning-executive-joe-dumars-has-always-refused-to-fail/ The Pistons legend on his new role with the NBA, the future of Black execs and his unlikely path into the front office By Marc J. Spears @MarcJSpears  - July 13, 2022 LAS VEGAS — Whether Joe Dumars was shooting a jumper, winning an NBA title as a player or executive, or making an imprint on the rules of the game, the Basketball Hall of Famer has worked by one motto. “Everything from a player to the front office to this now, I walk in and say, ‘Failure is not an option,’ ” Dumars told Andscape recently. “What I need to do is succeed.” Dumars began his new role as the NBA’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations on May 9 after working three seasons with the Sacramento Kings, the last two as chief strategy officer. The former Detroit Pistons star now oversees all NBA operations matters, including the development of playing rules and interpretatio...

https://williamdavidson.org/who-we-are/the-william-davidson-story/ William “Bill” Davidson earned international esteem for his business brilliance and deft corporate leadership. An indomitable optimist who had “winning” in his DNA, he was supremely successful. He also made it possible for thousands of men and women in the United States and across the globe to make a good living and achieve professional success, too. Mr. Davidson built a worldwide glass-manufacturing empire from a small, struggling company . He transformed lackluster professional sports teams into championship winners. He cherished his family, now settled for more than a century in metropolitan Detroit . His is a quintessentially American story , stretching back several generations to a small village northwest of Kiev in the Ukraine . It springs from smart, steadfast parents and grandparents who kept family at the center of life — who always wanted more for their children — and saw it as a personal responsibility to giv...

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5225449 William Davidson is the first person to won two world champions in different sports -- The NBA's Detroit Pistons and the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning. How does such such a successful man stay out of the public's eye? June 16, 2004, 7:50 PM CEST / Source: Forbes By Dan Ackman Last night, the Detroit Pistons won the NBA championship, making team owner William Davidson, who also owns the NHL champion Tampa Bay Lightning, the first owner in major professional sports history to win two championships in different sports in the same year. Davidson also owns the Detroit Shock of the WNBA, the reigning champion of that league. But despite Davidson's unprecedented triumph, and despite his being a charter member of the Forbes 400 with a fortune valued at around $2 billion , there hasn't been a feature business magazine story written about him in more than a decade. That one can be a multi-billionaire owner of sports teams and still remain e...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/02/17/what-the-next-owner-of-the-detroit-pistons-can-learn-from-bill-davidson/ Alana Glass Contributor SportsMoney Contributor Group - Feb 17, 2011 In 1974, William “Bill” Davidson, Mr. D. as he was affectionately known, entered the professional sports scene when he bought the Detroit Pistons. His $8 million investment eventually turned into a sports and entertainment empire. At its height the franchise was valued at $479 million. More recently, Forbes calculated its value at $360 million .  Mr. D died in 2009 and his passing felt like the death of a longtime friend or relative. While I never personally knew Mr. D, I get chocked up when I think about him and how much he meant to his players, Pistons fans, and professional sports. He was the face of the team and you can't think about DEE-TROOIT BASKETBALL without thinking of him.  His widow, Karen Davidson , took over as the principle owner nearly two years ago and she wasn’t shy ...