David Albert DeBusschere (October 16, 1940 – May 14, 2003) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and coach, and professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He played for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

in 1962 and 1963 and in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

for the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

from 1962 through 1968 and for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

from 1968 to 1974. He was also the head coach for the Pistons from 1964 through 1967. DeBusschere was inducted into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

in 1983. In 1996, DeBusschere was named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. In October 2021, DeBusschere was again honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the

NBA 75th Anniversary Team The NBA 75th Anniversary Team, also referred to as the NBA 75, was chosen in 2021 to honor the 75th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the fourth and most recent anniversary team in the league. S ...

Early life

DeBusschere was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

to parents Peter Marcell and Dorothy DeBusschere. He attended Austin Catholic Preparatory School and inspired the "White Shirted Legion" (the tradition of wearing white shirts to the school's games to make fans more visible). As a junior, he was named all-state, and in his senior year of 1957–58, in just the school's third year of organized basketball, he led his team to the Michigan Class A high school basketball championship, scoring 32 points despite fouling out midway through the fourth quarter as the Friars defeated Benton Harbor High School and DeBusschere's future NBA rival forward Chet Walker. “Debusschere” is a

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

surname, as his family had come from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Although its French pronunciation would have been closer to “De Booshair”, Dave DeBusschere used an

anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

pronunciation of “De Busher”, by which he was always known.

College career

DeBusschere starred in both basketball and baseball at the University of Detroit. He averaged 24 points a game in basketball, helping Detroit reach the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

twice and the NCAA basketball tournament once. He also pitched the Titans to three NCAA baseball tournament berths.

Baseball career

In 1962, DeBusschere was signed by the

as an amateur free agent. He was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the White Sox from 1962 to 1963. He pitched a shutout on August 13, 1963, against the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

, giving up six hits, one walk and striking out three. In 22 career at-bats, he had only one hit, a single off Bennie Daniels on July 17, 1963. He pitched in the White Sox's minor league system for two more seasons before giving up pitching to focus on both playing and coaching basketball. He is one of only 13 athletes to have played in both the

and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. The 13 are:

Danny Ainge Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and professional baseball player who serves as the chief executive officer for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NB ...

, Frank Baumholtz, Hank Biasatti, Gene Conley, Chuck Connors, DeBusschere, Dick Groat, Steve Hamilton, Mark Hendrickson, Cotton Nash, Ron Reed, Dick Ricketts and Howie Schultz.

Basketball career

Detroit Pistons

DeBusschere was selected by the

in 1962 NBA draft as a territorial draft selection. During his rookie season, he averaged 12.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, and was later named to the

NBA All-Rookie Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

. However, DeBusschere was injured during his second season and only played in 15 games, resulting in the Pistons finishing with a disappointing record of 23–59. In the 1964–1965 season, at the age of 24, he was given the position of player-coach for the Pistons, and thus became the youngest-ever coach in league history. However, this stint as coach was not successful and he became a full-time player. During the 1968–1969 season, DeBusschere was traded to the

for Walt Bellamy and Howard Komives. While a member of the Pistons, DeBusschere appeared as himself on the April 29, 1963 episode of the game show ''

To Tell the Truth ''To Tell the Truth'' is an American television panel show. Four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants (the "team of challengers", each an individual or pair) and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual ...

''. He received two votes.

New York Knicks

DeBusschere, along with future Hall of Famers Willis Reed,

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was a United States Senate, United States senator from New ...

and Walt Frazier, became an NBA champion when the Knicks defeated the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

in the 1970 NBA Finals. With Earl Monroe in the backcourt, they became champions again in 1973, beating the Lakers 4–1 in the finals. DeBusschere was elected to the

in 1983 after a 12-year career (1962–1974) in which he averaged 16.1 points and 11 rebounds while being named to eight NBA All-Star teams. He became a member of the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996. He was renowned for his physical style of play and tenacious defense, and he was named to the NBA All-Defensive first team six times.

Life after basketball

DeBusschere retired as a player in 1974, and his no. 22 jersey was retired by the Knicks, though not until many years later; it is thought the delay was due to his taking a front office job with the rival

New York Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

upon his retirement. The next year DeBusschere became the ABA's commissioner for the 1975–76 season, which would be the last for the league. He helped bring about the merger between the NBA and the ABA that year. He was later the assistant coach and director of basketball operations of the Knicks during the 1980s, when he drafted fellow Knicks legend

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is a basketball ambassador for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he played most o ...

with the first overall selection in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

. DeBusschere and some partners purchased '' Ring'' magazine in 1979. DeBusschere authored a book entitled ''The Open Man'', a chronicle of the

' 1969–70 championship season.

Death

In May 2003, DeBusschere collapsed on a Manhattan street from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and was pronounced dead at New York University Hospital. DeBusschere was interred at Saint Joseph's Church Cemetery in

Garden City, New York Garden City is a village located in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 23,272 at the time of the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within the Town of Hempstead ...

. DeBusschere, who lived in Garden City, was survived by his wife, Gerri (who died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 2009), sons Peter and Dennis, and daughter Michelle. In his honor, the University of Detroit Mercy inaugurated the Dave DeBusschere Scholarship in 2003. It provides support to two student-athletes who must have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 and have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 80 , , , , 29.4 , , .430 , , , , .718 , , 8.7 , , 2.6 , , , , , , 12.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 15 , , , , 20.3 , , .391 , , , , .581 , , 7.0 , , 1.5 , , , , , , 8.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , , , , 35.1 , , .425 , , , , .700 , , 11.1 , , 3.2 , , , , , , 16.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , , , , 34.1 , , .408 , , , , .659 , , 11.6 , , 2.6 , , , , , , 16.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , , , 37.1 , , .415 , , , , .705 , , 11.8 , , 2.8 , , , , , , 18.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 80 , , , , 39.1 , , .442 , , , , .664 , , 13.5 , , 2.3 , , , , , , 17.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , , , 37.7 , , .447 , , , , .723 , , 12.2 , , 2.2 , , , , , , 16.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 47 , , , , 39.4 , , .442 , , , , .682 , , 11.4 , , 2.7 , , , , , , 16.4 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 79 , , , , 33.3 , , .451 , , , , .688 , , 10.0 , , 2.5 , , , , , , 14.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 81 , , , , 35.7 , , .421 , , , , .696 , , 11.1 , , 2.7 , , , , , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 80 , , , , 38.4 , , .427 , , , , .728 , , 11.3 , , 3.6 , , , , , , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 77 , , , , 36.7 , , .435 , , , , .746 , , 10.2 , , 3.4 , , , , , , 16.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 71 , , , , 38.0 , , .461 , , , , .756 , , 10.7 , , 3.6 , , .9 , , .5 , , 18.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 875 , , , , 35.7 , , .432 , , , , .699 , , 11.0 , , 2.9 , , .9 , , .5 , , 16.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 8 , , 1 , , 20.9 , , .457 , , , , .750 , , 6.4 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , .0 , , 9.6

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 4 , , , , 39.8 , , .424 , , , , .682 , , 15.8 , , 1.5 , , , , , , 20.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , , , 43.8 , , .425 , , , , .578 , , 16.2 , , 2.2 , , , , , , 19.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1969 , style="text-align:left;", New York , 10 , , , , 41.9 , , .351 , , , , .820 , , 14.8 , , 3.3 , , , , , , 16.3 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;",

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, style="text-align:left;", New York , 19 , , , , 36.9 , , .421 , , , , .662 , , 11.6 , , 2.4 , , , , , , 16.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, style="text-align:left;", New York , 12 , , , , 40.7 , , .416 , , , , .659 , , 13.0 , , 1.8 , , , , , , 16.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, style="text-align:left;", New York , 16 , , , , 38.5 , , .450 , , , , .750 , , 12.1 , , 2.3 , , , , , , 16.6 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;",

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, style="text-align:left;", New York , 17 , , , , 37.1 , , .442 , , , , .775 , , 10.5 , , 3.4 , , , , , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1974 , style="text-align:left;", New York , 12 , , , , 33.7 , , .380 , , , , .621 , , 8.3 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , .3 , , 12.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 96 , , , , 38.4 , , .416 , , , , .698 , , 12.0 , , 2.6 , , .6 , , .3 , , 16.0

References

External links

* *
Dave DeBusschere Legends profile
at NBA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Debusschere, Dave 1940 births 2003 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American Basketball Association executives American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American people of Belgian descent Baseball players from Detroit Basketball coaches from Michigan Basketball players from Detroit Catholics from Michigan Chicago White Sox players Detroit Pistons draft picks Detroit Pistons head coaches Detroit Pistons players Detroit Mercy Titans baseball players Detroit Mercy Titans men's basketball players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees NBA All-Stars NBA players with retired numbers New York Knicks players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Power forwards Small forwards The Ring (magazine) people 20th-century American sportsmen