I knew David Stern was on the phone when my caller ID would flash “private.” Then I’d hear his voice, announcing “This is David” followed by a complaint, a suggestion, or a joke — sometimes all three in the same sentence.
Covering Stern could be difficult — he was as gruff as he was tough — but it could also be entertaining. He could be charming, but he always had a point to make.
Interviewing him was not unlike stepping into the ring for a sparring session. Before going to his office at the NBA’s New York headquarters for an interview I would prepare as if I was studying for a final exam. Stern, after all, was a lawyer, and a darn good one, and he didn’t mind turning a discussion into a debate. During one phone interview he repeatedly told me how wrong I was for having referred to an NBA franchise as a small market team. “It’s a lower revenue franchise,” he would implore before finally moving on to whatever else we needed to discuss.
Nor did he mind discussing subjects beyond the business of basketball. Our conversation after his trip to India late in his tenure consisted as much of him recapping the sights he had seen and the culture he had experienced as it did the stated NBA-related reasons for the trip.
When I first started covering the NBA in 2001, Stern was well into what became a 30-year run as the league’s commissioner. The league was long past the days of having the Finals air on tape delay, and he had put it on a global trajectory with his vision, passion and relentless drive. And just as he had been way ahead of anyone else in terms of the league’s evolution of media into cable television, he was then doing the same with the push into digital.
Sponsors were partners, and the NBA product was growing rapidly around the world. But Stern also strongly believed in the role that his league in particular and sports in general had in society. He created the WNBA and defended it mightily, and he took the NBA Cares charitable initiative as seriously as any media deal.
He had a great amount of perspective, seeing the league through some of its toughest moments. He dealt with Magic Johnson’s stunning retirement and HIV announcement in 1991 during the height of the AIDS crisis, wielded strong discipline after the Malice at The Palace in 2004 and was able to guide the league safely past the gambling scandal involving referee Tim Donaghy.
Through it all, the league kept growing. Stern’s razor-sharp mind and impeccable instincts helped turn a sleepy league into a global behemoth. He took all the punches and he always punched back.
