Sports
Dave DeBusschere
1940–2003 · basketball player and coach, baseball player
Detroit-born Hall of Famer who starred for the Pistons, became the youngest head coach in NBA history at 24, and later won two championships with the New York Knicks.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
New York City, New York
aged 62- Birth name
- David Albert DeBusschere
- Detroit years
- 1940–1968
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
DeBusschere grew up in Detroit and led his high school to the 1958 Michigan Class A basketball championship before starring in both basketball and baseball at the University of Detroit. The Pistons drafted him as a territorial pick in 1962, and he also briefly pitched for the Chicago White Sox the same year, one of the last athletes to play two major professional sports at once. In 1964, at only 24, he was named Pistons player-coach, still the youngest head coach in NBA history. He played for Detroit through 1968, when he was traded to the New York Knicks in a deal now remembered as one of the most lopsided in NBA history; with the Knicks he became an eight-time All-Star and won two championships. He later served as an NBA and ABA executive and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1996 he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, and in 2021 to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Highlights
- Led his Detroit high school to the 1958 Michigan Class A championship
- Pitched for the Chicago White Sox and played for the Pistons in 1962
- Youngest head coach in NBA history, named Pistons player-coach at 24 in 1964
- Won two NBA championships with the New York Knicks after leaving Detroit
- Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · late 1950s–1962
University of Detroit Mercy (Calihan Hall)
Where he starred in both basketball and baseball; the university created the Dave DeBusschere Scholarship in his honor in 2003.