Does He Still Have the Midas Touch? A Profile of NBA Commissioner David Stern

Since I just wrote a column focusing on the NBA’s newly instituted “Rasheed Wallace Rule”, I thought it would be perfectly fitting to write a column focusing on the life and times, not to mention the accomplishments, of the man who instituted the unofficial rule which states that any player acting demonstratively toward an official after any questionable call, be immediately hit with a technical foul. 

Although I have already gone on record as disagreeing vehemently with the new “rule” it’s hard to argue with Stern’s track record and the immense growth and popularity he has brought to the pro game. Succinctly, here is everything you’ve ever wanted to know about NBA commissioner, David Stern. 

Born David Joel Stern in New York City on September 22, 1942, and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, Stern, who is Jewish-American, was once an excellent attorney who has been the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 1984. 

Stern attended Rutgers University where he became an active member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity and graduated as a dean's-list history student in 1963. He then graduated from Columbia Law School in 1966 and has served on the Rutgers University Board of Overseers and currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees at Columbia University. 

Stern began working in a law firm that represented the NBA after finishing at Columbia in 1966, starting what has become almost 40 years of association with the league. In 1978, Stern became the NBA's General Counsel, and by 1980 was Executive Vice President of the NBA. 

On February 1, 1984, Stern became the fourth Commissioner of the National Basketball Association during the same season that four of the NBA's biggest superstars — Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and John Stockton — entered the league.