David Stern | Owner New Orleans Hornets

David Stern | Owner New Orleans Hornets

David Stern | Owner New Orleans Hornets
Pro basketball has undergone a rather strange trip in New Orleans. The city had the New Orleans Jazz from 1974 until 1979 when the team moved to Utah and became the Utah Jazz. The Hornets actually started off in Charlotte, North Carolina where they played from 1988 to 2002, but moved to New Orleans to replace the departed Jazz in 2002. The New Orleans Hornets then left for Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina almost destroyed the town in 2005. While they were in Oklahoma they were called the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets and played most of their home games at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, but they still played a few of their home games in New Orleans. After two years in Oklahoma, they returned to New Orleans in 2007. Today, the Hornets are different than every other team in the NBA as they are actually owned by the league. With David Stern at the helm, the NBA owners decided in 2010 to purchase the Hornets for $300 million, with the idea that the league would have greater control over the eventual sale of the franchise to a buyer who would keep the team in New Orleans.

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David Joel Stern obtained his law degree in 1966 from Columbia Law School. Stern is quoted in saying about his education, "Others talk about working as clerks for supreme court justices or federal judges, but I enjoy saying that my first clerkship was at Stern's Delicatessen". As a young lawyer, David was hired by the Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn law firm and became the youngest partner in their history at age 32. While working at the law firm, Stern helped to arrange the 1976 NBA merger with the ABA. He left the firm in 1978 to join the NBA and became its commissioner in 1984. In his 33 years with the NBA, David is widely considered to be one of the best sports executives in the United States. He is largely responsible for bringing the NBA from near bankruptcy into a profitable organization.

David Stern and his wife, Dianne Bock Stern, live in Scarsdale, NY. They have two adult sons.

Source: virtualglobetrotting.com