David Stern was a born-and-raised New Yorker, a Manhattanite through and through. He grew up a Knicks fan and was a regular at Madison Square Garden. He attended law school at Columbia, and when it was time to find a headquarters for the NBA, the league chose 645 Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan.
When Stern died Wednesday at the age of 77, the tributes flowed in the same way they would for a former head of state. The former NBA commissioner wasn’t just a basketball executive. He was an international giant with a legacy that stretched from the United States to China and throughout South America, Europe and Africa.