NBA Basketball Hall of Fame commercial with Larry O’Brien, NBA Commissioner
Lawrence Francis O’Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917 – September 28, 1990) was an American politician and basketball commissioner. He was one of the United States Democratic Party’s leading electoral strategists for more than two decades. He was Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Lyndon Johnson and chair of the Democratic National Committee. O’Brien was also commissioner of the National Basketball Association from 1975 to 1984, and the NBA Championship Trophy is named after him.
O’Brien, son of Irish immigrants, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. When he was not working in politics, O’Brien managed his family’s real estate and worked in public relations.
NBA commissioner
Appointed commissioner in 1975, O’Brien oversaw the ABA–NBA merger and negotiated a broadcast agreement with CBS Television while seeing game attendance significantly increase. In response to public relations issues after the merger, O’Brien pushed for an anti-drug agreement with the NBA Players Association to improve the league’s image. And, although the merger and expansion had solidified the NBA brand and games were broadcast live on weekend days, it still did not have the TV exposure of other pro sports. In the late 70s, and even into 1980 season, CBS was showing only tape-delayed broadcasts of weekday NBA playoff and Finals games after the late news. CBS would ultimately become synonymous with the great NBA Finals battles of the 1980s.
After retirement (1984), in honor of his service to the sport, the NBA Championship Trophy was renamed as the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy.
O’Brien was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991, located at his birthplace, Springfield, Massachusetts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_O%27Brien
Video preservation by DDVF.com for educational purposes. Original airdate was June 1982.
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