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Carl Scheer

Inducted 1992

BASKETBALL

Carl Scheer has spent more than a quarter of a century as a leader on the sports marketing playing field. After spending six years in a successful Greensboro, N.C., law practice, Scheer followed his love for basketball to become Administrative Assistant to then National Basketball Association Commissioner Walter Kennedy in 1968.

In the early 1970s, Scheer began his career in team management when he was named President and General Manager of the American Basketball Association’s Carolina Cougars. After leading the club to more than 50 team records, Scheer received his first Sporting News Executive of the Year award in 1973. The next year, Scheer moved to Denver, Colo., where he converted the 37-47 ABA Denver Rockets into the 65-19 Denver Nuggets, earning his second Sporting News Executive of the Year Award in 1974.

Due to his success with the Nuggets, Scheer became a key figure in executing the ABA-NBA merger in 1976. After the merger, the Nuggets made an immediate impact on the older league, winning the Midwest Division title their first two years in the NBA and reaching the Western Conference Finals in 1978. Scheer also gave birth to a fixture in the NBA All-Star Game in 1976, the Slam Dunk contest, when he featured two of the greatest high-flyers ever, David Thompson and Julius Erving. The Slam Dunk contest continues to be one of the highlights of All-Star Weekend. Colorado acknowledged Scheer’s contributions by electing him to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.

After leaving Colorado in 1984 to become the Los Angeles Clippers President and General Manager, Scheer was named the Commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association in 1986. Under Scheer’s leadership and vision, the CBA developed a program in cooperation with the NBA that gave players involved with drug rehabilitation a second chance to stay in professional basketball. In 1988 he returned to the NBA as the first President and General Manager of the Charlotte Hornets. During their first season, the Hornets surprised everyone with 20 victories and led the league in average attendance with 23,172 fans.

Following a brief return to the Nuggets as Vice President, Scheer then created ScheerSports in 1991 as a sport marketing “boutique” that offers work in promotions, public relations and representation. ScheerSports has handled such notable events as a Davis Cup tie and the creation of ACC TournaMania at the 1996 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Carl Scheer

Carl Scheer has spent more than a quarter of a century as a leader on the sports marketing playing field.