Longtime NBA exec dead at 86
Scotty Stirling, a Bay Area native who went from covering sports to holding executive positions with the Raiders, Warriors, Kings and the NBA, died Wednesday in Sacramento. He was 86.
The NBA announced Mr. Stirling’s death in a statement.
“Scotty was a highly regarded league executive who dedicated more than 35 years of his life to our game,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in the statement. “He exuded passion for basketball. With his vast knowledge and keen eye for talent, he earned the respect of his peers and colleagues.”
Mr. Stirling, a former sports talk-show host, left a job as a sportswriter for the Oakland Tribune — during which time he is widely credited as being one of the creators of fantasy football — to become the general manager of the Raiders in 1967. He shifted to basketball in 1968-69 as the GM of the ABAchampion Oakland Oaks. The team’s top player that season was Rick Barry, who had sat out the previous season in a contract dispute with the Warriors. During his one season with the Oaks, Barry averaged 34 points per game.
Mr. Stirling was an assistant to the president with the Warriors from 1976 through ’82 and was the NBA’s vice president of basketball operations for three years before becoming the Knicks’ GM in 1986-87. He joined the Kings in 1987 and spent the next 27 years with them, 24 as their scouting director.
“I was extremely saddened to hear the news of Scotty’s passing,” said Al Attles, who was the Warriors’ head coach throughout Mr. Stirling’s time with the team and remained close to him afterward. “Scotty was an incredible person, who had a tremendous love for the game of basketball and the people associated with it.
“Personally, he was someone who I leaned on heavily during my career as a coach and as an executive in the front office. He was a true confidant for me and one of the key figures to the success of professional basketball in the Bay Area and Northern California, in general. He’ll be dearly missed.”
Mr. Stirling retired from the Kings in 2013 — a year after he had been named to the El Cerrito High School Hall of Fame.
Mr. Stirling, who served in the Army, earned a B.S. degree from USF and an M.A. in sports management from Adelphi University.
Survivors include his wife, Pam, sons Gordon, Donald and Kevin, sister Helen Boak, brother Archie, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Private services will be held.