Jack McCloskey, the legendary general manager of the Detroit Pistons, passed away at the age of 91, the Pistons announced on Thursday. McCloskey had been suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease in recent years.
McCloskey was the mastermind behind the Pistons’ Bad Boys dynasty. Hired in 1979, McCloskey oversaw two championships in his 13 years as an executive with the Pistons. He was the lead behind drafting Pistons’ legends like Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Dennis Rodman – the latter in the second round en route to a Hall of Fame career.
McCloskey became known for his penchant to make huge trades like the ones for Bill Laimbeer and Mark Aguirre, earning him the nickname “Trader Jack.”
McCloskey later worked in the front offices of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Toronto Raptors before leaving basketball in 2004.
His unnerving attitude towards team-building became a hallmark of Detroit, the perfect symbol of a city known for its grit and blue-collar workers. It was imitated by the team itself, a group of players whose whole was greater than the sum of its parts due to its constant effort on the court. That tradition has followed the Pistons for years, a hallmark of their last championship team led by the likes of Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups.
McCloskey was honored by the club on March 29, 2008 with a ceremony where his name was lifted to the rafters among the franchise’s greats. pic.twitter.com/uQX0CrKoqb
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) June 2, 2017
