By: Terry Foster

Did you know that Dave Bing was part of a group of high profile Detroit athletes that played tennis and networked at the same time? The big time players were Lions running back Mel Far and corner back Lem Barney. They were on Detroit’s Mt. Rushmore of athletes in the 1970s.

And every week they played highly competitive games of tennis and were later joined by high profile movers and shakers in Detroit social circles and the business community.

It is one of the interesting stories in Drew Sharp’s book “Dave Bing: A Life of Challenge.” Sharp is a sports columnist with The Detroit Free Press and native Detroiter. He joined 971theticket.com to talk about his new book which is in book stores and can be purchased on Amazon.com. Sharp spent more than a year researching Bing the former Pistons point guard who became a successful businessman and is not mayor of the city of Detroit.

He took over a divisive city that lacked cash. He was forced into hard decisions. But this is not a glossy view of Bing. You simply need to read the first page of the book to figure that out.

Sharp also takes a critical look at the city and said Detroit citizens won’t be happy with him.