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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowDavid Benner, a longtime sportswriter for The Indianapolis Star before a 28-year stint as director of media relations for the Indiana Pacers, died Wednesday at the age of 67 after a long battle with cancer.
The Pacers announced Benner’s death Wednesday after learning of it from his family.
“David embodied the very best of our organization,” said Pacers owner Herb Simon in a media release on Wednesday. “He was immensely talented, experienced, and humble, and his passion for our players and the Pacers organization are what made him beloved by the coaches and athletes with whom he worked.”
A native of the south side of Indianapolis, he started writing for the Star’s sports department part time in 1979 and soon became the full-time beat writer for the paper’s coverage of the Pacers. After eight years of following the NBA, he began covering two iconic programs for the Star: University of Notre Dame football and Indiana University basketball.
He left the paper in 1994 and became the Pacers’ director of media relations the same year. He retired in 2022.
“David was respected across the League and across the city as a consummate professional, and he was a mentor and a friend to so many in our industry and beyond,” said Pacers President Rick Fuson. “Most importantly, for me, he was a wonderfully kind and decent man, a person with incredible integrity who always had the best interests of his players and coaches at the center of all he did.”
According to IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel, Benner had been living with cancer for a decade and had received extensive chemotherapy treatments.
Benner made a point to visit every road city in his final season with the team. He was given countless gifts and tributes along the way, a sign of the enormous respect that other public relations professionals, reporters, executives and players had for Benner and the way that he did his job.
Tributes began coming in quickly from around the league after the Pacers announced Benner’s death.
“We are all very saddened by the news of David’s passing,” the Toronto Raptors’ media staff said in a tweet. “He loved basketball and his team, was a kind and generous colleague, and wrote the best and funniest travel lists in the league.”
Under Benner’s leadership, the Pacers were a two-time winner of the Brian McIntyre Media Relations Award—presented annually by the Professional Basketball Writers Association to the NBA media relations staff in recognition of professionalism and excellence.
“As a geeky, no-talent high school kid who was a student manager for the basketball team, everyone told me I would never make it to the NBA,” Benner told the Star in 2021 when announcing that season would be his last with the franchise. “Well … take that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Prayers and thoughts for David Benner’s family. He will definitely be missed.
Was very lucky to see David recently where he was honored at an ISC event downtown. He gave an amazing and inspiring speech. Indy mourns a legend today.