David Benner, Indiana Pacers’ longtime PR director, passes away at 67

David Benner, who spent nearly 30 years as the director of mediarelations for the Indiana Pacers, died Wednesday after a longillness.

Benner’s death was announced by the team, which learned of itfrom his family. He was 67.

The Indiana native was prominent in the chronicling of sports inhis home state for nearly a half-century, first as a sports writercovering the Pacers, Notre Dame football and Indiana Universitybasketball for The Indianapolis Star before joining the Pacers’staff in 1994.

He was with the Pacers for 28 years, retiring last season.Benner made a point to visit every road city in his final seasonwith the team. He was given countless gifts and tributes along theway, a sign of the enormous respect that other public relationsprofessionals, reporters, executives and players had for Benner andthe way that he did his job.

“David embodied the very best of our organization,” PacersChairman Herb Simon said. “He was immensely talented, experiencedand humble, and his passion for our players and the Pacersorganization are what made him beloved by the coaches and athleteswith whom he worked. David meaningfully impacted countless peoplehere and around the league, and he will be missed.”

Benner started working for The Indianapolis Star as a part-timesports writer in 1979. Eventually, he became the Pacers’ beatwriter for the newspaper.

“It is difficult to put into words just what David Benner meantto the Indiana Pacers, the NBA, his family, and friends,” PacersPresident Kevin Pritchard said. “He had an infectious personalityand a wonderful sense of humor that was evident to anyone who wasever fortunate enough to meet him.”

One of his game stories hangs on a wall inside the mediabuilding at Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters. It’sthe front page of the Star from April 15, 1991, much of that pagebeing devoted to Ian Woosnam’s victory at Augusta National the daybefore. The bottom third of the page was about the Pacers, and howthey beat Detroit to end a two-game losing streak.

“That is crazy. My byline on the walls of Augusta,” Benner saidin 2021 when he was shown a photo of the page as displayed at thecourse. “That was a crappy team by the way.”

Tributes began coming in quickly from around the league afterthe Pacers announced Benner’s death.

“We are all very saddened by the news of David’s passing,” theToronto Raptors’ media staff said in a tweet. “He loved basketballand his team, was a kind and generous colleague, and wrote the bestand funniest travel lists in the league.”

Under Benner’s leadership, the Pacers were a two-time winner ofthe Brian McIntyre Media Relations Award — presented annually bythe Professional Basketball Writers Association to the NBA mediarelations staff in recognition of professionalism andexcellence.

“As a geeky, no-talent high school kid who was a student managerfor the basketball team, everyone told me I would never make it tothe NBA,” Benner told the Star in 2021 when announcing that seasonwould be his last with the franchise. “Well ... take that.”