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Jim
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JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
• •
• •
Grand entrance and elegant lobby
Brand new Pub with delicious menu selections
Re-designed main dining room
Spacious Studio, One, and Two Bedroom
apartments with upgraded finishes
• New Fireside living room
with wall to wall windows
Pre-renovation • Completely renovated
specials Personal Care and Skilled
for select
Nursing areas
apartments –
call today
Schedule a Private
Tour Today! Call 610-615-8352
100 Halcyon Drive • Media, PA 19063
877-U-AGE-WEL ∙ www.WEL.org
The Wesley Enhanced Living continuing care retirement
communities are non-profit, with a mission to deliver a
purpose-filled life to residents.

4 MAY 9, 2019
J im Drucker has a penchant for being in the right place at
the right time.

Take this meeting, for example. Drucker was sitting at
a Philadelphia 76ers game at the Spectrum in 1976. His father,
Norm, was a few decades into his career as an NBA referee, and
was one of the most respected refs in the game (to the extent that
a referee is aff orded respect).

Since Jim was young, he’d been able to follow his father to the
national Game of the Week on ABC on Sundays; once, as a little
boy, he ran to legendary Celtics’ coach Red Auerbach’s side to
let him know that ABC needed a television timeout (Auerbach
obliged). Th e fi rst time he was ever at Madison Square Garden,
one of the holy places of NBA basketball, he thought his dad
owned that place. When he blew that whistle, everyone seemed
to listen.

But back to the Spectrum. Drucker, then teaching at Temple
University as he pursued his master’s degree in law, struck up a
conversation with a man in his row. Turns out, he was a lawyer
for the NBA, and was familiar with Norm, who was a longtime
New York City public school teacher and principal before he
became a referee. Th e man asked Drucker if he ever considered
getting into the pro basketball game. Drucker bit his tongue,
knowing what a shaky business the NBA remained from his
father’s tenure.

How about this, the man said to Drucker. Th ere’s a little
something called the Eastern League, an NBA farm league that’s
nearly out of business. It could use your help. Drucker promised
he’d follow up.

Th e man was David Stern, who would go on to become the
commissioner of the NBA and lead the league to international
prominence during his tenure. Drucker, meanwhile, did so
well in his legal work for the Eastern League that he was even-
tually named commissioner; by then, it had been renamed the
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