NBA Hall of Famer and San Antonio Spurs icon David “The Admiral” Robinson will be inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame, a rare honor bestowed on only one other athlete in the award’s history.
The Texas Business Hall of Fame, formed in 1982, honors outstanding business leaders who also make a significant social impact in their communities. Robinson is one of six Texans to be inducted this year, the organization announced Thursday, and the only one who calls San Antonio home.
Robinson is only the second professional athlete to be inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame; Roger Staubach received the honor in 2000. Like Robinson, Staubach, who played for 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, was also a U.S. Naval Academy graduate.
The 2024 nominees will be inducted at a dinner on Nov. 13. The others include:
- Michael M. Boone, co-founder and senior counsel, Haynes and Boone;
- Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb;
- Kathleen S. Hildreth, co-founder and managing director, M1 Support Services;
- David B. Miller, co-founder and managing partner, EnCap Investments;
- Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Yellowstone; TV and film writer, producer, director and actor; owner, Bosque Ranch Productions.
Robinson is best known as a legendary basketball player — he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, won two championships with the Spurs and two Olympic gold medals, accolades that barely hit the highlights.
Since his 2003 retirement, he has become known for his work in San Antonio as a philanthropist, adviser and venture capitalist.
Robinson is being honored for his business acumen and his social impact work, which has come through both the David Robinson Foundation, which he founded with his wife Valerie in 1992, and Admiral Capital Group, a real estate and private equity investment management firm he founded with Dan Bassichis in 2007 as a way to fund his charitable and community-building efforts.
Through his foundation, Robinson has raised close to $40 million for George W. Carver Academy, which he founded in 2001 as a private, Christian school on San Antonio’s near East Side. Today, Carver Academy is part of the tuition-free charter school network of IDEA Public Schools.
Robinson met Bassichis in 2002 when, as part of a Duke University MBA class project, Bassichis helped Robinson create a long-term strategic plan for The Carver Academy, according to Vero Capital’s website.
In 2007, the pair launched Admiral Capital, after Robinson’s nickname, which he earned from his Spurs teammates for his service in the Navy.
Through Admiral Capital, which rebranded as Vero Capital at the end of 2022, Robinson and Bassichis have deployed more than $700 million of capital in transactions valued at more than $3 billion. The announcement of its rebrand noted while Bassichis would lead the fund, Robinson would “remain focused on social impact work.”
After leading the Spurs to the 2003 NBA Championship, Robinson retired, and soon after became a minority owner in the team where he spent his entire NBA career. In 2022, Robinson and fellow Spurs legend Manu Ginobili became part of the investment group that bought the San Antonio Missions baseball team.
“David’s unwavering passion and dedication to our community has been a continuation of the servant leadership he exhibited during his career on the court,” said RC Buford, CEO of Spurs Sports & Entertainment. “His commitment to making San Antonio a better place for all has forged a lasting legacy that will continue to inspire future generations.”
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, Robinson was snapped up by the Spurs as the No. 1 draft pick in 1987 — then the team had to wait two years as Robinson served on active duty.
Robinson led the San Antonio Spurs to 1999 and 2003 NBA championship titles. During his time in the league he was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (1994-95), NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1991-92) and NBA Rookie of the Year (1989-90). A two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Robinson is also the all-time leader in U.S. Olympic basketball history in career points, rebounds and blocked shots. He was inducted into the International Basketball Federation Hall of Fame in 2013.
Last year’s San Antonio-based Texas Business Hall of Fame inductees included Eddie Block and Alan Dreeben of the Republic National Distributing Company, one of the nation’s leading wholesale beverage alcohol distributors.
David Huntley, Texas Business Hall of Fame chairman, said the class of 2024 inductees’
“servant leadership,” in addition to their success in business, is “what makes the honor so special — the combination of transformational economic impact and the wanting to use that impact to make the world better.”
Robinson, he said, “represents everything we try to inspire in others. He has always strived to be the very best — and the same dedication that made him a basketball superstar is the same dedication that has made him an exceptional and transformational business leader.”
