Larry O'Brien

Lawrence F. O'Brien (July 7, 1917 - September 27, 1990) was an American politician who served as United States Postmaster General, and later as the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1975 to 1984. O'Brien, a Massachusetts associate of the Kennedys, served as Postmaster-General under Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, but left that office to serve as campaign manager for Hubert Humphrey in 1968. After the election, O'Brien became Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He retained this position in 1972, at the time of the Watergate burglary of the DNC.

During his tenure as Commissioner, O'Brien oversaw the successful merger of the NBA with the American Basketball Association (ABA), negotiated television contracts with CBS, and saw game attendance increase drastically. In 1984, the NBA Championship Trophy was renamed to the Larry O'Brien Championship Tropy in his honor.