Nick Kerbawy

William Nicholas Kerbawy (August 1912 – June 7, 1990) was an American sports executive. He served as the general manager of the Detroit Lions from 1951 to 1958 and of the Detroit Pistons from 1958 to 1961. He won three NFL championships with the Lions. Kerbawy was also the founder and a commissioner of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the hall in 1985.

Biography Kerbawy was born in August 1912, in Blissfield, Michigan, and graduated from Hillsdale College. After graduating from college, Kerbawy taught Spanish and journalism at Hillsdale and operated a news bureau there. He also served as a correspondent for the Battle Creek Enquirer and the Lansing State Journal By 1944, he had become public relations director and director of sports publicity and around that time was named the school's sports information director.

In February 1946, Kerbawy was appointed a member of the American Associated of College Baseball Coaches Publicity committee. In 1948, after serving four years with Michigan State, Kerbawy left to become public relations director of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), after being persuaded by the Lions' coach Bo McMillin. In the middle of 1948, Kerbawy was named the college sports publicity "Man of the Year". After McMillin was fired during the 1951 season, Kerbawy was promoted to general manager. (Sources disagree on the year Kerbawy gained the general manager position from McMillin: His Michigan Sports Hall of Fame profile states 1952, However, McMillin was fired in the 1951 season and articles as early as 1951 name Kerbawy as general manager.) His obituary in the Detroit Free Press mentions him as being general manager in 1950, however, this cannot be true because Kerbawy was named general manager immediately after McMillin's firing and the latter was still on the team that year. but in Kerbawy's first year as general manager, he helped them compile a record of 7–4–1 and in the next year, he took them all the way to the league championship game, which they won 17–7 over the Cleveland Browns. It was the first time Detroit had won the championship in 17 years and the second time overall.

The next year, the Lions compiled a 10–2 record and made the championship again, where they faced the Cleveland Browns and won on a touchdown pass in the final quarter, 17–16. It was their second consecutive league title, which was the only time the Lions ever accomplished this. However, Kerbawy helped build the Lions back up in the next season; the team won nine games and placed second in their conference, narrowly missing the playoffs by a half-game. In , Detroit won their fourth league championship, over the Cleveland Browns, which remains the last time the Lions were NFL champions. Edwin J. Anderson was named Kerbawy's successor with the Lions. Kerbawy's contract with the Pistons totaled $1,000,000 and was 20 years long. At a press conference after the hiring, Zollner said that Kerbawy's job "should be the only position he will need the rest of his life." However, friction grew between the two, Midway into the 1960–61 season, Zollner had received reports stating that Kerbawy had "drifted afield and had involved himself in a proxy fight between two factions of Lion stockholders." He was also hired several times to advise the creation of sports halls of fame. Kerbawy was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1985. He died two years later of cancer on June 7, 1990, at the age of 77.