Local NBA Pioneer Dies Over the Weekend

Marty Blake, 86, of Milton, died on April 7, according to his Northside Chapel Funeral Directors and Crematory obituary.

Blake, the former director of scouting for the NBA, was a pioneer in the world of sports, spending over 60 years in professional basketball.

He was born March 22, 1927, in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of two Russian Jewish immigrants, Elias and Ethel Blake. Blake grew up in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. After a stretch in the Army and graduation from Wilkes College, he entered the sports world.

Blake worked for the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers and the then-New York Giants in baseball; the Detroit Lions in football and operated the Wilkes-Barre Bullets of the American Football League when it was considered the top minor league in the country in the late 1940s. He also served as director of scouting for the Continental Basketball Association for many years - a league he helped found in 1946. In his colorful and diverse career, Blake has also handled public relations for such famous clients as the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, the auto racing daredevil Joey Chitwood, the Sports Club of America, and the Harlem Globetrotters.

Blake parlayed his abilities as a promoter and event manager into a job as general manager of the Milwaukee Hawks and then oversaw the moves of that franchise to St. Louis, where the team won the NBA championship in 1958, and eventually to Atlanta, where the Hawks thrive today. He then served as president of the Pittsburgh Condors ABA team before going on to work as a scout, ultimately serving 35 years as the NBA’s Director of Scouting. Blake was a trailblazer who was equal parts basketball executive, clever promoter and ambassador for the sport. His virtuosity in unearthing basketball talent from far-flung locations was legendary, and spanned generations. Long before words like “analytics” and “metrics” were part of the vocabulary of basketball talent evaluators, he was combing the country for basketball players and devising revolutionary ways to document and compare prospects.

Basketball was only one of his many passions, Blake loved playing tennis, spending time with family and reading a good book. Jazz was his great passion; as a general manager, he booked halftime and postgame acts like the Stan Kenton Orchestra, Count Basie and Duke Ellington as well as other prominent musicians.

Blake is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Marcia Blake, his children, Eliot, Ryan and Sarah and their spouses Kelly, Darla and Steve; his grandchildren, Elijah, Sarah Jade, Will, Eva, and Daniel and countless friends around the world.

Blake watched one last basketball game Saturday night, surrounded by his wife and children, scouting until the end.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 14 at Northside Chapel Funeral Directors in Roswell. Burial will follow at Green Lawn Cemetery. The Blake family will receive friends on Saturday, April 13 from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. and 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, donations may be offered to the Alzheimer’s Association.

See also:

• Former scout, GM Marty Blake, 87, lived a full basketball life – NBA.com
• 'Godfather of scouting' dies at 86 – FoxSports.com
• Marty Blake, longtime NBA scouting director, dies at 86 - ESPN – ESPN.go.com