Jerry Krause

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Krause

Jerome "Jerry" Krause was a former professional basketball scout and general manager for, among other franchises, the Baltimore Bullets and, most notably, the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. He is a two-time recipient of the NBA's Executive of the Year award. Jerry Krause died on March 21, 2017. He was 77 years old.

Early career

Krause was born in 1939 and grew up in Chicago. He played high school baseball as a catcher at Taft High School in Chicago and attended Bradley University.

After college he went to work as a scout with the Baltimore Bullets. Early on Krause gained a reputation of being able to eye talent. He is credited by some for discovering future Hall of Famer Earl Monroe.

While with the Bullets, he had urged the team to pick North Dakota forward Phil Jackson in the 1967 NBA draft. The Bullets did not draft him, but Krause continued to keep in touch during Jackson's playing career and into his first years as a coach. Their relationship flourished during the 1970s and 1980s; notably, when Jackson was coaching the Albany Patroons in the Continental Basketball Association, Krause once called him requesting an analysis of the league's players, which Jackson provided in great detail.

After a few years with Baltimore, Krause worked as a scout with the Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls in the 1970s before he left pro basketball to scout pro baseball instead. He was scouting for the Chicago White Sox when he received a call from new Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf to join the Bulls as their new General Manager and once again work in pro basketball.