Copied from a HoopsDaily.com article: Gary Hall, lawyer for National Basketball Players Association, dies in New York 05/16/2011 - 9:47pm Gary Hall, a prominent Syracuse attorney who went on to become the top lawyer for the National Basketball Association’s players union, died suddenly today in New York City. Hall, 67, was found unconscious this morning in his New York apartment, according to Billy Hunter, his longtime friend and executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. The two had been friends for more than 30 years, sharing a Syracuse-area connection. Hall was a Canastota native. Hunter graduated from Syracuse University, where he was captain of the 1964 football team that played in the Sugar Bowl. Hunter now serves on the SU Board of Trustees. But the two never met in Syracuse. Their paths crossed years later, when Hunter was the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco. Hall worked with Hunter in the Justice Department's San Francisco office from 1978 to 1985. Hunter said when he had an opening for the NBA union’s general counsel about five years ago, he immediately thought of Hall. "We were longtime friends and he was an excellent attorney," Hunter said when reached tonight in Manhattan. "He was an outstanding lawyer, and he was extremely bright." Hall took the NBA union job in November 2005, leaving his job as a partner in the Syracuse law firm of Blitman & King. Hall specialized in labor and employment law. Hall would have played a key role in negotiations between NBA players and owners during the offseason. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement expires in less than two months.