CHICAGO — The new year started on a somber note for the NBA as Commissioner emeritus David Stern, who served as commissioner from 1984 to 2014, died Wednesday afternoon after suffering a brain hemorrhage on Dec. 12.

He was 77.

For generations of would-be basketball players, the dream was to walk across the stage at the NBA draft and shake Stern’s hand. It’s an image that is iconic. For the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert and Ed Davis, that moment will be one they cherish for the rest of their lives.

“To be able to shake his hand when I came in the league was a dream of mine,” Gobert said Thursday morning.

RIP David Stern pic.twitter.com/pCgPHiQ2eH — Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) January 1, 2020

Davis, son of former NBA player Terry Davis, noted that even kids who didn’t grow up around the NBA knew Stern’s name and who he was.

“I was a lottery pick so I shook his hand, and growing up that’s one thing I feel like a lot of guys dream of, walking across that stage and shaking David Stern’s hand,” Davis said. “That was a cool moment in my life that I’ll never forget.”

Stern was the steadfast face of the league for 30 years and is widely respected for the way he grew the game, both domestically and internationally. He took the NBA from a sport of tape-delay broadcasts to a worldwide powerhouse.

He was touted as visionary of globalizing the league and pushed for the acquisition of international talent.

“He allowed a lot of us to be able to dream about coming into the NBA,” Gobert said. “Thirty years ago for international players it wasn’t normal for us to think that we could be in the NBA. ... Now, no matter where you are in the world you can dream of having a chance to play in the league.”

In addition to his push for the NBA to become a worldwide phenomenon, he helped create the WNBA, and during his tenure the NBA grew with the creation of seven new teams and the NBA Development League (now G League).

“He had a presence,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “It’s really impossible to overstate the impact that he not only had on the NBA but I think basketball worldwide. ... People that benefitted from that, players and coaches primarily, in addition to cities that didn’t have teams, and he just impacted so many people.”

Stern’s involvement with the NBA began before he took his post as commissioner. In the 1970s as outside counsel to the league, he helped in settlements that led to the merger of the ABA and NBA and the creation of free agency.

Later, after serving as general counsel to the league and then executive vice president, Stern succeeded Larry O’Brien as commissioner in 1984.

Players, coaches, media members, friends, business partners and everyone in between shared their memories and condolences on Wednesday including his own successor, NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

“For 22 years, I had a courtside seat to watch David in action. He was a mentor and one of my dearest friends,” Silver said in a statement. “David took over the NBA in 1984 with the league at a crossroads. But over the course of 30 years as commissioner, he ushered in the modern global NBA.”

In 1985, shortly after Stern was appointed commissioner, the late Larry H. Miller bought a 50% interest in the Utah Jazz. The following year he purchased the remaining interest.

“We cherished our close friendship with him and appreciated his continued demonstration of support, especially as we built the arena where he signed his name in the rafters,” the Miller family said in a statement. “He was always mindful of our needs and we are certain the health of the Utah Jazz and the composition of the Larry H. Miller organization would look different without his influence. David leaves a remarkable legacy of change, expansion and popularity for professional basketball around the world. We will miss our friend.”