He really thought about things like that, that it was equal opportunity, and if men could be the stars, then women could be the stars too. One time, we shook everybody up. Magic was perfect for that. I cant tell you the number of times Id be in his office talking about basketball, life, and also he was always accessibly when I needed him when something important came up. He had a home in San Diego, where I live, and we used to go to training camp in Hawaii just about every year, and a couple times we were on the same flight heading over from San Diego. His daughter, Jeanie, took over the Lakers in March 2017. He says hes tried to apologize. My family is from the islands, so the West Indies part of his background resonated with me also. It didnt have naming rights like Staples Center. So I immersed myself into the college game and wanted to be that for my dad, so we wouldnt take up a lot of cap space, but we could still get valuable role players. He currently resides in Los Angeles. That meant a lot to us at that particular time, because it was a very difficult time, uncertain. After a brief stint in the aerospace industry, Buss began working as a professor at the University of Southern California in the Chemistry department. The times that he took out for 1-on-1 time to get me to feel comfortable, to tell me that he loved my game, that he wanted me to play confident. Once they got on the floor, they seemed to be able to put all that behind them and do what they needed to do. He did not yell and scream at me. There was no secondary market, but he knew that he was leaving money on the table and he was under indexing for certain price points. I thought he was kidding. That iconic, focus-on-the-court lighting, started on Nov. 3, 1999. We wouldnt have to spend the midlevel exception; we could try to find midlevel value guys for a fraction of the price. And he would wander off into other aspects of life, and he was so smart, and so brilliant, so well read in a lot of different areas that it was truly intriguing for me at that time, unbeknownst to me what was going on, that I was getting the education of a lifetime as a head coach and also as a man. We just started talking about the crazy journey that weve been on. He was a very, very, very generous man. Johnny Buss speaks at a memorial service for his father, Jerry Buss, at the Nokia Theatre on Feb. 21, 2013. We wanted it so bad. But I do remember saying I dont know who management is.. He not only was an avid reader, he knew some of the great authors, as well. Theyre respectful, theyre loyal and theyre good to other people as human beings. When Jerry Buss purchased the LA Lakers from former owner Jack Kent Cooke in 1979, he was divorced from his first wife, JoAnn Mueller. Create a franchise that was worth billions., Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli. And then we went and celebrated together again. Id just moved up to live with him in Playa Vista in 2006, and late one night after a game he was drinking wine. Everybody today should be thanking him. With 10 NBA championships under his belt, Jerry was the single most decorated owner in sports history. Dr. Buss created that. It was a conversation that only he and I knew about. Jerry Buss, the playboy owner of the Los Angeles Lakers who died last month, has left his sprawling Hawaii digs and hot wheels to his much younger girlfriend. It wasnt much of a workout. That helped motivate you to want to keep doing that. And his grasp of math, and his ability to run numbers and fit that into the equation, whatever the equation was whether it was the cap, payroll, profit loss statements whatever it was, he ran it all in his head. We had a genuine relationship and respect for one another, because I was there with him at the time he bought his dream, and it was mine too. Its the first thing you do now when youre going to build a building. with JoAnn Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "JoAnn Buss", "gender": "Female" }, Jeanie Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Jeanie Buss", "gender": "Female" }, born 1961, age 61 (approx.) Dr. Buss used to come down to the locker room after every game, starting in the 1981-82 season. Then due to (certain circumstances), Jerry wanted us to be co-coaches. We had something to talk about immediately, and he was flattered to know that I was aware. This is two days after the parade and everything. Very genuine, honest guy, and I respected him a lot. She became the Lakers governor in 2014 after her father's death and is now the representative of the team on the NBA board of governors. I think the operative words from Dr. Buss message to Kobe were, Trust me Ive done things in my life, where when I say Im going to work this thing out, trust me, were going to work this thing out. I never envisioned that his trust me would end up with the kind of deal that he pulled off getting Pau. Los Angeles, Ducks three-game win streak snapped in overtime loss to Capitals, High school basketball: Southern California and Northern California Regional results and updated pairings, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame overcomes deficit to win Mission League opener, Still in UCLAs corner, Ben Howland stressed importance of getting No. I think the desire to be an owner left when my dad passed away, Johnny said. But once we acquired Shaq and Kobe, we started beating them more often than they were beating us. Im not saying that Jerry was the opposite, but he was a lot more fun than I think Jack was. But how can I contribute? It was California Pizza Kitchen wed always order out and wed meet for a couple of hours. During those years, we would always go to Hawaii for training camp, and Dr. Buss would really enjoy when wed have a team dinner at the beginning of camp at Kobes Japanese Steak House. Given that the Winning Time season finale takes place in 1980, only Johnny and Jim appear in the episode. And I did very well investing in the coins. We didnt have 10 people doing it. We were holding the trophy, and there was a writer, Steve Springer with the L.A. Times, who came into the hallway when we were walking off the floor with my dad, and (Springer) asked what did it feel like to win your first championship since 1988? Boris Johnson. Explore how the celebrity world connects. I had always wanted to know, How did you work the deal with Magic to sign him to a 25-year, 25-million-dollar contract? And he gave me how easy it was, how he took this and put it in an annuity somewhere else, and so on. There was another interesting time back home in North Carolina when I was watching the draft on TV, and nobody had been talking about me being traded, and I hadnt heard any rumors or anything. I go up to the suite, and I sit down on the stairs next to him, and I said, Well Doc, what do you think? He says, Its great. It came down to Game 7 at Staples Center, and halfway through the game I felt very defeated. His ex-wife owns a portion of the team but does not have the ability to vote on a sale. site map The whole franchise. (Towards the end) we were just talking and reminiscing about old times. In the summer of 2007, Kobe Bryant requested a trade from the Lakers. It was cool knowing that he appreciated those little things, that effort. And his business smarts (also kicked in), and the Laker Girls got branded through Reebok. Dr. Buss, its because the lights are so high up in the ceiling, and in order to make the court bright enough for broadcast, its really bright. He says, I understand, but can you keep an eye on that? So in 2004, the NBA came in with the All-Star game, and they brought in rigging with lights to create that sort of Broadway musical focus on the court. Many Los Angeles Lakers fans mourned the passing of the team's primary owner, Jerry Buss, on Monday. The fact that he was still one of us in a sense, because it was all about him having a good time, and if we met him at any certain point, hed always invite us over if we were at the same club or something. He had a 66 percent stake in the team when he died, and judging by the trust he set up years ago to hold the ownership stake, it has long been his intention to keep the Lakers in the Buss family. He completely got something that all of us take for granted: athletes love entertainers, and entertainers love athletes. My dad started incorporating Joey and I more after we won the back-to-back titles, and we had the mid-level exception in the summer, and he asked who we liked. A lot of good times, and so much success on the court. We were all super excited to see him play, and one of the referees threw him out early on for arguing calls. We were coming off a championship. He was like, The contract is good. So I became obsessed with it, and how that process worked. He would listen to things. I just remember generations of Lakers have come through this organization, obviously, and the team that we had at the time werent really knowledgeable of the history of the franchise. Here are the tributes to Betty Jean Buss. I used to get a big kick out of saying, Our defense is a switching, sliding, sluffing, man-to-man with zone principals. And he would laugh. If you knew me you would understand Im not about money at all. And he always wanted to know what my favorite book was, and I told him it was The Agony and the Ecstasy. He said, Thats interesting, because I knew Irving Stone, the author. We thought it was great. He leaves behind six children, eight grandchildren, a former wife, two half-siblings and a step-brother. He understood that I needed that, and I would have been lost out here in this big city. It was like watching a 17-year-old guy just batter a 30-something year old guy, and youd expect itd be a lot more balanced than that. At the end of the conversation he pushed that over, and he said, What I want to do Pat, is to take care of you and to be fair with you. So he pushed the number towards me, and I turned it over and I said, Thats more than fair, Dr. Buss. Shook his hand, and we had a deal on a new 3-year contract. The UK's supply crisis puts extra pressure on Prime Minister Boris. When Jack Kent Cooke sold the Lakers, the Kings, the Forum and a 13,000-acre ranch in Kern County, Jerry Buss met him at an office in Palos Verdes. He wanted everybody to be together, and he was right in the middle of us. It was really tremendous. *In the 2004 Finals, Detroit beat L.A. 4-1. Especially after I retired, we spent time together. Very few. From online or printed sources and from publicly accessible databases. So I got back to L.A., and Dr. Buss called me in his office, and hes like, look, This is a business, this is the way it goes, we dont have to tell you. I said, I at least expect a phone call. He said I understand youre upset, it was taken out of context. Of course, I had to go talk to Magic too, and Magic said Theyd have to give up a lot more to get James Worthy. You know how that goes. Or to USC football games. This is a year after Id left, and I remember we had dinner up on Sunset Boulevard, and Id signed this humongous contract, or at that time it was, and he looked me in the eye and said, Read my lips, do you realize how much money that is? He tried to put things in perspective as to what I was about ready to do in New York, and what they were going to pay me, and that I deserved it, I earned it, everything that Id done in Los Angeles he was proud of, and he was proud that Chris and I could go to New York and start our careers over again there. He had a lot to prove: a lot of people looked at him, because he didnt wear a suit and tie, he came in as a different owner. And he got it right every single time. He was always right. How he figured out our monetary system, the Coast Guard, customs, the first inspector general of the Army ridiculous. *In the 2004 Finals, Detroit beat L.A. 4-1. We had a bunch of ideal guys Kareem Abdul Jabbar and James Worthy next to Earvin. Theyd fax over every scenario they had for Shaq trades. Well, at that time, Jack Kent Cooke was going through a divorce, and he moved to Nevada to establish residency in order to process his divorce as a citizen of Nevada, which had different settlement laws. Whatever Lamar got paid was worth it. He then reached a major advertising agreement with Great Western Bank for the naming rights to The Forum, resulting in the official name of the building being changed to the Great Western Forum. Everybody was like, who is this dude? I said, Were trying to repeat, and I know you love winning championships, and a key piece of that is Lamar Odom. It was amazing how he had it all down. When he approached a problem, he never panicked, he never screamed, he was methodical in his approach. with JoAnn Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "JoAnn Buss", "gender": "Female" }, Janie Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Janie Buss", "gender": "Female" }, born 1963, age 59 (approx.) Who Is Jerry Buss Mom & Dad? Dr. Buss was there with us. My biggest concern was being traded every year. Thats pretty good. And I remember after Game 7 of the 2010 Finals against Boston, down on the court amongst all the fanfare, Dr. Buss and I huddled up a little bit and kind of smiled. So, Dr. Buss was one of the coolest owners Ive been around. Ultimately, one way or another, all four of Jerry Buss sons ended up being associated with the LA Lakers. When he bought the Forum, it was called the Forum. Every day, wed just hang out together between practice sessions. Source: Los Angeles Times, Lakers expected to remain a Buss family-owned team, Mike Bresnahan, Feb. 19, 2013. Despite some setbacks in the years since she took over, with only one NBA Championship win in 2020, Jeanie is still the undisputed boss of the franchise. We would usually start watching NBA League Pass at 4 p.m., when the Eastern games would come on, but he didnt really know as much about the draft. And what Jerry Buss always wanted to accomplish was to have one of those players on his team, the Showtime part of it. 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