The Lakers had literally won the championship a few minutes earlier, but my dad couldnt stop raving that I had 25 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks in my AAU game. Joey Buss accepts the Larry O'Brien Trophy from David Stern, Jeanie Buss, Magic Johnson, Dr. Jerry Buss, and Phil Jackson. I was thankful he gave me an opportunity to get involved, and more importantly, get involved with someone like him where I learned a lot. Thats when we found out about his enlarged aortic root. Then-NBA commissioner David Stern called Jerry a visionary owner whose influence on our league is incalculable and will be felt for decades to come.. A lot of good times, and so much success on the court. Id never been in a Porsche before. Magics family is like this, and here we are winning all these games. 3 reviews. I think his father was a coal miner, if I remember correctly, and we shared a lot of personal things that you share if you like each other. In a large way, thats why you saw so much joy in Dr. Buss. 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. He moved to Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California (USC), where he earned an M.S. After we lost to the Pistons*, we had an organization type of dinner, with all the players and the media in a banquet room. When I retired, I had a chance to watch some games with him. There was something about both of us. There becomes a bigger trust by an owner, a greater dependency on the people whom youre working closely with. He allowed Jerry West to make the bulk of the basketball decisions, and Dr. Buss would give him the yay or nay, and most of the time it was a yay. I was with Jerry West, (a.k.a.) Write your message of sympathy today. 1 seed in West, Another Trevor Bauer defamation suit is thrown out. *It was a Mercedes Benz 420 in teal, a color that nobody else had. Shaquille and I started to talk over the phone, and we sorta became friends. [3] Buss started as a chemist for the Bureau of Mines (now the Mine Safety and Health Administration); he then briefly worked in the aerospace industry and was on the faculty of USC's chemistry department. Am I going to have to go back to serve the army? And hed say, I want you to come to Vegas in a week. Everywhere we went, everybody would holler our names. Dr. Buss was very thoughtful. Just so, so cool. His best finishes included third in the 1991 World Series of Poker seven-card stud event and second place in the 2003 World Poker Tour Freeroll invitational. The Sparks also experienced their share of success, winning two WNBA championships with such players as Lisa Leslie, Tamecka Dixon and DeLisha Milton-Jones. He promoted concerts at the Forum. We were big into collecting basketball cards growing up. Throughout my tenure away from the team, Id send him a note every time they won a championship. It was really vivid and authentic. The first hour was always just talking and telling stories and visiting. Dr. Buss was open to all of the discussions. 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. Everyone is tight. Wed usually eat, hang out by the pool and talk after the morning session, and then after the evening session, a lot of times wed go to dinner together. [2] So he created the Senate seats program sort of the precursor to the club suites program. So before I leave, he gives me an envelope, and he says, Give this to the person thats down there. So I go down there and give it to them, and there are six cars lined up there. A few days later, the first time I met Dr. Buss was at the Forum Club, after a game. Everybody today should be thanking him. I never had a relationship like this, and nor did he. He had two more children with his girlfriend, Karen Demel: Joey and Jesse. That would be incredible.. Many Los Angeles Lakers fans mourned the passing of the teams primary owner, Jerry Buss, on Monday. She is the one who took over the family business, and her children may do the same someday. MORE:How to watch Lakers documentary on Hulu. Playing for him was one of the best highlights of my life. After all of this, not only have I resigned from [the Lakers], Ive resigned from being a member of the Buss family, Johnny says. With Dr. Buss, Im sure he would have loved for the two of them and the team to be able to coexist a little longer and maybe get another title or two, but he let it play out. 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. Who Is Jerry Buss Mom & Dad? It would be decades later, at age 34, when Jerry made his first million. I first met him at Muhammad Alis retirement party at the Forum. Father of Private; Private; Janie Drexel; Private and Private, Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss (January 27, 1933 February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, real estate investor and chemist. His vision that, Im going to get this big guy, and were going to go from there. He was very positive, and his dreams were never unrealistic, and set the tempo for the franchise to keep moving forward. Ultimately we came back and made another offer and Lamar took it. The $24 million he purchased for the Lakers and Kings would be $95.57 million in today's money. Or to USC football games. He was like a rebel, but in a good sense. But I remember after 1985 when I was negotiating my contract. Once you dealt with the media, you get on with your life. And then when I came down to Miami, it was a whole new world for me down here. Dr. Buss knew his team needed more wins than losses, but he also knew they needed to entertain. It means more, and it means more because of this one man, and everything that came from it. And I was really just flabbergasted. The one (free agent) that was really the star on top of the Christmas tree was Shaquille ONeal. You werent just a spreadsheet to him. He made sure they had the kind of food I wanted, and he was really attentive to the little details to make sure it was a comfortable environment to me. Buss said this or Dr. After separation from Mueller, Buss dated Karen Demel and had two children: Joey Buss (born in 1985) and Jesse Buss (born in 1988). He really showed that. Id say, I call it the smorgasbord defense a little bit of everything.. He was that dude. He was a very, very, very generous man. You have to look at me coming in as a rookie, with Hall of Famers like Phil Jackson, Kobe and Shaq, and the history of the Lakers. You could see it. He was really a very nice guy who enjoyed the fun things in life. Its very hard to achieve that level of success. All that was because my dad sat me down and said he thought Kobe was going to be a real good player. So that was one of the things I noticed about him. 12/22/2014 5:31 PM PT. Later on, Dancing Barry. In 1978, at age 33, he became owner of the team following his father's death. That was a big thing for both of us. When he bought the Forum, it was called the Forum. A lot of times if I didnt see him in the locker room, we went up to the press room at the Forum, and hed be there. 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. Johnny was previously married to Christy Curtis Buss and has at least two sons. After I took the job with the Knicks, Dr. Buss called me on the phone and asked if I was in L.A., and he wanted to have dinner with (my wife) Chris and I. Theyll like this! He absolutely loved it, because Jesse would know every single stat about every single player. Everything changed when me and my brother Joey were at my dads beach house in Carlsbad, and he told us: Were going to hire Phil Jackson, but you cant tell anybody. I was 11 at the time, and I knew he had been the Bulls coach, but I didnt know what it necessarily meant. Coming from Yugoslavia, I had some issue with military service, and there was an issue there that Dr. Buss made sure to let me know he was behind me and my family no matter what. site map But he insisted he never wanted to push out his sister. That first one, we went to Palm Springs. When asked if selling his shares was part of his aim, Johnny said, Absolutely.. That when you think L.A., you think Lakers. Dr. Buss paid out of his own pocket for a million-dollar surgery to save the kids life, not knowing if hed ever play basketball. He was going to build a championship team no matter what it takes. Working with front-office executives West, Bill Sharman and Mitch Kupchak, Buss spent lavishly to win his titles, often running the NBA's highest payroll while also paying . He was in the entertainment business. The Finals were tough, though, against Boston. And what Jerry Buss always wanted to accomplish was to have one of those players on his team, the Showtime part of it. Dr. Buss liked to go the horse races at Hollywood Park, and he was great at picking winners. Dr. Buss always carried himself (with a tremendous) level of humility. I remember the first time we did it, during my second season, he told me, Hey man I really like your game, I like the way you play, I want you to go back and play confident and I want you to know that Im the boss, and I like you. The purchase price, $67.5 million, made it the largest transaction in sports history at that time. Lee was born in 1953 and is the first child of Dr. Jerry Buss and JoAnn Mueller. Dr. Buss is walking around, hes in the (various) rooms, hes hanging out, talking to people, shaking hands. So Im sitting there waiting, and at 10:30 a.m., I go in. But it appears as though Johnny began a career in sports management in 1975 and later became the Executive Vice President of Strategic Development of the Los Angeles Lakers for several years. That book opened up a whole world up to me about the founding fathers. Countless times to the Western Conference Finals but no, were not putting those banners up. Rookie owner, rookie player and we did it. So Jerry picked me up at the airport in his 944 Porsche. Every time wed meet, itd be at an Italian restaurant. I didnt get a phone call, or any kind of notification that, Well, Jerrys leaving, Mitch, and Im hiring you. I remember Jerry West retiring, and me saying, OK, whos the GM going to be? I think somebody asked me to reach out to Dr. Buss, and Dr. Buss said, Well Mitch, of course you are. I said, Thank you very much. I think he assumed it, but of course I didnt assume it. I think thats why people just adore him so. As business people, our job is to drive a profit, but you do that also by taking care of your customers. I was just sitting there. I read a biography on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, and really got into collecting early gold coins, so I focused on it, and it was interesting talking to Dr. Buss about his collecting. I was happy. My first initial meeting I was kind of thrown back, because he didnt seem like an owner. From his home in Northridge, Johnny Buss asked his young sons to give him a moment so he could make a phone call. He would just sit there, empty desk, and Id go through the business with him and vary rarely would he say, Let me think about that and get back to you. It was almost always he had an opinion or a decision right then and there. I remember him calling me into his office, and we sat and we chatted for 10 minutes, and then there was a piece of paper that he had on his desk. We wanted it so bad. Read More: Where is Jerry Buss Daughter Jeanie Buss Now? And when I heard from him, not just with the telegram but then sitting down with him in Barcelona and looking at him eye to eye. Magic was worth every accolade or attention he got, because he carried us. The Buss family praised Dr. Buss for his "amazing strength and will to live" during an 18-month long battle with cancer and vowed to carry on his "unparalleled legacy" at the helm of the LA Lakers. Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) February 18, 2013 Im still not quite sure what possessed him to have me do it that time. And I offered Vlade Divac to everyone, a starting center. Thats when I got to meet Magics family. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. with JoAnn Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "JoAnn Buss", "gender": "Female" }, Joey Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Joey Buss", "gender": "Male" }, born 1985, age 37 (approx.) Afterwards, I had to go to the hospital for three days. You saw his mannerisms go with every little gyration that was going on. He brought Magic in, and they formed a bond right away. Pat learned his job on the fly. His father, Lydus, left the family when Jerry was an infant. He would empower the people that worked for him, and hed be a problem solver. My last year when I retired (2004-05), I remember being a free agent, and one call from him made my decision easier when he told me, You started with the Lakers, you have to retire with the Lakers. That was my decision, trusting that guy, and man, it was a pleasure to play with him. He had been in and out of the hospital for more than a year before his death. Wed talk about business. He, with his real estate background, realized that people would pay just like for a house on the beach. We were all super excited to see him play, and one of the referees threw him out early on for arguing calls. You dont realize these things until you get my age, that you have these kinds of people, that theyre not just your boss. That was wonderful, to get my game back in gear for the next five games (after the Memorial Day Massacre). Authorize the publication of the original written obituary with the accompanying photo. I remember walking into his bedroom and seeing 20 or 30 pieces of fax paper spread all over his bed as he was pouring over and analyzing every scenario and option. When you add all those things up, you come up with why that series and that championships mean so much. I thought hed go in the top three or four. I was a young player in Portland, and I knew about Jack Kent Cooke and what his reputation was, but we all heard about this man named Dr. Buss buying the Lakers, Kings and the Forum, and some real estate properties for what was an exorbitant amount of money at the time. He called Jerry, and it was done. And then at the end of that, they said someone talked to Magic (Johnson), and Magic approved the trade. It was a conversation that only he and I knew about. Almost never, to my knowledge, I dont remember ever seeing him with a pen or a pad in front of him. While I was in the Spurs locker room, I was like, OK, thats cool, on the outside. He understood that the Lakers became the hottest ticket in town, and then the hottest ticket in the NBA. Life is funny that way. I think when you have success, its just different. It was really his love, his heart. The first time I met him was when we were in training camp in Hawaii, when he came into the gym in his jeans and his Hawaiian shirt, just watching practice. To speak about what Dr. Buss meant to the Lakers and to basketball, to the NBA, period. He basically created premium seating, and nobody else was doing this stuff at the time. It was California Pizza Kitchen wed always order out and wed meet for a couple of hours. It was just great to be able to watch and learn. Who is Dr. Jerry Buss? He did not make demands. He said, Johnny just sit here because I think were about to embark on something incredible, recalls Johnny, now 60. He was a master at dealing with people, a genius businessman, and really just as good with people as he was with business. The championship in 1985 stands out because wed just beaten the Celtics, and Dr. Buss was as proud as hes ever been of any team. He was also able to snag the Kings hockey team, the Inglewood Forum, and the 13,000-acre Raljon Ranch in the Sierra Nevada mountains from businessman Jack Kent Cooke. Really cool. On Feb. 13 of 1987, I found out from the Spurs trainer that I had been traded to the Lakers. The trust stipulates that the ownership, now held by his ex-wife and six children, cannot be divided and sold off in pieces. And I did very well investing in the coins. He said, I want you to take me to dinner at this real fancy restaurant with some friends. I said, I cant afford that! Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss (January 27, 1933 February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, real estate investor, and chemist. Any age group, any ethnic group. We all felt very comfortable around him because he treated us all as human beings. Dr. Buss left a lasting legacy, expressed through those that were close to him. Showtime was on fire, And now Hollywood is coming out in droves to see the Lakers. Not much is known about Johnnys early life or educational background. Born on October 18, 1956, Johnny Hatten Buss is the eldest son of Jerry Buss. He was once an heir to his father Jerry Busss kingdom, but insists the sports world never quite interested him. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Its going to be completely out of line with what people have ever made in this league. One day you felt he was coming, another you didnt finally, Shaq says, If you can do this financially, Ill come. So I called Jerry Buss, and I asked, Jerry can we do this? He said yes. with JoAnn Buss Jeanie Buss born 1961, age 61 (approx.) He purchased the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA along with the Los Angeles Kings hockey team of the NHL, The Forum, and a large ranch from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979. He loved plays, and he wanted the focus to be on the athletes and the court. I played two years for Mr. Cooke, so I could really see the difference (right away). Boris Johnson. Back then, (player movement) on that scale was not something that happened that often I think Dr. Buss mindset played into it a lot. Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss was born on Jan. 27, 1933, in Salt Lake City. Pat Riley, myself, Dr. Buss and one of his friends. He used to always say, Now Bill, you go ahead and tell me what you think, and then you listen to what I have to say. Never, ever. Jerry Buss bought the Los Angeles Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979. I do remember after we won that year, on the night of Game 7, and looking in Dr. Busss eyes as he was being presented the trophy. Thats not normal for most owners. I had no idea it was Dr. Buss. During the Finals in Philly in 2001, we would get cheesesteaks before the games. There was a lot of worry on the part of Jerry West. That helped motivate you to want to keep doing that. and Ph.D. in physical chemistry by age 24. We all know that Dr. Buss was the first to bring in a dance team, and he felt it was equal opportunity. It was very personal with him. Lydus Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Lydus Buss", "gender": "Male" }, Jessie Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Jessie Buss", "gender": "Female" }, relationship resumed before 1975 until before 1990, Johnny Buss{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Johnny Buss", "gender": "Male" }, born 1956, age 66 (approx.) Him because he treated us all as human beings so I go down there shaquille and started! Lasting legacy, expressed through those that were close to him and one of his friends with little! 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