Kind of a unique thing, against the same team (Boston). He always treated me very well. 5 stars - Magic was worth every accolade or attention he got, because he carried us. His dream was to own the Lakers, my dream was just to be a part of it, and we became part of a team that goes down in history, and then he built another one when he got Shaq and Kobe. So when you talk about him not being a person who would yell or be a tyrant or throw things to motivate, he was a teacher, and he knew how to motivate people. [7] On February 14, 2013, it was revealed that Buss had been battling cancer since 2012. That was an absolutely incredible gesture on his part, which I always appreciated, to say the least. On May 29, 2007, Buss was issued a citation for driving under the influence after two California Highway Patrol officers saw him driving his gold Mercedes-Benz on the wrong side of the road in the coastal community of Carlsbad in northern San Diego County, with a 23-year-old woman passenger. The Buss siblings have occasionally butted heads in the past, such as with the hiring of coach Mike DAntoni over Phil Jackson, the fiance of one of the Buss children. Jessie Buss Cause Of Death? privacy policy | Thats when I learned, in my life, you can tell a lot about someone with how they treat someone else that can do nothing for them. Im going through a bunch of different players throughout the league, and I remember he just looks at me after four or five hours, and he goes, You know you were always so quiet, and I thought you didnt know (stuff). Donald Trump. And after a few bad games, hed send his driver to me after the game and say, Hey Ill be picking you up tomorrow at 6 p.m., and wed go sit down and have dinner. 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. In 1978, at age 33, he became owner of the team following his father's death. She surprised us doing a great job running the Forum. My dad just figured hed last another 10 years and that Joey and Jesse would start taking over the basketball side and Jimmy would start retiring and that would be it. He was that dude. I believe I've accomplished that.". Buss earned a scholarship to the University of Wyoming, graduating with a B.S. When the deal was complete that Dr. Buss bought the Lakers, we had lunch, and we hung out for the whole weekend. Michael Cooper and James Worthy getting back on defense, West introduces Shaq as a Los Angeles Laker, Joey Buss celebrates with his father after the Lakers' Championship in 2002. Everybody today should be thanking him. I think its because he commanded that respect. He had to liquidate everything, practically, to get it. Whos your favorite band? We owned a box at the Forum as a family, so we went to a lot of events, and it was the beginning of him seeing an opportunity and pursuing it with a passion that when you own these kinds of teams, you feel, as an owner, that the team is going to somebody who cares about it as much as you do. I get up, I go there at 10 a.m. to his office (at the Forum) and they tell me I have to wait, Dr. Buss is in a meeting with Jerry West. Never embarrassed anybody. Thats pretty good. When Jerry Buss died, the Lakers were passed on through four trusts that split 66% of the franchise among his six children. Before that we had the (NBA) Draft, and we traded Vlade Divac, and we got back a player that frankly I thought was the best player in the Draft (Kobe Bryant). Dr. Buss was incredible as an owner. I think the everyday element had taken its toll, so he probably was spending more time with his family and a little bit less with the team. We always talked about why I did the business I did and how it was going to work. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. Or hed ask us about contracts, and certain trade scenarios. 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. It is believed to be correct at the time of inputting and is presented here in good faith. We won big. 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. Jerry Buss had an on-off relationship with. Life is funny that way. He just said he was going to get (expletive) done. I hope he was looking down happy, and we hoped that the Buss family was happy with everything. He just really capped it off and said what we all were thinking. But before we start streaming, let's learn a few things about the man who brought "Showtime" to Los Angeles. With the Lakers, it was one man. He called Jerry, and it was done. So I had the surgery, and one of the first phone calls I got when I got home was from Dr. Buss, just calling to check in on me. We didnt plan to meet, but after work one time, I stopped at Dan Tanas by myself. It's always been about putting it back into the team.. Hed always end the discussion with something like, Mitch, thats my opinion but youre the expert and Ill trust your judgment. Now, the one thing that was unique about him, if it ever involved numbers, I never saw him ever write anything down or calculate anything in shorthand or with a calculator or anything like that. I think Dr. Buss always had a plan in life. Hed ask me a lot of questions about how we played, what I thought and so forth. Bryant captured two more rings without O'Neal to close out that decade. 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. Not just the owner-player, employer-employee relationship. I think I hurt his feelings, Johnny said. Back then, (player movement) on that scale was not something that happened that often I think Dr. Buss mindset played into it a lot. I think when you have success, its just different. During the Finals in Philly in 2001, we would get cheesesteaks before the games. He really wanted to own the team.. In the late 1980s, we were living in Encinitas, California, and my father was home with a family friend, and they needed to go watch the Lakers game against Boston, so they locked themselves up in his bedroom. People thought it meant you had to have a superstar, but it really wasnt about that, it was about the winning, and then people would see the superstars because we were winning. Jeanie currently serves as the Lakers' owner and president. He revealed that he wasnt very interested in the familys sports ownership business, and his interest further diminished after his fathers death. Dr. Buss never sat and waited a month or two. Jerry Busss other two sons, Joey and Jesse, are also a part of the LA Lakers operations. I just wanted some of that Salisbury steak and a good meal. Well before his passing on Feb. 2013 at the age of 80, the Lakers' former longtime owner Jerry Buss had set up the family trust for his children, Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Joey, Jesse and Janie.. 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. Funeral arrangement under the care ofFox Funeral Home, Fox Funeral Home 1116 N 19th St, Beatrice, NE 68310, St. John Lutheran Church 701 N 6th St, Beatrice, NE 68310. I think thats what he always wanted, for this to be a family business, where we all work together. I said, Were trying to repeat, and I know you love winning championships, and a key piece of that is Lamar Odom. With 10 NBA championships under his belt, Jerry was the single most decorated owner in sports history. He was a mentor to me in a lot of ways. If you got up five miles over the speed limit, hed say, What are you doing? And he loved Italian food. We just stayed the course. I cant do that! He said, Well thats what I had in mind. I said, I cant pick up the tab for a whole group of people! And that was the end of our betting routine. I asked, What did Kobe think, and my dad had talked to Kobe on the phone, and Kobe said, Yeah, I can win with this dude. We had the injury to Andrew and Trevor Ariza that year and ran into the Celtics in the Finals, but we showed big improvement from the year before, and ended up winning the next two years. Naming rights. He talked to the janitors, the people that cleaned Staples Center. That was his vision. Many Los Angeles Lakers fans mourned the passing of the teams primary owner, Jerry Buss, on Monday. We were just sitting there talking, and that was a pretty special moment. I understood him, because he was a man that loved to have fun, but he was also very competitive at everything. Coincidentally, I went to work out the next morning, and I was looking for gyms out there. As a player, you have to put your trust in the organization and some organizations nowadays have so many different shareholders and board members and people that are making decisions by committee and all this crazy stuff. He understood that the Lakers became the hottest ticket in town, and then the hottest ticket in the NBA. A true genius from a business standpoint, Dr. Buss built his wealth by mastering the real estate game, and quickly applied what hed learned over the years to his sports and entertainment properties. I thank him for not telling Jerry West, No, I dont want him, I want you to find somebody else.. 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.. But Wrigley was also the name of the family who owned the team, and also the name of their chewing gum, Wrigleys Spearmint Gum. I knew he and Magic were really close. He took great pride in having a holiday party and distributing holiday gifts to the corporate clients and all of his close circle, and hed painstakingly, himself, go through everything to pick everything that was meaningful that he thought people would really love. We were out there on family vacation, and (Dr. Buss) was in Italy, and he hopped a plane to come sit with me. I was a nervous wreck the entire game, and we won the game, and I delivered the best that I could at the time. Theyll like that! Bit by bit, hed put his personal love in every selection and make sure that at least during the Holidays, all the people that meant something to him got something meaningful. That was a big thing for both of us. He taught me everything. It means more, and it means more because of this one man, and everything that came from it. 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. Were just talking basketball for hours, until 2 a.m., and Im telling him about how I love being a talent evaluator. Dr. Buss was incredibly intuitive and in touch with the fans from a business standpoint. What people dont realize is that Phil (Jackson) and them called me when we were about to lose Lamar Odom, and said, youre the only one (Dr. Buss) will listen to. I had no idea it was Dr. Buss. It wasnt out of fear, it was out of respect, that players wanted to play hard for him. And drafting Magic was huge. I was a senior in high school, and my dad would explain it to us kids like, Could you imagine to going to every Laker game? He was once an heir to his father Jerry Busss kingdom, but insists the sports world never quite interested him. I had someone in my mind, me coming from the South, who was going to be really distinguished and have a suit on, and youd be able to know who the owner was right away as soon as you seen him. 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. Jerry played an important role as owner of the Lakers, ensuring that basketball become more than a sport, but also a spectacle. But in February Johnny and his brother Jim proposed a board of directors that did not include their sister. He would call me in some days and hed say Hey, hey, be a coach. We drafted Ronny, were ready to sign him, but first we sent him in for a physical exam. The whole franchise. Buss Family Trust is a 66% controlling ownership of the Lakers passed to Jerry Buss' six children via a trust, with each child receiving an equal vote (11% for each child). I dont know if its Jerry West, or if its Magic, I dont know whats going on. I just couldnt believe it. Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) February 18, 2013 His daughter, Jeanie, took over the Lakers in March 2017. He came up with the concept of the floor seats, and making them the most special seat in any sporting event anywhere. Recently he has become a father figure to Demel's. Buss made several key moves in his early years as the team's owner, most notably selecting Magic Johnson with the No. 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. Shortly thereafter, we got Pau Gasol, and the rest is history. 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. Jim played an important role in the teams scouting decisions and worked his way up the sports teams hierarchy. After about 40 minutes, I said, Weve seen enough. But it was really through (his agent Arn Tellum) and the Bryant family, that (teams passed on him). They didnt sell the naming rights, they (used their name). 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. He was always like that. There was no question about that. Given that the Winning Time season finale takes place in 1980, only Johnny and Jim appear in the episode. We knew when we got on that plane and we were going to beat the Celtics in Game 6. That was a big part of growing up for all of us. It was just great to be able to watch and learn. See the Elon Musk family tree here at FameChain. We didnt have 10 people doing it. The Lakers were the crown jewel. Thats one thing different about Dr. Buss different from owners back in the day he was a celebrity too. Dr. Buss said how proud he was of us to be there in the Finals, and it was just a nice moment. Such a meaningful and historical figure to all of us that who love this game and this League. He was going to build a championship team no matter what it takes. [5] In January 2008, Buss donated $7.5 million to USC's Department of Chemistry to fund two endowed chairs and an endowed scholarship fund for chemistry graduate students; the two chairs were to be named after his mentors at USC, professors Sidney Benson and David Dows. with Karen Demel Jesse Buss born 1988, age 34 (approx.) But we were able to do it together. It was really vivid and authentic. 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. But thats how I got to know him and the Buss family. Buss always referred to the Lakers as his extended family, and his players rewarded his fanlike excitement with devotion, friendship and two hands full of championship rings. Id just moved up to live with him in Playa Vista in 2006, and late one night after a game he was drinking wine. Money has never been a part of my being. 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. But once we acquired Shaq and Kobe, we started beating them more often than they were beating us. And he had an ability to let Bill Sharman, Jerry West, Pete Newell make important decisions that he didnt have the background to make. Then he started to go to Italy for a month. I didnt really have an agent at the time. I was just looking at my dad in awe, with how incredible that was. When Earvin announced he was HIV positive, it was a tough day. 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. 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