Business and Financial, Poker Players, Sports, Basketball
In brief :
Gerald H. "Jerry" Buss (born 1934) is a former real estate developer, a basketball team owner, and poker player. Raised near Kemmerer, Wyoming, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Wyoming and, at age 24, completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC).
He taught at USC before going into real estate.Buss first forayed into sports ownership during the 1970's, becoming an owner or part owner at various times of various teams in the ill-fated first incarnation of World Team Tennis. However, he is most notable for being the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He purchased the team, along with the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, The Forum, and a large ranch, from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979. The price tag, $67.5 million, made the deal the largest transaction in sports history at that time. Buss later sold the Kings, retaining ownership of the Lakers and The Forum. He then reached a major advertising agreement with Great Western Savings & Loan for the naming rights to The Forum, resulting in the official name of the building being changed to the "Great Western Forum".
Later, when the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was formed, Buss took charge of operating that league's Los Angeles franchise, the Los Angeles Sparks. Eventually, all three teams moved into a more modern arena in downtown Los Angeles: Staples Center, which opened in 1999. As part of the deal to move the Lakers into Staples Center, Buss sold the Great Western Forum (which was later reverted to its original name).
The Lakers have been very successful under Buss' ownership, winning eight NBA championships with such players as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant. The Sparks have also experienced their share of success with Buss at the helm, having thus far won two WNBA championships and featuring one of the league's marquee players in Lisa Leslie.
In 2002, when the WNBA was restructured to give its teams individual owners (previously, all WNBA teams were collectively owned by the NBA), Buss assumed outright ownership of the Sparks.
Buss' children are also involved with his teams. Son Jimmy Buss serves as an assistant general manager with the Lakers. Son Johnny Buss serves as the president of the Sparks. And daughter Jeanie Buss serves as a Lakers vice president, covering business operations. She has gained additional notoriety from having posed for Playboy magazine and from her current romantic relationship with Lakers' head coach Phil Jackson.
Buss also owned the less successful (both financially and on the field) Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. The Lazers also played in The Forum. The team folded in 1989 and the league folded three years later.
Jerry Buss has been a high-stakes cash game poker player for many years, but recently he has been more active in tournament games. His best finishes include 3rd in the 1991 World Series of Poker seven card stud event and 2nd place in the 2003 World Poker Tour invitational.
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