At the end of the 70s, the NBA was still seeing what its future was. A few years ago it had merged with the old ABA, that league that played with colored ball and tried to give some entertainment to a sport that did not seduce fans like NFL football or baseball did.
In that famous tense calm in the world of professional basketball was that a man emerged with sunglasses, produced hairstyle, fashionable jeans and an open shirt that showed his chest to revolutionize locals and strangers. When Dr. Jerry Buss became the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, no one thought it would bring about the drastic change he drove. Moreover, many believed that it would be passing through and that the purchase of the equipment had been another whim of the many that led him to shape his fortune in the real estate world.
Before amassing some $350 million, he suffered a stark childhood as a result of the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930s that affected the United States. A native of Wyoming, a state in the West, he lined up with his mother to get bread to eat. As time went on, while going to elementary school, he also got up in the middle of the morning to dig trenches in frozen soil to help his stepfather in his plumbing business.
“That was my contribution to the family. Then, after three or four hours of this, I was supposed to go to school,” Buss recalled in an interview about the mandates of his mother's new husband. While in freshman year of high school, he left school to go to work at a train station and start saving his own money. Then, thanks to the fact that they provided him with a scholarship, he graduated from university and earned a doctorate in physicochemistry.
But everything changed for Dr. Jerry when he partnered with several investors and together with his partner bought a 14-apartment building to rent them. That was the move that changed his economy. And just like that, 20 years later, the best chance of his life knocked on his door.
Beyond being a character who regularly frequented the Playboy mansion to visit his friend Hugh Hefner, and who was designated at the time for being a great host to organize parties that ended at dawn, Buss' intention was to immerse himself definitively in the world of sports. Who appeared at his destination? A well-known franchise in the NBA, but at last, one more that hid behind the multiple conquests of a league dominated by the Boston Celtics of Red Auerbach.
So in 1979, after contract engineering that surprised everyone, Dr. Buss became the owner of the Lakers after buying the equipment from Jack Kent Cook, the then owner and another millionaire. The chronicles of the time tell that, in the package, it was not only the basketball team that acquired the man accustomed to meeting celebrities and going out on dates with models after the separation of his first wife.
Once an army of lawyers finalized the details of the sale, the new owner took over the squad that had Kareem Abdul Jabbar as its leader and captain plus the NHL Los Angeles Kings ice hockey team, the Forum in Inglewood (the stadium where both franchises played at home) and the 13,000 Raljon ranch acres in Sierra Nevada in exchange for $67.5 million. In return, Buss handed over money and the lease agreement for the Chrysler Building in New York and various properties in Virginia, Massachusetts and Maryland.
With control in his hands, Buss made the first big decision of his sporting life. Despite what the then Lakers coach and team legend Jerry West might think, the Doc knew he needed a little magic to change the present of a team that came from losing in the playoffs. That's why he chose the best college basketball player of the moment: Earvin Johnson, who had just won the NCAA tournament with Michigan State, and became No. 1 in the Draft.
“When he bought the Lakers, we had lunch and hung out together all weekend. We talk about his vision and all sorts of things. He was a first time owner. I was a rookie. We really hit it off. It was really tremendous. He took me to some parties and different places, introduced me to people, and it was a great moment,” Magic recalled about how he met Buss.
“We used to eat, hang out by the pool and talk after the morning session, and then, after the evening session, we often went to dinner together. We just clicked. There was something between the two of them. I wasn't owner-player, it was two guys hanging out. I think he knew that, when I was 20 years old and alone, he became a father figure to me. He understood that I needed that, and I would have been lost here in this big city,” added the historic Lakers' No. 32 about the relationship he forged.
Beyond focusing on changing the mentality of the entire franchise to transform it into a winner on the court, Jerry Buss' big bet on his arrival in the NBA was to want to change the offer for viewers. With the mandate that the Los Angeles Forum become what celebrations stood for at their Pickfair mansion in Beverly Hills, the concept of entertainment in professional basketball was born.
How did he do it? One of the first steps was to transform the classic cheerleaders who encouraged the team in the Lakers Girls, dancers who could seduce those present with a choreography worthy of the best albums of the time. Another key decision was to offer Hollywood celebrities front-row spots to watch the games and to have the stadium become a space where everyone wanted to go. This is how the Forum renewed its face with the electric game proposed by Magic before the watchful eye of actors like Jack Nicholson - it became a habit for decades - or music stars like Rod Stewart.
Behind the scenes, Dr. Buss also set out to offer celebrities a club within the same venue so that, once the game was over, they would have fun. “The Forum Club... there was never a more fashionable nightclub inside a building. It created new sources of income; that's why everyone now has a club. Dr. Buss created that. Once, we shook everyone. He had Hugh Hefner come with all the girls, and then I invited Michael Jackson. And that's what Dr. Buss wanted, to create a place that could be magical, almost like Disneyland. He understood that the Lakers became the most popular tickets in the city and then the most popular in the NBA,” Johnson said.
Jerry's intention was for the Lakers to become a brand beyond the sport. Something like the New York Yankees had done in baseball over the years. And he succeeded faster than expected. Already in the first year as owner and in the premiere season of Magic, they won the finals against the Philadelphia 76ers to be crowned champions with a stunning performance by Earvin at the age of 20, leading the team with more than 21 points, 11 rebounds and almost 9 assists to be voted the MVP of the finals.
That was the prelude that led them to dominate the 80s in the league, with five titles in eight finals. And the funniest thing for the angels was that in two of those definitions that ended in victory, the rival they beat was Larry Bird's Celtics. The NBA had a new dynasty at the hands of Doctor Buss and the Lakers' Showtime. Until in the early 90s, the emergence of Michael Jordan as a world basketball icon put a pause to the golden age in LA.
After several frustrations, a move by West himself was decisive for Buss and company to enjoy a new winning era again. The Logo, the nickname Jerry received after his figure became the emblem of the NBA, seduced a giant to move from Orlando to California. “It was probably the only time I felt really stressed with the Lakers. After that, I had to go to the hospital for three days. I was emotionally and mentally exhausted,” said the historic player, who later coached and later became an operations manager.
In 1996, Shaquille O'Neal left the Magic and moved to Los Angeles. That was the first piece of the puzzle. The other was to exchange Vlade Divac to Charlotte to stay with the services of Kobe Bryant, a young figure who, at the age of 18, was already referred to by many as the next Jordan. After several years, His Majesty's new retirement triggered the arrival of the missing profile to lead a new and explosive era. Outside Chicago after his fight with the leadership, and after the six championships he won in the Bulls, Phil Jackson signed in '99 as the brand new coach.
The chemistry was immediate, at least on the court. Outside of it, the Zen Master had to deal with the egos of one mega star and another who was in birth. Despite that, Los Angeles won the three-time championship from 2000 to 2022 in their new home, the Staples Center. The winning story followed a few years later. With Shaq's departure, the one who became master and owner of the Lakers was Kobe. Along with their perfect hillside, Spaniard Pau Gasol, the Lakers celebrated two new titles in 2009 and 2010 with a rematch included against Boston after losing the final the previous year.
Soon, Dr. Buss fell ill. Prostate cancer ended his life at age 80, on February 18, 2013, several decades after transforming the way owners ran an NBA franchise. That man with a mustache, mirrored glasses and a t-shirt that showed his chest, left a great legacy that his children continue today. Her second daughter, Jeanie, the one who was always by her side as a young girl when the dream of making the Lakers giant began, is the one who runs the franchise.
“It's strange to have a person who is your mentor, father figure and best friend all rolled into one... And then, when Jeanie called me (to share the news that she had passed away) it was one of the hardest days of my life,” Magic Johnson recalled the moment she learned of the passing of the historic LA owner. With another one he had a special relationship was with Bryant. “He talked about having two children with this franchise, being Magic and me. And that was very special to hear,” confessed the missing Kobe in a tribute to Buss after his death.
The story will tell that Doctor Jerry was the man who imposed the famous Showtime on the Lakers. A smart head who was a beacon for NBA globalization off the pitch, as well as a character who was much more than a man who turned the concept of seeing a franchise into a perfect mix between the Oscars and a celebration of sport like never before.
Their experiences tell it that way. Like the time he gave a Mercedes car to player Michael Cooper after a title or when he kept a former player and then consultant (Rasheed Hazzard) on the franchise payroll who suffered a stroke and continued to contribute to his family. That was the oldest of the Buss, someone who can easily portray the classic American dream they profess in the United States.
A few weeks ago, his name returned to the center of the scene for all of us who are fans of sports and the NBA. With the premiere of the series “Lakers: Time to Win”, the life of Doctor Buss regained importance. And that image lying in the center of the court, scattered, looking almost stunned without understanding how far his dream had come, draws it in an almost perfect way.
KEEP READING: