It is the end of an era for the Los Angeles Lakers, as patriarch Jerry Buss died early Monday morning, due to kidney failure--he was 80.
During his Hall of Fame career, Buss accomplished feats that only few owners could match:
Making the NBA finals 16 times through 2011 during his 32 years in charge, winning 10 titles between 1980 and 2010. The Lakers easily are the NBA's winningest franchise since he bought the club, according to Sports Illustrated.
Under Buss' leadership since 1979, the Lakers became Southern California's most beloved sports franchise and a worldwide extension of Hollywood glamour. Buss acquired, nurtured and befriended a staggering array of talented players and basketball minds during his Hall of Fame tenure, reported Sports Illustrated.
"The brand of basketball he implemented in Showtime carried the league when you think about the rivalry that placed between the Lakers and (Boston) Celtics and what that did for the global outreach of the game. It reached me in Italy, and I was only 6 years old," star Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said on Sunday at All-Star Game festivities in Houston, according to USA Today.
Even in his later years, when the NBA started implementing salary caps, Buss kept buying or trading for big-name players--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant to name a few of the standouts.
At a certain point, Buss' Lakers became the dominant sports franchise in town, eclipsing the popularity of the venerable Los Angeles Dodgers, reported USA Today. In its latest NBA valuations, Forbes last month listed the Lakers at $1 billion, second only to the New York Knicks at $1.1 billion.
Reaction poured in on Twitter:
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban -- "RIP Jerry Buss. Your encouragement and support along with your stories of staying true to yourself had an enormous impact on me."
Boxer Oscar de la Hoya -- "Dr. Jerry buss, I will forever be grateful and appreciate all the support you gave me throughout my career. R.I.P."
Buss earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at age 24 and had careers in aerospace and real estate development before getting into sports. With money largely from his Santa Monica real-estate ventures, Buss bought the then-struggling Lakers, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and both clubs' arena - the Forum - from Jack Kent Cooke in a $67.5 million deal that was the largest sports transaction in history at the time, reported Sports Illustrated.
Buss also helped change televised sports by co-founding the Prime Ticket network in 1985, even receiving a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 for his work in television. Breaking the contemporary model of subscription services for televised sports, Buss' Prime Ticket put beloved broadcaster Chick Hearn and the Lakers' home games on basic cable, stated Sports Illustrated.
Buss also sold the naming rights to the Forum in 1988 to Great Western Savings & Loan - another deal that was ahead of its time, according to Sports Illustarted.
He leaves the team in the hands of his son, Jim Buss, who has the team, currently, outside the playoff picture
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