Trav's Thoughts

Dr Jerry Buss, owner of the LA Lakers, has died from complications related to cancer.  He was 80 years old.

Dr Buss' life traveled from a depression-era breadline to the University of Wyoming to USC.  He was a Ph.D. in physical chemistry by the time he was 24, then founded a real estate empire with business partner Frank Mariani.

His success in real estate allowed him to purchase the Lakers in 1979.

I am not, nor ever have been, a fan of the NBA.  I'm a Lakers fan.  I was a fan of the Lakers before 1979, but Dr Buss drafted Magic Johnson that year to play with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, Norm Nixon, and Jamaal Wilkes...and won the first of 5 championships in the Showtime era under head coach Pat Riley.

Then Dr Buss brought Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal to be the core of a team that won 3 more championships under head coach Phil Jackson.  Swap out O'Neal for Pau Gasol and add 2 more championships for a total of 10 during Dr Buss' ownership.

From 1979 to 2012, the Lakers won 10 championships in 16 finals appearances.  They played in the finals 8 out of the 10 years in the 1980s.  The only other franchise to have that kind of success in a 33 year span is Boston, which won 16 championships from 1957 to 1990, 8 of them in a row from 1959 to 1966. 

I don't know much else about Dr Buss.  I just know that he owned my favorite team and was responsible for bringing some of my favorite players to my favorite team.  And that's good enough for me.