Ted Stepien
| Ted Stepien | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Theodore Stepien June 9, 1925 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | September 10, 2007 (aged 82) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation | businessman, sports franchise owner, entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1981–83 as owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers 2003–07 as Founder and Commissioner of the United Pro Basketball League |
Theodore J. "Ted" Stepien (June 9, 1925 – September 10, 2007) was an American businessman who owned the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1980 to 1983. Born in Pittsburgh in 1925, he became wealthy as the founder of Nationwide Advertising Service and purchased an interest in the Cavaliers on April 12, 1980. His tenure as owner of the Cavs was highly controversial, resulting in multiple coaching changes and poor performances by the team, and his management decisions ultimately led the NBA to create what is known as the "Ted Stepien rule" to restrict how teams can trade draft picks. A December 6, 1982 article in The New York Times described the Cavaliers during Stepien's ownership as "the worst club and most poorly run franchise in professional basketball." After selling his interest in the Cavaliers in 1983, he continued to be involved professional basketball, owning teams in the Continental Basketball Association and the Global Basketball Association. Later in life he founded the United Pro Basketball League, along other business ventures in the Cleveland area. He died in 2007 after suffering a heart attack.
Stepien began National Advertising Service in 1947 with just $500. By 1980, it was generating over $80 million a year.
Stepien initially bought 200,000 shares for $2 million to give him a 38% interest in the Cavaliers in mid-1980. Over the next few months, Stepien continued until he eventually acquired 82% control of the team.
On the court, Stepien installed Bill Musselman as the team's head coach. Musselman, who coached the University of Minnesota to the 1972 Big Ten championship, the school's first in 53 years, compiled a 25–46 record with the Cavs before Stepien fired him.
In an interview in December 1980, Stepien said, "No team should be all white and no team should be all black, either. That's what bothers me about the NBA: You've got a situation here where blacks represent little more than 5 percent of the market, yet most teams are at least 75 percent black and the New York Knicks are 100 percent black. Teams with that kind of makeup can't possibly draw from a suitable cross section of fans." He also said that "blacks don't buy many tickets and they don't buy many of the products advertised on TV. Let's face it, running an NBA team is like running any other business and those kind of factors have to be considered." He described his Cavaliers at that time — consisting of six whites and five blacks — as "a balanced team racially, and that's a good reflection on our society because it's balanced too." He described himself as "really big on desegregation" and "for a totally integrated society."
...
Wikipedia