Courtesy: USA Today
The NBA Family lost one of its most successful and beloved members; Dr. Gerald Hatten Buss to cancer at age 80. It was his vision that made the Los Angeles Lakers a great american past time. Dr. Buss believed that watching a professional basketball game should be entertaining and fun. Not dull and technical.
He also belived that you could mix X’s and O’s with uptempo, fast breaking, lane filling basketball, and still be a successful championship franchise. Dr. Buss also exemplified the class and knowledge it took to run a franchise without compromising the foundations of his beliefs. When big money took over free agency he spent with the best of them. He had the sense to put great basketball minds (Jerry West) in charge of his team, and in return reaped the rewards by the boatloads.
Much has been said about Dr. Buss and the way that he ran the Los Angeles Lakers. Yet little has been said about what he did away from the hardwood, in the form of the many millions he has donated to USC (University of Southern California) and the greater Los Angeles community. He had a passion for life and lived it to the fullest. Once again let’s have a moment of silence for the greatest Laker of all time; Dr. Jerry Buss.
