Jerry Buss, Los Angeles Lakers' owner, dies at 80

[NoGOPZone]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers' playboy owner who shepherded the NBA franchise to 10 championships from the '80s Showtime dynasty to the Kobe Bryant era, died Monday, his assistant said.

Buss died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Bob Steiner, his assistant. He was 80.

He'd been hospitalized for cancer, but the immediate cause of death was kidney failure, Steiner said.

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


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/jerry-buss-los-angeles-lakers-owner-dies-80-164941216--spt.html

[lakercub]

1. Terrible day for Laker fans

RIP Dr. Buss

[Socal31]

2. RIP.

Sad news for me this morning. Thank you for the 5 Championships that I vividly remember. It gave/gives me and my family a healthy excuse to sit around and spend time with each other.

I will be forever grateful for getting to see Shaq and Kobe Bean Bryant play as Lakers, along with the greatest coach of all time, Phil Jackson.

[Leontius]

3. Hate all things about the lakers but Buss was a hell of an owner

Never seemed to need the spotlight and let his basketball people run the organization.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. I read he was the owner...

for 35 years. In that time, his team went to 16 finals, winning ten. Almost 50% of the years he owned them they were finalists- pretty impressive record.