Photo by Los Angeles Photographers HM

It’s pretty amazing what you’ve accomplished with the L.A. Lakers. Which accomplishment are you most proud of and what else would you like to achieve?
I think the most important championship we won was when we beat Boston on their own home floor. Nobody had ever done that. The Boston fans had to walk out and just accept it. That was special because Los Angeles had been in the same position with Boston many times, so this was the first time the tables were reversed.

The next thing I guess is that Boston has 17 championships, we have 16. I need one more.

You’re a self-made man. Can you tell us a little bit about what your childhood and how that affected you later in life?
I grew up in a very small town in Wyoming. I was born during the Depression so people were very poor. We never went to a store to buy clothes. They were always homemade clothes out of curtains or whatever was left over. I went to high school there and then I went to University of Wyoming. I always liked athletics and I wanted to combine my education with a good athletic background, so I went to USC. They had a history of good athletic teams but also a very good chemistry program. At first I wanted to teach, but by that time I was married and I had a couple of children. The teacher’s salary just wasn’t enough to get along so I started dabbling in real estate, just a little piece here, a little piece there. I got very lucky and all of a sudden it skyrocketed. The next step was to buy the Lakers and the rest is history.

When you decided to pursue other options beyond teaching, was there a reason why you chose real estate?
I had been a consultant for an Eastern firm and as a consultant I looked into many possibilities of profit making, but the one that was glaring at the time was California real estate. People were moving into the state in droves and the land was just going up every year. It was kind of a can’t miss situation.

You have a very impressive streak over the years of making wise personnel decisions—like the decision between Shaq and Kobe. Is there something that guides you when making such decisions?
I think the advantage I might have over other owners is that I’ve been a sports entrepreneur for a very long time. I don’t only follow the Lakers, I follow baseball. I go to track and field. I watch football. If you watch enough sports you really begin to have an appreciation for what a true athlete is. And I think that if I have an edge, that would be it.

You like to play poker, how important is being a gambler or risk taker to business success?
I think you have to gamble a little. I don’t like to encourage gambling too much, but as an example when Kobe Bryant was available in the draft we knew that we would have to have a pretty high draft choice, so we traded Vlade Divacs for a draft choice. That left us without a center and we just gambled that later on we would be able to sign Shaquille O’Neal as our center. Had we not signed Shaquille everything would have been very different. It was just a gamble and it paid off.

Are you and Shaq on good terms?
He was pretty upset about being traded. When somebody is traded they take it very personally and I think at first Shaq was very upset with me. But as time went by he realized these are business decisions. He makes business decisions, I make business decisions. The last time I saw him I said, “Are you still willing to give me a big hug?” and he almost crushed me.

You were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year. What did that honor mean to you?
That’s recognition by your peers and that’s the most important thing. I mean if you walk out in front of a crowd and everybody applauds, you don’t know whether they really know why they’re applauding or whether it just happens to be a good time to walk in front of this crowd. But when you’re honored by your peers, the people who really understand what you’ve accomplished, then that’s very special.

Latinos are some of the most ardent Laker fans, is this something the organization values or has it happened more as a result of where the team is located?
I think that for a long time we’ve tried to cater to the Latin public, way way way before it was popular. As a matter of fact I used to exhibit the Mexican flag at The Forum in the old days. Only two flags are usually allowed, the United States and Canada because Canada has a hockey team. But I decided I wanted the Mexican flag also. And you know this was 30 years ago before it was popular.

A lot has been said about the fact that you appreciate beautiful women and having a good time. Some people are critical of that. What do you say to those people?
My basic feeling is if they could do what I’m doing, they would do it too.

What would you like your legacy to be?
I like the idea of winning championships but if I wanted to be remembered in a particular way it would be that I had great concern and care for each one of my children and tried to raise them as carefully to be as good people as I possibly could. At this stage I have children all the way from 22 to 55 and I’m very very proud of them.

Ok, I have to ask, do you and Jack Nicholson ever hang out?
You know in the earlier days when I was younger I used to sometimes see Jack in different places here and there, but that was a long time ago—not recently. We have kind of a mutual admiration society but that’s as far as it goes.

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