Jerry Buss

Jerry Buss is one of those rare figures who makes you rethink what a sports owner can actually be. The guy earned a PhD in chemistry, quietly built a real estate empire, then bought the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979 and basically invented the modern sports entertainment experience — courtside celebrities, the Forum Club, cheerleaders, the whole spectacle. And then he backed it up with ten NBA championships, including the glorious Showtime era of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980s. He wasn't some absentee billionaire trophy-collecting; he genuinely loved the game, the fans, and the city. Getting inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor felt exactly right. He passed in 2013, but the Lakers' identity he built still runs deep.

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Name (English)

Jerry Buss

Name (Japanese)

ジェリー・バス

Reading

じぇりー・ばす

Born

January 27, 1933 – February 18, 2013

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Rooster

Origin

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Occupation

poker player / businessperson / chemist / basketball player / film producer

University

University of Wyoming

Awards & achievements

• star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry%20Buss
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%82%B9
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1509908

Tags

• Utah
• poker player
• businessperson
• chemist

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.