First Sonics owner brought passion, title to Seattle

Sam Schulman, who headed the ownership group that brought Seattle its first modern-day professional sports franchise in 1967 and then celebrated with fans 11 years later as the SuperSonics won what remains the city's lone world championship, died of a blood disease Thursday at his Los Angeles home. He was 93.

A Los Angeles businessman with a strong Brooklyn accent and steady grin, Mr. Schulman's adventuresome nature fueled the dramas that gripped the city in the early days of the franchise, from his relentless pursuit of players the NBA wanted to ban to his hunkering down during a protracted contract holdout with one of the team's most popular players.

"Sam was kind of a maverick," said Lenny Wilkens, who coached the 1978-79 Sonics championship team and lives on the Eastside. "He loved the fans here. He got to see the franchise grow and develop and it gave him a lot of pleasure, especially when we won the championship. No one was prouder than Sam. It was a great time in Sonics history."

His wife of 62 years, Sylvia, said yesterday that her husband never took off his Sonics championship ring until she took it off for him during his final hospital stay. He enjoyed regaling whomever would listen with stories of the team's championship run and his successful and ground-breaking court battle with the NBA that resulted in underclassmen and high-school players being given the right to go pro.

"He was a competitor," said John Johnson, a starting forward for the championship team. "He wanted to win."

Mr. Schulman, who had bought the expansion team with business partner Eugene Klein for $1.7 million, sold it to Barry Ackerley in 1983 for $21 million. As Ackerley's Sonics struggled on the court, he told The Seattle Times in 1986 that he regretted his decision.

"I wish to express my sincere apology to the people in Seattle for selling the club to Mr. Ackerley, who left me with the impression that he would be a good, aggressive owner who would continue my efforts to bring Seattle a winning and entertaining team," he said.

Mr. Schulman's Sonics had their own share of front-office missteps, however. He wasted money on high-profile free agents who didn't pan out, including Jim McDaniels and John Brisker. He created great excitement in the city when he brought in legendary Boston Celtics player and coach Bill Russell to lead the team in 1973 but then endorsed his exit after four mediocre years.

"I made mistakes, but I had the motivation of building a winner," Mr. Schulman said during the 1986 Times interview.

Gutsy and outspoken, Mr. Schulman took on the NBA policy that prohibited the drafting and signing of players who had not completed their college eligibility. In 1970, he signed Spencer Haywood, a star forward with the Denver Rockets of the rival American Basketball Association. Haywood had signed with the Rockets as a "hardship case" after completing his sophomore year at the University of Detroit.

The NBA and Mr. Schulman fought over Haywood's eligibility in court — and the Sonics owner won, forcing the NBA into a settlement that changed the rules. That ushered in an new era in the NBA, which has resulted in players such as Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett entering the NBA early.

"He opened that door for a lot of people," Wilkens said.

In a 1997 interview, Mr. Schulman said the fight over Haywood was "a matter of principle. I couldn't see any logical reason for keeping a man from making a living. I thought it was unconstitutional."

Zollie Volchok, president and general manager for almost all of Mr. Schulman's tenure, said the Sonics owner also pushed to add the three-point shot, used in the ABA at the time, to the NBA repertoire.

"Other owners were none too happy with Sam doing these things," Volchok said. "They felt things were best left alone."

Patti Feldman, one of Mr. Schulman's two daughters, said her father considered the 1978-79 Sonics championship the highlight of his life. Schulman fired Russell's replacement in 1977-78, Bob Hopkins, after a 5-17 start, replacing him with Wilkens, who was a Sonics player-coach from 1969 to 1972. The team won 10 in a row and made an improbable run to the NBA Finals, losing the seventh game at home to the Washington Bullets.

"The players called him 'Hollywood Sam,' " said Johnson, who retired in 1982 and now lives in Bellevue. "I think he enjoyed the label we gave him because he liked the bright lights. And yet he never acted like he was someone special.

"He was like one of the boys. He had brimstone and fire in his belly, and I thought he was a great owner."

Mr. Schulman took considerable heat from fans when Gus Williams, one of the stars of the championship team, sat out the 1980-81 season over a contract dispute. Schulman said in the 1986 Times interview that his hard-line approach to the negotiations carried a purpose.

"I don't know of any other owner who got a player to sit out an entire season to get the other owners to see some common sense in what we were paying these players," he said.

Bob Blackburn, who was the Sonics' play-by-play voice for the first 25 years of the franchise, said Mr. Schulman made the Sonics a family.

"After the Sonics won the championship, he gave to every Sonics player and everyone in higher management, including myself, a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Lake Tahoe, along with $200 in gambling money," Blackburn said. "He was an owner that was just so happy to have won the championship."

When the Sonics wives raised money for various charities, Mr. Schulman matched the contributions, Blackburn said. Mr. Schulman also was an early supporter of women's collegiate sports through scholarships, he said.

Mr. Schulman remained active until suffering a mild stroke in 1997. Until then, he would play tennis regularly with his grandchildren — and beat them, Sylvia Schulman said.

"He never denied his family anything," she said. "He was the most wonderful father and husband. I once wrote a Chinese cookbook and he gave it out to every single season-ticket holder. My publisher couldn't believe it!"

Although Mr. Schulman never lived in Seattle full-time, "the city was very, very special to him," his wife said.

"He was a SuperSonics fan," said Jack Sikma, who played center on the championship team and lives on the Eastside. "He was a little bit of a rebel and tried to find ways to do what he could to make it a better product and a better team. I know he was very proud of the championship team and he really enjoyed that couple-year ride."

A private celebration of his life is Friday in the Los Angeles area. Mr. Schulman is survived by wife Sylvia; two daughters, Patti Feldman of Westlake Village, Calif., and Susan Begley, of Palm Desert, Calif.; two grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; and two step-great-grandchildren. Memorials are to Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, Mass., 02454, and Women Helping Women Services, 543 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90036.

Stuart Eskenazi: 206-464-2293 or seskenazi@seattletimes.com