When the Colorado-based interloper George Gillett Jr. purchased hockey’s Montreal Canadiens, many fans feared that he was out to pillage a beloved part of Quebec’s heritage.
asserted
he → base → heritage
The wheeler-dealer, who made – and lost – fortunes from meatpacking, television and professional sports, had earlier sought to purchase at least five other National Hockey League teams.
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who → make → teams
The availability of hockey’s most successful and prestigious franchise was too good an opportunity to pass.
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availability → pass → franchise
In 2001, he paid US$180-million for an 80.1-per-cent stake in the team, as well as ownership of the 21,273-seat Molson (now Bell) Centre, according to Forbes.
uncertain
he → pay → Forbes
The sale created anxiety and apprehension that the Canadiens – a club as integral to Quebec culture as tourtière, Mon pays and the Fête nationale – would be moved south to the new owner’s native land.
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Canadiens → create → land
Those fears turned out to be unfounded, as Mr. Gillett’s tenure as owner marked a revitalization of a storied franchise.
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tenure → turn → franchise
The owner built on the club’s rich legacy.
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owner → build → legacy
Like so many introduced to Montreal, he was smitten by the city, handling the hockey team almost as a public trust.
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he → introduce → trust
The chaos that critics feared from his ownership did later manifest itself in another business deal, as Mr. Gillett’s participation in a heavily leveraged takeover of the famous Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League ended with public demonstrations and a forced sale.
Mr. Gillett, who has died at the age of 87, owned parts of several other sports franchises in his career, including football’s Miami Dolphins, a Nascar auto-racing team and the touring Harlem Globetrotters basketball troupe.
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who → fear → Dolphins
He described each as a business opportunity, insisting he was “no jock sniffer,” a derogatory term for those who seek to hang out with professional athletes.
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who → describe → athletes
He also owned several ski resorts, indulging a personal passion for downhill skiing.
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He → own → skiing
An unorthodox approach to business – his family described him as “a visionary, a disrupter” in a paid death notice – kept him in the headlines for nearly six decades.
Instead of buying low and selling high, he bought high and sold higher.
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he → describe → bought
“The so-called experts have said I’ve paid too much for just about everything I’ve bought, then turn around and say I stole it a couple of years later,” he told the Baltimore Sun in 1986.
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he → call → 1986
George Nield Gillett Jr. was born on Oct. 22, 1938, in Racine, Wis., to the former Alyce Herbert and Dr. George Nield Gillett Sr., a physician and surgeon.
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Jr. → bear → Herbert
He grew up on a 1,200-acre farm with 130 head of dairy cows.
asserted
He → grow → cows
As a young man, he attended Lake Forest Academy and Amherst College before graduating with a liberal arts degree in 1961 from the Dominican College of Racine.
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he → attend → Racine
He was rejected by Harvard Business School.
asserted
He → reject → School
After working in sales for the Crown Zellerbach forest products conglomerate, he became a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
asserted
he → work → McKinsey
In 1966, he joined Racine land developer Willard (Bud) Keland in buying a minor share in the year-old Dolphins, his own participation approved in part because National Football League commissioner Pete Rozelle mistakenly thought he was from the wealthy Gillette safety-razor family.
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he → join → family
Mr. Gillett served briefly as the team’s business manager.
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Gillett → serve → manager
He would later be thwarted in trying to purchase the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints.
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He → thwart → Cowboys
Two years later, he sold his share in the football team and joined with two other partners to purchase the Globetrotters, a moribund barnstorming team on the brink of failure after the death of founder Abe Saperstein.
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he → sell → Saperstein
More of an entertainment than a sports team, the Trotters were no longer filling arenas with their athletic performances since television made professional basketball readily available.
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basketball → fill → performances
Mr. Gillett revived the Globetrotters through dramatic marketing, including a Saturday morning animated cartoon on CBS created by Hanna-Barbera in 1970, introducing the team and such stars as Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon to a new generation.
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Gillett → revive → generation
The cartoon series was the first to air on U.S. television with a predominant cast of Black characters.
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series → air → characters
Back in his home state, he bought a failing meatpacking plant.
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he → buy → plant
He also purchased three small local television stations.
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He → purchase → stations
A believer in the financial benefits of consolidation, he continued to add to his portfolios, accumulating more stations and meatpacking plants, as well as automobile dealerships and ski resorts, the industry closest to his heart.
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he → continue → heart
He had fallen in love with skiing in 1963 on a visit to a year-old resort in Vail, Colo.
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He → fall → Vail
He purchased it in 1985, as well as the Beaver Creek ski resort.
asserted
He → purchase → 1985
He skied at Vail for 135 days in his first-year as owner, wearing a name tag that read, “George, Racine, Wisconsin,” speaking frankly with customers, employees and others doing business with the resort.
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that → ski → resort
He expanded Vail until it became the largest single-mountain resort in the United States.
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it → expand → States
He also attracted the Alpine World Ski Championships to the resort in 1989, 1999 and 2015.
asserted
He → attract → 1989
In a two-year period, Mr. Gillett became owner of the largest group of television network affiliates in the United States through Gillett Holdings Inc.
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Gillett → become → States
He owned 17 stations, including several in major markets, generating substantial cash flow.
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He → own → flow
His approach was to allow his radio and television stations to improve their local coverage even as they were more closely scrutinized for savings.
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they → allow → savings
“If you build on quality and commitment to the community,” he told the New York Times in 1988, “the cash flow will follow.”
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flow → build → 1988
By then, though, his empire was in deep trouble, as purchases partly financed by junk bonds and notes became precarious and vulnerable following the Black Monday stock-market crash in 1987.
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purchases → finance → 1987
The following recession and junk-bond collapse led to a personal bankruptcy after his holding company defaulted on nearly US$1-billion in loans, and he was stripped of the Vail resort and the television stations.
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he → follow → resort
He rebuilt by buying other ski resorts and expanding his ownership of pork and beef processors.
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He → rebuild → processors
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
