Gerald Hatten Buss, AKA Jerry Buss is the owner of the NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. He was born on  January 27, 1934 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Besides owning the Lakers, Buss is the owner of other professional sports franchises in southern California as well.

In 1953 Buss worked his way through college while attending the University of Wyoming. He graduated with a B.S. degree in only two and a half years. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, California and enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC), where by the age of 24, he earned a Masters degree and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.

After graduating from USC, Buss worked as a chemist for the Bureau of Mines, which is now called the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Buss then worked for a short time in the aerospace industry and he was on the faculty at USC in the chemistry department.

Buss then went into real estate, which he got into in order to provide a steady income for himself while also continuing to teach at USC. The first investment he ever made was in the 1960s when he invested $1,000 in a West Los Angeles apartment building. After achieving substantial success in that endeavor, he decided to pursue real estate on a full time basis and give up teaching altogether.

Buss first delved into sports franchise ownership when he became an owner in World Team Tennis. Then in 1979, he dove into sports ownership with a frenzy when he purchased the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA along with the Los Angeles Kings hockey team of the NHL, The Forum, and a large ranch from Washington Redskins owner, Jack Kent Cooke, who owned all of them at the time.

At the time, with the purchase price of $67.5 million, it made the deal the largest transaction in sports history. Buss later sold the Kings, but he retained the ownership of the Lakers and The Forum.

Later on, he reached a major advertising deal with Great Western Bank for the naming rights to The Forum. This is the reason why the official name of the building was changed to the Great Western Forum at the time.

When the WNBA originally formed, Buss took charge of operating the Los Angeles Sparks, the WNBA’s Los Angeles franchise. Eventually, all three teams, the Lakers, The Sparks, and the Kings all moved into a more modern arena in downtown Los Angeles, the Staples Center, which opened in 1999. Buss sold the Great Western Forum, which was later changed back to just “The Forum”.

Under Buss’ ownership, The Lakers have been very successful and have won nine NBA championships. Star players have been the norm for the Lakers since Buss took over ownership with such players as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant. The WNBA Sparks have also been very successful with Buss as the owner, winning two WNBA championships.

When the WNBA was restructured in 2002 to give its teams individual owners, Buss took over as the outright owner of the Sparks. In 2006, he sold the Sparks. Buss was also the owner of the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and they also played in The Forum. In 1989, the team folded, and the league folded all together three years later.

The Lakers won their fifteenth NBA world championship this past June by beating the Orlando Magic 4-1 in the best of seven series.

Besides owning professional sports franchises, Buss has a huge interest in high stakes poker. He has been a high-stakes cash poker player for many years, but recently he has expanded and has been more involved in official tournament games.

His best finishes in tournament poker games include placing 3rd in the 1991 World Series of Poker seven-card stud event and taking 2nd place in the 2003 World Poker Tour Freeroll invitational. Buss has appeared on the NBC Poker After Dark late-night series and the GSN High Stakes Poker series.

Buss does not keep the sports franchise business all to himself though as his children are also involved with his teams. His son Jimmy Buss is the assistant general manager with the Lakers and his son Johnny Buss was the president of the WNBA Sparks until the point when Buss sold the team. His daughter Jeannie Buss is the President of the Lakers Youth Foundation, is also a Lakers vice president, in which she handles all of the Lakers business operations.

Jeannie gained national attention and exposure when she posed nude for Playboy magazine and because she is currently in a romantic relationship with Phil Jackson, the Lakers' head coach.

Buss is still I involved with USC, although not in teaching. Buss donated $7.5 million to USC's Department of Chemistry in January of 2008 to fund two endowed chairs and an endowed scholarship fund for chemistry graduate students. The two chairs were to be named after professors Sidney Benson and David Dows who were his mentors at USC. Buss is also an inaugural member of the USC College Board of Councilors.

Buss is not without flaws by any means though. In May of 2007, Buss was arrested for drunk driving and issued a DUI citation. Two California Highway Patrol officers saw him driving his gold Mercedes-Benz on the wrong side of the road with a 23 year-old woman in the passenger seat in the coastal community of Carlsbad in northern San Diego County. Buss was pulled over, given a field sobriety test, which he failed. Buss at that point was arrested and taken into custody. He was given a blood test and booked on suspicion of driving while intoxicated because his blood-alcohol level was over the legal limit of 0.08.

Looking back, Lakers fans have to feel rather foolish for calling out Buss after he dealt star center Shaquille O'Neal and continually putting up with Kobe Bryant's repeated trade demands in the media. Nowadays though, all is good in Lakerland once again, as the organization has rebuilt the team into what possibly may be the third dynasty of Buss' tenure with the Lakers.

The Lakers have made the NBA postseason 28 times during the 31 years that Buss has owned the team. The Lakers have won more than 60 games eight times, and have eight championships in 14 NBA Finals appearances during Buss’ reign.

Underneath all the glitz and glamour of the L.A. Lakers is a class organization that holds on tight to its tradition, and owner Jerry Buss is the engine that makes it all go!