Pat Williams, a longtime NBA govt who constructed the 1982-83 NBA champion Philadelphia 76ers as their normal supervisor and co-founded the Orlando Magic, died on Wednesday in Orlando, Fla. He was 84.
His loss of life, in an Orlando hospital, was introduced by the Magic. The trigger was issues from viral pneumonia, staff officers mentioned.
“His accomplishments will at all times be remembered,” Magic chairman Dan DeVos and Magic CEO Alex Martins mentioned in a joint assertion. “Armed along with his ever-present optimism and unparalleled power, he was an unimaginable visionary who helped remodel the world of sports activities in a number of methods. From bringing the Magic to Orlando, to remodeling sports activities advertising and marketing and promotions, he was at all times forward of the curve. Pat without end modified the sports activities panorama in Orlando.”
After stints as the overall supervisor of the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks, Williams spent 12 years because the 76ers’ GM. His greatest transfer: finishing a commerce that despatched Julius Erving’s rights from the New York Nets to the Sixers. Within the years forward, Williams augmented the Sixers’ roster by drafting guards Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney and by buying and selling for then-reigning NBA MVP Moses Malone. Led by Erving and Malone, Philadelphia posted a 65-17 regular-season file in 1982-83 and swept the Los Angeles Lakers within the NBA Finals.
In 1986, Williams left the 76ers and joined Orlando-area businessman Jimmy Hewitt to work to deliver an NBA growth staff to Orlando. On the outset, many observers thought-about the hassle a misplaced trigger. However Williams, an skilled promoter who regarded former major-league baseball franchise proprietor Invoice Veeck as considered one of his heroes, satisfied the NBA board of governors to award a staff to Orlando.
“It’s laborious to check that it could have come to fruition with out him and with out Jimmy Hewitt,” Martins instructed The Athletic in 2019.
“If it weren’t for Pat’s efforts in rallying the neighborhood and serving to individuals perceive what the NBA {and professional} sports activities have been all about, it’s very believable that the staff wouldn’t be right here and the NBA wouldn’t be in Orlando,” Martins mentioned.
In a press release launched early Thursday morning, NBA commissioner Adam Silver mentioned: “There isn’t a Orlando Magic with out Pat Williams. He was held in such excessive regard within the basketball neighborhood and was a good friend to me and so many generations of league executives. Pat was by no means at a loss for a form and supportive phrase and at all times introduced nice enthusiasm, power and optimism to every little thing he did all through his greater than 50 years within the NBA.”
Williams labored because the Magic’s normal supervisor from the staff’s inception till 1996. Throughout his tenure, he drafted Shaquille O’Neal at No. 1 in 1992 and, armed with one other first choose in 1993, traded Chris Webber for Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway and three future first-round picks.
In 2011, Williams introduced he had been recognized with a number of myeloma, a treatable however incurable illness. A 12 months later, he obtained the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame.
In recent times, Williams usually attended Magic house video games, sitting in a lower-bowl seat, sporting a Hawaiian shirt and studying a ebook throughout intermissions.
In 2019, when he retired from a largely ceremonial place with the Magic, he mentioned: “Though I’m retired from basketball, I’m not retiring from life. I’m not a golfer. I’m not a fisherman. I don’t play shuffleboard.”
“And I’m actually getting revved up for the subsequent chapter of my life,” he added. “I’m a builder, you see. … As I look forward, beginning this afternoon, I’m leaping into the constructing half once more, whereas I nonetheless have good well being.”
He spent the ultimate years of his life trying to deliver a Main League Baseball staff to Orlando.
Williams is survived by his spouse, Ruth, and their 19 kids, 14 of whom have been adopted.
“He cherished a problem, and when he moved our household to Orlando to begin the Magic, he was full of pleasure and power that he displayed on daily basis,” the Williams household mentioned in a press release launched Wednesday.
“All of us grew up believing that something is feasible due to his unwavering enthusiasm for what he was obsessed with. Those that attended the video games, noticed him at church, or hung out with him in a social setting know that he by no means met a stranger and was at all times fast with an encouraging phrase. He was a giver, a trainer, the final word cheerleader, and he was a life-long learner. He cherished to learn and he cherished his books. However an important factor was that he was fast to speak about his relationship with Jesus.”
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(Picture of Pat Williams and Jimmy Hewitt: Courtesy of the Orlando Magic)
