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With just and sadness, Shaq was one of the first to call Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins on Thursday morning after the sad news of the death of Rich DeVos, the owner of the franchise.
That's right, Shaq – The only player who literally and figuratively represents DeVos' most colossal failure as owner of the Magic – wanted to call to pay homage to him. All these years after DeVos accidentally opened the door and allowed Shaq to cross and leave for Los Angeles, does not that mean that the Big Diesel still loves the last owner of Magic and even said that DeVos regretted always leaving Orlando?
"Knowing what I know now, I would have stayed in Orlando," Shaq said when retiring from the NBA. "I regret that [leaving Orlando.] Orlando is where I started and where I had to stay. I regret it because of the DeVos family. They deserve two titles from the NBA.
For me, it will be the lasting legacy of DeVos as owner. No, he has never won a single championship, but he has touched thousands of lives. The coaches he fired (Brian Hill, Matt Guokas, Richie Adubato) came back in the ranks to work for the Magic. And the players he traded (Nick Anderson and Tracy McGrady) were well received in the organization.
And why did the two biggest players in the history of Magic – Shaq and Dwight Howard – both have to leave Orlando to regret it years later?
Martins told the story on Thursday countless times when he ran on the track during warm-ups before the match and was approached by former Magic players playing for opposing teams. Invariably, these players were asking questions about DeVos and were talking about fun, good memories of playing in Orlando.
"I can not tell you how many times players who have been traded or signed or signed contracts elsewhere … they came to tell me that the biggest thing they regretted about their careers was that They left Orlando Magic, "said Martins. "It's because of Rich DeVos and the way he treated them during their stay here."
This was not just the players; DeVos treated Everybody like this.
"Whether you're a ticket taker, a bailiff, a team member, a coach or the CEO, he has always made you feel like the most important person in the world," said Martins.
This is true. DeVos once asked me how was my wife (now ex-wife) and two girls and, to this day, I still do not know how he knew that I was married and had two children. Brian Schmitz, my former colleague from the Sentinel who has been covering DeVos since he bought the team in 1991, remembers seeing DeVos approach a dealer one day to tell him about his family and tell him that he appreciated his work.
"Rich was genuine; I have never felt that I was in the company of a billionaire, "Schmitz says. "He would tease me about the color of a suit I wore. His values were true and simple, as in an episode of The Waltons. But his legacy as an owner was also complicated.
In the minds of many Magic fans, DeVos is the owner who lost big players such as Shaq, T-Mac and Dwight, sacked a great Stan Van Gundy coach and hired GMs like John Weisbrod and Rob Hennigan. . It's hard to call a big landlord when the Magic is in the middle of a losing six-year period, but DeVos handed over control of the team to his kids years ago. I would say that the fall of magic coincided with the aging of DeVos that was not as involved or visible as in the days of magic.
We can debate its politics and its controversial and conservative stance on same-sex marriage, but you can not deny its positive impact on our community. Without DeVos, there might not even be any Orlando Magic. No, he did not bring the team to Central Florida, but he kept it here. The man who started with $ 49 in his basement and who became a self-taught billionaire as co-founder of Amway originally wanted to bring major baseball to Orlando.
As fate would, the baseball effort collapsed almost exactly the same time the fund fell from Magic funding during the franchise's childhood. The financial empire of Bill DuPont, majority owner, collapsed and he had to sell the team. Without DeVos to bail out the property group and buy the team for $ 85 million, it's unclear what would have happened to the franchise.
"Rich saved Magic as the owner when they needed to save," says Schmitz. "He gave them instant credibility and stability, not just with his money but with his motives. … He wanted to make Orlando a better place and his background proved that it was not an ironic speech. The organization, to date, does not take lightly the community service. "
DeVos has donated hundreds of millions of dollars throughout his life and has donated countless millions to charities, causes, hurricane victims and Pulse survivors in Florida Central. There was $ 10 million for UCF, $ 10 million for the Performing Arts Center and $ 23 million over the years for children's charities. Across the country, there are university buildings, children's hospitals and symphony orchestras created by his generosity.
"My biggest regret today is that we did not bring him an NBA championship," said Martins sadly. "We've been saying for years that we had to do it before we left and, unfortunately, it's our unfinished business."
If all goes well, one day, the Magic will finish this business.
But that day – the day the patriarch of the franchise Rich DeVos passed away – let's not talk about championship banners that he's never bred; let's think about the spirits he raised, the people he touched, the causes he financed, and the life he raised.
Send me an email to [email protected]. Hit me on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my radio show Open Mike every day from 6 to 9 am on FM 96.9 and AM 740.
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