View source for Dick Vertlieb

{{Infobox person
| name          = Dick Vertlieb
| image         = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1930|10|7}}
| birth_place   = [[Watts, Los Angeles]], California, U.S.
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|2008|12|5|1930|10|7}}
| death_place   = [[Las Vegas]], Nevada, U.S.
| occupation    = Sports executive
| years_active  =
}}

'''Richard Harvey Vertlieb''' (October 7, 1930 – December 5, 2008) was an American sports executive. He was the winner of the 1975 [[NBA Executive of the Year Award]] after serving as general manager for the NBA Champion [[Golden State Warriors]]. He also served as general manager for the [[Seattle SuperSonics]] and [[Indiana Pacers]], as well as the [[Seattle Mariners]] of [[Major League Baseball]]. 

==Early life==
Dick Vertlieb was born in [[Watts, Los Angeles]], California. He graduated from the [[University of Southern California]], and also served in the United States Army. 

==Career==
Vertlieb had a desire to operate a sports team despite being a stock trader. Together, with [[Don Richman]], the two found a worthy city with an arena in [[Seattle, Washington]] to go with finding people who would play as front men with [[Gene Klein]] and [[Sam Schulman]] while the two got to work on raising money to help pay the expansion fee. Richman and Vertlieb came up with the name of the team while the latter picked green and gold for the colors. On January 11, 1967, the [[Seattle Supersonics]] were born, with Vertlieb being the business manager. During his time in Seattle, he named [[Lenny Wilkens]] as the head coach; Wilkens has gone on to become the coach with most career victories in NBA history. Vertlieb was noted for his temper, which could range from pushing his fist through a wall when seeing a part of the publicity brochure that did not make sense to him to even rush the court to confront Gus Johnson on the court after he had gotten into a fight with Sonics head coach [[Al Bianchi]] that saw Vertlieb take a few punches; he received a $500 fine from the league that saw the possibility of it being rescinded if he "seek[ed] psychiatric help". He also once cracked that "Basketball is one of the two most exciting indoor sports, and the other one shouldn't have spectators." Vertlieb left the Sonics in 1969. In 1971, he served as a consultant for the group that would soon establish the [[Portland Trail Blazers]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dailyastorian.com/2019/02/08/blazers-ready-for-50th-birthday-bash/ | title=Blazers ready for 50th birthday bash | date=8 February 2019 }}</ref> He soon became a minority owner of the [[Seattle Sounders (1974–1983)|Seattle Sounders]] of the [[North American Soccer League]]. Years later, he served as a key piece in helping secure the establishment of the [[Seattle Seahawks]] via the Nordstrom family. Apparently, it was his efforts in trying to engineer a sale of the [[Golden State Warriors]] to Northwest investors (which failed) that impressed team owner [[Franklin Mieuli]] to hire Vertlieb as the general manager. In 1974, Vertlieb went to the [[Golden State Warriors]], where he gave the team a facelift, most notably trading [[Nate Thurmond]] in mid-season to the [[Chicago Bulls]] for [[Clifford Ray]] and cash in six figures; head coach [[Al Attles]] credited Vertlieb and the trade for helping in making the season "one of those magical years."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/09/04/archives/bulls-acquire-thurmond2-warriors-get-ray-cash-and-draft-pick-bulls.html | title=Bulls Acquire Thurmond Warriors Get Ray, Cash and Draft Pick | work=The New York Times | date=4 September 1974 }}</ref> The Warriors made it to the NBA Finals by beating the Bulls in the Western Conference Finals before reaching the [[1971 NBA Finals|NBA Finals]] against the Washington Bullets, who the Warriors swept in four games.<ref>https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Ex-Warriors-GM-Dick-Vertlieb-dies-3257947.php</ref> His temper in Seattle did not subside, with one instance seeing him react to a last-second call that cost his team a victory by kicking an iron police banner that resulted in him breaking his foot. He returned the Warriors to the Western Conference final the following year, but the team was defeated by the [[Phoenix Suns]], who then lost to the Boston Celtics in the finals. Vertlieb then returned to Seattle to serve as the first ever GM for the [[Seattle Mariners]] in the summer of 1976 as they began play in [[Major League Baseball]] for 1977.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/04/archives/people-in-sports-coach-attles-to-be-general-manager-too.html | title=People in Sports | work=The New York Times | date=4 June 1976 }}</ref> He hired [[Dave Niehaus]] to serve as the play-by-paly broadcaster, which was likely the highlight of an otherwise miserable two seasons for Vertlieb (Niehaus would do Mariner commentary for over three decades). Vertlieb stated in later years that he had wanted to name the team the "Pros" and even have them dress up in black (similarly, he wanted to dress the Sonics in blue and gold to match Olympia Beer).<ref>He wanted to dress the Sonics in blue and gold uniforms because those were the colors of Olympia Beer.</ref> Vertlieb's final GM job came in 1980–81 with the [[Indiana Pacers]]. In 1995, he served a brief stint as a consultant for the expansion [[Vancouver Grizzlies]] of the NBA, before becoming involved with the World League's [[Amsterdam Admirals]] for five years.

==Personal life and death==
Vertlieb had one child with his wife Joan, who preceded him in death. He lived in [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]] in his later years while ailing from stomach cancer and other illnesses. He died in Las Vegas on December 5, 2008; he had arranged for his ashes to be spread across the Northwest. <ref name=raley>{{citation |last=Raley |first=Dan |title=Dick Vertlieb, 1930-2008: Local sports 'giant' brought pro teams | newspaper=[[The Seattle Post-Intelligencer]] |date=December 8, 2008 |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/basketball/390933_obit06.html?source=mypi}}</ref><ref>https://www.sportspressnw.com/2118184/2011/wayback-machine-two-trojans-who-changed-seattle</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*Dan Raley. [http://www.seattlepi.com/othersports/185903_vertlieb12.html End game for Seattle sports guru]. ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]''. 12 August 2004. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
*{{citation |last=González |first=Ángel |title=Richard "Dick" Vertlieb helped found SuperSonics |newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]] |date=December 8, 2008 |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008480648_vertliebobit08m.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218030346/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008480648_vertliebobit08m.html |archive-date=December 18, 2008 }}

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[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:Golden State Warriors executives]]
[[Category:Indiana Pacers executives]]
[[Category:NBA executives]]
[[Category:Seattle Mariners executives]]
[[Category:Seattle SuperSonics general managers]]
[[Category:University of Southern California alumni]]