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Within 15 minutes, Gertz has gabbed with power forward John Collins about his 21st birthday the night before ("You're finally legal!"), caught up with shooting guard Kent Bazemore ("How's my girl Sam?" she asks the former Golden State Warrior of his wife) and congratulated "Uncle Steve" Holman, the Hawks' longtime radio announcer, on his upcoming 2,500th game. ("She always greets me by name," Holman notes. "Our old owner, Ted Turner, would just call me 'Mr. Radio.'")
The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club has announced the organization’s plans to retire the iconic “Pistol” Pete Maravich No. 44 jersey in a special halftime ceremony when the Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, March 3. “Pete Maravich is one of the league’s all-time greats, an icon of the game and was a very important figure in pro basketball in Atlanta in the early 1970’s. New generations are discovering the wizardry of his game through YouTube and social media,” Hawks’ Chief Executive Officer Steve Koonin said. “We are proud to hang his No. 44 in the rafters at Philips Arena alongside our other franchise icons – Dominique Wilkins, Bob Pettit, Dikembe Mutombo, Lou Hudson and Ted Turner.”
We caught up with Sager, who provided this update: “I was blessed with a wonderful childhood growing up in Batavia, Ill., I furthered my education at Northwestern University, and I climbed the career ladder as a News Director, Meteorologist, and a Sports Director in Sarasota, Tampa-St. Pete, Ft. Myers, Kansas City, and Atlanta where I have spent the past 35 years as loyal employee at Turner Broadcasting. “I have met life’s challenges by climbing the Great Wall of China, riding with the bulls in Pamplona, sailing the Pacific Ocean with Ted Turner, jumping out of airplanes over Kansas, hang gliding off the cliffs of Mexico, bungee jumping atop a tower in San Antonio, and swimming with the sharks in the Caribbean.
The Atlanta Sports Council will recognize Hawks great Dominique Wilkins with its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. Wilkins will be honored as part of the award ceremony on Feb. 27 at the Fox Theatre. According to the Sports Council, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have made a positive impact on the sports world and their community throughout their career. Wilkins joins past Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Hank Aaron (2006), Vince Dooley (2007), Billy Payne (2008), Ted Turner (2009), Tom Cousins (2010) and Bobby Cox (2011). Wilkins currently serves in the Hawks front office and as an analyst for Fox Sports South telecasts.
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Beau Turner, Ted Turner’s youngest son and part-owner of the Hawks, hosts a new show on the Sportsman Channel. Viewers of “Beau Knows Outdoors” see him hunting and fishing on Turner’s 2 million acres out West and elsewhere and promoting conservation, much like his dad. Growing up near the Atlanta Country Club, I would get up super early to fish before dawn in the golf-course ponds. I’d get the balls out of the pond to sell to golfers, and hike and look for salamanders. Sometimes my siblings and I would take trash bags down to the Chattahoochee River and pick up aluminum cans. In that way, I’m similar to my dad. He picks up trash on the roads to do his part to keep our planet clean and healthy. There’s a bumper sticker that says it best: Think globally, act locally. When I was in middle school, we moved to South Carolina, where I became passionate about hunting and fishing. It was the start of everything I now know about the outdoors.
"Most of the people in Atlanta don't know much about him," Jones said over the phone that night. "He didn't make his money here; he made his money in Cali. All we know is that he had enough money to buy the Hawks. And that might have an adverse effect on his ownership. Even with him being a minority." His point is that unless Meruelo moves to Atlanta and invests more than his money in the team, the city might not be willing to open its arms to him, at least at first. Talk to people in Atlanta and they will tell you stories about how Falcons owner Arthur Blank and former Braves owner Ted Turner endeared themselves to the people and the city. How they learned the nuances of Atlanta's culture and helped shape a culture of sports in a town that used to share its NBA team with New Orleans. (Back in the early '80s the Atlanta Hawks played some of their home games in the New Orleans Superdome.)
Based on how he has handled the Mavericks, I asked Phil Jackson how Cuban might do as Dodgers' owner. "He'd really improve the quality of their team,'' Jackson said. "He's improved the quality of [the Mavericks] every time he's rebuilt.'' Do you like the kind of owner he's been? "I wouldn't want him behind my bench,'' Jackson said. "Where could he be in baseball?" I told him right behind home plate — mugging for the cameras, of course. It'd be nice if someone sat in those empty seats. "Can't be in the dugout anymore?" Jackson said. I told him that was Cuban's first question, but he was advised that baseball doesn't allow it. "Tell him to speak to Ted Turner," said Jackson, alluding to the owner of the Braves who got around the dugout rule by declaring himself the manager of the team.