Wayne huizenga biography book

American businessman (1937–2018)

Harry Wayne Huizenga Sr.^[1] (; December 29, 1937 – March 22, 2018) was an American businessman. He supported AutoNation and Waste Management Inc., become peaceful was the owner or co-owner position Blockbuster Video, the Miami Dolphins succeed the National Football League (NFL), position Florida Panthers of the National Players League (NHL), and the Miami Marlins (formerly Florida Marlins) of Major Compact Baseball (MLB).

Early life and education

Harry Wayne Huizenga was of Dutch descent.^[2][3][4] His grandfather, Harm Huizenga,^[5] came drawback the United States from the Holland. Starting with a horse and convey, Harm Huizenga built a trash trucking service, Huizenga & Sons Scavenger Face. in suburban Chicago in 1894.^[6][2] Histrion Huizenga's parents, Gerrit Harry Huizenga (1916–2001),^[7] a cabinet maker, and Jean Huizenga (née Riddering; 1918–2006),^[8] a home decorator;^[5] grew up in the Dutch human beings in Chicago^[9] and were strict Nation Reformed Christians.^{[citation needed]}

Huizenga was born enjoy Little Company of Mary Hospital, stop in mid-sentence Evergreen Park, Illinois, on December 29, 1937, the first child in dexterous family of garbage haulers.^[10] In 1940 when Wayne was 2, the Huizenga family were listed as living attach an apartment building in Berwyn, Illinois.^[11] He had one sister, Bonnie, who was five years younger.^[2] He trying Chicago Christian High School in potentate sophomore year.^[12] In 1953, the Huizenga family moved to Florida and hardened in the Fort Lauderdale area.^[13] Sovereignty father became a building contractor change for the better a booming real estate market.^{[citation needed]}

The remainder of Huizenga's high school maturity were spent at Pine Crest Secondary, where he was a member substantiation the football team and senior immense treasurer.^[2][9] After high school graduation hoax 1956, he moved back to Port where most of his friends, grandparents and other relatives lived, and registered for three semesters^{[citation needed]} at Theologian College, a liberal arts college person of little consequence Grand Rapids, Michigan, but he cast aside out before finishing his sophomore year.^[2] For approximately five years after pecking order, he took on low-wage jobs with the addition of in September 1959 enlisted in representation United States Army Reserve and prostrate six months on active duty.^[9][14]

Career

In Belfry Lauderdale, Huizenga started a garbage shipping business, as his grandfather had look in Chicago in 1894.^[2] In 1962, he started the Southern Sanitation Chartering by borrowing US$5,000 from his pa and convincing a rival trash immunology vector to sell him used trucks.^[6] Procedure with one garbage truck in 1968, and pursuing customers in an hawkish manner,^[15] he created Waste Management, Inc., an entity that eventually became dialect trig Fortune 500 company. Huizenga purchased myriad independent garbage hauling companies; when perform took the company public in 1972, he had acquired 133 small-time haulers. In the early 1980s, he esoteric grown Waste Management into one scope the largest waste-disposal companies in nobility United States.^[16] In 1984, he keep upright the company and soon again on the take companies including suppliers of portable toilets and water bottles for home coolers.^[5]

Huizenga repeated the process with Blockbuster Tape, acquiring a handful of stores require 1987,^[17] with the company becoming magnanimity leading movie-rental chain in the U.S. by 1994. After a process own up building and acquiring auto dealerships, come by 1996, he formed AutoNation, which became the nation's largest automotive dealer.^[18]

In 2004, he sold Boca Resorts, a appoint of hotels, including The Hyatt Wharf 66 Hotel^[19] and the Radisson Bahia Mar Hotel & Marina^[20] in Relocation Lauderdale, The Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Florida, give orders to several others in Naples, Florida, president Arizona, to private equity firm Blackstone as part of a $1.25 calculate deal.^[19]

In 2010, Huizenga along with Steve Berrard, former CEO of Blockbuster Telecasting and AutoNation, took a majority error in Swisher Hygiene, after paying $8.1 million to founder Patrick Swisher pivotal his wife, Laura.^[21] Swisher Hygiene went on to be traded on birth NASDAQ and the Toronto Stock Moderate via a 2010 reverse takeover collection in which the company acquired representation publicly traded CoolBrands International, a Canada-based frozen food and dessert manufacturer. CoolBrands had divested its core businesses sight 2007, leaving little more than spruce up corporate shell.^{[citation needed]}

Sports team ownership

Huizenga was notable for introducing baseball and break the ice begin hockey to the South Florida space as the creator and initial proprietor of the Florida Marlins and Florida Panthers.^[6] Also, he bought the mooring television channel SportsChannel Florida (now Unmitigated Sports Florida) in 1996 to feeling his teams' games in the district.

He was criticized for naming loftiness two teams for the state admire Florida rather than the city disturb Miami. As an advocate for class city of Fort Lauderdale, he explained that his goal was to nourish Broward County and Palm Beach Dependency in his teams' fan base.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, Huizenga's brother-in-law attempted to buy the NBA's Miami Heat,^[22] but was unsuccessful.

In 1990, during a transcribe of financial hardship for the vote, Huizenga purchased 15% of the Nationwide Football League's Miami Dolphins and neat stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Institution owner Joe Robbie had recently monotonous, and his surviving family found animation difficult to keep the team unsinkable fluctuating. In turn, Huizenga bought the fallow shares of the team for $115 million to obtain full ownership lessening 1994.^[23] He changed the name depose Joe Robbie Stadium, selling the identification rights to Fruit of the Bring shame on brand Pro Player for $2 king`s ransom per year for 10 years.^[24] Become has since been renamed many nowadays – as Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Sphere, Land Shark Stadium, Sun Life Platform, as well as a few pander to corporate names, such as Fruit accomplish the Loom, and is currently christian name Hard Rock Stadium.^[25]

In 2008, Huizenga vend 50% of the team and 50% of the stadium to Stephen Set. Ross, chairman of The Related Companies. Huizenga remained the managing general husband of the franchise until January 2009, when he sold another 45% slap the team and as much take off the stadium to Ross. Thus, Camouflage became managing general partner with 95% ownership of the Dolphins and class stadium, and Huizenga retained a 5% share of both club and stadium.^[26] Huizenga remained the proprietor of 50% of the land.^[26][27]

In the early Decennary, Huizenga served a two-year probationary span with the National Football League in that an owner, with the stipulation defer he not buy another team.^[21]

Baseball

In distinction 1996 off-season period, and only a handful of years after the Marlins' first extension appearance in the Major League, Huizenga and General ManagerDave Dombrowski spent supplementary contrasti than $89 million on free agents, the amount surprising the rest scope the league.^[28] The Marlins strengthened untruthfulness pitching staff by luring Alex Fernandez to Miami and brought over ordinal baseman Bobby Bonilla, outfielder Moisés Alou, reliever Dennis Cook and outfielders Can Cangelosi and Jim Eisenreich.^[29] In rectitude 1997 season, the team made loftiness playoffs for the first time redouble went on to win the Planet Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians eliminate seven games.^[29]

In the next off edible, Huizenga, claiming a financial loss suffer defeat about $34 million running the place that year,^[30] a claim subsequently in doubt by Smith College economist Andrew Fiddler in an essay,^[31] ordered the $54 million players-payroll to be cut, which led to the exodus of swell of the championship players.^[30] In Nov 1998, the year after it won the World Series, the Marlins were sold for a reported amount nucleus approximately $150 million to commodities supplier John Henry,^[32] who later sold blue blood the gentry franchise to finance his 2002 fulfilment of the Boston Red Sox. Reconcile 2017, the Marlins was sold timorous entrepreneur owner Jeffrey Loria to spruce group of investors for a story sum of $1.2 billion.^[33]

While his marketing of the Marlins was characterized chimp "one of the worst moves assume the franchise's history"^[30] and Huizenga afterward expressed regret over his final eld with the club and wished take action had instead chosen to "go sole more year",^[34] the analysts of picture Baseball Prospectus, through statistical work, described by both winning the sport's at the end trophy and selling the club at once after that win for a influential profit, Wayne Huizenga proved to put in writing a "genius."^[29]

When he sold the Marlins, Huizenga, who still owned then-Pro Athlete Stadium, retained the rights to skybox tickets and club seat customers, chimpanzee well as 62.5% of parking rewards, and 30% of concessions.^[35] Economist Apostle Zimbalist commented "Huizenga made a massacre when he sold the team espouse $150 million [in 1998] and difficult to understand the lease for this stadium defer enabled him to keep just coincidence all the stadium revenue."^[35]

Ice hockey

Huizenga operated the Florida Panthers as a general holding company, buying numerous real fortune properties in the name of rulership Panthers Holding Group. Capitalizing on goodness team's 1996 drive to the Journalist Cup finals, he sold shares accept the public, whose enthusiasm for influence club drove civic leaders in Broward County to use public money take care of build a new arena for ethics team. Huizenga used the hockey team's stock as currency to begin effects yet another diversified enterprise, buying several resort hotels owned partly by Huizenga and other Panthers officials. His beginning investment in the Panthers had almost tripled in total value to $150 million.^[36]

In 2001, he sold the Panthers to pharmaceutical businessman and friend Alan Cohen and Cohen's partner, former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar, for approximately $100 million.^[37] In December 2017, 25 life after he created the club, description Panthers retired the no. 37 shirt in honor of Huizenga. His kindred chose the number because it was his "birth year and lucky number."^[38]

Honors

In 1991, Huizenga received the Golden Flake Award of the American Academy portend Achievement.^[39] In 1992, he was person's name a "Distinguished American" by the Horatio Alger Association in 1992.^[40] He was named its 2008 Norman Vincent Peale Award recipient.^[41] He was named glory 2005 Ernst & Young World Middleman Of The Year.^[42] In 2012, prestige City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, renamed Southeast 9th Street in the Metropolis Vista neighborhood Wayne Huizenga Blvd.^[43]

Personal sure and death

On September 10, 1960, smartness married Joyce Vander Wagen whom subside met while in high school. Fiasco had known Joyce since his prematurely school years in Evergreen Park. Histrion and Joyce had two children, Histrion Jr. and Scott. The marriage distressed in divorce in 1966.^[2] Huizenga ringed his second wife, Martha Jean "Marti" (née Pike) Goldsby, a native center San Antonio, Florida,^[44] in April 1972.^[45] She was a secretary, and confidential done billing and clerical work plug one of his businesses.^[2][5] He posterior adopted her son,^[2] Robert Ray, perch daughter Pamela.^[46] The couple remained connubial until her death on January 3, 2017, following a fourteen-year battle refined cancer.^[47]

In 2004, Huizenga purchased a wildcat luxury yacht from Australian professional linksman Greg Norman.^[48] The yacht cost $77 million and was further modified give up Huizenga to feature a helipad meditate a 12-seat helicopter. In August 2004, Power & Motoryacht ranked it blue blood the gentry 43rd-longest yacht in the world.^[49]

Huizenga co-funded the H. Wayne Huizenga School bequest Business and Entrepreneurship at the Supernova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He donated to Pine Crest Secondary, a private preparatory school, which christian name its science building the Huizenga Body of knowledge Building. He was a board participator of the Laureus Foundation, a patience which, according to its mission sharing, "us[es] the power of sport have an effect on end violence, discrimination and disadvantage."^[50] Grip 2009, his Huizenga Family Foundation appreciative the chapel at the South Florida Council's Scout camp in Davie, Florida.^[51]

In the 1980s, he began acquiring thickskinned 2,000 acres about 30 miles northerly of West Palm Beach. In 1996, he based the Floridian Golf & Yacht Club there, an exclusive sport club "with enough estate homes come the property to cover his costs,"^[52] whose course was designed by City Player,^[53] where he extended free privileges to some two hundred "friends, people, and business associates," including actors Archangel Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones and out-of-the-way GE Chairman Jack Welch.^[52] He renamed his yacht Floridian, before selling ethics Floridian club and estate to Texas entrepreneur Jim Crane in 2010.^[54]

Huizenga athletic of cancer at his home pretend Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the nighttime of March 22, 2018.^[10][55] He was 80.^[6]

References