Before he was The Boss of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner nearly secured an NBA franchise for Cleveland. He also fired his sister.
University of Akron football coach Gerry Faust greets George Steinbrenner as the NY Yankees president arrives at Tangier in Akron to speak at a fundraiser for the University of Akron in August of 1993.Cleveland businessman Mike Cleary insists he was the first person ever fired by George Steinbrenner. It was 1962, and Cleary was general manager of Cleveland Pipers of the old American Basketball League.
"Actually, George fired his sister before me," recalled Cleary on Tuesday, not long after learning that the Yankees owner had died of a heart attack at the age of 80.
"Susan (Steinbrenner) was our secretary with the Pipers," said Cleary. "George came into the office early, and Susan wasn't there. He was steaming about it. I told George that she was there, that she had just gone out for coffee. Then Susan walked in, and he realized she was a little late -- and he fired her."
But there was a problem.
"Susan called her mother," said Cleary. "She had her job back by noon."
While he hired and fired Billy Martin five times as manager of the Yankees, Susan was the first to return to her job on Steinbrenner's yo-yo.
Cleary was fired when he planned an announcement of how the Pipers convinced guard Dick Barnett to jump from the NBA to the Pipers. The story was supposed to be held for "P.M. release," meaning it would first be announced in a huge front-page story by Cleveland Press columnist Bob August.
Only television broadcaster Gib Shanley heard about it, and announced it on the 11 p.m. news. Then the Plain Dealer's Chuck Heaton wrote about it in a short, quick story. By the time the Press came out, the big story had shrunk to a few paragraphs.
"George blamed the whole thing on me and fired me," said Cleary. "I didn't get my job back."
Cleary was quickly hired to be general manager of the Kansas City franchise in the same league. Steinbrenner "forgot" to pay Cleary his final two weeks of pay, along with two more weeks of severance.
When Steinbrenner's Pipers played in Kansas City, Cleary deducted his four weeks pay from the gate receipts due to Pipers. Steinbrenner actually respected him for that, and they remained friends for the rest of Steinbrenner's life.
Cleary said Steinbrenner always loved Cleveland, and liked to come to town to have dinner with friends.
"I know that George paid for the son of a bartender to go to Benedictine (High)," said Cleary. It was the bartender who told him, not Steinbrenner.
On Tuesday, I received this e-mail: "My name is Frank Perez. I am a 69-year-old retired educator. I along with two of my friends, who attended Glenville High School, were the first three teenagers in the Cleveland area whom George Steinbrenner helped get a college education.
"I'm a minority, and without his help, I would never have been able to attend, much less graduate from, Purdue University. He helped us get athletic scholarships, kept in touch with us and followed our careers for many years afterward. He was 30 years old when he came into our lives and we have much to be grateful to him for."
Steinbrenner was born in Rocky River, grew up in Bay Village and was a graduate assistant football coach under Woody Hayes at Ohio State. Many fans know how Steinbrenner first tried to buy the Indians in 1972 -- and was unwisely rejected by Tribe owner Vernon Stouffer --before purchasing the Yankees a year later.
"George really thought he'd get the Pipers into the NBA," said Cleary. "He even signed (Ohio State star) Jerry Lucas to a personal services contract. The NBA was ready to admit the Pipers. . ."
Then the deal fell through.
"George needed some (financial) help from his father, but Henry Steinbrenner was not about to do it," said Cleary. "His father was a tough, crusty, rough guy -- especially on George. That explains part of why George acted like he did, he was trying to impress his father by being like him."
If Steinbrenner had bought to Pipers or Indians what would have happened?
"He'd have won, no doubt about it," said Cleary. "George was driven that way. He'd have made it work here."