Ted Stepien, 82, Owned Cavaliers

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The New York Sun

Former Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien, whose propensity for trading away draft picks resulted in an NBA rule change, died Monday at his home in Willoughby Hills, Oh. He was 82.

Stepien became majority shareholder of the Cavaliers in 1980. In his subsequent three years of ownership, the team went 66-180, dropped to the bottom of the league in attendance and lost $15 million. His name became a byword in Ohio sports for clueless ownership and inept play.

Stepien went through six coaches, including four during the 1981-82 season in which the team finished 15-67.

Because of his habit of trading draft picks for mediocre players, the league passed the “Stepien Rule,” which restricts teams from dealing future first-round selections in consecutive years.

Stepien also caught flak for criticizing the Cavaliers for having too many black players.

Stepien sold the team in 1983. NBA owners awarded the Cavaliers bonus first-round picks for each year from 1983-86 to help compensate for the ones Stepien traded away.

“I don’t feel I failed,” Stepien later said. “I rescued a bankrupt organization.”

After serving in the Army Air Force during World War II, Stepien moved to Cleveland in 1947 to start an advertising agency, Nationwide Advertising Service Inc. The company became one of the largest employment advertisers in the country.

After selling the Cavaliers, Stepien owned several minor league basketball teams, including the Toronto Tornadoes and the Mississippi Coast (Biloxi) Jets.


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