Gund

Gordon Gund was formerly the principal owner of the NBA franchise the Cleveland Cavaliers, a co-owner of the San Jose Sharks NHL team, and remains the CEO of Gund Investment Corporation and a minority owner of the Cavaliers. more...

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He was born October 15, 1939, and is a native of Cleveland. He gradually began going blind in the 1960s because of the disease retinitis pigmentosa. By 1970, Gund was totally blind. As a result, he has never been able to see a game played by any of the teams that he has owned, during his tenure as owner.

Term as an NHL Owner

Gund's brother, George, held a minority interest in the California Golden Seals of the NHL, when George convinced majority owner Mel Swig to relocate the franchise to the Gunds' hometown in 1976. Renamed the Cleveland Barons (after the former American Hockey League team), they played at The Coliseum in Richfield, which had been vacated by the Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association when they moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota to become the second incarnation of the Minnesota Fighting Saints.

The Gunds would buy Swig's share of the Barons following a dismal 1976-77 season, and as they were able to infuse new money into the team, acquiring better players, the team's fortunes seemed to turn, until a late-season slump knocked them out of playoff contention.

At the end of the 1977-78 season, the Barons lacked fan support to continue to be a viable franchise in northern Ohio, while the ownership of the Minnesota North Stars could no longer sustain the team. In addition, the Gunds were unable to purchase the Coliseum outright, leaving their franchise without a guaranteed place to play. Since Minnesota was perceived as the more desirable hockey market at the time, NHL President John Ziegler oversaw a merger between the two franchises, with the Gunds assuming ownership of the North Stars, and Minnesota moving into Cleveland's position in the Adams Division. Within three seasons, the North Stars would make the Stanley Cup Finals, thanks to the Gunds' willingness to invest in the team.

After the NHL geographically realigned their divisions in 1981, placing the North Stars in the rough-and-tumble Norris Division, the Gunds would see attendance drop at the Metropolitan Sports Center while the team struggled on the ice. While there was a strong core of die-hard fans, the team often struggled to sell out its home games. Finally, the Gunds decided to relocate the franchise to the San Francisco Bay area, the original home of their former team. Ziegler and the league refused to allow this move, but they in turn dissolved the original merger, granting the Gunds an expansion team, the San Jose Sharks.

With an expansion roster, the Sharks finished last in the NHL standings in their first two seasons, when they played out of the Cow Palace. With the opening of the San Jose Arena in 1993, however, the Gunds would be able to spend more on the team, and they made waves throughout the NHL with high-profile first-round upsets in the 1994 and 1995 playoffs. While the franchise could not maintain consistent success on the ice, they have enjoyed a high level of popularity, and their home arena is consistently one of the loudest in the NHL.

Read more at Wikipedia.org