Richard Harvey Vertlieb (October 7, 1930 – December 5, 2008) was an American sports executive. He was the winner of the 1975

NBA Executive of the Year Award The National Basketball Association's Executive of the Year Award is an annual award given since the 1972–73 NBA season, to the league's best general manager, president of basketball/business operations, or another high-ranking executive. Befor ...

after serving as general manager for the NBA Champion

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

. He also served as general manager for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

and

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

, as well as the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. He died in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

after a lengthy illness. Dick was born in

Watts, Los Angeles Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated comm ...

, California. He graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, and also served in the United States army. He helped found the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

and the Seattle SuperSonics, becoming the Sonics' first ever General Manager prior to their inaugural season in 1967–68. During his time in Seattle, he named

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as ...

as the head coach; Wilkens has gone on to become the coach with most career victories in NBA history. Vertlieb then went to Golden State, where he gave the team a facelift and led them to the NBA title. He returned the Warriors to the Western Conference final the following year, but was defeated by the Phoenix Suns, who then lost to the Boston Celtics in the finals. Vertlieb then returned to Seattle to serve as the first ever GM for the Seattle Mariners, as they began play in Major League Baseball in 1977. Vertlieb's final GM job came in 1980–81 with the Indiana Pacers. In 1995, he served a brief stint as a consultant for the expansion

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

of the NBA, before becoming involved with the World League's Amsterdam Admirals.

References

External links

*Dan Raley
End game for Seattle sports guru
''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

''. 12 August 2004. Retrieved 9 September 2007. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vertlieb, Dick 1930 births 2008 deaths Golden State Warriors executives Indiana Pacers executives National Basketball Association executives Seattle Mariners executives Seattle SuperSonics general managers University of Southern California alumni