Gary L. Davidson (born August 13, 1934) is an American lawyer and businessman who is based in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Davidson co-founded and served as the first president of the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

and co-founded, with former Buena Park Mayor

Dennis Murphy Dennis Murphy may refer to: *Dennis Murphy (Canadian politician) (1842–1917), Canadian businessman and political figure from Ontario *Dennis Murphy (equestrian) (born 1944), American Olympic equestrian *Dennis Murphy (journalist) (born 1946 or 19 ...

, the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

. He also founded the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

where he was the league's first president and commissioner. He was a star basketball player at Garden Grove, Calif., High School and attended the University of Redlands, Calif.

Honours

In 1973 and 1974, the Gary L. Davidson Award was presented to the most valuable player of the

. In 2010, Davidson was part of the initial group of individuals elected to the

World Hockey Association Hall of Fame The World Hockey Association Hall of Fame is an independent organization dedicated to honoring the World Hockey Association (WHA) which operated from 1972 to 1979 as a major professional ice hockey league. Officially partnered with the United Stat ...

Honours

References

Further reading