Sidney L. Shlenker (August 14, 1936 – April 23, 2003) was an American businessman. He was the team president of the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and the owner of the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Early life

Shlenker was born in

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the parish seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolitan statistical ...

. His family moved to Houston two years later. He graduated from St. John's School in Houston, and attended

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

, but dropped out without graduating.

Career

Shlenker met

Roy Hofheinz Roy Mark Hofheinz (April 10, 1912 – November 22, 1982), popularly known as Judge Hofheinz or "The Judge", was a Texas state representative from 1935 to 1937 ( 44th legislature), county judge of Harris County, Texas from 1936 to 1944, a ...

, the owner of the

and the

Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, formerly and also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, was the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, United States. It seated around 50,000 fans, with a record atte ...

. Shlenker began promoting non-sporting events held at the Astrodome. In 1966, Shlenker and Allen Becker founded Pace Management Company, which focused on event promotion. In 1975, the Astros hired Shlenker as their president. He fired Spec Richardson, the team's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, and hired Tal Smith. Shlenker became a part-owner of the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

of the

(NBA) in 1982. In May 1985, he bought the NBA's

for $20 million. He reached an agreement with the city of Denver to renovate the McNichols Arena. Shlenker also owned the Denver Dynamite of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL). He refused to operate by the financial rules of the AFL, and suspended the team's operations after one season. In June 1987, the Major Indoor Soccer League granted a conditional franchise to Shlenker, to begin play in the 1988–89 season. The team, tentatively named the "Denver Desperados", attracted deposits for 400 season tickets within four months, short of the required 5,000; the franchise was revoked in November 1987. In September 1988, Shlenker purchased the Colorado / Denver Rangers of the International Hockey League. He declared the team bankrupt in June 1989. Shlenker sold the Nuggets in November 1989 for $65 million. Shlenker then moved to

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, where he managed the construction of the

Memphis Pyramid The Memphis Pyramid, formerly known as the Great American Pyramid and the Pyramid Arena, and colloquially known as the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid, is a pyramid-shaped building located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, United State ...

. In 1991, he was removed from the project after failing to obtain financing and his company filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. The year before, Shlenker's plans to remove the Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island to make space for bars and restaurants fell through thanks to intervention of the West Tennessee Historical Society, the Mud Island Foundation, and then-Mayor of Memphis, Richard Hackett.

Personal life

Shlenker testified in the trial of

Heidi Fleiss Heidi Lynne Fleiss (born December 30, 1965) is an American former madam. She ran an upscale prostitution ring based in Los Angeles and is often referred to as the "Hollywood Madam". Fleiss also formerly worked as a columnist and was a television ...

, the "Hollywood Madam", in 1995. As a former customer, he received immunity for his testimony. Shlenker suffered a spinal cord injury in a 1998 motor vehicle accident on U.S. Route 395 in

Big Pine, California Big Pine (formerly Bigpine) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. Big Pine is located approximately south-southeast of Bishop. Its population was 1,875 at the 2020 census, up from 1,756 at the 2010 census. ...

. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Shlenker had three children. He and his first wife, Marti, divorced in 1990. He later married his second wife, Denise. Shlenker died of heart failure at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

on April 23, 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shlenker, Sidney 1936 births 2003 deaths People from Monroe, Louisiana Denver Nuggets owners Houston Rockets personnel Houston Rockets owners Houston Astros executives People with paraplegia St. John's School (Texas) alumni