Samuel Schulman (April 10, 1910 – June 12, 2003) was an American businessman from New York who was a founding owner and President of the Seattle SuperSonics 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 ...

and an owner of the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

, and later the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Life and career

Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family on April 10, 1910, in New York City, Schulman graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1932. He earned a master's degree from Harvard Business School in 1934. A year later, he took over George McKibben & Son, a bankrupt Brooklyn bookbinding manufacturer, which he turned into a profitable business. Schulman was a successful Los Angeles businessman involved in the motion picture industry. Although his company was the backer of a number of films, he was rarely listed in any film credits with the exception of a few, the most notable of which was as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

of the 1985 production, '' To Live and Die in L.A.''. Following the June 1966 announcement of the merger of the

and the

, on August 25 Sam Schulman and fellow Los Angeles businessman Eugene V. Klein headed a group of minority partners who purchased the

for $10 million, at the time, a record price for an NFL franchise. Klein served as the football team's president and on December 20, 1966, Schulman and Klein led another group of minority investors who were awarded the NBA franchise for the city of

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, which would become known as the Seattle SuperSonics, and began play in 1967. Schulman would be the active partner, serving as president of the team and head of operations. He ran the team until 1983 when he sold the franchise to Seattle media and entertainment company executive Barry Ackerley. One of the first big names Schulman brought to the SuperSonics from the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

was Spencer Haywood, who had signed with the Denver Rockets as a college sophomore but quit the Rockets over a salary dispute. Haywood's signing with the SuperSonics in December 1970 was in defiance of the NBA rule that said a player could not be signed until four years after he graduated from high school. Schulman and his lawyer wound up taking '' Haywood v. National Basketball Association'' to the U.S. Supreme Court. That March the court cleared the way for Haywood to finish the season with the SuperSonics. The ruling led to a revision of the NBA policy and opened the draft potential for many future young players. Sam Schulman died from a blood disease in 2003 at the age of 93 at his home in

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Los Angeles, Cent ...

. Sam Schulman received the Pillar of Achievement award from the Southern California Jewish Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulman, Sam 1910 births 2003 deaths American sports businesspeople Film producers from California NBA executives Film people from Beverly Hills, California Businesspeople from New York City Seattle SuperSonics owners San Diego Chargers owners New York University alumni Harvard Business School alumni 20th-century American Jews Film producers from New York (state) 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews