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This weekend featured news reports about several legendary people.
Some were about sports personalities. Another featured a man who became the smartest “average guy” investor in US history.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich retires after 29 seasons
The San Antonio Spurs were one of four current NBA franchises which began as part of the American Basketball Association. The Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, and Brooklyn (formerly New York) Nets were the only four ABA teams to be invited to join the NBA in 1976.
The head coach of that basketball franchise for the past 29 years from 1996 through this season has been Gregg Popovich.
His route to becoming a professional basketball coach was a very unique journey.
Gregg Popovich was a guard on the college basketball team at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. His 1970 undergraduate degree came in Soviet studies.
His Air Force service upon graduation included a lengthy stint playing for the US Armed Forces basketball team in eastern Europe and, of course, Russia.
Popovich gave serious thought about a possible career working for the CIA. However, he returned to the US in 1973 and became an assistant basketball coach at the Air Force Academy.
He became friends with another basketball coaching legend named Larry Brown.
Gregg Popovich joined the University of Kansas staff to learn more from his mentor. The two coaches would move into the NBA together with the San Antonio Spurs.
Gregg Popovich became the Spurs’ General Manager and VP of Operations in 1996.
Drafting 7’1 inch center David Robinson in his first season began the Spurs ascension into becoming one the NBA’s elite teams over the next twenty seasons.
The San Antonio Spurs added 6’11” Wake Forest power forward Tim Duncan the following season in 1997 to create a “twin towers” offense and defense.
The Spurs won the first of their five NBA championships in 1999.
The Gregg Popovich-coached Spurs added four more NBA titles in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. His teams were best known for sharing the basketball to get the ball to open teammates with a closer shot at the basket.
The Spurs’ unselfish play was quite refreshing to watch during a time when most NBA teams featured one or two “stars” dominating the scoring.
The San Antonio Spurs primary stars eventually retired, and Coach Pop’s teams began to fade in the standings during recent years.
The now-76 year old coach suffered a stroke in November, 2024 and was unable to return to the sidelines again this season.
He announced his coaching retirement last week.
Coach Popovich established an NBA record 1,422 wins during his 29 seasons as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. He plans to remain on the staff as the team’s President of Basketball Operations beginning this fall.
Golf pioneer Jim Dent passes away at age 85
The PGA Tour has featured hundreds of professional golfers come and go during my lifetime. Unfortunately, the number of top black golfers on the PGA Tour could be counted on two hands.
Jim Dent was born in one of America’s most famous golf cities – Augusta, Georgia. He became a golf caddie as a youth. At 15, Dent started toting the golf bag for professional golfers at the home of The Masters – Augusta National Golf Club.
Dent really loved golf. Like many of us, he lacked the financial resources to play very much.
The 6’3” 225 pound Jim Dent was an all-around high school athlete who earned a football scholarship to play at Augusta’s Paine College.
Jim Dent dropped out of college after one year to become the caddie for Ladies Professional Golf Association star Patty Berg.
In his spare time, Jim Dent worked hard on his own golf game and was determined to find a way to make it onto the men’s professional golf tour.
The 31-year old Jim Dent finally won a spot on the PGA Tour in 1971 after two unsuccessful attempts at the annual qualifying tournament in Florida.
The 6’3” Dent became known as “Big Jim” for obvious reasons. He towered over most other pro golfers and became a fan favorite for his long driving skills off the tee.
Dent played 16 years on the PGA Tour but failed to win an official event. He posted 25 Top-10 finishes and was a top money earner in most of his PGA seasons.
The Senior PGA Tour (now called the PGA Champions Tour) welcomed Jim Dent as he turned 50. Dent won “rookie” of the year in 1990 and posted four wins in his first two seasons on the senior circuit.
Jim Dent would collect a total of 12 wins over ten seasons playing on the senior tour.
He returned to Augusta National Country Club in April of this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lee Elder becoming the first black golfer to compete in The Masters.
Jim Dent died on May 2nd after suffering a second stroke in the past year. He was 85.
Warren Buffett hangs up his money belt at Berkshire Hathaway
Legendary investment guru Warren Buffett started Berkshire Hathaway 60 years ago on a shoestring budget along with his partner, Charlie Munger.
The two pioneer investors slowly built a company worth more than $1 Trillion today.
Charlie Munger died in 2023 at age 99. Warren Buffett has continued on as the CEO of this Omaha, Nebraska-based company.
Berkshire Hathaway owns brand names like Geico Insurance, Dairy Queen, Benjamin Moore Paints, Fruit-of-the-Loom, Pilot Flying J Truck stops, MidAmerican Energy, and Burlington, Northern, and Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad among others.
Warren Buffett’s personal favorite acquisition may have been See’s Candies in 1972. That $25 million investment is now worth more than $2 billion.
Sweet!
Berkshire Hathaway has acquired a significant stock position in major corporations such as Coca Cola, American Express, Apple, and Conoco Phillips.
On Saturday, the now 94-year old Warren Buffett surprised thousands of guests at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual stockholders meeting in Omaha by announcing his retirement as CEO at the end of 2025.
The event is called “The Woodstock of Capitalism”. It features tens of thousands of visitors who come to Nebraska every year to celebrate the company’s success and hear Warren Buffett’s annual speech to shareholders.
Warren Buffett and pop singer Jimmy Buffett shared the same last name but were not related.
The singer jokingly referred to Warren as his “Uncle Warren” while the billionaire loved listening to his “Cousin Jimmy” prior to Jimmy Buffett’s passing in 2024.
“Uncle Warren” still lives in the same house that he and his wife purchased in Omaha back in 1958. His frugal lifestyle matches the prudent and common sense investment style which slowly turned into a financial empire.
Buffett plans to donate 99% of his estimated $160 billion in personal wealth to charities.
The remaining 1% of Warren Buffett’s net worth ($1.6 billion) will go to his three “kids” (now in their 60’s) and others.
The LSU-Shreveport baseball team streak has reached 51 games in a row!
Talk about a legendary winning streak!
The 51-0 LSU-Shreveport Pilots baseball team is still undefeated in the year 2025. The team will now host an opening round of the NAIA national baseball tournament beginning May 12.
The unbeaten Pilots survived a close call (a 9-7 victory over Our Lady of the Lake University from San Antonio) last weekend.
LSU-S went 4-0 to sweep the Red River Athletics Conference (RRAC) baseball tournament last weekend in Sterlington, Louisiana just north of Monroe.
This incredible winning streak has eclipsed the longest winning streak record for every NCAA Division (1, II, and III) along with the NAIA’s former top mark of 44 games.
The LSU-S Pilots’ primary goal is to win the school’s first national baseball championship at the NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.
That event will begin on May 23.
Congratulations to LSU-Shreveport (one of my alma maters) for setting a national record which may stand for many years to come.
Legendary, indeed! Geaux Pilots!