{{Short description|American sports executive (born 1956)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Johnny Buss | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Johnny Hatten Buss | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1956|10|18}} | birth_place = Inglewood, California, United States | other_names = | occupation = Part owner of the Los Angeles Lakers | known_for = | alma_mater = | political_party = Independent | spouse = Christy Curtis | parents = Jerry Buss }} '''Johnny Hatten Buss''' (born October 18, 1956)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Buss|first1=Jeanie|last2=Springer|first2=Steve|title=Laker Girl|page=22|year=2010|publisher=Triumph Books|isbn=9781600785115}}</ref> is an American sports executive who is a part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).<ref name="Medina">{{cite news |last=Medina |first=Mark |title=Jerry Buss' family will honor his wishes and keep Lakers |date=February 18, 2013 |newspaper=Daily News |location=Los Angeles |url=http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_22616013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302013656/http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_22616013 |archive-date=March 2, 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=February 23, 2013 }}</ref> He previously held positions as president of the Los Angeles Lazers professional indoor soccer team and the Los Angeles Sparks professional women's basketball team. He is the oldest son of the late Lakers owner Jerry Buss.
==Early life== Buss was born in Inglewood, California,<ref name=meet>{{cite web|title=Meet Johnny Hatten Buss|publisher=Buss for America 2024|url=https://www.buss2024.com/johnnyhattenbuss.html|access-date=March 17, 2024|url-status=deviated|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317102447/https://www.buss2024.com/johnnyhattenbuss.html|archive-date=March 17, 2024}}</ref> to JoAnn and Jerry Buss. Their oldest son, he was raised with his brother Jim and sisters Jeanie and Janie.<ref name=meet/><ref name=ireland>{{cite news |last=Ireland |first=John |title=All in the Family |date=May 3, 2009 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=http://www.latimes.com/la-mag-may032009-goodsport,0,5925924,full.story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221125357/http://www.latimes.com/la-mag-may032009-goodsport,0,5925924,full.story |archive-date=December 21, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Buss's parents divorced when he was 12.<ref name=lidz>{{cite news|last=Lidz|first=Franz|title=She's Got Balls|date=November 2, 1998|magazine=Sports Illustrated|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/11/02/shes-got-balls-will-jeanie-buss-daughter-of-lakers-owner-jerry-buss-be-the-next-to-rule-her-fathers-sports-kingdom-or-will-one-of-her-brothers-rise-to-power-a-fractured-family-fable|access-date=March 17, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313011715/https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/11/02/shes-got-balls-will-jeanie-buss-daughter-of-lakers-owner-jerry-buss-be-the-next-to-rule-her-fathers-sports-kingdom-or-will-one-of-her-brothers-rise-to-power-a-fractured-family-fable|archive-date=March 13, 2024|url-status=dead}}</ref> He attended Pacific Palisades High School in Los Angeles. He quit the school football team after two plays on the first day of tryouts and was forced off their gymnastics team for not cutting his hair. Expelled from school for cutting class, Buss finished at a different school. He enrolled at Santa Monica College, but skipped classes there too. Later, he attended the University of Southern California, where he studied in the drama department.<ref name=lidz/>
==Professional career== Buss was managing a real estate company in Las Vegas when his father appointed him in 1982 to run the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL).<ref name=lidz/> With the team facing financial difficulties, he resigned after three seasons following the 1984 season.<ref name=springer_11242002>{{cite news|last=Springer|first=Steve|title=Buss—The Next Generation|date=November 24, 2002|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-nov-24-tm-buss47-story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021127232241/http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-buss24nov24.story|archive-date=November 27, 2002|url-status=live}}</ref> Buss began racing Formula Three cars. He wanted a million-dollar race car, but his father refused to pay for it, not wanting his son to race at the higher speeds. When the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was founded in 1996, Buss's father appointed him as president of the Los Angeles Sparks.<ref name=lidz/> The team won WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002.<ref name=springer_11242002/> After reaching the playoffs in each subsequent season, Buss resigned in 2006.<ref>{{cite news |title=Buss stepping down as Sparks president, sale possible |date=October 31, 2006 |work=ESPN.com |url=https://www.espn.com/wnba/news/story?id=2644461 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322104521/http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=2644461 |archive-date=March 22, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> Buss would say he was feeling exhausted with the managerial tasks, and when announcing to his father he no longer had the heart in working there, Jerry agreed to sell the Sparks.<ref>{{cite episode|title=Episode 7|series=Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers|network=Hulu|date=2022}}</ref> He started a social networking site for artists, Musester.com.<ref name=ireland/><ref>{{cite web|title=Musester: Created By Artists For All Artists!|work=Musester.com|url=http://musester.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110509201845/http://musester.com/|archive-date=May 9, 2011}}</ref>
By 2013, Buss was the Los Angeles Lakers' executive vice president of strategic development.<ref>{{cite news|first=David|last=Wharton|title=Jerry Buss dies at 80; Lakers owner brought 'Showtime' success to L.A.|date=February 18, 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-me-jerry-buss-20130219-story.html|access-date=March 17, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Josh|last=Rupprecht|title=Lakers 2013–14 Media Guide|publisher=Los Angeles Lakers|year=2013|page=6|url=https://lalweb.azureedge.net/public/lakers/media-relations/2013_14_la_lakers_media_guide.pdf|access-date=March 17, 2024}}</ref> His father died that year, and his 66% controlling ownership of the Lakers passed to six of his children via four trusts, the Buss Family Trusts,<ref name=ganguli_06182017/> with each child receiving an equal interest.<ref name=bresnahan_04192014>{{cite news |last=Bresnahan |first=Mike |title=Buss family faces crucial moment with the Lakers |date=April 19, 2014 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-buss-family-20140420,0,1940758,full.story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420111025/http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-buss-family-20140420,0,1940758,full.story |archive-date=April 20, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=markazi_02182013>{{cite news |last=Markazi |first=Arash |title=Buss family won't sell Lakers |date=February 18, 2013 |work=ESPN.com |url=https://www.espn.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8960441/family-jerry-buss-maintain-los-angeles-lakers-ownership |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130219155444/http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8960441/family-jerry-buss-maintain-los-angeles-lakers-ownership |archive-date=February 19, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Medina"/> In addition to Buss and his siblings Jim, Jeanie, and Janie, the other heirs were their half-brothers—Joey and Jesse—from an ex-girlfriend of their father.<ref name=bresnahan_04192014/> Buss, Jim and Jeanie were named the three trustees.<ref>{{cite news|first=Ramona|last=Shelburne|title=Buss brothers deny trying to remove Jeanie Buss as controlling owner|date=March 3, 2017|website=ESPN.com|url=https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18816027/los-angeles-lakers-jeanie-buss-thwarts-coup-attempt-brothers-johnny-buss-jim-buss|access-date=March 25, 2024}}</ref>
On February 21, 2017, Jeanie, the Lakers' president, fired Jim as president of basketball operations. Buss thought that his brother should have been reassigned privately instead of a public firing.<ref>{{cite news|first=Tania|last=Ganguli|title=The most powerful woman in sports|date=June 18, 2017|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-jeanie-buss-20170618-htmlstory.html|access-date=March 27, 2024}}</ref> In a letter from Buss three days later, Jeanie was informed that he and Jim were proposing a Lakers' board of directors that did not include her.<ref name=shelburne_04112017>{{cite news|first=Ramona|last=Shelburne|title=Inside Jeanie Buss' Lakers takeover|date=April 11, 2017|work=ESPN|url=https://abc7.com/sports/inside-jeanie-buss-lakers-takeover/1859860/|access-date=March 27, 2024|via=ABC7}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Bill|last=Oram|title=Jeanie Buss takes control of Lakers, ending brothers' failed coup|date=March 27, 2017|newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News|url=https://www.dailynews.com/2017/03/27/jeanie-buss-takes-control-of-lakers-ending-brothers-failed-coup/|access-date=March 27, 2024}}</ref><ref name=fenmo_03272017>{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-jim-jeanie-buss-trust-20170326-story.html|title=Buss family feud over Lakers appears to end with Jeanie removing brother Jim as a trustee|work=Los Angeles Times|first=Nathan|last=Fenno|date=March 27, 2017|access-date=March 27, 2017}}</ref> She responded by filing a temporary restraining order and suing her brothers for breaching their duties as trustees.<ref name=shelburne_04112017/><ref>{{cite news|first1=Larry|last1=Altman|first2=Mark|last2=Medina|title=Buss brothers agree to new board of directors for Lakers, with Jeanie Buss on it|date=March 18, 2017|newspaper=Los Angeles Daily News|url=https://www.dailynews.com/2017/03/18/buss-brothers-agree-to-new-board-of-directors-for-lakers-with-jeanie-buss-on-it/|access-date=March 27, 2024}}</ref> After the brothers' proposal failed, Buss resigned from the team,<ref name=ganguli_06182017>{{cite news|first=Tania|last=Ganguli|title=Johnny Buss distances himself from siblings and the Lakers|date=June 18, 2017|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-johnny-buss-20170618-story.html|access-date=March 17, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Nathan|last=Fenmo|title=It was 16 months ago when Jeanie Buss made a daring move to seize control of the Lakers|date=July 3, 2018|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-lakers-buss-family-20180703-story.html|access-date=March 17, 2024}}</ref> and he and Jim resigned as co-trustees, replaced by Janie and Joey.<ref name=ganguli_06182017/>
In 2019, Buss bought The Ice House comedy club in Pasadena, California,<ref>{{cite news|first=Nate|last=Jackson|title=The Ice House reopens in Pasadena with laughs, lofty goals and Lakers magic|date=February 16, 2023|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-02-16/the-ice-house-reopens-pasadena-comedy-johnny-buss-penny-toler|access-date=March 25, 2024}}</ref> one of the oldest comedy clubs in the country.<ref>{{cite news|first=Susan|last=Carpenter|title='Fluffy' to headline Ice House comedy club grand reopening|date=March 22, 2023|work=Spectrum News|url=https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/entertainment/2023/03/22/ice-house-comedy-club-in-pasadena-reopens-after-three-years|access-date=April 2, 2024}}</ref><ref name=guzman_03012023>{{cite news|first=Richard|last=Guzman|title=How The Ice House comedy club in Pasadena reopened with a Lakers connection|date=March 1, 2023|newspaper=Pasadena Star-News|url=https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2023/03/01/how-the-ice-house-comedy-club-in-pasadena-reopened-with-a-lakers-connection/|access-date=March 25, 2024}}</ref> A few months after his purchase, the club closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Buss took the opportunity to renovate the club, which re-opened in 2023 after a three-year hiatus and $4 million overhaul.<ref name=guzman_03012023/>
==Political career== In 2024, Buss announced his campaign as an independent candidate in the U.S. presidential election.<ref>{{cite news|first=Dan|last=Woike|title=Johnny Buss, brother of Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, is running for president|date=March 14, 2024|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2024-03-14/johnny-buss-running-president-of-united-states-lakers|access-date=March 17, 2024}}</ref>
==Personal life== Buss married his girlfriend in 1990, before separating two days after; they were divorced a year later.<ref name=lidz/> Around 1991, he married Los Angeles Clippers cheerleader Christy Curtis.<ref name=lidz/><ref>{{cite news|first=Gale|last=Robinson|title=What A Coup?|date=August 23, 1991|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|page=E5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/144084015/|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=March 25, 2024}}</ref> They were separated by 2012.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hui |first=Ann |date=March 5, 2012 |title=Mimran. Trump. Buss. Women rise above family name |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-managing/mimran-trump-buss-women-rise-above-family-name/article551039/ |url-access=subscription|access-date=March 25, 2024|quote=Christy Curtis Buss, who is married to Johnny Buss – the son of Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss and one-time president of the Los Angeles Sparks before the senior Mr. Buss sold the women's basketball team – echoes the fact that being related to a famous man can have its downsides. (The couple have since separated, though they remain legally married and maintain a good relationship, she said.)}}</ref>
Buss met his older sister around 2019. His parents had put her up for adoption after birth, and she later searched her roots.<ref name=meet/><ref>{{cite news|first=Carol|last=Kahn|title=Lee Klose finds birth family after decades|date=November 5, 2022|work=Sedona Red Rock News|url=https://www.redrocknews.com/2022/11/05/klose-finds-birth-family-after-decades/|access-date=March 25, 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.buss2024.com/johnnyhattenbuss.html Buss For America 2024]
{{Los Angeles Lakers}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buss, Johnny}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:California independents Category:Candidates in the 2024 United States presidential election Category:Los Angeles Lakers executives Category:Los Angeles Lakers owners Category:Santa Monica College alumni Category:USC School of Dramatic Arts alumni Category:Buss family Category:Businesspeople from Inglewood, California Category:Sportspeople from Inglewood, California