18 Facts About Bill Daniels

Bill Daniels owned the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association.

Bill Daniels took a chance on this long-distance television market by setting up a microwave feed that delivered Denver programming to Casper, Wyoming in 1952.

Bill Daniels later shifted his focus towards brokering and investment banking for the growing industry.

Bill Daniels owned cable systems as well, with 31 cable systems in 10 states by 1986.

Bill Daniels acquired the Los Angeles Stars in 1970 for about $850,000 and moved it to Utah.

In total Bill Daniels estimated that he lost $3.1 million operating the team.

In December 1975,16 games into the season, Bill Daniels announced that the team could not pay the players, who included future Hall of Famer Moses Malone.

Bill Daniels initially tried to sell the team in 1974 to focus on his campaign for Governor of Colorado.

Bill Daniels was one of the few owners to make money in the USFL.

Bill Daniels became active in politics, winning a seat as a National Committeeman from Colorado for the Republican National Committee and running for the Republican nomination for Governor of Colorado in 1974.

Bill Daniels remained active in the Republican Party, donating more than $100,000 to the party in 1988.

In 1987, Bill Daniels founded the Young Americans Bank, a special bank with a unique Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured state charter.

Bill Daniels was married four times and had two stepsons but no children of his own.

Bill Daniels's brother Jack was a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives and ran for Governor of New Mexico and United States Senator from New Mexico.

Bill Daniels died on March 7,2000, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California after a long illness.

Bill Daniels had problems at times with alcohol and both patronized and supported the Betty Ford Center and helped found Cenikor Foundation, a rehabilitation center in Colorado.

Bill Daniels donated $22 million to the school over a period of years.

Bill Daniels decided to use his fortune to continue helping others by forming a foundation that supports issues relating to aging, alcoholism and substance abuse, amateur sports, disabilities, education, the homelessness and disadvantaged, and youth development.