William Wadsworth Wirtz was the chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of the family-owned Wirtz Corporation.
15 Facts About Bill Wirtz
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Bill Wirtz was best known as the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League, who are part of Wirtz Corp's holdings.
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Bill Wirtz served as the Blackhawks' team president for over four decades.
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Bill Wirtz was raised in Chicago, Illinois by his father Arthur Bill Wirtz and mother Virginia.
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Bill Wirtz attended the Latin School of Chicago where he was a star athlete in Football and Track.
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Bill Wirtz was set to go to Princeton University after his senior year but decided to attend Brown University instead with his best friend.
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Bill Wirtz was the team president of the Blackhawks for 41 years and served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the NHL for 18, helping to merge the NHL and the World Hockey Association during the 1970s.
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Bill Wirtz was vilified by Blackhawks fans for forbidding home games to be televised unless they were picked up by national broadcasters, which only happened when the Blackhawks made the playoffs.
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Bill Wirtz was blamed for allowing Bobby Hull to leave the Blackhawks and the NHL for the World Hockey Association.
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Bill Wirtz was further blamed for the loss of both Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour, for trading Denis Savard in 1990, for the trade of Chris Chelios to Detroit, for the trading of Jeremy Roenick, and for the 1967 trade of Phil Esposito.
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Bill Wirtz was blamed for the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup drought, which was the third longest in NHL history and the longest in team history.
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In spite of his vocal critics, Bill Wirtz was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985.
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Bill Wirtz was considered by many to be a generous and fiercely loyal man.
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Bill Wirtz served on the Olympic Committees for both the 1980 and 1984 Winter Olympics.
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Bill Wirtz died at Evanston Hospital on September 26,2007, following a brief battle with cancer.