34 Facts About Donald Sterling

Donald Sterling settled his lawsuit against the NBA in November 2016 and remains active in Los Angeles real estate.

Donald Sterling was born Donald Tokowitz on April 26,1934, in Chicago.

Donald Sterling's family moved to the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles when he was two years old.

Donald Sterling attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, where he was on the school's gymnastics team and served as class president; he graduated in 1952.

Donald Sterling then attended California State University, Los Angeles and Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles.

When he was 25, he and his wife Shelly changed their surname to "Donald Sterling", filing a formal petition to do so on December 9,1959.

In 1961, Donald Sterling started his career as a divorce and personal injury attorney, building an independent practice when Jews had fewer opportunities at prestigious law firms.

The first instance came in 1979, when Buss used the money he made from selling a portion of his apartment buildings to Donald Sterling, which covered the remaining balance in purchasing the Lakers, the Kings hockey team, and The Forum arena from Jack Kent Cooke for $67 million.

At his introductory news conference in San Diego, Donald Sterling vowed to "spend unlimited sums" to build the Clippers into a contender, and he embarked on a county-wide marketing campaign featuring his smiling face on billboards and the backs of buses.

In June 1982, Donald Sterling attempted to move the team to Los Angeles.

At the suggestion of David Stern, then the league's vice president, Donald Sterling was able to maintain his position as owner, instead handing over operations duties of the franchise to Alan Rothenberg, who became the team's president.

Donald Sterling sued the league for $100 million, but dropped the suit when the league agreed to decrease the fine to $6 million.

Donald Sterling was widely criticized for his frugal operation of the Clippers, due in part to a consistent history of losing seasons.

Donald Sterling rebuffed numerous offers from other cities to relocate the Clippers and was steadfast in his refusal to move the team out of Los Angeles, let alone sell the team.

In 2003, Donald Sterling signed Elton Brand to a six-year, $82 million deal, the biggest contract in franchise history.

Donald Sterling matched the contract the Utah Jazz offered restricted free agent Corey Maggette: a deal worth $45 million over six years.

Donald Sterling spent $50 million to build a state-of-the-art practice facility and team headquarters in Los Angeles' Playa Vista mixed-use development neighborhood.

The recording received national media coverage and Donald Sterling retained Newport Beach-based attorney Bobby Samini as his lead counsel in litigation with the NBA, TMZ, and Stiviano.

Donald Sterling's comments affected the NBA, a league with predominantly black players.

Donald Sterling said he was "baited" by Stiviano into making the offensive comments.

Donald Sterling disavowed having given his wife authorization to sell the team, denied all charges, and refused to sell the Clippers.

Donald Sterling called the penalties "draconian" and referred to the process as a "sham".

On June 4,2014, attorney Maxwell Blecher announced that Donald Sterling had decided to drop the lawsuit against the NBA, and had agreed to allow the proposed $2 billion sale of the Clippers to Ballmer.

Levenson reported a racially insensitive e-mail to the NBA, as the Donald Sterling case made Levenson feel remorseful for behaving in a manner he described as similar.

Many people and organizations relating to the Suns and NBA thought the season-long suspension and $10 million fine from Sarver was too lenient by comparison to his actions and felt that Sarver deserved a lifetime ban from the NBA similar to Donald Sterling based off of the initial report on Sarver.

The suit charged that Donald Sterling refused to rent to non-Koreans in the Koreatown neighborhood and to African Americans in Beverly Hills.

In November 2009, ESPN reported that Donald Sterling agreed to pay a fine of $2.7 million to settle the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged that co-defendant Donald Sterling told Baylor that he wanted to fill his team with "poor black boys from the South and a white head coach".

Donald Sterling countersued, and the two eventually reached a confidential settlement in 1998.

Donald Sterling lost the case at a jury trial two years later.

In 1955, Donald Sterling married Rochelle Stein, with whom he had three children: Scott, Chris, and Joanna.

Joanna's husband, Eric Miller, served as the Clippers' director of basketball administration, voluntarily leaving after Donald Sterling sold the team.

Donald Sterling had a relationship with a woman named Alexandra Castro.

Donald Sterling was deemed mentally unfit to continue to lead the financial affairs of the Sterling Family Trust, clearing the way for his wife Shelly to sell the Los Angeles Clippers on his behalf despite his protests.