Theodore J Stepien was an American businessman who owned the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association from 1980 to 1983.
12 Facts About Ted Stepien
1.
2.
Ted Stepien began Nationwide Advertising Service in 1947 with just $500.
3.
Ted Stepien bought the Cleveland Jaybirds franchise for the 1978 APSPL season, changing the name to the Cleveland Ted Stepien's Competitors in 1979.
4.
In 1980, Ted Stepien held a promotional event for the league in Cleveland in which he dropped softballs from the 52nd floor of Terminal Tower to be caught by outfielders from his Cleveland Competitors team.
5.
The merged league competed for two years and Stepien fielded the Cleveland Competitors again in the 1982 UPSL season.
6.
The angry crowd used the occasion to not only show support for Tait, but to voice their discontent over the fact that Ted Stepien was staying behind to run the team.
7.
Ted Stepien thought about renaming the team the "Ohio Cavaliers" and playing portions of its home schedule in nearby non-NBA cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Toronto to increase the fan base.
8.
Ted Stepien had threatened to move the team to Toronto and rename them the Toronto Towers.
9.
Ted Stepien signed a deal to sell his majority interest in the Cavaliers to George and Gordon Gund for $20 million on April 7,1983.
10.
Ted Stepien owned a team in the Global Basketball Association, which operated during the early 1990s.
11.
Early in 2003, Stepien founded the United Pro Basketball League, which featured just four teams, including three in Kentucky and one in Mansfield, Ohio.
12.
Ted Stepien opened a series of private dining rooms called "Competitors Clubs" in Cleveland.