Jeanie Buss: Palisades’ Laker Girl

Executive VP of LA’s Premiere Sports Franchise Is Proud of Her Roots

Ask any Lakers fan to name their most valuable player and the answer you’re most likely to hear is Kobe Bryant. When it comes to the organization’s most valuable person, however, someone who deserves to be in the conversation is Jeanie Buss, Executive Vice President of Business Operations. No one bleeds purple and gold more than the daughter of team owner Dr. Jerry Buss. She has long been the voice and face of the team, having worked on both the promotions side and operations side of the business, but her first claim to fame was being named Miss Palisades in 1979. Thirty years later, the memory hasn’t faded. “It was a great experience for a 17-year-old,” said Buss, the guest speaker at last Friday’s Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce general membership breakfast at Riviera Country Club. “It improved my speaking skills, my posture, my demeanor, everything. Actor Adam West (who played the Caped Crusader in the ‘Batman’ TV show) was one of the judges, and I remember being so shocked and surprised when I won. That was something totally different than homecoming queen or class president because those are more about popularity.” When Jeanie was growing up (she is the third of six children) the Buss family lived on Ranch Lane in Rustic Canyon, and she recalled holding a graduation party at her house on the same night her father bought the Lakers (along with the Kings hockey franchise and The Forum in Inglewood, where both teams played). “It got pretty loud and the police came,” she said. Little did Jeanie or her siblings know then how dramatically their lives would change: “I’d grown up knowing I’d be involved in the family business, which at the time was real estate development, but this was a whole new venture.” Buss has learned a lot about the intricacies of the game through her boyfriend of 10 years, current Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who has educated her about the pros and cons of zone defense and how to execute the pick and roll. “He can get pretty intense sometimes,” she said, laughing. Jeanie traces her knowledge of basketball, however, back to Palisades High, where she tried golf and JV basketball and, most significantly, kept statistics for the boys’ varsity team, coached by Jerry Marvin. “I learned the rules, how to keep score and all of the terminology that enabled me to talk about it once I got involved with the Lakers,” she said. “If someone asked me what traveling meant, I could easily explain it to them.” When she began her career at the age of 19 while attending USC, Buss had to think of creative ways to fill The Forum on the 200 nights a year the Lakers and Kings weren’t playing. She found her niche in the “orphan” sports, serving as general manager of the L.A. Strings (World Team Tennis) and later the L.A. Blades professional roller hockey team. “My dad realized that child labor is very cheap,” said Buss, who worked while pursuing her business degree. “I guess you could say that was my way of paying off my tuition.” One question posed to Buss at last Friday’s breakfast was what she has learned the most from each of her parents: “My father taught me to hire the most talented people and let them do their jobs. My smile and my laugh come from my mom [Joann]. She’s taught me the importance of having fun.” At the time Jeanie broke into the sports business, it was still a male-dominated profession. She learned early on that simply being herself was the best way to establish credibility amongst her peers: “I’ve gotten used to it. In fact, the other day I was in a meeting with eight guys and I broke the ice by suggesting we sit boy-girl, boy-girl. That lightened the mood a bit.” Now in her sixth season as executive vice president, Jeanie describes her job as the “revenue-generating side” of the Lakers, whereas basketball is the “revenue-spending” side. One of the riskiest decisions the organization made was relocating the team to Staples Center in 1999. “I was of the belief that nobody goes downtown, but it’s been 10 years and 95 to 98 percent of our season ticket holders renew every year,” said Buss, who now resides in Playa del Rey. “The downtown area has been revitalized and the Lakers moving there has stimulated that whole movement.” Buss’ tireless dedication to her trade has helped build the Lakers into one of the world’s most popular professional sports franchises. “We like to think the Lakers are America’s team and that’s why we travel to other markets in the preseason,” Buss said. “We want that NBA fan who doesn’t root for a specific team to adopt the Lakers. That’s why we have fans all over the globe.”