LOVERRO: Daring and fearless, Turner was a large-than-life visionary
by Thom Loverro · The Washington TimesOPINION:
Those considered visionaries today sometimes seem blind to the world around them, choosing instead to build their own universe.
There’s the guy who delivers vitamins, paper towels and vegetable choppers to nearly every house in America. There’s the other guy with his social media network featuring viral phony videos of dogs playing with crows, food recipes and gags.
Even the guy who sells electric cars and shoots rockets into space — no one looks at that guy and wishes they were him — a Dr. Evil caricature.
They seem to live empty lives, in possession of everything and nothing all at once.
They could all take a page from Ted Turner.
Turner died Wednesday at the age of 87, and “visionary” was the common denominator running through the tributes that followed:
“Remembering the life and legacy of visionary CNN founder Ted Turner “ — PBS.
“Ted Turner Remembered as ‘Visionary’ by Fellow Media Moguls” — The Hollywood Reporter.
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“Ted Turner, visionary businessman who changed news forever” — CBS News.
Turner was all that — his all-news network influenced government and politics globally — and more. His philanthropy was stunning — he donated $1 billion to United Nations causes like child health and refugee aid.
He was chairman of the Turner Foundation, supporting efforts to improve air and water quality, among other environmental issues.
He won the America’s Cup in 1977, skippering the yacht Courageous, and was too drunk to finish his acceptance speech.
Did I mention he was married to Jane Fonda? Say what you will about her, Fonda is a formidable woman who would be a challenge for any man. Mind you, now, this was still the workout video Fonda.
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He managed the Atlanta Braves for one game.
“Ted’s whole existence was an 87-year-long ’celebration of life,’” said Stan Kasten, former Washington Nationals co-owner and president who is currently part-owner and president of the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and who worked for Turner.
That is how visionaries should live.
He was larger than life wherever he decided to hang his hat, and built much of his empire in sports, turning an Atlanta television station into a “Superstation” on cable outlets across the country, making his Atlanta Braves team a baseball version of America’s team. He was a visionary on the impact of sports and television.
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“There is no one who was as passionate and impactful in so many different areas,” said Kasten, who began working for Turner in 1979, becoming general manager of Turner’s NBA franchise, the Atlanta Hawks, at the age of 27. He would go on to be Turner’s president of the Braves and for a brief time president of his short-lived Atlanta Thrashers NHL franchise.
“Sports was just a tiny piece,” Kasten said. “There was the environment … there was philanthropy … there was world peace, and the U.N. And of course, news. He touched a lot of people.”
He tied it together — world peace and sports — with perhaps his most audacious venture — his own Olympics.
With the United States boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and then the Soviets boycotting the Los Angeles games four years later, Turner started the Goodwill Games, an international sports competition.
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“Not only will the participants compete together in the spirit of good sportsmanship, but audiences worldwide will be able to see the harmony that can be fostered among nations,” Turner declared.
He got more than 3,000 athletes representing 79 countries to compete in Moscow for the 1986 inaugural games, including stars like Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. He did it again in 1990 in Seattle.
But with the Soviet Union’s breakup, interest died down. The games were held again in Russia in St. Petersburg in 1994, New York in 1998, and the last ones were held in Brisbane, Australia — site of the 2032 Summer Olympics — in 2001.
The Goodwill Games were always a favorite of mine, because I used them to create my favorite phony tale, telling people I placed fifth in the shot put in the U.S. Trials for the 1974 Goodwill Games. It was so obscure it became believable, even though there were no games back in 1974.
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I’m betting Turner would have gotten a laugh out of that. Somebody who once said, “Why not start our own Olympics?” had to have a sense of humor — and a hell of a vision.
• Catch Thom Loverro on “The Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast.