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| Eddie Gottlieb in suit with early Warriors team |
For now, we’ll relate a tale of Eddie’s reputation as a tightwad.
The Mogul was a founder of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and owner-coach of the NBA Philadelphia Warriors.
In 1952 Gottlieb recruited Temple student and All-American standout basketball player Bill Mkvy, called “the Owl without a Vowel.” Mkvy was in class when a Temple dean arrived and said Gottlieb wanted to see him at his Center City office.
Excited, Mkvy and his future wife rushed to Gottlieb’s Chestnut Street office with dreams of big bucks in professional basketball.
Mkvy later recalled the stairs and Gotty’s office were cluttered with boxes. The college star was given a paper to sign. The new Warrior obeyed and asked what he had just signed.
“Don’t worry kid, You’re going to be rich,” declared the Mogul. “You just signed for $1,200.”
Rich? Even cab drivers or garbage men were making $3,000 a year in the early 1950s.
Next, Gottlieb offered to take the new rookie and his girl friend to lunch.
Mkvy was thinking they would dine at some fancy Center City restaurant like Lew Tendler’s at Broad and Locust. Gotty led the couple to a nearby White Tower where he ordered three hamburgers and three Cokes. “The whole bill came to 95 cents,” Mkvy recalled.
“Gotty got a nickel change. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. No tip. And that was my signing bonus. My entrée into the NBA,” Mkvy told an interviewer.