George Steinbrenner lead the Yankees to seven World Series championships after leaving Cleveland in the 70's, partly because his bid to buy the Indians for 8 million dollars - collapsed.
Former Plain Dealer sportswriter Bob Dolgan knew Steinbrenner since about 1960.
BOB DOLGAN: "George was a complex character; you know how controversial he was. The thing with him as winning -- his famous line was "Winning is the most important thing in life. Second comes breathing."
That attitude lead to Steinbrenner's larger-than-life persona, and near-tyrannical control of the Yankees; a ten million dollar purchase that's now a one-point-six billion empire.
But Steinbrenner's first team came in the city he loved - when he saw the opportunity to own a struggling pro basketball franchise - the Cleveland Pipers.
DOLGAN: "Steinbrenner bought the team. First time I ever saw him, and he acted pretty much in those days like he did in later years with the Yankees."
Including firing the first African-American coach in pro basketball...
With money from the family's Lorain County-based American Shipbuilding Company, Steinbrenner headed a group who wanted to own the Indians in 1972, and partnered with local businessmen to buy the team from Vernon Stouffer, who suddenly changed his mind and sold to the Nick Mileti Group -
DOLGAN: "If he had bought the team, Cleveland would have had two or three more pennants, and a world series championship, because George - you know everything comes from the top - and George demanded excellence in everything he was involved in."
His generosity was also legend, paying for funerals of employees, giving Joe DiMaggio a Cadillac ...because he thought a subcompact wasn't a fitting car for the former Yankee slugger...
But his largesse wasn't always accepted.
Several years ago, his hometown of Bay Village rejected a Steinbrenner gift of a new football stadium, reportedly because some people there didn't want his name on it - though he'd served as a volunteer track coach at the school long before his New York years.
Steinbrenner also loved horses, and the name of his racing concern, Kinsman Stable - is to honor his roots, and his grandfather, whose first business... was on Cleveland's Kinsman Road...
Funeral arrangements will be private, the family said. There will be an additional public service with details to be announced at a later date.
