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 Few people have been as closely linked to that history as Steve Chase, who served as the franchise’s vice president of sales and marketing from 1978-98. From the Showtime era of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pat Riley to the beginning of the Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson reign, Chase was intimately involved in the business operations and public image of the team. But though basketball was Chase’s career for three decades, golf has long been part of his life. Chase’s father owned a miniature golf course and driving range, and Chase hit thousands of balls while growing up in Kentucky. After moving to Los Angeles in 1978 to work with the Lakers, Chase got hooked on the game and recently won the senior men’s championship at Riviera Country Club. After leaving the Lakers, Chase went to work for Environmental Golf, but he recently returned to basketball as co-founder of a minor-league basketball team that will serve as an affiliate for the Sacramento Kings and the Portland Trailblazers. Chase recently offered his thoughts on issues ranging from the glory days of the Lakers to his appreciation and adoration for Riviera. I REALLY BECAME HOOKED ON GOLF as a young adult after moving to California in 1978. The great year-round weather, the world-class courses and the fact that my basketball and football [playing] careers were over were a big part of what drove me to love golf. I REALLY LOVE THE GAME because it’s one that can never be mastered. Unless you shoot 18 over 18 holes, you could have done better. No matter how well you play there is always the feeling that you could have done better. I shot a career-best 66 at Riviera last summer and after the round I mainly thought about the five or six strokes I wasted. Perfection and golf don’t go together. THE SENIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP AT RIVIERA was a thrill for me to win. The side story to the win was that I threw my back out on Sunday before the Thursday tournament. On Monday, I could not walk, much less swing a club. I came very close to asking my wife to take me to the hospital. Wednesday was my 55th birthday. I had scheduled lunch and a round of golf with Bill and Jerry Sharman at Riviera. I really could not play well that day, as I was still stiff and sore. But I got around. I had a heating pad and ice bag on my back all night. The next day I took six Advil and shot a 70 and won the championship by one stroke. BEING WITH THE LAKERS WAS AMAZING. It hit a low point when Magic Johnson retired after learning he was HIV-positive. The team was built around Magic, and Jerry West had been saying that it might be time to move a couple of players in order to build for the future, but the decision was made to keep them one more year. Since the team was built around Magic, once he retired we had to retool the whole team. After a few years we ended up with Shaq and that brought us back up. AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET INTO THE GOLF BUSINESS came up and I took it. I began working with Mitch Voges, the U.S. Amateur champ in 1991, on a performance laboratory for golf equipment. We were working with launch monitors before anyone knew what they were. But we needed capital to launch the concept nationwide and the right deal didn’t materialize, so we didn’t get it done. But I knew the Sperber brothers for years, as season-ticket holders from my days with the Lakers. Their vision to expand their golf maintenance company, Environmental Golf, into an industry leader was an appeal to me. Their landscaping company was already famous and I agreed to help them expand into managing and owning properties, including Westridge Golf Club in La Habra. I was very proud to be involved with the organization but the expansion they wanted didn’t happen because the golf boom ended, so they went back to maintaining rather than owning and managing courses. At the same time I had the opportunity to get involved with minor-league basketball. THE ABA WAS STARTING A NEW LEAGUE and I helped run a franchise in Los Angeles, which we moved to Anaheim and then Long Beach, where Dennis Rodman played. But I think the future of minor-league basketball is in the NBA’s new developmental league because it allows NBA teams to send a few players down several times during the season to their affiliates. So someone can play for the Lakers on a Friday and then play for our team on a Tuesday. That’s exciting for fans. MY NEW FRANCHISE IS LOCATED IN BAKERSFIELD because I absolutely love that community. Environmental Golf helped develop the Links at River Lakes Ranch and it’s a fantastic course. I spent a great deal of time in Bakersfield and it’s a great community, and I think our product will be very well supported. I’VE BEEN A MEMBER AT RIVIERA FOR 10 YEARS and while there are other courses, like Sherwood, that are great, I happen to be in love with Riviera. It’s one of America’s great, great golf courses and I think a lot of that has to do with the location. I live a 9-iron away from the course and the weather there might be the greatest climate on Earth. During the summer in never gets over 75 and in the winter it rarely gets below 65. It’s a great place to play golf, and I never grow tired of playing it. PICKING A FAVORITE HOLE IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE because every one is terrific. But the 10th, which Jack Nicklaus called one of the greatest short par-4s in America, is one of them. There are so many ways to play it, even though now that everyone is hitting it so long the dynamics have really changed. It used to be that you had to lay up and then hit a wedge onto the green, but now everyone seems to be taking out their driver and trying to pound it on the green. A LOT OF YOUNG GUYS IN THE NBA didn’t grow up playing golf. Many grew up in the inner cities where there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to play, but now they’re finding it’s a great social situation and you can do a lot of business on the course. And after they retire, guys really miss the other guys in the locker room and the competition and, even if they retired because of a bad back or a bad knee, they’re still incredible athletes and really take to golf. I play with Bill Sharman, one of the greatest basketball players ever, and he’s 79 and still plays every hole with the same intensity as if he’s playing for an NBA championship. I think golf does that for all athletes because it’s an outlet for their competitive juices. I’VE PLAYED A LOT OF ROUNDS WITH JERRY WEST and he’s one of the greatest amateur golfers I’ve ever played with. I was playing with him at Bel-Air once when he shot a 66 with a lost ball. Charles Barkley? He has one of the most unique swings of anyone. One of the disadvantages for basketball players is that golf is very difficult for a very tall person. You don’t see many 6-foot-10 guys on the PGA Tour. They’re a long way from the ground and there’s so many things that can go wrong with a swing that covers so much area. Plus, they’re all playing with oversized clubs and grips, which is also tough. MY IDEAL FOURSOME would include Jack, Tiger and my dad. MY IDEAL STARTING FIVE FOR AN NBA GAME 7 would be Magic Johnson and Jerry West at guards, Wilt Chamberlain at center and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Elgin Baylor at forwards. James Worthy would be my sixth man. And, of course, Chick Hearn would call the game. |
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