Vito Guarino, L.A. Basketball Pioneer, Dead at 77

Vito Guarino, one of the first promoters of professional basketball in Los Angeles, died Wednesday in San Marino at 77.

Guarino promoted the first NBA game in Los Angeles, a 1959 exhibition at the Sports Arena between the Philadelphia Warriors and the St. Louis Hawks, which also was the NBA debut of Wilt Chamberlain.

The game, the first played in the new Sports Arena, drew 12,443, a Los Angeles basketball record. Chamberlain had been drafted out of high school by the Warriors, but had left the University of Kansas a year early to play a year with the Harlem Globetrotters.

He then signed with the Warriors for the highest salary in NBA history, $30,000.

“Vito’s real goal was to get an NBA expansion franchise for Los Angeles,” said Len Corbosiero, Guarino’s stepson.

“He was convinced the NBA would be a major sport here, so he guaranteed the Hawks and Warriors a total of $50,000 to play that ’59 exhibition game here.

“As it turned out, the Dodgers had just clinched the National League pennant in a playoff and were opening the World Series with the White Sox the following day. We thought we’d get killed at the gate.

“But the crowd was 12,443, and Vito was delighted. We thought we were on our way to getting an NBA team. We thought we had a commitment from both the NBA and the Coliseum Commission for support.

“But then Bob Short suddenly blew us out of the picture when he moved his Minneapolis Lakers to L.A.”

Guarino later surfaced as the owner of the American Basketball League’s Los Angeles Jets franchise with Bill Sharman as player-coach. The 1961 and ’62 Jets played at the Olympic Auditorium and featured such players as George Yardley, Larry Friend, Bobby Blue and Hal Lear. A vigil for Guarino will be held tonight at 7 at Pierce Brothers, Cunningham and O’Connor Mortuary in Alhambra. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Teresa’s Catholic Church in Alhambra, followed by interment at Forest Lawn, Glendale.

In addition to Corbosiero, Guarino is survived by a daughter, Patricia Evans, and a son, Vito Guarino Jr.