Well Before the Trade, a Greater Deal Saved St. Louis

The Los Angeles-area businessman who may be the reason St. Louis had a landing place for Wayne Gretzky greeted Tuesday’s night’s news of the trade for the Great One with mixed feelings.

“I’m a hockey fan, and I want the Kings to do well,” said Harry Ornest, the Beverly Hills resident who owned the St. Louis Blues from 1983-86. “But St. Louis is a great hockey town, and if anybody’s going to give them their money’s worth, it’s Wayne Gretzky.”

Ornest, now vice chairman of Hollywood Park, was drawn to St. Louis after seeing a small item in the Los Angeles Times shortly after he had sold the Vancouver baseball team of the Pacific Coast League.

“It was Jan. 15, 1983,” Ornest said. “I still have the clipping from your paper. It said, ‘Hockey is Dead in St. Louis.’ Suddenly, I got real interested.”

Ornest, once a referee in the NHL, had made his money in the vending-machine business in Western Canada, but had moved his family to Southern California and was out of sports when he saw the little item on the Blues. Slightly more than six months later--with the Blues apparently out of business at the end of the season--Ornest took over from the Ralston Purina Co.

“It was July 21, 1983, . . . and everything was closed down,” he said. “The team had lost in the first round of the playoffs, and the offices were closed, the lights were off. There were no telephones, no paper clips, nothing. I worked out of a law office nearby for the first three weeks.”

At that time, the NHL was less than enthusiastic about the Blues’ future. With them, the league had 21 teams. So, with the sentiment that 20 teams would be easier to handle than 21--and with many of the other owners salivating over a potential dispersal draft of Blues’ players that would strengthen their teams--Ornest’s bid to buy met resistance.

Nor did the city appear to care deeply for its impending loss, according to Ornest.

“A St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist wrote, ‘Who needs the Blues? Who needs this California guy, Ornest?’ ” Ornest said.

But Ornest went ahead anyway, putting together a deal for the team that cost him just shy of $11 million, for a team worth about $85 million Tuesday morning and perhaps 15-20% more than that by Tuesday night. Ornest also bought the arena, then called the Checkerdome by Ralston Purina, and renamed it simply St. Louis Arena.

That purchase meant that he had become the only person--certainly in hockey, possibly in all sports--to own a building he had once refereed in. In October of 1994, the venerable St. Louis Arena, built in 1931, the same year as Maple Leaf Gardens, Chicago Stadium and Boston Gardens, was replaced as the home of the Blues by the new Kiel Arena.

In the spring of 1986, the Blues lost in the Stanley Cup semifinals. On Dec. 16, 1986, with his club in first place in the Norris Division, Ornest sold the team and moved his family back to Beverly Hills. The Blues are now owned by a group of 23 corporations, including 10 in the Fortune 500.

Since leaving St. Louis, Ornest has been deeply involved in horse racing at Hollywood Park. He also owned the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League briefly, before selling to Bruce McNall, actor John Candy and Gretzky. But a big part of his heart remains in hockey, and in St. Louis.

“I can’t help but think that this is a terrific deal for St. Louis,” he said. “You can’t imagine what a shot in the arm he’ll give that team.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Big Deals

A chronological list of some blockbuster trades in the history of Los Angeles sports:

* June 13, 1952--The Dallas Texans trade the selection rights to Les Richter to the Los Angeles Rams for Dick Hoerner, Tom Keane, George Sims, Joe Reid, Billy Baggett, Jack Halliday, Dick McKissack, Vic Vasicek, Richard Wilkins, Aubrey Phillips and Dave Anderson.

* March 23, 1959--The Chicago Cardinals trade Ollie Matson to the Los Angeles Rams for Frank Fuller, Glenn Holtzman, Ken Panfil, Art Hauser, John Tracey, Larry Hickman, Don Brown, the Rams’ second-round choice in 1960, and a player to be delivered during the 1959 training camp.

* July 5, 1968--The Philadelphia 76ers trade Wilt Chamberlain to the Los Angeles Lakers for Darrell Imhoff, Archie Clark and Jerry Chambers plus an undisclosed amount of cash.

* Jan. 28, 1971--The Washington Redskins trade Marlin McKeever, first- and second-round choices in 1971, and third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-round choices in 1972 to the Los Angeles Rams for Maxie Baughan, Jack Pardee, Myron Pottios, Jeff Jordan, John Wilbur, Diron Talbert and a fifth-round choice in 1971.

* July 13, 1972--Los Angeles Rams part-owner Robert Irsay purchases the remaining $19 million in stock and swaps franchises with Baltimore Colt owner Carroll Rosenbloom.

* Oct. 22, 1974--The Los Angeles Rams trade John Hadl to the Green Bay Packers for a first- second- and third-round choice in the 1975 draft and a first- and second-round choice in the 1976 draft.

* June 16, 1975--The Milwaukee Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, along with Walt Wesley, to the Los Angeles Lakers for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman.

* Oct. 31, 1987--The Los Angeles Rams trade Eric Dickerson to the Indianapolis Colts in a three-team deal. The Colts trade the rights to Cornelius Bennett to the Buffalo Bills. The Colts send Owen Gill and their first- and second-round choices in 1988 and first-round choice in 1989, plus Bill running back Greg Bell and Buffalo’s first-round choice in 1988 and first- and second-round choices in 1989 to the Rams.

* Aug. 9, 1988--The Edmonton Oilers trade Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley to the Los Angeles Kings for an undisclosed amount of cash, Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, and first-round draft picks in 1989, 1991 and 1993.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

New Arrivals

A look at the players acquired by the Kings in the trade for Wayne Gretzky:

ROMAN VOPAT

Position: Center

Height: 6-3.

Weight: 216.

Born: April 21, 1976, Litvinov, Czechoslovakia. A center, Vopat shoots right. Acquired by the Blues as a seventh-round choice (172 overall) in the 1994 NHL entry draft.

PATRICE TARDIF

Position: Center

Height: 6-2. Weight: 202.

Born: Oct. 30, 1970, Thetford Mines, Quebec. A center, Tardif shoots left. Acquired by the Blues as a third-round choice (54 overall) in the 1990 NHL entry draft.

1994-95 STATISTICS

*--*

Team GP G A Pts. St. Louis (NHL) 27 3 10 13 Peoria (IHL) 53 27 18 45

*--*

CRAIG JOHNSON

Position: Left Wing

Height: 6-0.

Born: March 8, 1972, St. Paul, Minnesota. A left wing, Johnson shoots left. Acquired by the Blues as a second-round choice (33rd overall) in the 1990 NHL entry draft.

1994-95 STATISTICS

*--*

Team GP G A Pts. St. Louis (NHL) 15 3 3 6 Peoria (IHL) 45 3 2 5

*--*