OBITUARIES / PASSINGS / Roy Boe
Roy Boe, 79, who owned both the Julius Erving-led New York Nets of the American Basketball Assn. and the fledgling New York Islanders of the National Hockey League in the 1970s, died Sunday of heart failure at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn.
Boe purchased the Nets in May 1969 and the team made the ABA finals in 1972, losing to Indiana. The team obtained Erving for the 1973-74 season and “The Doctor” immediately led the team to titles in 1974 and ’76.
Boe and the Nets joined the NBA for the 1976-77 season but had to pay $8 million in various fees.
Strapped for cash, Boe sold the rights to Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers for $3 million in 1976. The Nets moved to New Jersey in 1977, and Boe sold his interest in 1978.
He became the original owner of the expansion Islanders in 1972. He also sold his interest in that team in 1978.
Boe was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sept. 14, 1929. He graduated from Yale and served in the Army during the Korean War.
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