October 5, 2023 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Bill Daniels, the godfather of cable TV, shares the story of paying back bankruptcy creditors… even though he had no legal obligation to do so.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American Stories and with our
Do the Right Things series about ethical dilemmas that's sponsored
by the great folks at the Daniels Fund. And by
the way, if you have stories about ethical dilemmas in
your life, for better or for worse, making the right decision,
making the wrong decision about something big and something tough
and complicated, send them to our Americanstories dot com. These
(00:32):
are some of our favorite stories. Is we get to
learn from them, all of us together, and today Alex
Cortez brings us a story about the man who inspired
this series.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The biggest thing that's lacking in one of the biggest
things in the real world of business today is the
ethical standards and integrity of some business people.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Who are listening to Bill Daniels, late Denver businessman who's
best known as the father of cable TV. But in
nineteen seventy five, before he fully earned that title, he
was the owner of the American Basketball Association's Utah Stars,
which wasn't a profitable team and he was financially struggling.
Here's former Stars coach Tom Nasalk.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
We started the start of the season, but I could
tell you know there was financial problems. He wasn't the
same ambulant guy that he normally was a positive and
we really had some problems, guys not getting paid. So
(01:44):
he ended up bankrupting the team, which absolutely crushed him.
I remember he came to a practice and said, this
is what I'm going to have to do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I had to take bankruptcy. He was a basketball team
that I owned in the same to Utah. It was
the Utah Stars were the league champions. Times were tough
and my bank shut off my credit. So I had
to get all my players together almost to have and
said we've got to shut her down. And I was miserable.
Let me tell you, I was crying. And I was
(02:19):
on the tenth floor of the traveling in Salt Lake City, Utah.
And my lawyer is a guy named Bob Nagel represented
me for years with my house consul, and I said, Bob,
I'm so heartbroken, I'm going to jump out the window.
He said, Bill, the lucky you're having you're going to
live now. The reason I tell you the story is
(02:44):
I had temporarily stiffs citizens in Salt Lake City for
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for season tickets that
they'd been paid for, and no more ballgames, and we
owed creditors, and that bothered the hell out of me.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
It's almost two point four million in today's dollars, and
Bill couldn't stop thinking about it, even though the debt
had been legally wiped clean in the bankruptcy. Here's his
business partner, John Seamen on Bill's special motivation when they
created and later sold their second company of fifteen cable systems.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
All along in the creation of the second company and
with the incident of filing bankruptcy with the Utah Stars,
had this pressing obligation mentally, morally to satisfy all of
his creditors. So he directed our accounting department to collect
(03:42):
everything that was available at the time of the bankruptcy
in the way of payables and keep track of them,
because someday he had to make that right. He often
said two objectives in life. One he wanted to go
to heaven, and d he wanted to go without own
an any money or mad at him. So one of
his compelling reasons to sell was to satisfy those obligations.
(04:09):
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a lot
of money At the time it was a lot of money,
but now that he's got twenty or twenty five million,
it's not a big amount of money anymore. But almost
before we even closed, Bill is preparing to go back
to Salt Lake to pay off those creditors. He's got
(04:33):
a list of every one of them, how much money
he had defaulted with them on, and what the interest
rate would be to bring it up to current. If
he wrote a check, what would he owe him including interest?
And that was I think one of the most joyful
times in Bill's life. More joyful than having made the
(04:54):
money from having built up the company and sold it
was the satisfaction he got of honoring his lab abilities
and protecting and preserving his name.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And boy did I feel good about that. I really felt.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Good, and so did those on the receiving end, and
mostly not for financial reasons. Here season ticket holder Jerry.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Howells, I remember getting a letter and I've tried to
find it. I've tried and tried and tried to find it,
have not been able to find it. And I get
this check for it was it had to be a
couple thousand dollars. I was astounded. Then I've really found
(05:38):
out what Bill Daniels was all about. In terms of
his tremendous integrity. It's almost synonymous with Bill.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Here again is Tom Nissalke, who at this point was
the coach of what would be the second professional team
in the state of Utah.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I'm back coaching the Utah and he calls me from
a little American He said, can you come down and
have lunch with me? And I said, can I bring
the sheriff? I thought, I want to arrest you. I
was being a little facetious, and he said, well, things
are going to turn out okay. And I came down.
(06:19):
He had some guy with him. I don't know the
guy's name this day, but he had a ledger with him,
and Bill started going over the names. He said, you
know this guy and this was like guys that were
owed ten dollars, much less season ticket holders, but he
had like everything. I don't know where he got all
the names, but I mean there were guys that were
(06:44):
owed like and maybe very little money, much less a
season ticket holder or whatever. And then he said, are
you getting fidgety about what I might owe you? And
I said not anymore. And he gave me a check,
(07:05):
which is worth. I mean, it would be nice to
have today, but then with at that time a young
wife and two young kids, it was astronomical.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
In some of those less astronomical checks that Tom mentioned
might have resulted from the unusual newspaper ads that Bill
placed that asked for anybody that he owed money to
to reach out to him. Here's former Stars coach Lidel
Anderson in twenty thirteen, and.
Speaker 7 (07:35):
He you know, he could have not done that, but
he did it. That's just the kind of guy he was.
You know, how many how many people would do that,
you know, but he did it. If he made a
promise to the person, he carried it out, you could
take it to the bank. I love I love Bill Daniels,
(07:57):
and I'll never forget him, of course, but my day
is remember I'm eighty two years old, and I won't
be wrong much, but he should never be forgotten. And
it just helps a little bit.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
What good and all this love for Bill unexpectedly helped
all of his future business ventures. Here's former Stars general
manager of Vince Barrilla.
Speaker 8 (08:19):
My personal feelings were that you know, he couldn't if
if God had told him to do it, or he
probably did, he couldn't have done anything better because the
money said that he took and paid back whatever the
amount was. I always said to myself, I said, those
(08:39):
were the cheapest dollars he's ever spent for pr in
my life that I've seen it. And he didn't do
it for that purpose. He was competing in the cable
world with you multi cable people. But if the Bill
met any of those people head out in any city
that they were competing for, I guarantee you Bill got
(09:02):
it because they knew of the caliber or person that
they were dealing with.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
And to conclude, here's the late Bill Daniels speaking to
students in the nineties.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Now the morale of that story is today, some eighteen
years later. I meet people in all over the country
that say, aren't you the guy that paid off the
season ticket holders it's all Lake City, And I say, yes,
it's me. Now, what I'm saying to you is I
did not think that was such a big deal at
the time. I just didn't want to have to live
(09:36):
with myself. That's the case of examples of ethnics and
integrty that come back to you that you never dream
would come back to you. Damn sure, and the reason
I went over there. I went over there because I
had to look in the mirror in the morning. Want
to share.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And a special thanks to Alex for the work on
this piece. And a special thank this is always to
the great folks at the Daniels Fund and the foundation
of this ethical legend is sponsoring this great series. He's
right about business. What is lacking there too often is
ethical standards and integrity. Strong ethics, by the way, equals
strong business. That's the thing they'll learn our Do the
(10:16):
Right Thing series sponsored by the Daniels Fund. Here on
our American story
And we continue with our American Stories and with our
Do the Right Things series about ethical dilemmas that's sponsored
by the great folks at the Daniels Fund. And by
the way, if you have stories about ethical dilemmas in
your life, for better or for worse, making the right decision,
making the wrong decision about something big and something tough
and complicated, send them to our Americanstories dot com. These
(00:32):
are some of our favorite stories. Is we get to
learn from them, all of us together, and today Alex
Cortez brings us a story about the man who inspired
this series.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The biggest thing that's lacking in one of the biggest
things in the real world of business today is the
ethical standards and integrity of some business people.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Who are listening to Bill Daniels, late Denver businessman who's
best known as the father of cable TV. But in
nineteen seventy five, before he fully earned that title, he
was the owner of the American Basketball Association's Utah Stars,
which wasn't a profitable team and he was financially struggling.
Here's former Stars coach Tom Nasalk.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
We started the start of the season, but I could
tell you know there was financial problems. He wasn't the
same ambulant guy that he normally was a positive and
we really had some problems, guys not getting paid. So
(01:44):
he ended up bankrupting the team, which absolutely crushed him.
I remember he came to a practice and said, this
is what I'm going to have to do.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I had to take bankruptcy. He was a basketball team
that I owned in the same to Utah. It was
the Utah Stars were the league champions. Times were tough
and my bank shut off my credit. So I had
to get all my players together almost to have and
said we've got to shut her down. And I was miserable.
Let me tell you, I was crying. And I was
(02:19):
on the tenth floor of the traveling in Salt Lake City, Utah.
And my lawyer is a guy named Bob Nagel represented
me for years with my house consul, and I said, Bob,
I'm so heartbroken, I'm going to jump out the window.
He said, Bill, the lucky you're having you're going to
live now. The reason I tell you the story is
(02:44):
I had temporarily stiffs citizens in Salt Lake City for
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for season tickets that
they'd been paid for, and no more ballgames, and we
owed creditors, and that bothered the hell out of me.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
It's almost two point four million in today's dollars, and
Bill couldn't stop thinking about it, even though the debt
had been legally wiped clean in the bankruptcy. Here's his
business partner, John Seamen on Bill's special motivation when they
created and later sold their second company of fifteen cable systems.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
All along in the creation of the second company and
with the incident of filing bankruptcy with the Utah Stars,
had this pressing obligation mentally, morally to satisfy all of
his creditors. So he directed our accounting department to collect
(03:42):
everything that was available at the time of the bankruptcy
in the way of payables and keep track of them,
because someday he had to make that right. He often
said two objectives in life. One he wanted to go
to heaven, and d he wanted to go without own
an any money or mad at him. So one of
his compelling reasons to sell was to satisfy those obligations.
(04:09):
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a lot
of money At the time it was a lot of money,
but now that he's got twenty or twenty five million,
it's not a big amount of money anymore. But almost
before we even closed, Bill is preparing to go back
to Salt Lake to pay off those creditors. He's got
(04:33):
a list of every one of them, how much money
he had defaulted with them on, and what the interest
rate would be to bring it up to current. If
he wrote a check, what would he owe him including interest?
And that was I think one of the most joyful
times in Bill's life. More joyful than having made the
(04:54):
money from having built up the company and sold it
was the satisfaction he got of honoring his lab abilities
and protecting and preserving his name.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And boy did I feel good about that. I really felt.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Good, and so did those on the receiving end, and
mostly not for financial reasons. Here season ticket holder Jerry.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Howells, I remember getting a letter and I've tried to
find it. I've tried and tried and tried to find it,
have not been able to find it. And I get
this check for it was it had to be a
couple thousand dollars. I was astounded. Then I've really found
(05:38):
out what Bill Daniels was all about. In terms of
his tremendous integrity. It's almost synonymous with Bill.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Here again is Tom Nissalke, who at this point was
the coach of what would be the second professional team
in the state of Utah.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I'm back coaching the Utah and he calls me from
a little American He said, can you come down and
have lunch with me? And I said, can I bring
the sheriff? I thought, I want to arrest you. I
was being a little facetious, and he said, well, things
are going to turn out okay. And I came down.
(06:19):
He had some guy with him. I don't know the
guy's name this day, but he had a ledger with him,
and Bill started going over the names. He said, you
know this guy and this was like guys that were
owed ten dollars, much less season ticket holders, but he
had like everything. I don't know where he got all
the names, but I mean there were guys that were
(06:44):
owed like and maybe very little money, much less a
season ticket holder or whatever. And then he said, are
you getting fidgety about what I might owe you? And
I said not anymore. And he gave me a check,
(07:05):
which is worth. I mean, it would be nice to
have today, but then with at that time a young
wife and two young kids, it was astronomical.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
In some of those less astronomical checks that Tom mentioned
might have resulted from the unusual newspaper ads that Bill
placed that asked for anybody that he owed money to
to reach out to him. Here's former Stars coach Lidel
Anderson in twenty thirteen, and.
Speaker 7 (07:35):
He you know, he could have not done that, but
he did it. That's just the kind of guy he was.
You know, how many how many people would do that,
you know, but he did it. If he made a
promise to the person, he carried it out, you could
take it to the bank. I love I love Bill Daniels,
(07:57):
and I'll never forget him, of course, but my day
is remember I'm eighty two years old, and I won't
be wrong much, but he should never be forgotten. And
it just helps a little bit.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
What good and all this love for Bill unexpectedly helped
all of his future business ventures. Here's former Stars general
manager of Vince Barrilla.
Speaker 8 (08:19):
My personal feelings were that you know, he couldn't if
if God had told him to do it, or he
probably did, he couldn't have done anything better because the
money said that he took and paid back whatever the
amount was. I always said to myself, I said, those
(08:39):
were the cheapest dollars he's ever spent for pr in
my life that I've seen it. And he didn't do
it for that purpose. He was competing in the cable
world with you multi cable people. But if the Bill
met any of those people head out in any city
that they were competing for, I guarantee you Bill got
(09:02):
it because they knew of the caliber or person that
they were dealing with.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
And to conclude, here's the late Bill Daniels speaking to
students in the nineties.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Now the morale of that story is today, some eighteen
years later. I meet people in all over the country
that say, aren't you the guy that paid off the
season ticket holders it's all Lake City, And I say, yes,
it's me. Now, what I'm saying to you is I
did not think that was such a big deal at
the time. I just didn't want to have to live
(09:36):
with myself. That's the case of examples of ethnics and
integrty that come back to you that you never dream
would come back to you. Damn sure, and the reason
I went over there. I went over there because I
had to look in the mirror in the morning. Want
to share.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
And a special thanks to Alex for the work on
this piece. And a special thank this is always to
the great folks at the Daniels Fund and the foundation
of this ethical legend is sponsoring this great series. He's
right about business. What is lacking there too often is
ethical standards and integrity. Strong ethics, by the way, equals
strong business. That's the thing they'll learn our Do the
(10:16):
Right Thing series sponsored by the Daniels Fund. Here on
our American story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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