Nick Mileti

Nick James Mileti (born 22 April 1931) was, during the 1970s, the owner of the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Crusaders hockey team, the Coliseum at Richfield and radio station "3WE" WWWE AM/1100 (now WTAM).

He headed a syndicate that founded the Cavaliers in 1970 as an expansion team, paying a fee of $3.7 million, selling his twenty percent interest in the team in 1980 for $1.4 million. Another syndicate he headed purchased the Indians in 1972 for $10 million from Vernon Stouffer.^[1]

He was a master of leverage, owning 51 percent of his enterprises with little of his own money at risk.^[2] He used brains, hard work, contacts, and high energy to pull himself up from his working class origins. He put himself through Bowling Green State University (BGSU), where the Alumni Center is now named in his honor. He was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity at BGSU. Following his time at BGSU, he earned a law degree from Ohio State University. After military service he opened a law practice in Lakewood, Ohio and became prosecutor there after befriending the mayor. He became involved in sports after serving as chairman of the Bowling Green alumni association and organizing a BGSU game at the Cleveland Arena. Shortly thereafter he purchased the Arena and its prime tenant, the original Cleveland Barons hockey team. Recognizing that the Arena needed another tenant, he succeeded in obtaining an NBA expansion team.^[3]

His partnership that purchased the Indians included Howard Metzenbaum and Ted Bonda.

In late 1972, Mileti formed Ohio Communications with veteran radio executive Jim Embrescia, which acquired WKYC AM/1100 and FM/105.7 from NBC, renaming them "3WE" WWWE-AM and "M105" WWWM-FM. Mileti then moved the radio play-by-play rights for the Indians and Cavaliers, as well as pioneering sports talk host Pete Franklin's Sportsline, to WWWE, turning the 50,000 watt clear channel signal into a sports radio powerhouse.

During 1973, when it appeared to the Indians' bank creditors that Mileti had spread himself too thin, Mileti named Bonda as the team's executive vice president. Mileti sold his interest to Bonda and other investors in 1975.^[4]

He also founded and was the principal owner of the short-lived CFL team, the Las Vegas Posse in 1994.

He became a writer in retirement; to date, he has published three books.^[5]

Publications

• Closet Italians: A Dazzling Collection of Illustrious Italians with Non-Italian Names (2004)
• Beyond Michaelangelo: The Deadly Rivalry between Borromini and Bernini (2005)
• The Unscrupulous: Scams, Cons, Fakes & Frauds that Poison the Fine Arts, (2009) Bordighera Press

See also

• Cleveland Indians managers and ownership

References

1. ^ Quirk, James & Rodney D. Fort (1992). Paydirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports. Princeton University Press. pp. 403, 449. ISBN 0691042551. 
2. ^ Torry, Jack (1996). "Chapter 7, All the Glitter, But No Gold". Endless Summers: The Fall and Rise of the Cleveland Indians. Diamond Communications, Inc.. pp. 125–149. ISBN 0-912083-98-0. 
3. ^ Torry, op.cit..
4. ^ Torry, op.cit..
5. ^ Biography of Nick Mileti

External links

• Nick Mileti bio on Cleveland Seniors' website Retrieved on December 15, 2007

Preceded by Vernon Stouffer	Owner of the Cleveland Indians 1972 — 1975	Succeeded by Ted Bonda
Preceded by Gabe Paul	President of the Cleveland Indians 1972 — 1975	Succeeded by Ted Bonda

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Name	Mileti, Nick
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Date of birth	22 April 1931
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