Pat Williams, title-winning Sixers GM and co-founder of Magic, dies at 84

Pat Williams, title-winning Sixers GM and co-founder of Magic, dies at 84 originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia

Pat Williams, the championship-winning Sixers general manager and co-founder of the Orlando Magic, died Wednesday at age 84, the Magic announced.

According to organization press releaseWilliams “died peacefully… surrounded by family” and “the cause of death was complications from viral pneumonia.”

“There is no Orlando Magic without Pat Williams,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. league launch. “He was well respected in the basketball community and was a friend of mine and many generations of league executives. Pat was never without a kind, supportive word and always brought great enthusiasm, energy and optimism to everything he did throughout his 50-plus years in the NBA.

“We express our deepest condolences to Pat’s wife, Ruth, his family and the entire Magic organization.”

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Williams had an extraordinarily colorful and decorated career in professional sports. He served as general manager of the Bulls Hawks Sixers and Magic a franchise he founded with Jimmy Hewitt. In 2012, he received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

His Sixers teams reached the 1977, 1980 and 1982 NBA Finals. With Moses Malone on board, they won it all in 1983. Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey called Williams “one of the greatest general managers of all the times” in a tweet Wednesday night.

Williams was present in 2023 for the 40th anniversary celebration of the 1982-83 Sixers.

Before getting into basketball, Williams played at Wake Forest and played two seasons for the Miami Marlins, which was then an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies in the Florida State League. (Williams was friends with when growing up Ruly Carpenterowner and president of the Phillies from 1972 to 1981.)

Williams transitioned from Marlins player to team business manager. He drew on lessons from the MLB owner, always a promoter and open to anything Bill Veeck.

“I arrived and Bill was sitting on the porch reading a book,” Williams told Sports Business Journal in 2013 of his first meeting with Veeck. “He was shirtless and also [prosthetic wooden] leg and he greeted me warmly. I left five hours later and it was the beginning of a 25-year friendship.”

Williams became president of the Spartanburg Phillies and was named Sporting News Minor League Executive of the Year in 1967. He then joined the Sixers as the organization’s business manager, although this stint did not last long because Williams accepted the position as GM of the Bulls at age 29. Former Sixers star Chet Walker helped Chicago win at least 50 games in each of Williams’ last three seasons.

When he returned to Philadelphia, Williams built a contender around star Julius Erving and had a lasting and wide-ranging impact on the franchise.

Williams wanted a Sixers theme song and Randy Childress, Terry Rocap and Joe Sherwood composed “Here come the Sixers,” that fans love to hear after every home win.

There was a lot to Williams beyond the signed songs and stars. Magic’s release notes say he has authored “more than 100 books” and “completed 58 marathons from 1996 to 2011, including the Boston Marathon 13 times.”