In 1983 the Ted Leonesis was one of the passengers on a flight of Eastern Lines which was very different from what the then young businessman was used to. The flight attendants were giving final instructions to the passengers, warning them that what was about to follow was something they had never experienced before in their lives.
Most took position for the emergency landing and started their prayers or wrote short messages for their own people. But not Ted. He chose to spend what might be the last few minutes of his life making a list. A bucket list of 101 things he would like to do in case he survived.
Now, 33 years after that near-death afternoon, the 1957 Brooklyn-born but Brooklyn-born originating from Gythio, man boasts that he managed to cross almost everything off that list he created, while explaining how he did it through the pages of his book «How a plane crash changed my life»…
Since then he has fallen in love and married (number 1), had children, boy and girl (numbers 2 and 3), made a fortune of over $100 million (number 14), bought a Lear jet (number 24), a ferry (number 30), been elected to public office as mayor (number 92) and when he got the chance he also wrote off number 40, buying a professional team, namely the Washington Capitals, paying about 80.000.000 dollars. «I didn't have the slightest interest in getting into sports, but you see, I had it on my list» he once said as he watched his creation conquer the coveted Stanley Cup in hockey for the first time in its history! Of course, winning a title was another thing on his list (number 41).
In fact, the Greek expatriate did what he knew how to do. Succeed in everything he had ever been involved in. ΑHe graduated from Georgetown University, being the first in his family to get a degree. As he once said, his father once aspired at most to see him as a manager in a department store. No one could have imagined today his fortune would be a little over $1.1 billion through a series of bold business activities, acquisitions, takeovers, share issues, etc. If there is still an American dream, Ted Leonsis lived it and continues to live it to the fullest, making sure to cross off everything he wrote on that list.
In the number 65 but it was something that was hardly possible. Playing singles with Michael Jordan. Don't wonder... He did that too since the two are now partners in the Washington Wizards (for $550 million he acquired the majority stake), although the first time they arranged it, the journalists found out about it and as a result they postponed their appointment until later in order to cross it off his unlikely list.
At one time the two disagreed on some issue concerning the group. MJ raised his hands and showed him 6 fingers, as many as the champion rings, wanting to show that his opinion carried more weight. Unperturbed, Ted Leonsis raised his and showed 7. «What is it» asked Jordan, only to get the answer that so many times there was a split in AOL shares, ...the giant company from the day he took over...
Now Leonsis was one of the big players in the market, at the same time as their business was expanding day by day, and their activities were constantly expanding. He now described himself as a businessman, philanthropist, former politician, capitalist, filmmaker, author, sports team owner, Stanley Cup winner, and for a short time he added something more. The WNBA champion since another team he bought, the Washington Mystics won the title (and the first in its history) in the most demanding women's event in the world.
Now all that's left is for him to do the same in the NBA. And as a matter of fact, having achieved so much, it would be hard to bet against the Greek-born expatriate who became famous in Greece just a few months ago when he invited the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the US to watch a Wizards game with the Celtics...
