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U.S. NEWS A7
Saturday 24 March 2018
Wayne Huizenga, who built his fortune from trash, dies at 80
By STEVEN WINE bie but had sold all three team. vices, one of the nation's But his popularity plummet-
ed when he ordered the
TERRY SPENCER teams by 2009. "If I have one disappoint- top waste management roster dismantled after that
season. He was frustrated
Associated Press Writer "Wayne Huizenga was a ment, the disappointment companies, and AutoNa- by poor attendance and
his failure to swing a deal
MIAMI (AP) — H. Wayne for a new ballpark built with
taxpayer money.
Huizenga, a college drop- Many South Florida fans
never forgave him for
out who built a business breaking up the champion-
ship team. Huizenga drew
empire that included boos when introduced at
Dolphins quarterback Dan
Blockbuster Entertainment, Marino's retirement cel-
ebration in 2000 and kept
AutoNation and three pro- a lower public profile after
that.
fessional sports franchises, Huizenga earned a reputa-
tion as a hands-off owner
has died. He was 80. and won raves from many
loyal employees, even
Huizenga (HY'-zing-ah) though he made six coach-
ing changes. He eased Pro
died Thursday night at his Football Hall of Famer Don
Shula into retirement in ear-
home, said Valerie Hinkell, ly 1996, and Jimmy John-
son, Dave Wannstedt, in-
a longtime assistant. The terim coach Jim Bates, Nick
Saban, Cam Cameron and
cause was cancer, said Tony Sparano followed as
coach.
Bob Henninger, executive Johnson tweeted: “A great
man, one of the nicest indi-
vice president of Huizenga viduals I have ever known,
Wayne Huizenga passed
Holdings. away. RIP.”
Harry Wayne Huizenga was
Starting with a single gar- born in the Chicago sub-
urbs on Dec. 29, 1937, to
bage truck in 1968, Huz- a family of garbage haul-
ers. He began his business
ienga built Waste Manage- career in Pompano Beach
in 1962, driving a garbage
ment Inc. into a Fortune 500 truck from 2 a.m. to noon
each day for $500 a month.
company. He purchased One customer successfully
sued Huizenga, saying that
independent sanitation en- in an argument over a de-
linquent account, Huizen-
gineering companies, and ga injured him by grabbing
his testicles — an allegation
by the time he took the Huizenga always denied.q
company public in 1972,
he had completed the ac-
quisition of 133 small-time This Nov. 9, 2008 photo shows H. Wayne Huizenga at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. Huizenga, a col-
lege dropout who built a business empire that included Blockbuster Entertainment, AutoNation
haulers. By 1983, Waste and three professional sports franchises, has died. Valerie Hinkell, a longtime assistant to Huizen-
ga, said Friday that he died Thursday night, March 22, 2018, at his South Florida home. He was 80.
Management was the larg-
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
est waste disposal compa-
ny in the United States.
The business model worked
again with Blockbuster
Video, which he started seminal figure in the cul- would be that we did tion, the nation's largest au-
tural history of South Flori- not bring a champion- tomotive retailer. In 2013,
in 1985 and built into the da," current Dolphins own- ship home," Huizenga said Forbes estimated his wealth
er Stephen Ross said in a shortly after he sold the Dol- at $2.5 billion.
leading movie rental chain statement. "He completely phins to Ross. "It's something For a time, Huizenga was
changed the landscape of we failed to do." also a favorite with South
nine years later. In 1996, he the region's sports scene. ... Huizenga earned an al- Florida sports fans, draw-
Sports fans throughout the most cultlike following ing cheers and autograph
formed AutoNation and region owe him a debt of among business investors seekers in public. The
thanks." who watched him build crowd roared when he
built it into a Fortune 500 The Marlins won the 1997 Blockbuster Entertainment danced the hokeypokey
World Series, and the Pan- into the leading video rent- on the field during an early
company. thers reached the Stanley al chain by snapping up Marlins game. He went on
Cup Finals in 1996, but Hui- competitors. He cracked a spending spree to build
Huizenga was founding zenga's beloved Dolphins Forbes' list of the 100 rich- a veteran team that won
never reached a Super est Americans, becoming the World Series in the fran-
owner of baseball's Florida Bowl while he owned the chairman of Republic Ser- chise's fifth year.
Marlins and the NHL Flori-
da Panthers — expansion
teams that played their first
games in 1993. He bought
the NFL Miami Dolphins
and their stadium for $168
million in 1994 from the chil-
dren of founder Joe Rob-
