Claire Rothman lifeless: Discussion board president throughout Lakers’ ‘Showtime’ dynasty

Claire Rothman, a trailblazing sports activities and leisure business govt indelibly tied to the Los Angeles Lakers throughout their Eighties heyday, has died.

Members of the family confirmed her demise, on Saturday, was as a consequence of issues from a fall. She was 97.

Because the president and normal supervisor of the “Fabulous Discussion board,” Rothman was pivotal in bringing big-name musicians to the Inglewood venue and had deep ties to the Lakers when it was the staff’s dwelling through the “Showtime” period, when the Lakers gained 5 championships in a decade.

Jeanie Buss, the daughter of former Lakers proprietor Jerry Buss — who after the latest sale of the staff acts as its governor in NBA conferences — lamented the lack of Rothman, a lady she stated formed her profession.

“Claire paved the best way for ladies working in dwell leisure. She was tenacious, artistic and indomitable. My father at all times described her because the MVP who championed the Fabulous Discussion board because the West Coast live performance rival to the legendary Madison Sq. Backyard,” Buss stated Sunday night.

“For me personally, she was a mentor and a information, serving to me be taught and navigate an business that had by no means been very open to ladies in management,” Buss stated. “I discovered an unimaginable quantity from her as an govt and think about her one of many main influences in my life.”

Rothman, employed in 1975 by Lakers proprietor Jack Kent Cooke, grew to become the vivacious president and normal supervisor of the Discussion board throughout a pivotal second within the Lakers’ historical past. She was often seen round city sporting the numerous championship rings that the staff gained throughout her tenure. Rothman was a outstanding character within the HBO collection “Profitable Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” performed by actor Gaby Hoffmann.

“Claire Rothman is a f— legend,” Rebecca Bertuch, a author for the present, informed The Occasions in 2022. “I imply, she broke limitations that folks didn’t suppose would ever be damaged and he or she kicked ass and was infamous and well-known in her line of labor for being that woman.”

Rothman has been acknowledged for her position in skilled sports activities at a time when ladies weren’t commonplace or had been handled poorly.

“I’m not precisely quiet,” Rothman is quoted as saying throughout a speech in a 1985 profile in The Occasions. “I’m the one girl in america who runs a significant sports activities enviornment. I’ve a wide range of duties. I e book the constructing. I schedule the sports activities. The field workplace solutions to me, all of the staffing solutions to me, and at night time I get to play hostess.”

She introduced big-name acts akin to Prince to the Discussion board and developed relationships with entertainers together with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond and Lionel Richie.

“Many constructing managers is not going to meet artists of their complete lives,” Larry Vallon, then-vice president of the Common Amphitheatre, informed The Occasions in 1985. “In Claire’s case, artists exit of their method to meet her. She has an unimaginable status within the business.”

It was a outstanding place for a girl whose household had humble beginnings on this nation.

Rothman’s household fled Romanian pogroms towards Jewish individuals on the flip of the twentieth century, immigrating to Philadelphia, in keeping with Magda Peck, a cousin of Rothman’s mom.

“What I bear in mind about Claire was how essential household was to her and the way shut she was with my mom and the opposite cousins,” Peck stated. “There was one thing about modeling how ladies help one another, how cousins are there for one another throughout generations.”

Peck, a public well being skilled, final noticed Rothman a few weeks in the past.

“She stated, ‘Promise me that you just’ll keep near the cousins,’” Peck stated. “Earlier than she’s well-known, earlier than she’s the mom of the Lakers household, [she prioritized] the worth of prolonged household.”

Rothman died in Las Vegas, the place she had moved after leaving Southern California. She is survived by a son and a daughter, and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.