Game 68: Lou Baumeister - Meltaways

In the 1950s, two men in the aerospace industry, Jerry Buss and Frank Mariani, bought a 14-unit apartment building to make some extra cash. By the next decade’s end, Buss-Mariani Associates had become one of the biggest real estate holders in Southern California. To oversee their holdings, Buss put in charge a man he had implicitly trusted since their days as colleagues in the aerospace world: Lou Baumeister. And when Buss finally pooled together enough cash to fulfill his longtime dream of owning a professional sports franchise, he asked Baumeister to run the day-to-day business operations of the two franchises and sports arena he had just bought.

Despite his total lack of experience in sports and his own personal doubts about whether he could do the job, Baumeister helped behind the scenes to turn Laker games at The Forum into the hottest ticket in professional sports. For Game 68 of Goldstein and Gasol, I chatted with his son Tony Baumeister to talk about his dad’s decades-long friendship with Dr. Buss, his memories of growing up in the Lakers family, why his dad didn’t want him to enter the family business, and the origin of Meltaways, his mother’s contribution to the 1985 World Champion Lakers Are Cookin’ Family Cookbook.

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PABLO: Your dad was President of California Sports for twenty years. But he knew Jerry Buss long before that. Could you tell me about how he started working with Dr. Buss before he bought the Lakers?

TONY: My dad and Jerry and Frank (Mariani) were working in aerospace back in the late '50s. They were all buddies. And Jerry and Frank decided to invest in an apartment building. Just one. And as the story goes, it was a $1,000 investment and they were looking to make some extra cash by renting out the units. I believe Jerry and Frank were going there on weekends and cleaning this place up. And they started making a lot of money that way. So it kind of ballooned so quickly that they said, okay, forget this aerospace stuff. We're just gonna do real estate because we're cleaning up.

Jerry and my dad were good friends and I think he appreciated my dad's work ethic, honesty and reliability. So Jerry wanted my dad to run their real estate company and my dad was like, sure, let's do this. And the real estate boom in the ‘70s is when everything got insane and all of sudden, Jerry and Frank had this empire all over L.A. I think it was always Jerry's dream to own a sports franchise and then they were able to buy the Lakers, the Kings, and The Forum in 1979.

At that moment, it was the largest sports transaction of all time. Then Jerry wanted my dad to run California Sports too because he was working with my dad for so long and my dad was honest, almost to a fault. So I believe my dad reluctantly agreed because not only did he not know anything about the sports business, he didn't know much about sports, period. The stories my mom tells me are that he was very overwhelmed at the beginning, as you can imagine, suddenly being in charge of two major sports franchises and an arena like that in one of the biggest markets in the country. One time my dad actually went to Jerry near the beginning and tried to quit because he felt he wasn't qualified and that he wasn't doing a good job and that he wasn't the right guy. And Jerry wouldn't let him do. Like, “Nope you're staying. It's a basketball team. Get over it.”

Was he working simultaneously with the real estate properties or did he give that up once Jerry bought the Lakers?

I don't know exactly if Mariani-Buss stayed intact after Jerry bought The Forum or if they sold a lot of their stuff. But I do know that the real estate company was completely in the rear view mirror for my dad starting in ‘79

Do you recall what your dad's day-to-day responsibilities were as president of California Sports? Was he solely involved with the numbers or did he work with Claire Rothman on the bookings?

It was definitely not the bookings. That was all Claire. He was mainly working with the facility and all its personnel. The GM was handling the sports side of it but my dad was signing everybody's checks, including the players. I got a real kick out of him signing Magic Johnson's checks.

I wouldn't even begin to know all the ins and outs of what it took to do his job but I remember The Forum used to have that really old archaic scoreboard hanging in the center of the arena. And when they purchased the Sony JumboTron, my dad had to go to Japan for a couple weeks to negotiate the cost and check it all out. I know he did interview and hire personnel. For example, the play-by-play guys for radio, Nick Nickson (of the L.A. Kings), my dad hired him

Lou’s ‘87, ‘88, and ‘02 championship rings

You were 12 years old when the cookbook was released in 1985. What do you remember about growing up alongside the Showtime Lakers?

It was pretty surreal. I won't say I went to a lot of games because my dad didn't go to a lot of games. He had to commute from Malibu to Inglewood every day. Then he was there from 7:30 am till 5 or 6. After traffic, he gets home at 8. So the last thing he wanted to do was stay there for fifteen hours to attend the game. But the games we went to, we would sit in Jerry's box way up in the nosebleeds. It wasn't really a box like we see today. It was just a section of seats that had a two foot partition and was sectioned off for Jerry's guests.

Sitting up there in those seats as a kid was pretty amazing. Technically, they were the worst seats in the house. They were at the very top in the nosebleeds, directly behind one of the baskets. There was a live band, mainly horns, that was right next to us, playing too loud and too often in my opinion. But the two waitresses bringing endless free drinks and treats was always the highlight for me. I would order countless Cokes, Shirley Temples, Roy Rogers, pretzels, popcorn, ice cream, etc. But after I became "legal," it was a whole new world. I remember sitting there with my dad right after I had turned 21 and I ordered a Jack & Coke. The waitresses were coming by seemingly every 5 minutes and later when she asked me if I wanted another one, I said "Sure, thanks!" She walked away and then my dad leaned over and said, "Hey, it's not even halftime yet. You should pace yourself on the drinks. Those are doubles." I said, "No, I didn't order doubles. I just said, Jack and Coke." Then he responded, "ALL the drinks up here are doubles. That's how Jerry likes it. He wants his guests to have a good time."

How cool is that?! Such a killer move. Anyway, from that point on, whenever my folks took me to games, I requested that I wouldn't have to be the one to drive us, naturally. Just being up there in the box was always a blast. The seats weren't great but I remember sitting next to celebrities of that era. And Jerry's up there smoking his cigarette indoors. Smoking was not allowed in The Forum, except for him. I'd look down and see Jerry and his date having a smoke in the arena.

If the Lakers won and my dad was taking me to the games in my younger days, he would say, “You wanna meet the players?” And I'm like, absolutely! The first time, it's after the game and he took me down to the locker room after the game. So the guys were showering and hanging out in their towels. Some of them completely nude. So walking in there as a nine year old, it was overwhelming. Granted, I wasn't talking to the naked guys. But my dad would spot Magic and we'd walk over to his locker and my dad would introduce me. And all the players were always cool. Magic, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper, Jamaal Wilkes. Jamaal was one of the sweetest guys. That's an indelible memory I have. Every time I saw Jamaal, he'd walk over and squat down to talk with me. His "slingshot" technique was truly one of a kind. Unorthodox and slightly bizarre-looking, it's just the way he always shot the ball. Some people have called it "ugly," but I always thought it looked so damn cool. Chick Hearn coined it "the 20-foot layup" which I thought was a great description. The shot usually went in, too.

My mom started doing a lot of stuff with the Laker wives too. When she was president of them, it was probably the later ‘80s and ‘90s when the younger wives were probably not interested in being president and doing all that work. So my mom would get calls at the house from AC Green or whomever.

Was it still the charitable arm of the organization?

Oh yeah. Absolutely. I remember all the scholarship stuff and we'd go to events that benefited inner-city kids.

I know Jerry Buss' kids were a little older than you, but when you were growing up, did you recall a time when Jeanie or her brothers started to take the reins from their father?

I don't remember anything about them taking the reins. However, my dad often spoke about Jeanie because she was becoming more involved as the ‘80s progressed. I'm not sure how many of Jerry's kids were involved at the time with the Lakers specifically. But I do remember him saying often that Jeanie was a standout among the people who worked for the Lakers, that she had a good business sense and was a hard worker. He seemed to imply that people would see her last name and assume she was a daddy's girl who was given this job and didn’t know what was going on. But he would express that she was the real deal and that she had a great business mind. And that was way back, probably back in the ‘80s or early ‘90s. So it never surprised me when she took over. It was like, yeah that makes perfect sense.

Did you ever consider entering the family business?

No, my dad was not into that idea at all. I think it was just one of those things where he didn't want me to step into some amazing job without me being qualified. I kind of resented it at the time because I thought it would be amazing to work for the Lakers. But I think had I shown an interest in sports management or business or something like that, maybe got an internship in a similar place and working my way up in that direction, I think that maybe he would've been OK with it. But he was not interested in me doing that at all. And when I raised it, he would shut me down pretty quick.

Was it the same with your siblings as well?

Oh yeah. I think he just wanted us to carve our own paths and if we were doing something along those lines and we intersected with the Lakers, maybe it would've been a different story. But I was an intern for the L.A. Kings for a minute because Joe Cohen was a friend of the family and he owned the Kings for a minute in the mid ‘90s. He was having dinner at our place and I was grilling him with questions because I was, and still am, a massive Kings fan. He said, "Well it seems like you know a lot about the team. Wanna be an intern?" And I looked at my dad thinking he was going to shut this down too. But because it was Joe that offered it to me, he was like, “Well if Joe offered it to you, you can decide.” So I worked as an intern for the first couple of preseason games and then it was the year the lockout happened. So I did two or three games and then the season got cancelled. At least half of the season, then they started back in January.

After 20 years with the Lakers, your dad retired in 1999.

Yes, he retired primarily because of the move to Staples. I think he was just at that age, 64, and I think more so than the commute, it was the transition to a whole new arena Downtown. The new logistics sounded like quite a headache for the first year or so. And he figured maybe this was a sign to bow out.

After his retirement, what was his relationship with the organization?

I don't know if he did anything, in terms of consulting. We would still go to events and games, maybe not as often as before. I have to say though that my dad seemed to be very well liked. Because even after retirement when we would show up to games, everybody seemed very happy to see him. But it was strictly just friends once he was retired. He took up golf and just enjoyed the rest of his days.

Finally, I want to talk about the Meltaways. Was that a regular family dessert that your mom would make?

I believe it was regular for a summer or two where every time we'd go to the beach or park, my mom would make a pan of Meltaways. I think I liked them but I OD'd on them because it was a very specific time. I stumbled upon the book at my mom's place a few years after it came out and my mom said she had no recollection of making these. I showed her the recipe and she goes, "I don't know what this is." Which is funny because I ate so many of them that summer that you'd think she could do it off of memory. But I remember liking them as a kid. I don't remember them melting at all. You cut 'em into squares and eat them with your fingers like a brownie. When my mom would say, "Should I make a pan of meltaways?" As a fifth-grader, I was cringing. "Sure, mom. We'll eat 'em, but can we please not say the name? It sounds stupid."

I can't vouch for them if they're actually good. If it's got sugar in it, you're probably gonna like it as a kid. My mom probably got the recipe from one of her friends, the other soccer moms. I don't know why that became the fascination of that summer. But it was definitely the only treat we seemed to get for a little while. When I look at it now, the photo in the book, I have no idea if it'd even be good now but I'd certainly try it if somebody made it.

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Meltaways

1 stick butter

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, beaten

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup grated coconut

½ cup chopped nuts

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

Filling:

4 tablespoons butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, melt the butter and 1 ounce chocolate. Blend sugar, vanilla, egg, crumbs, coconut, and nuts into chocolate mixture. Press into buttered 9x13 inch pan. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

Filling:

Cream butter and slowly add sugar, milk, and vanilla. Spread filling over crumb mixture and chill. Melt remaining chocolate and pour over top of filling; refrigerate. Cut into squares before topping gets too hard.

As I was getting all the ingredients out of my cupboard and laying them on my kitchen surface, my friend asked what I was making. “Meltaways” didn’t mean anything to anyone outside of the Baumeister family, so I told her that they were basically brownies. At least that’s what I thought they were until I realized halfway through that baking was not part of the instructions.

Once I made the chocolate mixture, I scraped the semi-hard goo out of my mixing bowl. flattened it into a baking tray, and then put it in the fridge. Then I made the “filling” which was basically powdered sugar pasta dough. After flattening the filling over the crumb mixture, I then melted the remaining chocolate… though it didn’t really melt. So again, I flattened it on top of the bottom layers and put it in the fridge for ten minutes.

I took one bite and tossed the rest. My apologies to the Baumeister children, but it was one of the most insanely sugary things I have ever eaten in my life. Tony and his siblings must’ve been bouncing off the walls for the entire summer of 1985.