A panel discussion yesterday at the '13 World Congress of Sports featured this year’s “Champions of Sports Business” class and was filled with almost an hour of riveting, touching and funny anecdotes, many which we will bring to you in greater depth after the '13 IMG World Congress of Sports. One of the many highlights was an exchange between Magic Senior VP PAT WILLIAMS and former YankeeNets CEO HARVEY SCHILLER. When Schiller cited GEORGE STEINBRENNER and TED TURNER as two of his mentors, but then moved on to another topic, Williams said, “Harvey, you’ve got to tell us more.” Schiller, a retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General, grimaced and said, “I’d rather tell you about my year in Vietnam.” But Schiller then went on to explain that he learned a lot from Steinbrenner and Turner, and had the greatest respect for both men and their accomplishments. He shared a story about a heated argument he had with Steinbrenner after he felt the Yankees owner misled him with some information during the brief era of the Yankees-Nets-Devils partnership. “I called George and we argued…a lot,” said Schiller. “It got pretty nasty.” Schiller said that Steinbrenner hung up on him, or so he thought. So he called Steinbrenner back. “When I did,” Schiller said, “I heard George’s assistant say, ‘Mr. Steinbrenner, Harvey’s on the phone, but you can’t use that phone because you ripped it out of the wall.'”
