A Legend In His Own Crime
Donald Tokowitz (now legally Donald Sterling) was born in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois.

His family moved to the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles when he was two years old.

His parents were Jewish immigrants.

He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles, where he was on the school's gymnastics team and served as class president; he graduated in 1952.

He next attended California State University, Los Angeles and Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles.

In 1961 Sterling began his career as a divorce and personal injury attorney when Jews had few opportunities at prestigious law firms.

He purchased a 26-unit apartment building in Beverly Hills and Lesser Towers in the 1960s.

Sterling bought apartment buildings worth 2.7M in Los Angeles in 1979 and the struggling San Diego Clippers franchise for 2.5M.

He and his Clippers struggled through many lackluster seasons, and had its first winning season in 1991–92, eleven years into his ownership.

In Sterling's 33 years of owning the Clippers through 2013–14, they lost 50 or more games 22 times, 60 or more on eight occasions.

Sterling was fined $10,000 in 1982 by the NBA after he commented that he would accept the Clippers finishing in last place in order to draft an impact player

However, the move was not approved by the NBA, which fined him $25 million.

He sued the league for $100 million, but dropped the suit when the league agreed to decrease the fine to $6 million.

Sterling has been widely criticized for his frugal operation of the Clippers, due in part to a consistent history of losing seasons.

The club was long considered the laughingstock of the NBA.

With the Clippers' move into Staples Center in the 1999–2000 NBA season, the team began to become a contender, winning 47 games in the 2005–06 season.

This was a record for the most victories in a single season since the franchise moved to California.

In recent years, he has shown an increased willingness to spend.

In 2003, Sterling signed Elton Brand to a six-year, $82 million deal, the biggest contract in franchise history.

Sterling spent $50 million to build a state-of-the-art practice facility and team headquarters in Los Angeles, a mixed-use development neighborhood.

The facility was completed and opened in September 2008, in time for the start of the team's training camp.

Sporting News described Sterling as "one of the worst owners in basketball for decades," while The New York Times and Forbes have called him the "worst owner" in sports.

ESPN The Magazine in 2009 named the Clippers the worst franchise in professional sports.

Since purchasing the Clippers in 1981, Sterling's ownership oversaw the worst winning percentage through 2013–14 of the four major American sports leagues.

Uncharacteristic for an owner, Sterling in 2010 heckled players on his own team—while the owner sat courtside during home games.
                     From Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia