John Christopher Cohan (born January 2, 1950) is an American entrepreneur who was founder of Sonic Communications and was owner of the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United ...

Early life and education

Cohan was born in 1950 in

Hanford, California Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History ...

, the only child of John and Helen Cohan, who divorced when he was seven. John Cohan was originally from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and created businesses in

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area ...

, including a restaurant and later the television station

KSBW KSBW (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of NBC and American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios on John ...

. After his parents' divorce, Chris Cohan lived in Salinas with his mother and moved to

Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of th ...

as a teenager, where he graduated in 1968 from

Los Gatos High School Los Gatos High School (LGHS) is a high school in Los Gatos, California. It was founded in 1908 and is part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, which in 2021 was ranked the best high school district in Caliifornia The sch ...

. Cohan attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...

, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in recreation; in two news stories in 1994, Cohan incorrectly claimed to have studied business at Arizona State.

Career

In 1977, Cohan had founded Sonic Communications in 1977, which became one of the largest independently owned cable outlets in the country before he sold it in May 1998. He assumed control of the

in October 1994 prior to the 1994-95 season for a reported fee totaling at $130 million and helped renovate the Oakland Coliseum Arena (later known as The Arena in Oakland and Oracle Arena, and now called

Oakland Arena Oakland Arena is an indoor arena located in Oakland, California, United States. From its opening in 1966 until 1996, it was known as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. After a major renovation completed in 1997, the arena was renamed T ...

). Under Cohan's ownership, however, the team experienced only two winning seasons and one playoff appearance in 16 seasons. As of 2005, Cohan's net worth was around $325 million. In May 2007, Cohan was reportedly fighting a $160 million tax-evasion charge in federal court in the aftermath of his 1998 sale of Sonic Communications for more than $200 million. In May 2009, ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

'' listed the top ten best and worst owners of basketball teams, ranking Cohan as fourth worst. ''SI'' criticized Cohan for sticking with coach

Don Nelson Donald Arvid Nelson (born May 15, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is second all-time in regular season wins of any coach in NBA history, with 1,335 (he held the record for most wins for almost 12 ...

as part of the Warriors' generally poor performance apart from their 2007 playoff first-round upset of the top-seeded

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. The ...

, and pointed out that Golden State was repeatedly rebuilding without much success. In the wake of such criticism and controversy, he finally sold the Warriors to

Peter Guber Howard Peter Guber (born March 1, 1942) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's most recent films from Mandalay Entertainment include '' The Kids Are A ...

and

Joe Lacob Joseph Steven Lacob (born January 10, 1956) is an American business executive who is a partner at Kleiner Perkins and the majority owner of the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life and education Lacob gr ...

for $450 million in July 2010. Cohan has homes in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and

East Hampton, New York The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohan Christopher J. Arizona State University alumni Living people Golden State Warriors owners National Basketball Association executives 1950 births people from Hanford, California People from Los Gatos, California People from Salinas, California category:People from San Francisco