Arthur Michael Wirtz (January 23, 1901 – July 21, 1983) was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of

Wirtz Corporation Wirtz Corporation is an American holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1926 by Arthur Wirtz as a family-owned corporation to oversee his real estate holdings. The company shortly thereafter expanded into liquor dist ...

, a holding company that owned

Chicago Stadium Chicago Stadium was an indoor arena in Chicago, Illinois, that opened in 1929, closed in 1994 and was demolished in 1995. It was the home of the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks and the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. ...

, the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, the

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

. He was the father of the late Black Hawks owner

Bill Wirtz William Wadsworth Wirtz (October 5, 1929 – September 26, 2007) was the chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of the family-owned Wirtz Corporation. He was best known as the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hoc ...

, and grandfather of current Blackhawks owner

Rocky Wirtz William Rockwell "Rocky" Wirtz (born October 5, 1952) is the principal owner and chairman of the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. He is also president of the Blackhawks' parent company, the Wirtz Corporation, a diversified conglomerate headquartered i ...

Early life and education

Wirtz was born on January 23, 1901, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, the son of Leona and Fredrick Wirtz.Chicago Tribune: "Arthur Wirtz, Multimillionaire Sports, Real Estate Magnate"
July 22, 1983 His father was a police officer. In 1922, he graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Career

After school, he worked as a commercial leasing broker with fellow graduate

Arthur Rubloff Arthur Rubloff (June 25, 1902 – May 24, 1986) was an American real estate developer who founded Arthur Rubloff & Co. and is credited with naming and developing North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois into the " Magnificent Mile". Biography ...

. In 1929, he partnered with grain trader and real estate investor,

James E. Norris James E. Norris (December 10, 1879 – December 4, 1952) was a Canadian-American businessman, operating companies in the grain and cattle industries, and owner of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. He also had significant owne ...

, who was impressed with how Wirtz handled one of his real estate transactions. During the Great Depression, the Wirtz-Norris partnership began to purchase arenas at much reduced prices. In 1933, they purchased the

Olympia Stadium Detroit Olympia, also known as Olympia Stadium, was a multi-purpose arena in Detroit. Nicknamed "The Old Red Barn", it was best known as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) from its opening in 1927 to 1979. Histo ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and its hockey franchise, the Detroit Falcons, which they renamed the Detroit Red Wings for $100,000. In 1935, they purchased the

. Wirtz was able to fill his stadiums after securing and booking the Hollywood Ice Revue produced by and starring Olympic ice skating champion

Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion ( 1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champi ...

. He used the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on the Chicago Stadium and also purchase Madison Square Garden in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and the St. Louis Arena. In 1946, he and

James D. Norris James Dougan Norris (November 6, 1906 – February 25, 1966) was an American sports businessman, with interests in boxing, ice hockey, and horse racing. He was the son of James E. Norris (whom the James Norris Memorial Trophy is named after) an ...

helped Bill Tobin purchase the nearly bankrupt

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

. Wirtz continued to help run the Red Wings. In summer of 1951, Arthur Wirtz left Detroit to join the (

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) board of directors. In 1949, he and Jim Norris (the son of James) founded the International Boxing Club which presided over 47 of 51 championships through 1955. As Wirtz and Norris had control over most of the major sporting venues east of the Mississippi, federal authorities ended their boxing monopoly in 1958 and forced them to sell Madison Square Garden. In 1972, he partnered with

Lester Crown Lester Crown (born June 7, 1925) is an American businessman and is the son of Chicago financier Henry Crown (died 1990), who created the Material Service Corporation with two brothers in 1919, which merged with General Dynamics in 1959. Crown h ...

from team founder Dick Klein and purchased a controlling stake in the

In 1974, he lost a lawsuit brought by Milwaukee real estate magnate

Marvin Fishman The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

accusing him of illegally preventing Fishman's purchase of the Bulls. Wirtz was an important showbiz figure with his presentation of the

Ice Show, which toured arenas for many years. He was also involved with the Henie-produced ice shows which played the Center Theatre at

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

in New York for several seasons. Wirtz took over the ownership of

Ice Follies The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson. In later ...

and

Holiday on Ice Holiday on Ice is an ice show currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany. History Holiday on Ice originated in the United States in Decem ...

, which he later sold to Irvin and

Kenneth Feld Kenneth Jeffrey Feld (born October 31, 1948) is the CEO of Feld Entertainment, which has operated the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (relaunched September 2023), Disney on Ice, Doodlebops Live, Disney Live, Monster Jam, Internati ...

Honors

He succeeded Bill Tobin as President of the Chicago Black Hawks in 1954 and quickly turned the franchise around, winning the Stanley Cup in 1961. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971.

Personal life and death

In 1926, he married Virginia Wirtz; they had four children: William Wirtz; Michael Wirtz; Cynthia Wirtz MacArthur; and Elizabeth Wirtz. Arthur Wirtz died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on July 21, 1983, at age 82 in his Chicago home. Services were held at the

Fourth Presbyterian Church The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago is one of the largest congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), located in the Magnificent Mile neighborhood of Chicago, directly across Michigan Avenue from the John Hancock Center. History ...

in Chicago.

Awards and achievements

* 1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, Stanley Cup Championship (

) *

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

Stanley Cup Championship (

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) * Hockey Hall of Fame, inducted 1971 * Chicagoan of the Year, 1977

References

External links

* *
Picture of Arthur M. Wirtz's Name on the 1950 Stanley Cup Plaque

Picture of Arthur M. Wirtz's Name on the 1961 Stanley Cup Plaque
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wirtz, Arthur 1901 births 1983 deaths Chicago Blackhawks executives Chicago Bulls executives Chicago Bulls owners Detroit Red Wings owners Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Lester Patrick Trophy recipients National Hockey League owners Sportspeople from Chicago Stanley Cup champions American Presbyterians University of Michigan alumni American real estate businesspeople