Robert (Bob) Lurie was a real estate magnate and philanthropist, but he is best known in Northern California as the man who saved the Giants baseball team for San Francisco. A long time sportsman who graduated from Northwestern University, he competed in 40 straight AT&T Pebble Beach/Bing Crosby Pro-Am Golf Tournaments. Lurie, along with help from Bud Herseth, stepped in at the 11th hour in 1976 to keep the Giants from being sold to a Canadian Brewery and moving to Toronto. In 1985, after a 100 loss season, Lurie hired Al Rosen, as General Manager, and with trades that brought Kevin Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, Candy Maldonado and Rick Reuschel to the Giants and with the advancement of Will Clark and Robby Thompson, the Giants won the 1989 National League Pennant. Minutes before the third game of that year’s World Series against the Oakland A’s at Candlestick Park, the 6.9 Loma Prieta Quake hit the Bay Area. In 1992, Lurie sold the Giants to a group of investors. In June 2001, the San Francisco Zoo opened its 11,000 square foot “Connie and Bob Lurie Education Center”. The Giants invited Lurie to take part in the Victory Parade in 2010 when the Giants won a World Series for the first time since they came to the Bay Area in 1958.

Inducted into the BAY AREA SPORTS HALL OF FAME – 2014

Narrative by Art Spander