2008 Woodie Awards
Bill Daniels part of DCB's legacy
DU benefactor was pioneer in cable TV
Megan Westervelt
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Features
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They are all part of the legacy Bill Daniels left behind.
As the centennial celebration of the business school draws near this year, it is important to remember that Daniels transformed not only DU's business school but also the look of the campus.
Bill Daniels led an extraordinarily diverse life. He was a cable television pioneer, a businessman who convinced Wall Street to respect cable companies and the technology they were developing and a philanthropist who funded projects ranging from a savings bank for teenagers to a building at DU.
Ultimately, he challenged DU to update the graduate business curriculum and become the first business school in the nation to require business majors to take a course in business ethics.
Many students who attend classes in the six-story building on the corner of South University Boulevard and East Evans Avenue have learned about Daniels from a permanent exhibit in the Commons Room.
What the exhibit shows is what a diverse life Daniels led. Daniels was a decorated sailor and pilot in World War II. When he returned home, he soon recognized the innovation of cable television and became one of the industry's pioneers as television became a household staple in the 1950s. He made a fortune, which enabled him to buy two basketball teams, the American Basketball Association's Utah Stars and the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams won championships while he owned them. He ran for Colorado governor in 1972. Later his corporate jet, Cablevision Tool, set the world speed record for an around-the-world flight by a corporate jet. In 1990 and 1991, Daniels funded the Gran Prix races to showcase Denver as a business center. Finally, three years before his death in 2000, Daniels donated his home, Cableland, to the city of Denver for use as the official residence of the mayor of the city.
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