azcentral sports Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:31 PM

When the Suns started up operations in 1968, the original “Donalds,” Donald Pitt and Donald Diamond, along with Richard Bloch made up the managing partnership of the NBA expansion team.

But how about this for a list of limited partners in the original ownership group:

-Crooner Andy Williams, who crossed in style this week in Branson, Mo., at the age of 84.

-Actor Tony Curtis.

-Singer Bobbie Gentry.

-Musician Henry Mancini.

-Actor Ed Ames, who famously threw a tomahawk at a drawing of a cowboy on “The Tonight Show” that stuck in a spot which would have been really uncomfortable for a real cowboy.

-And an actress you may remember driving in a panic through Phoenix, but probably not for her role as a Suns owner — “Psycho” star Janet Leigh.

Let’s see the Lakers roll out a celebrity A-list to match that!

Of course, as our Suns guy Paul Coro pointed out, Jack Nicholson probably pays more for his Lakers season tickets than the Suns celebrity owners paid to invest in the franchise, which was granted to the investors for $2 million.

Johnny “Red” Kerr, the Suns first coach, once joked that he was asked in the locker room before the team’s inaugural game whether he was worried about choosing a starting lineup.

“No,” Kerr answered, “I’m worried about who’s going to sing the national anthem.”

Williams got the nod, and also tossed up the ceremonial first jump ball. Mancini also performed that night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, but only 7,112 fans caught the show and a 116-107 Suns victory over Seattle.

The celebrities all were represented by the Beverly Hills law firm Rosenfeld, Meyer and Susman, which still exists and practices entertainment law among other things.

Jerry Colangelo, the team’s general manager at the start, said Bloch used the firm for his interests in Los Angeles, and made contacts within the Hollywood set.

Joe Proski, the team’s original athletic trainer, doesn’t remember the stars being around that often, but when they showed up they always sang the national anthem or performed at halftime.

“But when we went to Los Angeles to play the Lakers, they would come out for that,” he said. “Our owners were big over in LA.”

After a few years, most of the celebrities divested themselves. But Williams stuck around and still owned a piece of the team when Colangelo put together an investment group to purchase the club in 1987 for $44.5 million.

Colangelo called on Williams for a favor in 1975, though.

When Phoenix was granted the NBA All-Star Game that year and Colangelo convinced CBS to give him a little bit of extra time at the opening of the network’s broadcast.

He had an idea he hoped would showcase the Valley and help him drum up support within the Phoenix business community for the event.

The CBS opening showed the sun rising over Camelback Mountain as Williams crooned “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” Colangelo’s business partners were thrilled.

“He was a good guy,” said Colangelo, who remembers Williams calling him to offer support when Colangelo fired Kerr and took over as coach in the team’s second season.

When Colangelo’s assistant called Wednesday morning to tell him that Williams had passed away, Colangelo had an eerie feeling.

“I hadn’t thought of Andy Williams in a long, long time,” he said. “I told her, ‘That’s weird. I was just thinking about him last night.’ It was a ‘I wonder how Andy Williams is doing?’ kind of thing.”

Reach The Heat Index at 602-444-8271 or bob.young@arizonarepublic.com. Follow us at Twitter.com/BobYoungTHI.