Eddie Einhorn
Sport: Baseball & Basketball
Born: January 3, 1936
Died: February 24, 2016
Town: Paterson, New Jersey
Edward Einhorn was born January 3, 1936 in Paterson. The son of an insurance executive, Eddie played basketball for Eastside High and was also a big baseball fan. Johnny Vander Meer of double no-hit fame was a family friend.
As a student at Penn in the mid-1950s, Eddie ran the sports department of the campus radio station. While studying law at Northwestern, he worked as a vendor at Comiskey Park. In the early 1960s, Eddie formed the TVS network. It broadcast college basketball games regionally on television and radio, and later syndicated games nationally.
In 1968, the TVS broadcast of the Houston–UCLA game in the Astrodome drew huge ratings. It showcased two  unbeaten teams led by the top two players in the nation, Elvin Hayes and Lew Alcindor. Dick ENberg, who broadcast the game, said that it changed basketball forever. Indeed, the primetime spectacle woke up the networks to the potential of the college game and led to March Madness. He wrote a book called How March Became Madness in 2006.
Eddie sold TVS and worked for CBS in the 1970s, winning an Emmy for his sports programming. Still fascinated by baseball, he tried to buy the San Diego Padres in 1974 but lost out to Ray Kroc. In 1981, he partnered with Northwestern Law classmate Jerry Reinsdorf to purchase the White Sox from Bill Veeck. In 2005, the White Sox won the World Series—their first since 1917.
Eddie dabbled in pro football—getting involved in both the WFL and USFL—and also owned the International Wrestling Association in the 1970s. He was later involved in the formation of the MLB Network and Cooperstown Baseball World. In 2011, the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame enshrined Eddie as a pioneer. He lived in Alpine in his later years. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 80 following a stroke. The White Sox added a memorial patch to their uniform in 2016 honoring Eddie.
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