Hugh Hefner Remembers Jerry Buss as ‘Dear and Very Special Man,’ Recalls Visits to Playboy Mansion

Whatever your feelings on the Lakers, there are fewer greater Americans than Jerry Buss. Raised poor by a single mother in Wyoming, Buss went on to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry from USC before dominating the real estate market and buying the Lakers and Kings. Likewise, no great American story would be complete without a visit to the Playboy Mansion, and indeed Buss was there — multiple times, in fact. “I was caught before this interview trying to remember exactly how our paths initially crossed and I suppose it was probably Playboy parties,” recalled magazine mogul Hugh Hefner said of Buss in an interview with ESPN Los Angeles on Thursday. “That’s where most of my social gatherings are connected to at the mansion. I was also repaid the pleasure by going to a number of Lakers games over the years as a guest of Jerry’s and sitting in his box.” The founder of Playboy magazine recalls Buss as a “very dear and very special” man in his interview with Max and Marcellus. Hefner said that Buss ...