Tom Benson Authentic Denzel Ward Jersey , a successful auto dealer and longtime owner of the New Orleans Saints who brought the franchise its only winning seasons and the "Benson Boogie," has died.

Benson also owned the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans since 2012, but the 90-year-old made his mark in pro sports with the Saints.

The teams announced Benson's death on Thursday. He had been hospitalized since Feb. 16 with flu symptoms.

Benson bought the Saints in 1985 when it appeared the club would be sold to out-of-state interests and perhaps moved out of Louisiana. He paid $70 million for the team, which is now worth close to $2 billion.

"Tom Benson's contributions to New Orleans and the National Football League were legendary. He purchased a team that had never had a winning season; by the third year of his ownership, the Saints were in the playoffs," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "Tom kept the Saints together through the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, and his decision to bring the team back to New Orleans gave the entire region hope and confidence that they would recover."

Benson's business acumen helped turn the Saints from a perennial also-ran into a contender 鈥?and the 2009 NFL champion. Yet his ownership also was less flatteringly marked by the 2012 bounty scandal and reports Benson did not want to bring the team back to New Orleans from San Antonio after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

When the NBA took over the financially troubled New Orleans Hornets in late 2010 and spent more than a year trying to find a permanent owner, Benson finally stepped in and bought the club for $338 million. The club is now known as the Pelicans and its estimated value exceeds $1 billion.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he'd remember Benson as big-hearted and gracious, and praised the way he not only ran the Pelicans, but also hosted two All-Star weekends in New Orleans, the second after it had been moved from Charlotte following state legislation deemed discriminatory by the NBA.

Benson also became a leading New Orleans philanthropist. He helped fund Tulane's on-campus football stadium and the cancer treatment center at Ochsner Medical Center. The home of the NFL's Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, also was renamed for Benson after an $11 million gift, the largest in the hall's history.

Benson "possessed a deep passion for the game and was committed to its growth," said Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker, who was also the Arena Football League commissioner when Benson owned an arena team called the VooDoo.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called Benson a "friend and ally" whose marketing and finance expertise guided the NFL's Finance Committee.

"He was astute Vikings Game Jerseys , exceptionally smart and an accomplished sportsman and businessman," Jones said. "He pumped life and enthusiasm into a community and a franchise that had no winning seasons before he became involved."

Benson's death comes on the heels of an acrimonious family split that has caused some uncertainty about the future of his professional teams.

He made it known in January 2015 that he wanted his third wife, Gayle, to inherit complete control of the Saints and Pelicans, and Greg Bensel, the senior vice president of communications for both clubs, said the NFL and NBA have both approved Benson's succession plan.

However, Benson's disowned daughter, Renee, and her two children, Rita and Ryan LeBlanc 鈥?who had long been in line to take over the Benson business empire 鈥?have vowed to prove their patriarch was manipulated against them while in a mentally enfeebled state. They lost a 2015 legal struggle for control of the teams, but could still contest Benson's will.

Fans, however, will remember Benson's heavy New Orleans accent and parasol dances along the sideline after victories. He cut quite the figure among NFL owners when he first joined the league.

His jovial game-day persona turned hardheaded, however, when it came to business.

In 2001 Martavis Bryant Jersey Raiders , he negotiated an unprecedented $187 million in concessions and state subsidies to keep his team playing in the Superdome through 2010 鈥?a deal Benson said was necessary to succeed in small-market New Orleans. That lease was followed by another unusual arrangement in which the state stopped paying direct subsidies to Benson, but committed to relocate numerous state offices in a Katrina-damaged high-rise next to the Superdome 鈥?at above-market rents 鈥?if Benson rehabilitated the building, which is now called Benson Tower.

Until recent years, fans often questioned whether Benson's desire for profit outweighed his loyalty to his native city. With the Superdome and much of the city wrecked by Katrina, the Saints temporarily relocated to San Antonio, where Benson had many business holdings.

When officials there said they were talking to Benson about what it would take to keep the team, Katrina-weary residents in New Orleans reacted angrily. Graffiti reading, "Warning, Tom Benson inside," was scrawled on numerous foul-smelling, discarded refrigerators that lined sidewalks around the city.

But when the Saints returned to a still-reeling New Orleans in early 2006 鈥?or were forced to by the league, which would not allow Benson to abandon the Big Easy 鈥?the region's fans responded with more than a decade of consecutive sellouts.

The Saints became a source of inspiration during the tough early days of post-Katrina rebuilding. They improved from 3-13 in 2005 to 10-6 under new coach Sean Payton, and then advanced to the franchise's first NFC championship game. A Super Bowl title came in February 2010.

Scandal followed two years later when the NFL uncovered a bounty system in which Saints players earned improper, off-the-books cash bonuses for hits that hurt or sidelined opponents.

Payton wound up serving an unprecedented full-season suspension in 2012 and the Saints were fined $500,000 鈥?even Paul George has found his shot.

Actually, the Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star has been on a roll heading into the playoffs.

In the five regular season games in April Josh Sitton Color Rush Jersey , he averaged 27.6 points and made 41 percent of his 3-pointers and 90 percent of his free throws. He closed the regular season with a 40-point outburst against Memphis.

He kept it up in OKC’s playoff opener, scoring 36 points and setting a Thunder playoff record with eight 3-pointers as Oklahoma City beat Utah 116-108 .

It took George a minute to consistently take the scoring pressure off Russell Westbrook. He struggled on offense right after the All-Star break and said he couldn’t find his shot.

”To his credit, when he was going through a little bit of that slump where he wasn’t shooting the ball particularly well, he really put extra work in,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. ”I felt like he was really driven and focused to work his way through it.”

A couple of former OKC standouts are also thriving early in the postseason.

Victor Oladipo – the player who George was traded for – was just as impressive for Indiana . The Pacers hope to take a 2-0 lead the series against Cleveland and put LeBron James and the Cavaliers on the ropes Wednesday.

Another former Thunder player, Houston’s James Harden, was the best of the George-Oladipo-Harden trio. The Rockets MVP candidate scored 44 points in Houston’s win against Minnesota .

If George is to keep rolling for the Thunder in Game 2 Wednesday he’ll have to do it with a right hip bruise, and after being limited in practice on Tuesday.

”He was not able to do very much today,” Donovan said. ”He did some things in practice. Not much. We’ll probably see where he’s at after shootaround tomorrow and probably evaluate him going into the game.”

JAZZ AT THUNDER

Oklahoma City leads 1-0. Game 2, 7 p.m. Central, NBA TV

NEED TO KNOW: The fact that George was Oklahoma City’s leading scorer in the opener is significant. He’s the first player other than Kevin Durant or Westbrook to lead the Thunder in scoring in a playoff game since Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against San Antonio in 2016. Oklahoma City has played 18 playoff games since then.

KEEP AN EYE ON: Utah C Rudy Gobert. He had 14 points and seven rebounds in the opener and committed four fouls. The Jazz likely will need more from him to be competitive.

INJURY UPDATE: Utah rookie guard Donovan Mitchell suffered a left foot contusion in Game 1, and a Jazz spokesman said he is questionable for Game 2. He went through portions of Tuesday’s practice. He had 27 points and 10 rebounds in the opener after averaging 20.5 points in the regular season.

PRESSURE IS ON: Jazz G Ricky Rubio and Utah F Joe Ingles. Rubio scored 13 points on 5 for 18 shooting in the opener. He will need to hit open shots and take pressure off Mitchell in Game 2. Ingles struggled to get the ball against George’s defense in Game 1. He also had just one assist in Game 1, well below his regular season average of 4.8.

TIMBERWOLVES AT ROCKETS

Houston leads 1-0. Game 2, 9:30 p.m., TNT

NEED TO KNOW: Houston center Clint Capela played a major role in Game 1, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds before halftime. Harden believes Capela could be the X-factor in this series and raved about his work in the first game. ”You could just see a different Clint Mike Remmers Color Rush Jersey , he was running so fast and I had no choice but to get him the ball,” Harden said. ”And then defensively the way he’s been blocking shots, rebounding, he was just like a deer out there.”

KEEP AN EYE ON: Houston’s 3-point shooting. The Rockets won Game 1 despite making just 10 of 37 3-pointers. James Harden was 7 for 12 on 3-pointers, but Trevor Ariza, P.J. Tucker, Eric Gordon and Paul combined to make just 3 of their 22 tries.

INJURY UPDATE: Houston’s Ryan Anderson, who missed the last four regular-season games and the playoff opener with a sprained left ankle, returned to practice on Tuesday and could play on Wednesday.

Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau said that Jimmy Butler’s right wrist is ”fine” despite his wearing a wrap on it during pregame warmups on Sunday.

PRESSURE IS ON: Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns. The Wolves need the All-Star big man to rebound in Game 2 after scoring just eight points in the opener. Towns said he needs to ”play better all-around” and Thibodeau said he has to ”be more active” to combat Houston’s double-teams and switching.

PACERS AT CAVALIERS

Indiana leads 1-0, Game 2, 7 p.m. TNT

NEED TO KNOW: LeBron James has never lost a first-round series, going 12-0. This is the first time he’s been down 0-1 in an opening round. Cleveland had won its first 10 playoff games in each of the past two seasons.

KEEP AN EYE ON: Cleveland’s defensive strategy against Victor Oladipo. Indiana’s quick All-Star guard hit six 3-pointers – in the opener. The Cavaliers had some success in blitzing Oladipo, but he made good decisions with the ball and took advantage when the Cavs switched defenders by exploiting matchups against Cleveland’s slower post players.

INJURY UPDATE: Cavs starting point George Hill is feeling the effects of a hard shot to the back on a screen set by Indiana’s Trevor Booker in Game 1. Hill practiced on Tuesday and said he’s doing better, but his status remains uncertain for Game 2. Also, Cleveland forward Kyle Korver said his right foot has improved. The injury has bothered him for more than a month and limited him to four minutes in the opener.

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