Mike Ilitch

Michael Ilitch Sr. (July 20, 1929 – February 10, 2017), also known as Mr. I, was an American entrepreneur and restaurateur who served as the founder and owner of the international fast food franchise Little Caesars Pizza.

He also owned the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League and Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball.

Ilitch was at the center of Detroit's downtown redevelopment efforts; he purchased and renovated the Fox Theatre and relocated his business headquarters (Ilitch Holdings) there.

He also owned Olympia Entertainment.

A second generation American of Macedonian descent, he was married to Marian Bayoff Ilitch.

Ilitch was born in Detroit in 1929 to Macedonian immigrants Sotir and Sultana Ilitch.

His father was a tool-and-die maker.

A graduate of Cooley High School in Detroit, Michigan, Ilitch served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years.

After his return home to Detroit, the Detroit Tigers offered him $3,000 if he would sign to play baseball, and Ilitch had a four-year minor league career from 1952 to 1955.

Ilitch played mostly second base for the Tigers', New York Yankees', and Washington Senators' organizations in the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League, Cotton States League, and Florida International League.

He was forced out of his playing career due to a knee injury.

After leaving baseball, Ilitch started a pizza business in 1959.

With the help of his wife, Marian, the Ilitches opened Little Caesars Pizza Treat in Garden City, Michigan.

, the family's entities remain privately held.

It is tied for third all-time in NHL history after 29 consecutive appearances by the Boston Bruins from 1967–1968 to 1995–1996, 28 consecutive trips by the Chicago Blackhawks from 1969–1970 through 1996–1997, and is tied with the 25 consecutive appearances by the St. Louis Blues from 1979–1980 to 2003–2004.

Prior to formalized professional play, a major sponsor of amateur softball in the Detroit area was Little Caesars, who sponsored the 1970 American Softball Association national championship team.

With the formation of a professional league, Ilitch formed a team in his first solo step into professional sports ownership.

The Caesars played at Memorial Field in East Detroit and featured former Detroit Tiger stars Jim Northrup, Mickey Stanley, Jim Price and Norm Cash, along with established softball players such as Mike Nye, Ronnie Ford, Mike Gouin, Bert Smith, and Tex Collins.

In an era of experimentation in sports leagues, the Detroit Wheels were a football team that played in the World Football League for the 1974 season.

Ilitch was part of a 33-person consortium (including Motown singer Marvin Gaye) that funded the ill-fated WFL team which would not even last the inaugural season in the start-up league.

The Detroit Caesars were a professional softball team that began play in the American Professional Slow Pitch Softball League (APSPL) in 1977.

The team disbanded after the 1979 season.

The team was led by manager Gary Vitto, earning the team two championships before disbanding after the 1979 season.

Vitto would go on to serve as General Manager of the Detroit Drive of the Arena Football League and then served in the front office of the Detroit Tigers, both owned by Ilitch.

In 1982, Ilitch bought the Detroit Red Wings from Bruce Norris (whose family had owned the team for 50 years) for US$8 million, and turned the team into a perennial contender for the Stanley Cup.

After years of drafting top picks and grooming their young players, and with proper management and leadership, the Red Wings became an elite NHL team.

Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 from fellow pizza magnate Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza.

They made the Stanley Cup finals three times between the 1994–1995 and 1997–1998 seasons, winning the Cup in 1997 (fifteen years after Ilitch purchased the Red Wings) and again in 1998.

In 1999, the Ilitches established Ilitch Holdings, Inc. to provide their various enterprises with professional and technical services, and held the titles of chairman and vice chairwoman, respectively.

In 2000, Ilitch and his wife appointed two of their children as co-presidents of Ilitch Holdings, Inc.: Christopher Ilitch and daughter Denise Ilitch, an attorney.

Christopher Ilitch was named to the new post of CEO and president.

Denise Ilitch later left the company "to pursue other opportunities".

The Red Wings added two more championships in 2002 and 2008.

Prior to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Forbes magazine ranked the Red Wings as the fifth-most valuable franchise in the NHL, despite a $16 million operating loss.

Ilitch had fallen off Forbes magazine's annual list of the "400 Richest Americans", but in 2006 he returned to the list at No. 242.

The combined total revenues for these enterprises in 2007 reportedly exceeded $1.8 billion.

For the 2007–2008 hockey season, the team won the President's Trophy for the best record in the NHL for the sixth time—the most of any NHL team since the President's Trophy was introduced in 1985–1986.

The Red Wings made the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons through 2015–2016.

As of December 2016, he was No. 86 on the Forbes 400 and had an estimated net worth of $6.1 billion.

The 25 consecutive playoff berths were the longest active streak of post-season appearances in all of the North American professional sports, before ending in the 2016–2017 season.