Thomas K. Scallen loved entertainment and he loved to make deals. Those two passions drove him to acquire interests in professional hockey, basketball, ice skating, theater and restaurants. At one point his far-flung empire included a Hollywood company and several TV stations.
"It was a wild and wonderful roller coaster with my dad," said his son Tommy Scallen. "He never put a quarter in a slot machine, but he rolled the dice by putting millions of dollars on the table to run these companies. He loved show business."
Thomas K. Scallen died at his Minneapolis home on Saturday. He was 89 years old and had been in failing health for the past few years.
"Making deals was what motivated that man," said his daughter, Maureen Scallen Failor.
In a long and colorful career, Scallen owned partly or in whole the Harlem Globetrotters, the Vancouver Canucks, Ice Follies and Ice Capades, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and the Lexington Restaurant. He produced and directed specials for network TV, Caesar's Palace and the Tropicana Hotel. He was a senior vice president at 20th Century Fox during the reign of Darryl Zanuck.
Scallen suffered several setbacks — taking his International Broadcasting Co. into bankruptcy in the early 1990s and publicly tangling with suitors who had tried to take over the company years earlier.
In 1975, he served nine months in a Canadian prison on a securities fraud conviction in connection with his part ownership of the Canucks. He maintained his innocence and later received a full pardon from the Canadian government.
"He was a man who had everything, lost everything and gained everything," said Maureen Failor. "His resilience is something that I deeply admire."
