The news Friday of H. Wayne Huizenga’s death sent a shockwave around the South Florida sports community that he had a heavy hand in molding.
In addition to being the only entrepreneur to ever launch three Fortune 500 companies, Huizenga was the original owner of both the Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers, giving Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League their South Florida presence in 1993. He was also owned the Miami Dolphins from 1995 to 2009.
“He brought all of us to South Florida with the birth of the Marlins,” said Dave Dombrowski, the Marlins’ first general manager who led the franchise to its first World Series in 1997.