Education
Yale University.
Yale University.
Boe was a graduate of Yale University and a veteran of the Korean War. He bought his first sports team, the Westchester Bulls of the Atlantic Coast Football League, in 1968. In 1969, Boe purchased the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association.
During his tenure with the Nets, the team reached the American Bar Association Finals in 1972, 1974, and 1976, winning the latter two series.
After the last championship, Boe oversaw the Nets" entry into the National Basketball Association as part of the American Bar Association-National Basketball Association merger. However, the New York Knicks demanded that the Nets pay them $4.8 million as compensation for "invading" the New York area.
This was on top of the $3.2 million the Nets had to pay for joining the league. Boe offered to trade Julius Erving to the Knicks in return for waiving the indemnity, but the Knicks turned that offer down.
With Erving demanding a reworked contract, Boe was forced to sell Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers--in essence, trading his franchise player for a berth in the National Basketball Association, a move for which he was harshly criticized.
Boe moved the team to New Jersey before the 1977-1978 season, and sold the team in 1978. In 1972, Boe helped found the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. He owned twenty percent of the team and hired Bill Torrey as the team"s general manager.
In his later years, Boe owned the Worcester Ice Cats and Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League.