Who is Steve Belkin?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">He once was offered a basketball scholarship to Georgia Tech. He tried for 20 years to buy an NBA team. And now he is at the center of one of the biggest storms in Atlanta sports history. So just who is Steve Belkin?

The personal side

> Age: 57

> Grew up: East Grand Rapids, Mich.

> Lives: Weston, Mass., a Boston suburb.

> Education: Graduated from Grand Rapids (Mich.) High, Cornell University and Harvard (MBA).

> Family: Wife Joan, whom he met at Cornell, and two daughters (ages 29 and 26).

Sports background

Turned down a basketball scholarship to Georgia Tech. Quit the basketball team at Cornell because the practice schedule interfered with his studies. Played on the more flexible tennis, squash and soccer teams. Still an avid tennis player, has won his club championship 15 times.

How he made his fortune

An entrepreneur who has started 26 companies under the umbrella of Trans National Group, he hit it big in the direct marketing of group travel packages and credit cards.

Claim to fame

Pioneered the concept of the affinity credit card, the now-ubiquitous card that carries the name or logo of a sponsoring organization. "We started the whole affinity business back in 1982," Belkin said last year. "Now, it's over 50 percent of all credit cards." His company originated 12 million credit cards in the U.S. from 1983 to 1993, earning a fee for each approved applicant it generated. Then, in 1993, Belkin sold the domestic credit card business to Maryland National Bank and took the same idea overseas.

Claim to shame

Was fined $250,000 last year by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman --- a record fine for an NHL owner --- for violating a gag rule and saying the league might use replacement players if the lockout lasted more than a year.

A day at the office

The Trans National building is next to Fenway Park in Boston. A basketball goal stands in a lobby, the Hawks logo on the backboard. Basketball memorabilia adorns Belkin's large, elegant office. Trans National's current businesses run the gamut: travel, telecommunications, selling books and videos to affinity groups, real estate and venture capital.

Chasing a team

In 1983, he had a letter of intent to buy the Celtics. In 2001, he almost had another deal to buy the Celtics. In 2002, he was a finalist to buy the NBA's Charlotte expansion franchise. Belkin's two-decade pursuit of owning a team was finally fulfilled with the Hawks purchase. </div>

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LOL, poor BK.