Jack Kent Cooke - Born October 26, 1912 in Hamilton, Ontario - Died April 6, 1997 in Washington, D.C. was a Canadian/American businessman, sports team owner/founder and media baron.

Jack Kent Cooke who had purchased the Los Angeles Lakers in 1965 for $5.1 million, then put in a bid with the NHL to acquire a team in Los Angeles, California.

There were 5 bids put in by separate groups, with Dan Reeves who owned the WHL Los Angeles Blades and NFL Los Angeles Rams as the favourite. Apparently Reeves told Cooke he would not be allowed to use the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum if he was the winning bidder. Cooke responded by upping his bid to include a new arena in Inglewood, a L.A. suburb city.

Cooke won the bid in February 1966, paid the NHL a $2 million franchise fee, Blades a $1 million indemnity for territorial rights and it cost him $16 million plus for the land and costs for building The Forum.

The name Kings was selected by Cooke after a contest. He also used the same colours for both of his teams, the Lakers and Kings, Purple (Forum Blue) and Gold.

The Kings played their pre season games and their first two NHL games at the Long Beach Convention Center Arena, and 14 more games at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena before finally playing at their new arena The "Fabulous Forum" on December 30, 1967, with the Kings being shut out by the Philadelphia Flyers, 2–0. Ed Hoekstra scored the 1st NHL goal at The Forum.

The building was referred to as The Forum, The "Fabulous Forum" and the Los Angeles Great Western Forum.

Brian Kilrea scored the 1st NHL goal for the Kings vs Doug Favell of Philadelphia Flyers at 3:20 of 2nd period on October 14, 1967 at Long Beach Convention Center in a 4-2 Kings win. He had 2 goals in the game.

Howie Hughes scored the Kings 1st NHL goal at The Forum vs Seth Martin of St. Louis Blues at 7:30 of 1st period on January 11, 1968 in a 2-2 tie.

In May 1979, Cooke sold the Forum, the Kings, and the Lakers to Jerry Buss for a then-record $67.5 million - half of the payment was in cash and half was in real estate, with part of Buss's payment including the Chrysler Building in New York City.

Jack Kent Cooke was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.

NOTE
Jack Kent Cooke also owned the AHL Springfield Indians, NFL Washington Redskins, United Soccer Association Los Angeles Wolves, International League Toronto Maple Leafs (baseball).
He won the NBA championship in 1972 and 3 Super Bowls in 1982, 1987, 1991.