ORLANDO -- Flashback 20 years, and it still seems as if it were yesterday for local banker and developer James L. Hewitt.

He had been told it would take a $20 million National Basketball Association franchise fee to bring an expansion team to Orlando.

Then Hewitt woke up one morning to find that the NBA had just signed a new TV deal. He got the call. NBA owners added another $5 million to the entry fee for any city that wanted to get in.

Hewitt laughs as he recalls a meeting in New York with NBA Commissioner David Stern at a time when the price of the franchise was continuing to rise.

"He told me, 'Jimmy, I have good news and bad news. The good news is the franchise fee is not $40 million. The bad news -- it's $32.5 million.'?"

As history now records, nothing deterred Hewitt from what had become a driving passion -- although others called it an obsession -- bring a major sports franchise to O-town.

Pat Williams, current Magic senior vice president, credits Hewitt with jumping through every hoop put in his way by the NBA, as well as city and county officials, in order to achieve the goal.

Same time next year

To commemorate their friendship and partnership in helping bring the Magic to Orlando, Williams says he and Hewitt meet for lunch every June to celebrate their accomplishment. It was on June 19, 1986, that the two held a news conference to announce their intention of seeking an NBA franchise.

The two men had met more than a year earlier at a Christian men's fellowship gathering in Austin, Texas, and immediately hit it off.

As Hewitt recalled during an interview en route to the airport, Williams asked that if an NBA franchise came to Florida, would it be in Miami or Jacksonville? Hewitt answered: "Why not Orlando?"

At Hewitt's insistence, a year later Williams resigned his job as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers to officially join the Orlando crusade.

It was not always a smooth ride. Six other cities also wanted an NBA expansion team. As the competition heated up and the NBA upped the ante for a franchise, Williams says it was Hewitt who handled the business affairs.

Hewitt brought in other investors -- real estate developer William DuPont; Don Dizney, a managing general partner of the Orlando United State Football League franchise during its short existence; and Jim and Steve Caruso, owners of Southern Fruit Citrus, among others.

In April of 1987, Hewitt, Williams, et al. nailed it. Of the seven cities vying for franchises, the NBA selected Charlotte and Miami to begin play in 1988, while Minneapolis and Orlando would enter the dance a year later.

Passing the torch

The original ownership team made it through two seasons with the Magic before selling the franchise in 1991 to one of the country's richest men, Amway Corp. founder Richard DeVos, for $85 million.

The price was a 161 percent increase over the franchise fee price tag of $32.5 million for the nine investors that still had a stake in the Magic.

To put the money in perspective, Williams says that when Charlotte was given the chance a few years back to bring an NBA franchise back to the city with the Bobcats, it cost $300 million.

Williams, who had convinced DeVos to finance a failed attempt to bring Major League Baseball to Orlando, recommended him as a buyer to Hewitt.

Hewitt says that although the Tribune Co., which counts the Chicago Cubs and the Orlando Sentinel in its portfolio, wanted to buy the Magic, he says he has no regrets about selling to DeVos.

"When I did it, I promised I wasn't going to look back," says Hewitt, who has remained a loyal fan of the Magic and the DeVos management team.

Looking forward, Hewitt, who organized and later sold one successful community bank, only to start another -- United Heritage Bank in 2001 -- sees a bright future for the Magic.

Aside from the product on the court, which he thinks is of playoff caliber, Hewitt sees political and community support coming together for a penny tax to build a new performing arts center, upgrade the Citrus Bowl and give the Magic a new state-of-the-art arena.

For critics who gag at the thought of taxpayers' money going into a new arena for the Magic, Hewitt points out that the team will only use the facility 20 percent of the time. He says the other 80 percent can be used to attract big concerts and other events that are now skipping Orlando because TD Waterhouse Centre is outdated.

In the final analysis, he adds, "tourists will pay for it" -- referring to the money generated from an increase in the resort tax.

Williams prefers not to get publicly involved in the political fray. He also declines to speculate what the Magic will do if efforts to get a new arena are thwarted.

"It's something we don't talk about," he says. "There are so many cities that would love to have (NBA) basketball. We remain optimistic.

"We've had a 20-year run that's been incredible," Williams adds. "The community gave birth to the team. They saw it grow."

Magic moments

? September 1985: Banker and developer James Hewitt makes overtures to Philadelphia 76ers GM Pat Williams about bringing an NBA franchise to Orlando.
? June 1986: Hewitt and Williams hold news conference to announce they will seek an NBA franchise.
? July 1986: Future team gets a name -- Magic.
? October 1986: Orlando group presents NBA officials with 14,176 season tickets, which is the highest among seven cities vying for a franchise.
? January 1987: Groundbreaking for the Orlando Arena.
? April 1987: NBA awards an expansion franchise to Orlando that will begin play in the 1989-90 season.
? June 1989: In their first NBA draft, the Magic select Nick Anderson with the 11th overall pick.
? 1991: Rich DeVos buys team for $85 million.
? June 1992: Magic use the No. 1 pick to select Shaquille O'Neal.
? June 1995: Team reaches NBA Finals, only to lose in four games to the Houston Rockets.
? July 2000: Magic sign Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady to long-term deals.
? 2005: In major moves, team trades Steve Francis and brings on Darko Milicic, Carlos Arroyo and Trevor Ariza.
? June 2006: Magic pick Duke's J.J. Redick with the No. 11 overall pick.

Carlos Galarza can be reached at (407) 241-2910 or via e-mail at [email protected]