season as GM, Begzos acquired Mike Green, Len Elmore, and Ernie Grunfeld, but the Kings were unable to repeat as Midwest Division champions and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Phoenix Suns. The following year, Begzos signed free agent Leon Douglas, traded for seven-time All Star JoJo White, and negotiated a long-term contract with Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. The Kings got off to a 5–6 start and on October 29, 1980, the team fired Begzos. On November 7, 1980, Begzos' attorney confirmed a Kansas City Star report that his client had been fired over postage stamp reuse. According to the lawyer, Begzos had purchased $240 worth of stamps from a neighbor for $120. Begzos then sold the stamps to the team for what he had paid for them. Once postal inspectors informed the team of the situation, Kings' president H. Paul Rosenberg demanded Begzos resign. When he refused, Begzos was fired. Later life After leaving the Kings, Begzos found employment with a Buffalo-based cable television company and moved to Amherst, New York. In 1982 he was pleaded guilty to theft charges stemming from the 1980 sale of his burned Alamo Heights home. Begzos had accepted a down payment from Richard Squires and a note for a future payment of $20,000 plus interest. Begzos sold the note to the Traders Bank of Kansas City but never told Squires, who sent Begzos a check for $22,000 on September 19, 1981. Begzos cashed the check and did not use the money to pay the note. After Squires was approached by the bank for the money, he notified the Bexar County district attorneys office, who charged Begzos with theft over $10,000. Begzos reached a deal that reduced the charges to a misdemeanor after he agreed to give the bank possession of a home he owned in Overland Park, Kansas. He sentenced to one year of probation. In 1988, Begzos returned to Texas. He resided in Plano and owned a sports bar in Addison. He died on September 1, 2004. References 1942 births 2004 deaths American people convicted of theft American restaurateurs Kansas City Kings executives San Antonio Spurs executives Michigan State University alumni Minor league baseball executives People from Walled Lake, Michigan Sportspeople from Plano, Texas Recipients of the Silver Star United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War