DETROIT — If there is one lesson that pizza man Michael Ilitch drummed into his children, it was to always "be humble."
So Ilitch was in character when he downplayed his $85-million purchase of the Detroit Tigers in 1992, an event the local media trumpeted as foreshadowing the rebound of the baseball franchise and perhaps even the city.
"I'm no savior of the ball club or this city," he said at a news conference held on the pitcher's mound at Tiger Stadium.
Despite the disclaimer, Ilitch has become the most visible symbol of the Motor City's upper crust, a vaunted position achieved with mozzarella and pepperoni rather than gasoline and the internal combustion engine.
Ilitch, a home-grown son of blue-collar Macedonian immigrants, and his wife and business partner, Marian, have amassed a $500-million fortune by building Little Caesar Enterprises into the nation's second-largest pizza chain.
Little Caesars has gone from a single location in 1959 to a corporate behemoth with 4,720 outlets and annual revenue of $2 billion. Despite slow times in the pizza business, the company--which recently launched delivery service nationwide--aims to double in size by the year 2000 and challenge No. 1 Pizza Hut in the process.
Along the way, the Ilitch family has emerged--a bit reluctantly--as the prime benefactor of this troubled city, displacing the descendants of Henry Ford and other auto heirs from their traditional roost.
The Ilitches have invested more than $200 million in Detroit since 1982. Eight years ago, they moved Little Caesar headquarters from the suburbs to the center city--the first major company to relocate downtown in 30 years. Since then, they have expanded heavily into local sports and entertainment.
In addition to the Tigers--bought from rival Thomas Monaghan, owner of Domino's Pizza in nearly Ann Arbor--Ilitch owns the Detroit Red Wings hockey team and Detroit Rockers soccer team. He renovated the historic Fox Theater, operates downtown convention center Cobo Hall and Joe Lewis Arena, and has interests in a comedy club and several restaurants.
Now Ilitch, 65, wants to build a new Tiger Stadium, a controversial project that could cost more than $200 million, require a substantial public subsidy and serve as an anchor for redevelopment of this city's decrepit downtown.
"They [the Ilitches] have been very good citizens, both corporate and otherwise, at a time when other corporations chose not to participate in the well-being of the city," said Mayor Dennis Archer, who backs the new stadium.
While Ilitch's sports and entertainment activities draw most of the public attention, the *
Ilitch grew up on Detroit's West Side with dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. Though his father, a tool-and-die maker, derisively called baseball "a bum sport," Ilitch played shortstop in the Tigers' farm system after serving four years in the Marine Corps.
A good hitter with above-average speed, Ilitch was hampered by injuries and never made it to the big leagues. Sidelined with a leg ailment one summer, he made extra money by selling pizzas in a bar frequented by his teammates.
He met Marian, an airline reservations clerk, on a blind date arranged by his family, and they were married within a year. Ilitch sold dinnerware and awnings door to door, but soon decided to go into business himself. He invested $10,000 in savings in a small restaurant in a strip shopping mall in Garden City, a Detroit suburb.
His wife suggested calling it Little Caesar. "We were just married and he was my hero, my Caesar. But he hadn't accomplished anything yet, so he was my little Caesar."
The Ilitches worked the outlet together, with Mike tossing the dough in the back and Marian running the counter out front. Like a good double-play team, their skills complemented each other: he had a flair for product development and marketing; she had a way with numbers and finance.
The restaurant drew attention because it only offered carryout food--unusual at the time. Bill Morgan, now a top executive at Elias Brothers Big Boy restaurants in Warren, Mich., recalls visiting the shop shortly after it opened in 1959.
"I told them, 'You'd better get some tables in here or you will never succeed,' " he said. "It turned out that his carryout concept was new and innovative. He . . . has always been in sync with his times."
Ilitch also is open to new ideas. He began franchising in 1962 after a Texan he met on a plane told him the best way to expand was by using other people's money. Today, 75% of Little Caesars' outlets are franchised.
Little Caesars grew slowly in the 1960s, but the Ilitch family was growing rapidly. The couple had seven children and involved them early in the business. All have worked for the company.
"Our childhood was a Macedonian version of Parenthood meets the Brady Bunch," said Atanas Ilitch, 32, who overseas the family's entertainment interests. "My parents' energy level is endless. They are very passionate people who sincerely love the life force."
