Bill Wirtz William Wadsworth " Dollar Bill " Wirtz ( October 5 1929 – September 26 2007 ) was the chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of the family - owned Wirtz Corporation . He was best - known as the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League , who are part of Wirtz Corp ' s holdings . Wirtz also served as the Blackhawks ' team president for over four decades . He was born in Detroit and attended Brown University . Blackhawks ownership . Bill Wirtz was the team president of the Blackhawks for 41 years and served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the NHL for 18 , helping to merge the NHL and the World Hockey Association during the 1970s . Wirtz had a lifelong love for hockey , and his team , the Chicago Blackhawks . Criticism . As owner of the Blackhawks , Wirtz had a reputation for stubbornness and frugality , and for that he earned the nickname " Dollar Bill " Wirtz . He was vilified by Blackhawks fans for forbidding Blackhawks home games to be shown on TV unless they were picked up by national broadcasters , which only happened when the Blackhawks made the playoffs . As he explained it , he felt that broadcasting regular home games was unfair to season - ticket holders . For a short time during the 1992 and 1993 seasons , Wirtz introduced " Hawkvision " , a pay TV service that operated in conjunction with Chicago ' s local SportsChannel outfit , which cost $ 29 . 95 per month and broadcast Blackhawks home games . Wirtz was also blamed for allowing Bobby Hull to leave the Blackhawks and the NHL for the World Hockey Association ( although his father , Arthur Wirtz , was actually responsible for that decision ) . Wirtz was further blamed for the loss of both Dominik Hašek and Ed Belfour , for trading Denis Savard in 1990 , for the trade of Chris Chelios to Detroit ( in actuality , Chelios had asked to be traded and gave approval to then - General Manager Robert Frederick Murray when told Detroit was the most interested team ) , for the trading of Jeremy Roenick , and for the 1967 trade of Phil Esposito . Wirtz was also blamed for the Blackhawks ' Stanley Cup drought , which is the second longest in NHL history . Under the ownership of Wirtz , the Chicago Blackhawks were named by ESPN in 2004 as the worst franchise in sports . Wirtz was also given the nickname " Dollar Bill " by " Chicago Tribune " columnist Bob Verdi as a sarcastic reference to his frugality in compensating his players . In 2002 , ESPN ranked Wirtz as the third greediest owner in all of sports . Positive attributes . In spite of his vocal critics , Wirtz was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985 . Wirtz also won the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1978 . He was considered by many ( including former Blackhawks General Manager Dale Tallon , retired hockey star Stan Mikita , and former Blackhawk Martin Lapointe ) to be a generous and fiercely loyal man . He was also famous for his philanthropy . In 1993 , he established Blackhawk Charities which has donated millions of dollars to the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois , among other groups . Wirtz also served on the Olympic Committees for both the 1980 and 1984 Winter Olympics . Death . Wirtz died at Evanston Hospital on September 26 , 2007 , following a brief battle with cancer . His son Peter Wirtz was initially named the new owner of the Blackhawks on September 27 , 2007 ; Peter Wirtz passed the responsibility to his brother Rocky . During a tribute and moment of silence for him during the Blackhawks home opener on October 8 , 2007 , the Chicago crowd displayed their displeasure with Wirtz ' s operation of the organization by booing the proceedings .