22 Celebrities Who Owned A Sports Team That You Had No Clue About

18. Gene Autry — Los Angeles/California Angels

Autry earned fame as the “Singing Cowboy,” recording classic renditions of Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Here Comes Santa Claus, and went on to amass a fortune by investing in real estate, radio and TV. In 1961, Autry bought the radio rights to the Los Angeles Angels when the MLB added the expansion franchise, and went on to purchase the team outright. In 1966 the team moved from LA to Anaheim and rebranded as the California Angels. Autry would own the team until his death in 1998.