Alex Spanos' House

The real estate billionaire and owner of the San Diego Chargers (NFL), Alex Spanos, lived here before his passing in 2018. Spanos was an American billionaire real estate developer, founder of the A. G. Spanos Companies, and the majority owner of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League.

Spanos built his fortune over sixty years, beginning like many do, way back in 1951 when he borrowed $800 from a local banker to buy a truck which he then used to sell sandwiches to migrant farm workers in the San Joaquin Valley. Only four years later, in 1955 Spanos had made his first million dollars. A savvy investor, Spanos took this profit and invested his earnings in real estate at the suggestion of his tax accountants, and began to build apartments. Five more years of hard work later, Spanos founded the A.G. Spanos Companies, which by 1977 became the largest apartment builder in the United States. The corporation, based in Stockton, has 10 subsidiaries.

To add to his wealth, Spanos bought 60% of the San Diego Chargers from majority owner Eugene Klein for $48.3 million. Over the next 10 years, he bought out many of the shares held by several small co-owners, bringing his control of the team to 97%. The remaining 3% was held onto by San Diego restaurateur George Pernicano, an investor in the team from the very beginning, until Pernicano's death in October 2016 when Spano acquired the remaining shares. Spanos's son Dean Spanos has handled the daily operations of the franchise since 1993, and continues managing the team to this day. Spanos, as with many of his investments, saw a healthy return on the Chargers as in 2015 Forbes listed the Los Angeles Chargers at a worth of $995 million.

At the time of his death Spanos was estimated to have a net worth of $2.4 Billion.