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COPYRIGHT 2001 The Miami Herald
Byline: Michelle Kaufman
MIAMI _ Ken Horowitz could hang at the same poker table with Wayne Huizenga, Micky Arison and John Henry. His Rolodex includes the phone numbers of Philip Anschutz and John Kluge, two of the 30 richest people in the world.
But Horowitz, owner of the Miami Fusion, would rather you not know that. He hides from publicity and would like you to think he's a regular guy.
And he is _ if your definition of "regular" is a multimillionaire who worked in a sponge factory, sold fire extinguishers door to door, majored in neurobiology, performed experiments on chickens, debunked a much-publicized theory that plants have feelings, ran the New York Marathon and was once Cornell's sex counselor.
He also happened to be a pioneer in the wireless phone industry, proving wrong all those potential investors who asked in 1982, "Why would I want a phone in my car?"
Horowitz, who became fascinated with telecommunications as a 13-year-old ham radio operator, co-founded Cellular One and made a fortune. He gobbled up wireless phone licenses in central New York, and in 1993 sold 1.3 million potential customers to Southwestern Bell for an estimated $250 million.
Today, he lives in an 18,000-square-foot hacienda in Palm Beach County, works at home, invests in technology and real estate, and is getting a kick out of his most public asset, the hottest soccer team in America.
"You can almost see the albatross lifted off Ken's neck this year," says Fusion coach Ray Hudson, whose team leads Major League Soccer with an...
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