Herman Weiner, 88; Steel Magnate, Philanthropist, Sports Booster

Herman L. Weiner, a frustrated wannabe baseball player who became a steel industry magnate and philanthropist encouraging youths to pursue both scholastic and major league dreams, has died. He was 88.

Weiner died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of cardiac arrest after spending several weeks in a coma, said his son-in-law, Mark Spitz.

From 1947, when he helped his father, Jack, start Weiner Iron & Metal Co., until he sold what became Weiner Steel Corp. to Hiuka America Corp. in 1990, Weiner built what his son Steve said was the largest industrial scrap metal recycling company west of Chicago.

The company, under Herman Weiner, expanded into several subsidiaries including Pacific Erectors Corp., which built vast water storage tanks for utility companies throughout California.

Other subsidiaries made large pipes and tin plate for use in canning.

But the man whose own bright future in professional baseball was derailed by a collegiate injury always remained involved in sports.

To illustrate, Spitz said Saturday that Weiner, in partnership with attorney Ed Hookstratten, almost became owner of a National Football League franchise in Los Angeles.

“They had raised the money required of the NFL [to be granted an expansion team] and were in constant contact with [then-NFL Commissioner] Pete Rozelle.... [Weiner] knew 24 of 28 owners and had more than enough votes from the owners to get approval and be a franchise owner,” Spitz said.

Weiner’s dream was thwarted when Al Davis suddenly moved the Oakland Raiders (now back in Oakland) to Los Angeles.

Spitz, who won seven gold medals in swimming events at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, and two additional medals later, also credited Weiner with serving as his agent a dozen or so years ago when, then in his 40s, he tried to make a comeback in competitive swimming.

“My father-in-law thought I was getting too fat. He said to me, ‘Why don’t you get off your can and exercise?’ ” Spitz, who had gone on to careers in show business and real estate, told Times sports columnist Melvin Durslag in 1989. So Spitz did as advised and trained anew -- unsuccessfully -- for Olympic events in Barcelona, Spain.

Born in East Los Angeles, Weiner earned a baseball scholarship to UC Berkeley. There he built such a record, his son said, that one San Francisco sports columnist labeled him the “Jewish Dizzy Dean.”

Weiner in one season under Coach Clint Evans established a 12-1 pitching record -- including two no-hit games and three one-hit games -- and led the conference in hitting with a .479 batting average.

But he suffered a knee injury while playing center field, and never recuperated enough to make the majors.

Weiner worked briefly in the movie industry in sound and editing departments at MGM, and then devoted himself to the scrap metal business.

He also coached youth baseball and football for many years in Little League, Pony League and Pop Warner Football League, and conducted sports clinics for youngsters up and down the state.

With his father, who died in 1964, and other members of the family, Weiner was responsible for donating the Charley DiGiovanna and Fred Haney Trophies given annually to inspirational Los Angeles Dodger and California Angel baseball players.

Weiner gave lavishly to scholarships and helped recruit and support promising students at UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, Utah State and others.

He was president of Southern Seas, the UC Berkeley booster group in Southern California, and in 1958 was accused of luring UCLA football prospects to UC Berkeley. Then-Berkeley football coach Pete Elliott scoffed at the allegation, saying that Weiner was “a man of high moral standards.”

Weiner is survived by his wife of 60 years, Trudy; his son, Steve; two daughters, Leslie Baker and Suzy Spitz; and eight grandsons.

Services will be private.

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Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.