The Making Of A Sports Mogul

When Casey Wasserman was a lad, Sundays meant tagging along with his granddad, MCA chief Lew Wasserman, to the famously downscale Beverly Hills deli Nate 'n Al. There, while young Casey enjoyed his matzoh brei and jam, Hollywood players on the make would stream by the table, pitching projects, asking favors, or just schmoozing with the man who all but invented the modern studio system.

"It was like a college education on how to do business and treat people," recalls movie producer Steve Tisch, who used to frequent Nate 'n Al with his father, Wasserman friend and former Loews Chairman Preston R. Tisch, now deceased.