After graduating from Columbia with a master of Asian studies, he joined the New York Stock Exchange in 1988 as a public relations executive dealing in the listing of Chinese companies. Three years later he moved into private wealth management, a career where he obviously made a lot of money but of which he is reluctant to provide details.

He is still an active investor, putting some US$600 million into companies such as Anta Sports Products, China Railway, Sinoma, Xinxin Mining, Uni-President Enterprises and Dongyue Group.

But while he may have struck a home run in the corporate world, the sports business seems to be his first big love. Part sports fan, part deal-maker, he now has dreams of forming a Chinese sports empire encompassing everything from basketball and baseball to martial arts.

As a teenager, he represented Guangdong province in badminton. This summer he started a China Youth Baseball League with hopes of fostering young talent and deepening his links with the mainland sports industry.

He doesn't waste time in asking this reporter if the South China Morning Post can write more stories about him and his other sporting interests such as baseball.

But it is obvious his interest in sport is also more than just what happens on the court or the playing field. The business of sport and its money-making opportunities are key motivations.

When his name was first associated with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which has the popular franchise player LeBron James, few knew who he was. While Huang said he had a good laugh at all the speculation in the media about his intentions, he seemed to quite enjoy his sudden surge of popularity.

'Yao and I may be the only people who did not have to give lai see to the mainland press [to get coverage],' said Huang, who shares the same birthday with the Chinese sports hero. Huang downplays the Cavaliers purchase as a passive investment made by him and partner Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, the 29-year-old New World Development director and grandson of the firm's founder, Cheng Yu-tung.

'The Chinese media think it is a big deal,' he said. 'To me, it is just a listed company investment I made in the past year.'

Huang first appeared in the press last year when as money manager for Rocket Capital Investment he became a cornerstone investor for the Anta Sports initial public offering.

Before handing a big cheque to Anta Sports, he recalled asking its sponsor, Morgan Stanley, to sum up Anta in a sentence.

'They told me Anta is China's Nike, so I gave them US$30 million,' said Huang. Shares of Anta have since doubled.

Huang eventually bought into five other companies; China Railway, Sinoma, Xinxin Mining, Uni-President and Dongyue. Only Dongyue remains below water.

Overall, he claims the average return on his Chinese stocks has been about 50 per cent.

His latest investment is the Longrun Tea Group. He bought HK$1 billion worth of convertible bonds in May, making him a substantial shareholder with an 18 per cent stake.

Huang is clearly a consummate deal-maker in everything from bonds to beverages. On the day we met, he said he was going to Xiamen to negotiate a deal to buy one of the largest producers of Tie Guanyin (Iron Buddha) tea leaves.

This summer he was in China hosting the Houston Rockets visit. In our first interview, he was disturbed by a phone call from someone asking him to join a consortium to buy AIG's asset management firm.

But for such a successful businessman, he seems to dislike details. During my two meetings with him I was unable to get his business card. The first time he only gave out his colleague's card and on the second occasion he said he had run out.

The structure of his businesses also remains a mystery to me. When I asked about his flagship company's name, he said he didn't have one because he used different company names for specific purposes.

Rocket Capital was first reported to be an investment vehicle between him and Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander. Later Huang said it was a 100 per cent-owned specially created vehicle for his Longrun Tea Group, and Alexander was an investment partner who had no ownership in the firm.

Whatever his business arrangements, Huang is set to be a major force in mainland sports for years to come. Two years ago, Huang and Chicago-based SportsCorp helped the New York Yankees scout for two Chinese players, Kai Liu, a 19-year-old left-handed pitcher, and Zhenwang Zhang, a 19-year-old catcher.

The duo were not the first imported Chinese players, but they were the first with the blessing of the Chinese Baseball Association. They carried hopes that some day one of them could become another Wang Chien-ming, a sensational pitcher from Taiwan.

'Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese players get to play in the best leagues in the world and so will the Chinese,' Huang said in Beijing in June. 'I look forward to seeing more Chinese players take their places in major league baseball just like Yao Ming [in basketball].'

Three months ago, Huang and his partner Cheng founded QSL Sports to develop China Youth Baseball League across the mainland.

The first games with 40 teams participating were held in Wuxi and Nanjing between July 28 and August 13, catering for children above nine. He has also started a project sponsoring primary schools to build their own sports stadiums.

Through QSL Sports, Huang plans to invest in baseball, basketball, tennis and martial arts in China.

He is currently forming a company to manage tennis players and is in negotiations to buy a Chinese basketball team - reportedly from Jilin.

Over the longer term, he hopes to develop a sports business leveraging New World Development's network in the retail and property sectors.

'There are really three keys to playing the sports business,' he said. 'Media, sponsors and capital markets.

'You may know sports, but you may not know capital markets. But if you know capital markets, you may not know the media well. I think I have got all the three successful ingredients.'

But what about his favourite sport? 'Superbowl. Unfortunately it was not a popular sport in China.'