‘Godfather of basketball’ speaks to IU students

Sonny Vaccaro has spent his life on the move, working for athletic shoe giants Nike, Adidas and Reebok. He now speaks to students about his life.

“I was never afraid of what tomorrow was, and I couldn’t rely on yesterday anymore,” he said in a speech to a packed house Monday night in Swain Hall West.

Possibly best known as the man who signed Michael Jordan to his first shoe deal with Nike, Vaccaro spoke of his entire career, from 1964 to the present, in a speech sponsored by IU’s Hoosier Sports Business Organization.

Jared Casden, president of the Hoosier Sports Business Organization and a friend of Vaccaro, said a friend introduced him to Vaccaro and made the speech possible.

“I met Sonny at the NBA draft this past summer,” Casden said. “I was introduced to him by my best friend James Tchana, who went to Vaccaro’s ABCD Basketball Camp where they became close. I attended the draft with James, and was fortunate enough to meet the ‘godfather of basketball’ and asked him to speak to the HSBO at IU.”

Though Vaccaro spoke of his signing of Jordan as the highlight of his time with Nike, he also told stories of what he did before Jordan, driving around the country in a rented Ford Thunderbird trying to sign college basketball coaches to shoe deals with Nike.

Jordan was always the topic to which he returned.

“Michael Jordan did more for marketing than any genius at any big marketing firm in the history of marketing,” he said. “The world changed because of him.”

Freshman Josh Bowles said his favorite part of the night was Vaccaro’s enthusiasm.
“He has so much passion, and that really struck me,” he said.

Currently, Vaccaro spends his time traveling around the country with his wife Pam speaking to college students about his experiences and the state of college athletics.

Between stories about the antics of Phil Knight, Nike founder and chairman, and coaxing laughter out of the audience with colorful language and funny anecdotes about Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, Vaccaro warned the audience about problems in today’s college athletics.

“Don’t tell me nonprofit,” he said, referring to major college football and basketball. “Don’t tell it’s not big business.”

Bringing IU into his lecture, he talked of the Kelvin Sampson debacle, using it as an example of the discrepancies in major college athletics.

“Did not what happen on this campus this year and last year show the insanity of what can happen?” he asked the audience. “I know I’m in the mouth of the lion.” He said he was not specifically attacking IU, but rather the system of college sports.

But Vaccaro did not end on a sour note.

“All I say to you is go out and have yourself a great life,” he said. “The world is wide open for you to be the guy that makes it all happen.”