Jerry Colangelo

How You Play the Game: Lessons for Life Fromthe Billion-dollar Business of Sports Jerry Colangelo

Publisher Marketing: This is a story of passion and commitment and faith-qualities that drove one working-class kid to not only build a sports empire, but also to change the way the entire sports industry has done business. In How You Play the Game, Jerry Colangelo, in his own words, tells how he emerged from the tough streets of Chicago Heights as a high school and college sports star...how he helped create and build the Chicago Bulls-at a time when the NBA was a second-tier professional league, and two basketball teams had already failed in the Windy City...how he moved to Arizona and started the Phoenix Suns, an organization that fought its way to become the ninth richest franchise in all of sports...and how he then began baseball's newest team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. This is a tale of determination, faith, and, most assuredly, good timing and good luck. In truth, this isn't one story-but many. Jerry weaves together a lifetime of great moments in sports and tense times in business. Peppered with stories about players and coaches, including Charles Barkley and Connie Hawkins, Red Holzman, and Buck Showalter, as well as owners, general managers, investors, reporters, and more, How You Play the Game is truly an insider's look at the sports world. Mr. Colangelo's 30-year history mirrors the evolution of sports to the global marketing and media mega-industry it is today. Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 03/22/1999 pg. 79 (EAN 9780814404881, Hardcover) Library Journal 04/15/1999 pg. 110 (EAN 9780814404881, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Colangelo, Jerry Jerry Colangelo is an American businessman and sports executive. He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. He was also instrumental in the relocation of the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes. He became the youngest general manager in professional sports in 1968 after being hired as general manager for the Phoenix Suns. He has the second longest tenure running the same NBA franchise only to be exceeded by Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics. Contributor Bio:  Sherman, Len Len Sherman is an author and documentary film producer and correspondent. His film, Abandon All Hope: Welcome to Afghanistan, shot one year before 9/11 in the mountains of northern Afghanistan, details the designs of Al Qaeda and the Taliban to attack the U. S. It ran dozens of times on MSNBC in the months following 9/11. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.