John “Sonny” Vaccaro (b. 1940) is a former marketing executive for sneaker companies, including Nike, Inc., Reebok and Adidas.
He is best-known for founding the ABCD All America Camp, an elite showcase of high school basketball standouts held every summer in New Jersey. The camp ran from 1984 to 2007, which included future stars such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
Vaccaro organized his first basketball event in 1965, in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
. . . . . from Wikipedia
By Nick Infante
Many famous people have spoken at Yale University in its esteemed three century history: the extensive list of speakers is a veritable who’s who of the intelligent and influential, the powerful and the humble, the movers and shakers of Western civilization.
On Sept. 21, Sonny Vaccaro’s name was added to that prestigious list of speakers. The venue was the Yale Law School, in one of those large, steeply banked amphitheater classrooms. In the audience of a hundred or so were the Yale men’s basketball team, law students, miscellaneous persons … plus I thought I saw an NBA spy?
Vaccaro’s purpose was to set the record straight on his turbulent career, and to appeal to the students to make a difference in their lives. It helps that Vaccaro is no shy guy, that he loves meeting students and that he loves to perform.
His speaking style is frenetic, passionate and animated. Gesticulating vigorously, stomping and scurrying, he alternated seamlessly from humbleness to braggadocio. Although Vaccaro is 68, he has the energy level of a man much younger.
I had heard and read plenty about Sonny Vaccaro. I expected him to be straightforward, uninhibited and entertaining. I was not disappointed.
Vaccaro’s narrative unfolded in a roughly chronological matter. Befitting that chronology was an intro by Yale AD Tom Beckett, who grew up in Western Pennsylvania with Vaccaro. Beckett described Vaccaro as coming from a “common background, but with an uncommon touch.” He also made reference to the upcoming HBO movie (“ABCD Camp”) about Vaccaro, in which James Gandolfini will play Vaccaro. Here at Yale, said Beckett, “Vaccaro will be playing himself.”
Vaccaro thereupon took us from his Pittsburgh area roots to high school – he said he graduated 43rd out of 52 in his class – to a junior college in Fresno to Youngstown State to several years as a special ed teacher.
Meanwhile, Vaccaro’s narrative affected a series of zig-zags, reverses and meanderings, such that persons with linear thought processes (which was most everybody in the room other than Vaccaro) experienced some comprehension difficulties. But it didn’t matter, because Vaccaro highlighted common themes repeatedly; things like keeping one’s word, loyalty, business, profit, family, and the difference between rules and laws.
Some of the events that Sonny was describing occurred before many in the predominantly under-25 audience were born – or they were just kids – but he skillfully made that history relevant to today’s challenges. He kept coming back to the validation of actions based on what’s right, what’s good for the kids, what the norm is in any situation (i.e.-What’re the other guys doing?), etc.
This was not a guy describing an absolute black and white delineation of right and wrong. This was a seasoned business pro describing real-world relativism. After all, what might be considered a kickback nowadays was probably considered a finder’s fee a few years ago. Similarly, what was once considered a gift might now be considered a bribe.
It’s all relative.
Vaccaro’s sports marketing career got started when he hooked up with what was then Blue Ribbon Sports (and soon became Nike). In those days, Converse was Bigfoot in the athletic shoe category, but Vaccaro (with liberal funding from Portland) was instrumental in Nike’s meteoric rise to supremacy.
Vaccaro described a sort of Wild West, a rules-void era in the 80s where there were sizable gaps in oversight of high school and college recruiting. Into that void plunged all the shoe companies – not just Nike, and not just Sonny – and the rest is marketing and promotions history: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, etc.
Everybody was doing it (whatever the “it” was).
It’s all relative.
All along the way Vaccaro peppered his speech with plenty of yucks. [Ed.-See Clips Best Quotes section for a sampling of Vaccaro’s quotes.] Among his best stories was his description of the early days of paying coaches to endorse Nike stuff. Former UNLV coach Jerry ‘Tark the Shark’ Tarkanian was the first coach ever signed by Vaccaro. With a wink, a nod and a tongue firmly planted in cheek, Vaccaro said, “Jerry was a very, very good businessman.”
After about an hour and a quarter of nostalgic narrative, Vaccaro up-shifted into the advocacy part of his monologue. He lit into the NBA (over the 19–plus–1 rule) and the NCAA (for seemingly everything else under the sun).
This is where Vaccaro pulled out all the stops. As if we hadn’t already been exposed to an engaging, passionate speaker, now there was an even more supercharged dynamo in front of us.
Sonny was especially agitated over the NBA’s 19–plus-1 rule, remarking that “white America was not ready for these black kids.” He then mocked the end result of the rule, that there were eight players who jumped to the NBA after an “and-1.” Said Vaccaro, “They weren’t student-athletes. They were rent-a-players.”
As caustic as his 19–plus-1 remarks were, he made the distinction that the NBA is a business and that the NCAA is not. He thereupon unleashed a blistering attack on the NCAA, for hypocrisy, for duplicity, for faux amateurism, for being “the most selfish group in the world,” etc.
It occurred to me that a point-counterpoint pairing Vaccaro and NCAA President Myles Brand would be an event of the year. Maybe NBA President David Stern would serve as the moderator?
I’d buy a ticket for that one.
Nick Infante is the editor of College Athletics Clips (www.Collegeathleticsclips.com) and has granted permission to Sports Litigation Alert to republish his account of Vaccaro’s presentation.
