Sonny Vaccaro: the man who convinced Nike to sign Michael Jordan
There were 15 seconds on the clock when a 19 -year -old college basketball player launched a 16 -foot winning shot that would have changed sports marketing forever.
Looking at that day was the marketing manager and the basic promoter Sonny Vaccaro. He was so impressed by what he saw that two years later he would bet his job at the Nike Sport producer to support this relatively not tested player.
That player was Michael Jordan.
But not Jordan we know now. At Point Vaccaro he saw him mark the shot that won the 1982 NCAA championship for the heels of the North Carolina, Jordan was just a serial number.
When, two years later, Vaccaro urged his garments to spend the annual basketball approval budget on him, Jordan was only 21 years old and had never competed in the NBA. And nobody talked about his footwear.
Vaccaro says that his belief in the young man’s potential was forged when he saw him take that blow to the Louisiana SuperDome, New Orleans.
“That shot changed the world because of what has become Michael Jordan,” said 85 -year -old BBC Sport.
“When he took the shot, he convinced me that he would take any shot in the world.”
But it was Vaccaro who had to start before.
In his book of memories, legends and sole, he describes how he had to convince his garments to take the opportunity on an emerging star, while competitors like Converse were supporting the names of families including Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
At that point, Vaccaro had established himself as a basketball officer with a vast knowledge of young players. In 1964, at the age of 24, he founded the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic, the first Basketball All -Star match of the National High School.
The tournament worked in different forms until 2007, showing the future star of the NBA including Moses Malone, Lebron James, Kevin Gornett, Kevin Love, Kobe Bryant, Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O’Nal.
He also founded the ABCD basketball summer camp in 1984, an invitation that collected the most classified high school players in the country.
However, Vaccaro said that the former boss of the BBC Sport Phil Knight was not satisfied with Jordan’s proposal “until the last minute”.
Their bet transformed the fortunes of the company, transformed the way in which basketball was seen globally and has left an indelible print on the culture of sneakers all over the world. The story was popular in the 2023 Air film, where Vaccaro is played by Matt Damon.
In his book, in addition to detailing the agreement in Jordan, he describes how he was able to identify the potential in future stars including Bryant, Tracy McGrady and James, who has just lost the signature of an approval in 2003.
