Jerry Colangelo

Early life

Colangelo was born and raised in Chicago Heights, Illinois, to an Italian-American working class family. He played basketball and baseball for Bloom Township High School. Colangelo enrolled at the University of Kansas, but transferred to the University of Illinois after prospective teammate Wilt Chamberlain left. He played basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini, earned All-Big Ten honors, and captained the Illini as a senior. He was later inducted into the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. Colangelo also played two years of baseball at Illinois. In 1962, he graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in physical education.

In his autobiography, How You Play the Game, Colangelo tells of working after graduating college at the House of Charles, a tuxedo rental shop in Chicago Heights.

Basketball

Colangelo began his career in professional basketball with the Chicago Bulls. He worked as a marketing director, scout, and assistant to the president of the team. In 1968, he left the Bulls and was hired as the first general manager of the expansion team, the Phoenix Suns. He was the youngest general manager in professional sports. When he and his family left for Arizona, he had $200 in his wallet.

Colangelo got off to an unlucky start, losing a 1969 coin flip to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to UCLA phenom Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). The Suns were competitive most of the 1970s, making it to the NBA Finals in 1976, but losing to the Boston Celtics in six games. Colangelo had two stints as head coach during that decade, compiling a record of 59 wins and 60 losses.

During much of the 1980s, Colangelo's Suns faced trouble. Some players, including 1976 NBA Finals player Garfield Heard, were involved in an infamous drug scandal, young center Nick Vanos died in a 1987 plane crash, and, from 1985 through 1988, the Suns failed to qualify for the playoffs. Colangelo put together a group that bought the Suns in late 1987, in the wake of the drug scandal. He subsequently made a trade for Kevin Johnson in 1987.

The Suns made one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA history in 1988–89, nearly doubling their win total (from 28 wins to 55) and making the first of 13 straight playoff appearances. In 1989, Colangelo was an essential part of the group that planned to build America West Arena (now Talking Stick Resort Arena), providing financial backing. In 1992, Colangelo traded Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang to the Philadelphia 76ers for Charles Barkley. The trade proved to be productive for the Suns, and they reached the NBA Finals for the second time in 1993, this time losing to the Bulls in six games. Barkley's relationship with Colangelo, however, grew sour over the years, and in 1996, he was traded to the Houston Rockets.

Throughout his time with the Suns, Colangelo would win four different NBA Executive of the Year honors with the team. It would stand to be the most honors for an executive of one team in the NBA. He eventually turned over the Suns' presidency to his son Bryan, who eventually left the organization to become general manager of the Toronto Raptors. Bryan would end up winning two NBA Executive of the Year honors: one with Phoenix, and one with Toronto only two seasons later.

On December 7, 2015, Colangelo decided to return to the NBA to become the new chairman of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, as well as special adviser to the team's managing partner. On April 7, 2016, Colangelo's son, Bryan, would take on the role of general manager and president of basketball operations for the 76ers after their former president and general manager, Sam Hinkie resigned from his position before the 2015-16 season was at an end due to irreconcilable differences with Jerry. The move would reunite the Colangelos for the first time since 2004 with the Phoenix Suns. Colangelo stepped down from his position of Chairman of Basketball Operations following the hiring of his son, but he retained his role as special adviser to the managing partner.

Additional sports activities

Colangelo has been involved in many professional sports teams in Arizona.

Baseball

While in Chicago for a Suns game, Colangelo attended a Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field. Soon thereafter he decided to inquire to Major League Baseball about bringing an expansion team to Arizona. He assembled a group of investors in 1994 to buy a franchise, the year prior to MLB's proposed expansion selection meetings. In 1995, Colangelo's group was granted an expansion team, the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks began playing in 1998. For his new baseball club, Colangelo hired Joe Garagiola, Jr. as General Manager. He also brought in Buck Showalter coming off a successful stint as manager of the New York Yankees. Showalter and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner did not agree to a contract extension, so Colangelo quickly hired Showalter as future manager of the Diamondbacks. These hirings proved to be instrumental to the expansion franchise's quick success. Notable moves made by Garagiola included the signing of Randy Johnson in 1999 and a trade for Curt Schilling in 2000 from the Philadelphia Phillies. They were co-MVPs of the 2001 World Series when the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in seven games. This was the first and, to date, only major professional sports championship for the Phoenix area.

Colangelo resigned as Managing General Partner in summer of 2004. Ken Kendrick took responsibility as the lead among the team's investors.

Women's basketball

In 1997, Colangelo's team in the Women's National Basketball Association, the Phoenix Mercury, began playing. The following year, the Mercury reached the WNBA Finals but lost to the Houston Comets.

Arena football

In 1992, Colangelo founded the Arena Football League's Arizona Rattlers and owned them until 2005. Under Colangelo's guidance, the Rattlers won Arena Bowl championships in 1994 and 1997. They were also one of the AFL's model franchises and were a perennial playoff team. According to published reports, the Rattlers struggled to stay afloat as a franchise after Colangelo sold the team.

Hockey

Colangelo was also involved in bringing the National Hockey League (NHL) to Arizona, transferring the Winnipeg Jets to the area as the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996. The move made Phoenix one of only a few metropolitan areas with franchises in all four major North American professional sports leagues). The team plays in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale.

Exit from sports

In April 2004, Colangelo sold the Suns, Mercury and Rattlers to an investment group headed by San Diego, California businessman, Tucson, Arizona native Robert Sarver for $401 million.

Late in the 2004 baseball season, Colangelo sold his controlling interest in the Arizona Diamondbacks to a group of investors led by Jeff Moorad.

Other interests

Jerry Colangelo is part of an investment group planning development in Buckeye, Arizona. They have planned a 300,000+ residence development called Douglas Ranch and a smaller 7,000 acres (30 km²) development called Trillium.

Colangelo purchased the bankrupt Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park, Arizona.

In 2011, Jerry Colangelo assisted in creating Grand Canyon University's Colangelo School of Sports Business and served as an advisor. On September 25, 2014, Grand Canyon University announced their college of business would be renamed Colangelo College of Business.

Awards

Colangelo has been named the NBA's Executive of the Year four times (1976, 1981, 1989, 1993). He is an honorary member of the Marchegiana Society of his hometown, Chicago Heights, Illinois. A street in that city bears his name.

On May 9, 2002, Colangelo was awarded an honorary degree from Arizona State University.

On April 4, 2004, Colangelo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

On November 4, 2007, Colangelo was inducted into the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor at the halftime of a Suns game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He is the National Leadership Director of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and is also a Hall of Fame inductee. It is located in the Colangelo Building on Taylor Street in Little Italy, Chicago.

Personal life

Colangelo is a Christian. Colangelo has spoken about his faith saying, "The first priority in life is to have that relationship with Jesus Christ. So your faith is number one. ... God [has] a plan for my life. You know, the way I’ve tried to live my life is I have this platform, it was given to me by the Lord. And He’s blessed me with a lot of things. And someday I’m going to be held accountable with what I did with those things."

Colangelo is married to Joan, whom he met on a blind date while at college. They have four children: Kathy Holcombe, Kristen Young, Mandie Adams, and Bryan Colangelo. Bryan was also the President of the Toronto Raptors until 2013, before joining his father again with the Philadelphia 76ers in April 2016. Jerry Colangelo gained the job after the Sixers ownership decided to fire the previous post holder, Sam Hinkie. After the hiring of Bryan Colangelo as General Manager and President of Basketball Operations, Jerry Colangelo stepped down from his role, while maintaining a job as a special adviser to the team.

Works