He became the youngest general manager in professional sports in 1968 after being hired to that position by the Phoenix Suns. He holds the distinction of the second-longest tenure running an NBA franchise, exceeded only by that of Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics.[3]
Colangelo was born and raised in Chicago Heights, Illinois, to an Italian-American working class family.[5] 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.[6] In 1962, he graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in physical education.[5]
In his autobiography, How You Play the Game, Colangelo tells of working at the House of Charles, a tuxedo rental shop in Chicago Heights, after graduating from college.[7]
Basketball
Colangelo at the 2014 World Basketball Festival
Colangelo began his sports career in 1966 in professional basketball with the Chicago Bulls. He worked as a marketing director, scout, and assistant to the president of the team.[8] 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.[9] When he and his family left for Arizona, he had $200 in his wallet.[7]
Colangelo got off to an unlucky start, losing a 1969 coin flip to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to UCLA phenom Lew Alcindor (who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). The Suns were competitive during 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.
Throughout most of the 1980s, Colangelo's Suns faced difficulties. 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 assembled a group of investors 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 provided financial backing to build America West Arena (renamed Talking Stick Resort Arena). 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 Chicago Bulls starring Michael Jordan 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 later left the organization to become general manager of the Toronto Raptors. Bryan ended 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,[10] as well as special adviser to the team's managing partner.[11] On April 7, 2016, Colangelo's son, Bryan, took 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 end of the 2015–16 season due to irreconcilable differences with Jerry.[12] The move reunited the Colangelos for the first time since 2004 with the Phoenix Suns. Colangelo stepped down as chairman of basketball operations following the hiring of his son, but he retained his role as special adviser to the managing partner.[13] Just before his son's later resignation from the position of general manager, Colangelo attempted to save Bryan's job by threatening to damage the team's NBA relationships.[14] On July 30, 2018, it was revealed that he would retire as of 2019.
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, a year ahead of 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 next 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. Key acquisitions 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 is, as of 2022[update], the only major professional sports championship for the Phoenix area.
The Diamondbacks had gone into significant debt to build the 2001 champions. For example, he asked 12 of the highest-paid players to defer their salaries for four years and repay them over eight years.[15] The ensuing debt came back to haunt the Diamondbacks in 2004. Only three years after winning the World Series and two years after winning a third division title in three years, the Diamondbacks never recovered from a slow start. They ultimately finished 51–111, the worst record in baseball and still the worst in franchise history.
By then, Colangelo was gone. He was forced to resign as Managing General Partner in the summer of 2004, and subsequently sold his interest. Ken Kendrick succeeded him as managing general partner, while Jeff Moorad became CEO and operating head of the franchise.
In an interview with USA Today, Colangelo defended his approach to building the Diamondbacks, saying that he was only trying to build a winning team. He contrasted his approach with that of the Diamondbacks' expansion brethren, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who at the time had finished in either last or next-to-last every season (and would not have a winning season until 2008). He claimed that the plan only backfired when the economy went sour and he didn't get as much from baseball's central fund as anticipated.[15]
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.[16]
Late in the 2004 baseball season, Colangelo sold his controlling interest in the Arizona Diamondbacks to a group of investors led by Jeff Moorad.[17]
Other interests
Colangelo at a fundraiser hosted by Tony La Russa in Phoenix, Arizona
As of 2003[update] Jerry Colangelo was part of an investment group planning development in Buckeye, Arizona. They planned a 300,000+ residence development called Douglas Ranch and a smaller 7,000 acres (30km2) development called Trillium.[18]
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.[19]
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.
He is the National Leadership Director of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and is also a Hall of Fame inductee.[3] It is located in the Colangelo Building on Taylor Street in Little Italy, Chicago.
On Friday, October 21, 2016, Colangelo was honored by Phoenix Rotary 100, Arizona's first Rotary Club, the prestigious John D. Driggs Outstanding Career Achievement and Community Service Award.[22]
Colangelo is a Christian and 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."[24]
Colangelo is married to Joan, whom he met on a blind date while at college.[6] They have four children: Kathy Holcombe, Kristen Young, Mandie Colangelo, and Bryan Colangelo.[5] Bryan had been president of the Phoenix Suns when his father was part of the ownership group, and rejoined his father with the Philadelphia 76ers from 2016 to 2018.
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They are the only team in their division not to be based in California. The Suns play their home games at the Footprint Center. The Suns are one of four major league sports teams based in the Phoenix area, but are the only one to bill themselves as representing the city.
Al McCoy, known as The Voice of the Suns, is a retired American sportscaster who was the play-by-play announcer for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1972 to 2023. The 2022–23 NBA season was his 51st and final season. He is the longest-tenured broadcaster in NBA history.
Footprint Center is a multi-purpose arena in Phoenix, Arizona. It opened under the name America West Arena on June 6, 1992 at a cost of $89 million.
Lowell Gibbs "Cotton" Fitzsimmons was an American college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Bowling Green, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal, Missouri and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He coached the Phoenix Suns three times, was named the NBA Coach of the Year twice, and is often credited as the architect of the Suns' success of the late 1980s and early to middle 1990s. Fitzsimmons won 1,089 games in his coaching career: 223 games at the junior college level, 34 at the Division I college level and 832 in the NBA.
Daniel Lewis Majerle, also known by the nickname "Thunder Dan", is an American former professional basketball player and former coach of the Grand Canyon Antelopes. He played 14 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, and Cleveland Cavaliers. He won a bronze medal with the U.S. national team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and a gold medal at the 1994 FIBA World Championship.
The National Basketball Association's Executive of the Year Award is an annual award given since the 1972–73 NBA season, to the league's best general manager, president of basketball/business operations, or another high-ranking executive. Before 2009, the Executive of the Year was presented annually by Sporting News, but was officially recognized by the NBA. Since 2009, the award has been awarded by the NBA. Voting is conducted by executives from the league's 30 teams. The person with the most votes wins the award.
Alfred A. Bianchi was an American professional basketball player, coach, general manager, consultant, and scout.
Thomas Doane Chambers is an American former professional basketball player. He played professionally from 1981 to 1997. Playing power forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Chambers was selected to four NBA All-Star Games and was a two-time All-NBA Second Team member during his career. In December 2021, Chambers was nominated to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame but did not advance to the list of finalists.
Bryan Paul Colangelo is an American basketball executive who was the former general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also served as president of basketball operations for Philadelphia and Toronto. He is the son of Phoenix sports mogul Jerry Colangelo. He graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and applied economics. He was the 2005 and 2007 recipient of the NBA Executive of the Year Award.
Stan Richards was a public address announcer for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association.
The 2007–08 Phoenix Suns season was their 40th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season was seen as the end of the "Seven Seconds or Less" era, after four-time All-Star Shawn Marion was traded midseason to the Miami Heat for big man Shaquille O'Neal. The Suns failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since re-signing Steve Nash in 2004, losing to the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs in five games in the first round, which led to the departure of head coach Mike D'Antoni. The Suns had the second best team offensive rating in the NBA.
Bloom High School is a public school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is part of Bloom Township High School District 206.
Joseph Henry Garagiola Jr. is currently the special advisor to Arizona Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall and formerly the senior vice president of standards and on-field operations for Major League Baseball. He was previously senior vice president of baseball operations for MLB from 2005 to 2011 and the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1997 to 2005.
The 1987–88 Phoenix Suns season was the 19th season for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association and their first season under new ownership led by long-time associate and general manager Jerry Colangelo. The team was led by new head coach John Wetzel. Having missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, Suns management made a midseason trade with Cleveland in attempt to return the Suns to postseason play. The trade would in part send All-Star Larry Nance in exchange for rookie Kevin Johnson. All home games were played at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They were formed in 1998, and are based at Chase Field. This followed five years of preparation under the leadership of Jerry Colangelo. The Diamondbacks won the World Series championship in 2001, becoming the fastest expansion team in the Major Leagues to win a championship, doing so in only the fourth season since inception in 1998. Financial difficulties were then encountered and the home field was renamed to Chase Field in 2005, as a result of Bank One Corporation's merger with JPMorgan Chase & Co. After a lean period the team won the National League West division in 2011.
Samuel Hinkie is an American businessman and former basketball executive who served as the general manager for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2013 to 2016.
Sports in Phoenix include several professional sports franchises, and is one of only 13 U.S. cities to have representatives of all four major professional sports leagues, although only one of these teams actually carry the city name and play within the city limits. Phoenix was the last of the metropolitan areas with teams in all four leagues to gain its first major professional sports team, when the Suns were granted a franchise in 1968.
The 2015–16 Philadelphia 76ers season, the team's 77th in the National Basketball Association (NBA), was the second worst in franchise history, one game better than their 9–73 mark in the 1972–73 season. It was also the second straight season that Joel Embiid, the third pick in the 2014 NBA draft, would not suit up for the 76ers due to a leg injury. Philadelphia broke the record for the longest losing streak in American professional sports history with 27 straight losses over this season and last season with a 114–116 loss to the Houston Rockets. The losing streak would reach to 28 games before getting their first victory at home against the Los Angeles Lakers, which was also Kobe Bryant's last game against the 76ers in Philadelphia. Philadelphia would also hire former Phoenix Suns owner, coach, general manager, and four-time NBA Executive of the Year winner Jerry Colangelo on December 7, 2015, as their Chairman of Basketball Operations. Eleven days later, former Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni would join the team as an associate head coach. Near the end of the season, general manager Sam Hinkie would announce his resignation from his position, being replaced by Jerry's son Bryan Colangelo before the end of the season. Jerry would also announce his personal demotion from his original position afterwards.
1 2 Colangelo, Jerry; Sherman, Len. How You Play the Game: Lessons for Life from the Billion-Dollar Business of Sports, AMACOM, 1999. ISBN0-8144-0488-X
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