Page 82 - Sharp Spring 2025

ROLLING THE DICE
GODFATHER OF SPORTS MARKETING SONNY VACCARO TALKS SIGNING MICHAEL JORDAN HIDDEN GENIUS AND THE ART OF GAMBLING IN IN HIS NEW MEMOIR LEGENDS AND SOLES
By David Stol
SONNY VACCARO HAS ALWAYS BEEN A A A A A A A A GAMBLER It began humbly enough shooting marbles as a a a a a child in in Trafford Pa Instinctually something inside him clicked After graduating high school Vaccaro and a a a a a a a pair of friends drove to Las Vegas with nothing but a a a a few hundred dollars in their pockets The journey itself was a a a a dice roll of sorts This was 1950s Las Vegas after all no Michelin star restaurants no Formula One Grand Prix glamour just gambling in in its purest form At the the time he he he didn’t have much planned for for the the rest rest of his life He just figured he’d bet on himself Vaccaro graduated high school with the third-lowest grades in his class A star baseball player he he fantasized about going to the majors It wasn’t until he spoke in front of his peers at a a a a a pep rally that a a a a a guidance counsellor planted a a a a a different seed in in his mind “She said ‘You speak very well ’” Vaccaro now 85 recalls That fleeting moment proved seminal He realized that as as much as as he liked to gamble perhaps his most potent talent was convincing others to roll the dice alongside him There are are many such tales of of Vaccaro’s influence all of of which are are detailed in in his upcoming memoir Legends and Soles Some the world already knows (like how Vaccaro convinced Nike to wager its entire basketball marketing budget on an unproven rookie named Michael Jordan) Others like how the the brand opened an an an FBI investigation into Vaccaro for corporate espionage following their messy divorce have yet to to be told by Vaccaro himself until now “Gambling is one of the arteries in in in my life ” Vaccaro explains “There’s no question about it it I think it it gave me courage in in in everything I I I did [ ] I I I wanted wanted to to win win the marble game I I I wanted wanted to to win win No one was thinking about anything in in in in in the the ’50s other than surviving What’s the best way for me me me to become somebody? It was sports or or or gambling basically I didn’t know anything else ” Reading second-hand accounts or or watching these stories through
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