Colangelo has said that, because of his strong Italian roots, he has been able to overcome many obstacles. . . . “I got my foundation about hard work, commitment, family, passion and faith from these roots.  It's not if you have adversity, it's how you deal with it when it comes.”

Jerry Colangelo was born November 20, 1939 in Chicago Heights, Illinois. He is an American businessman and executive in the field of sports.

He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. He was also instrumental in the relocation of the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes. He is the national director of USA Basketball and of the team that represented the United States in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 FIBA World Championship. Colangelo also serves as Chairman of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), a nonprofit nonpartisan educational foundation that promotes Italian American culture and heritage. NIAF also serves as the voice for Italian Americans in Washington, D.C.

EARLY LIFE

Colangelo grew up in Chicago Heights, Illinois where he played basketball and baseball for Bloom Township High School. Colangelo enrolled at the University of Kansas, but transferred after his prospective teammate, Wilt Chamberlain, left the Jayhawks for a pro contract. Colangelo transferred to the University of Illinois, where he earned All-Big Ten honors, captained the Illini as a senior and was later inducted into the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. He also played two years of baseball at Illinois. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.
Colangelo and his wife, Joan, whom he met on a blind date while at the University of Illinois, have four children: Kathy Holcombe, Kristen Brubaker, Bryan and Mandie Colangelo, and six granddaughters and four grandsons

BASKETBALL

BASEBALL

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

AWARDS

Colangelo has been named the NBA's Executive of the Year four times (1976, 1981, 1989, 1993).
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.

In the summer of 2005, Colangelo was named director of USA Basketball.

He is an honorary member of the Marchegiana Society of his hometown, Chicago Heights, IL. A street in that city bears his name.

On November 4, 2007, Colangelo was inducted into the Phoenix Suns "Ring of Honor" during an emotional halftime presentation in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Mr. Colangelo is also the National Leadership Director of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and is also a Hall of Fame inductee. The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is in Chicago, IL where the building on Taylor Street bears his name.

The Arizona Republic named him the Most Influential Sports Figure in the state of Arizona for the 20th century.

QUOTABLES

”Leaders are always 'in the game' right along with the players.”

Sources: Wikipedia, Jerry Colangelo,

09.03.2011 | CiaoAmerica.net|