Sonny Vaccaro “Legends and Soles Business, Creativity and Basketball: A Memoir of an Improbable Life”
I truly enjoyed reading this story about a young man who had a promising career as an athlete but it was cut short by injuries to his back and knees. So, he did the next best thing. Took the college scholarship for physical education that was being offered to him based on his past potential. There, a coach recognising Sonny’s talent for engaging with people hired him to be a recruiter for college teams. It involved identifying talent at a very young age, travelling extensively, and then persuading the families to send the child to college, to further their career as a sportsperson. There are many, many fascinating anecdotes but the truly astonishing one is about Sonny Vaccaro’s relationship with Michael Jordan and of course the creation of the Air Jordan line at Nike. When negotiating, Jordan’s lawyer miscalculated. He figured he would ask for a larger base guarantee upfront of $300,000 and reduce the royalty from twenty cents to ten cents a pair. It is a decision that has cost Michael Jordan millions of dollars as in the first year alone, Nike sold $125 million worth of shoes.
Matt Damon portrays Sonny Vaccaro in the film, Air.
Film trailer:
11 May 2025
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