Jerry Colangelo was named chairman of USA Basketball’s Board of Directors for the 2009-2012 quadrennium on Nov. 12, 2008.
Colangelo first became involved in USA Basketball on April 27, 2005, when he was selected Managing Director of the USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team program.
Colangelo developed a USA Senior National Team program that ultimately would include 33 top players and some of basketball’s most respected coaches, including 2006-08 USA Basketball Senior National Team head coach and Duke University’s Hall of Fame mentor Mike Krzyzewski.
USA Basketball's Senior National Team program during the three-year period between 2006-08 compiled a striking 36-1 overall win-loss record and just as importantly reestablished the USA team as positive ambassadors for the United States and the sport.
The USA squad culminated the quadrennium by finishing 8-0 to reclaim the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the USA’s first gold in a major international competition since 2000.
The USA Senior National Team also won the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship with a 10-0 record to qualify the U.S. men for the 2008 Olympic Games. In the program’s first year, the U.S. captured the bronze medal with an 8-1 record at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.
Colangelo has been the face of the NBA Phoenix Suns franchise since their inaugural season in 1968. With the Suns, his roles have included general manager, head coach, president, managing general partner, chief executive officer and his current role as chairman. His 40-year tenure with one franchise is the longest in the NBA. Colangelo spent two seasons with the Chicago Bulls working as marketing director, scout and assistant to the president before moving to Phoenix to help start the expansion Suns.
Phoenix, entering the 2008-09 season, owns the NBA's fourth-best all-time regular season winning percentage with a 1814-1434 record and .558 winning percentage, trailing only the Los Angeles Lakers (.614/ 2905-1824), San Antonio Spurs (.598 / 1549-1043) and Boston Celtics (.591 / 2860-1979).
On two occasions Colangelo stepped in to coach the Suns, including the 1969-70 season when he guided the club to a 24-20 mark down the stretch and to its first playoff appearance. He also took over in 1972-73 and compiled a 35-40 mark. Overall, Colangelo is 59-60 as an NBA coach.
Colangelo’s impact on the game of basketball has been so significant he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2004.
On Nov. 4, 2007, Colangelo became the 12th member of the Phoenix Suns' Ring of Fame, the club’s most elite group that includes the likes of franchise greats Alvan Adams, Charles Barkley, Tom Chambers, Walter Davis, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Connie Hawkins, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Joe Proski, Dick Van Arsdale and Paul Westphal.
The Arizona Republic named him the Most Influential Sports Figure in the state of Arizona for the 20th century, and the Phoenix Business Journal regularly voted him among its “Most Influential” business persons in the Valley.
Nationally, Colangelo has been among The Sporting News’ most powerful people in sports for over the last decade and most recently was listed 60th in BusinessWeek’s annual “The Power 100” ranking of the 100 most powerful people in sports for 2008.
He brought Major League Baseball to the Phoenix in 1998 and served as Chairman and CEO of the 2001 World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Going from expansion team to World Champion in just four years was a record for Major League Baseball. Arizona won the National League West in just its second season to become the fastest expansion team in baseball history to qualify for the postseason, just as the Suns did in their second season in 1969-70.
Colangelo also was the key element in facilitating the move of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets to Arizona in 1996, where they became the Phoenix Coyotes.
Chairman of the NBA’s Board of Governors from October 2001 through October 2005, Colangelo has had influence on the growth of the NBA as a member of the league’s Finance Committee, Long Range Planning Committee, Expansion Committee and Competition and Rules Committee. NBA Commissioner David Stern turned to Colangelo to chair a special group in the 2000-01 season that evaluated the state of the game and made rules modifications.
Colangelo added to his NBA involvement with a position on the founding committee for the WNBA, helping advance professional women's basketball in the U.S. The Phoenix Mercury were one of the WNBA's inaugural teams in 1997. The Mercury set a league attendance record in their first season, advanced to the 1998 WNBA Finals and qualified for the playoffs three times.
As with the NBA, Colangelo was involved with the governing of baseball, serving on the Legislative Committee, Equal Opportunity Committee and on the board of directors of the MLB Advanced Media, the technology arm of the league.
Colangelo was recognized by Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon who proclaimed March 26, 2004, Jerry Colangelo Day in the city of Phoenix. The Valley of the Sun United Way also bestowed its highest honor, the Spirit of Caring award, to Colangelo on June 30, 2005, for his passion for improving lives in the community.
Currently a principal partner of JDM Partners, LLC a real estate development company, Colangelo is also chairman of the board of the Council of Leadership Education, and a past chairman of Collaboration for a New Century; Southwest Leadership Foundation; the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame; Leadership Foundations of America; Arizona State University’s Dean’s Council of 100 and the Honor Board for Junior Achievement of Central Arizona; and he served as president of Valley Big Brothers and was chairman of the board of the Christian Businessmen’s Club.
Colangelo has served on the board of directors of the Phoenix Art Museum; Greater Phoenix Economic Council; Athletes in Action; and Phoenix Suns Charities. He is a lifetime member of the Phoenix Thunderbirds, an organization dedicated to the promotion of Phoenix through sports.
He is currently a Vice Chairman of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and is Vice Chairman of the National Italian American Foundation and Yo
ung Life International; past vice president of the Phoenix Downtown Partnership; past chairman and CEO of Phoenix Community Alliance; and he was a leader in the establishment of Employers Against Domestic Violence.
The author of a book titled How You Play the Game, Colangelo gives insight into the world of the business of sports and his own life. Proceeds of the book sales go to Young Life of Arizona, Phoenix Suns Charities and Arizona Diamondbacks Charities.
Coangelo prepped at Bloom Township High School in Chicago Heights, Ill., where he was an all-state basketball honoree as a senior. A left-hander, Colangelo was the top pitcher on the baseball team that also featured former Yankee hurler Jim Bouton. Upon graduation he had 66 scholarship offers for college basketball and seven for professional baseball contracts.
He 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.
Colangelo grew up in the “Hungry Hill” neighborhood of Chicago Heights. His ties to “The Heights” and Bloom Township are evident in the Jerry Colangelo Gymnasium, dedicated in his honor November 10, 1996, and Colangelo Way, a street named after him. Construction was recently completed on the Colangelo Center that houses the Italian-American Athletic Hall of Fame in Chicago.
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 Adams, and six granddaughters and four grandsons.
