Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Jerry Colangelo’s rise as a successful executive with the Phoenix Suns caught the attention of at least one owner nearly 50 years ago.
“He wanted to give me 25% of the franchise,” Colangelo told students on Thursday during the T.W. Lewis Speaker Series. “That can be very tempting. But I analyzed everything and said, ‘God has me here. I’m not going anywhere. My heart tells me this is where I belong.’"
That was reaffirmed a few years later when Colangelo, whose family had expanded to include a fourth child who was then in prekindergarten, considered an offer, while sitting in a luxurious hotel, to oversee the Knicks, Rangers and Madison Garden and live in a luxurious condo with chauffeured limousine privileges.
“You can get caught up in the bright lights,” Colangelo said. “Broadway, the whole thing. My conclusion was ‘no.’ I belong in Phoenix. That’s where I was planted.”
Colangelo shared his life experiences, lessons and faith during an hourlong discussion that included a question-and-answer session with students in the packed lobby of the Colangelo College of Business, his namesake since 2014. The talk was moderated by CCOB Dean John Kaites, who met Colangelo at a Bible study 30 years ago.
Colangelo, who arrived in the Valley in 1968 with a wife, three young children, nine suitcases and $300, emphasized several points to students that heightened his legacy as a sports and business legend.
Among them:
- You have to prepare yourself.
- Know who you are competing with.
- Have a game plan.
- And, “be a good listener.”
Those goals resonated with Tony Sanchez, a senior business management major and a member of the CCOB Senate.
“Not taking any negative behavior and comments while (you) keep working at your goals. That’s what I got out of it,” Sanchez said. “Many students, including me, look up to Jerry Colangelo and John Kaites."
A young Colangelo absorbed as much knowledge as possible, from his youth in Chicago Heights, Illinois, to scouting for the Chicago Bulls, where he once watched as many as eight games at an NAIA tournament with Basketball Hall of Fame coach Red Holzman.
“You’re going to be OK,” Colangelo recalled being told by Holzman, then a scout for the Knicks, at an Italian restaurant. “You keep your mouth shut.”
Colangelo said he listened to owner Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox, George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees and Bud Selig of the Milwaukee Brewers before seeking investors to start an expansion baseball team in Phoenix and becoming the first franchise to win a World Series in four years.
While a two-sport athlete at the University of Illinois, Colangelo watched his then-girlfriend display passion in her faith as a Young Life leader.
“She opened my eyes,” Colangelo said. “I became a Christian.”
The couple recently celebrated their 65th anniversary.
When asked by a student about his confidence in making decisions, Colangelo leaned on his sports background and the groups he represented.
“I didn’t want to let anyone down,” Colangelo said. “That’s something that’s part of my fiber, like a responsibility. I have a responsibility to be a good father, a good husband, grandfather, a businessman. No matter what you’re doing, there’s responsibility attached to it.”
In 1968, Colangelo passed up a chance to run the Milwaukee Bucks and instead chose the Suns, even though the population of Phoenix was only 500,000 and largely underdeveloped with desert and cactus coloring the landscape more than high-rise buildings.
But shortly after Colangelo stepped off the plane in 70-degree weather, he said, “I smelled orange blossoms.”
While negotiating with the original owners of the Suns, the 28-year-old Colangelo asked for an option to buy the team and was laughed at.
“You have to think big,” Colangelo said with firm conviction to the students.
He exercised that option in 1987, leading a group to buy the Suns for $44.5 million and selling it 17 years later for $401 million.
That business acumen carried over to real estate, where the JDM Partners group he formed with two partners bought 33,800 acres of desert in Buckeye in 2002 and sold it 19 years later for $600 million.
“Don’t be intimidated by the size of things,” Colangelo said.
Colangelo stressed to students to look at the bright side, even during gloomy times. In 2004, he sold the Suns, left the Diamondbacks and was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
He rebounded in convincing style.
Then-NBA commissioner David Stern asked him to take over as managing director of USA Basketball. Colangelo’s request for full autonomy was granted, and the U.S. won four consecutive gold medals – thanks largely to a culture of commitment and national pride – before he retired in 2021.
He emphasized trust and relationships in his talk. Colangelo recalled hosting NCAA President Mark Emmert in his office before giving him a tour of GCU. Within four hours, Emmert was convinced that GCU could move from Division II to Division I status with basketball as its centerpiece.
“Love is relational. You develop relationships,” Colangelo said. “… One of my strengths is relationships.”
Kaites praised Colangelo for his integrity in running the Suns and Diamondbacks, causing Colangelo to interject.
“I don’t have to shake hands,” Colangelo said. “My word is my bond. You want to get to a point where you have those relationships. It goes a long way.”
Colangelo praised Kaites for the continued development and growth of the CCOB and encouraged students to think outside the box as President Brian Mueller, Provost Dr. Randy Gibb and he did in selecting Kaites as CCOB Dean in October 2023, despite his background that leaned more heavily toward business than academics.
Kaites “has learned in the trenches,” Colangelo said. “I had this experience. I learned in the trenches. I learned from the mistakes I made.
“An entrepreneur, someone who has been there in the fight, the trenches, that goes a long way. You can learn from people who have learned there and done it.”
And success is not always measured monetarily.
“You want a happy life, you want a happy family, you want to live your life to the fullest, you have to find your own level of what you want in life,” Colangelo said. “You have to determine that in life. No one can tell you what you need to have in order to be happy.”
Anna Garvert, president of the Sports and Entertainment Business Club, was moved by Colangelo’s talk, especially his confidence in sticking to family and business standards.
“The opportunity to speak to someone of that magnitude is not something you find at any other school,” said Garvert, who will graduate this spring in sports and entertainment management. “… The skill of listening is something I’m learning now. Just being in the same room with people, you have to be an active listener.”
***
Next T.W. Lewis speaker: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame player/broadcaster Ann Meyers Drysdale, 9 a.m., Feb. 17, CCOB lobby.
***
GCU News: 10 years of the Colangelo College of Business
GCU News: CCOB displays a decade's worth of a force for good
