Throughout his storied career as a sports executive, Jerry Colangelo has succeeded with a unique combination of know-how both on the basketball court and on the business side of the operation.  That savvy and experience is what makes him one of the top executives in professional sports.

Colangelo, who has been the face of the Suns franchise since their inaugural season in 1968, recently unveiled a plan for the Suns future that included the sale of the team for an NBA record $401 million. Banking and real estate executive Robert Sarver, an Arizona native, will be the major invester and Managing Owner of the new ownership group that will purchase the Suns over the next three years. Colangelo will remain as CEO and Chairman until the sale of the team is complete in June 2007, and then will retain the title of chairman for at least another five years beyond that.

Colangelo’s impact on the sports scene in Phoenix and the game of basketball has been so great he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2004 and enshrined on Sept. 10, 2004 in Springfield, Mass., the birthplace of basketball. Locally, the Arizona Republic named him the Most Influential Sports Figure in the state of Arizona for the 20th century and the Phoenix Business Journal voted him the top businessperson in the Valley for the last five years.  Nationally, Colangelo has been among The Sporting News most powerful people in sports for over the last decade.

Since first moving to the Valley of the Sun in 1968 to take over the expansion Phoenix NBA franchise as the youngest general manager in professional sports, Colangelo has molded the Phoenix Suns into one of the most successful organizations — on and off the court — in the NBA.  In addition, he brought Major League Baseball to the Valley in 1998 and serves as Chairman of the 2001 World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks.  Colangelo also was the key element in facilitating the move of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets to the Valley of the Sun to become the Phoenix Coyotes.

Currently the Chairman of the NBA’s Board of Governor, 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.  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 was also the chair of the committee that welcomed Toronto and Vancouver to the NBA and chair of the relocation committee charged with the Charlotte Hornets move to New Orleans. In 2003, he helped bring an NBA franchise back to the city of Charlotte, which was awarded the NBA’s 30^th franchise, the expansion Bobcats, and will begin play in the 2004-05 season.

“Jerry Colangelo has been involved in every aspect of our business and is universally accepted as the principal basketball expert among our Board of Governors,” Stern said.

With the Suns, his roles have included general manager, head coach, president and now chairman and chief executive officer.  The 36-year tenure with one franchise is the second longest in the NBA, behind only Boston’s Red Auerbach, who has been an NBA fixture since the league’s inception in 1946.  Colangelo spent two seasons with the Chicago Bulls working as marketing director, scout and assistant to the president before moving to the Valley to help start the expansion Suns.

Phoenix owns the seventh-best all-time winning percentage with a 1582-1338 (.542) mark, trailing only the Lakers (.620, 2727-1674), Boston (.597, 2692-1819), San Antonio (.580, 1313-951), Portland (.547, 1508-1248), Utah (.544, 1321-1107) and Milwaukee (.543, 1586-1334). Colangelo has collected an unprecedented four NBA Executive of the Year awards (1993, ’89, ’81, ’76).  During that period the Suns enjoyed seven consecutive 50-plus win seasons from 1988 to 1995, including a franchise-best 62 wins in 1992-93 and a trip to the 1993 NBA Finals.

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.

The state of the franchise was in question in 1987 but Colangelo stepped up and coordinated a group of investors that purchased the club for $44.5 million on October 14, 1987.  That transaction was the first of many that helped Colangelo not only stabilize the basketball organization but also transform downtown Phoenix into an active and thriving district.

Colangelo quickly moved on a new arena for the Suns and in April 1989 the city of Phoenix approved the concept of a new, state-of-the-art arena in downtown that would house the team. The 18,422-seat America West Arena opened in June 1992 and became the first venue in the NBA to also house a full-size practice facility, an amenity now common in the league. The arena is a public-private partnership with the City of Phoenix and has played host to a wide variety of concerts, family shows and sporting events, including the 1995 NBA All-Star Game and the 2000 WNBA All-Star Game.

America West Arena is currently undergoing a $70 million renovation that will be completed in three phases that include the addition of an entertainment paseo and a new grand entrance to the facility.

Colangelo added to his NBA involvement with a position on the founding committee for the WNBA, helping advance professional women’s basketball in the United States.  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.

When a group targeted Major League Baseball as a possibility for the Valley, Colangelo was asked to become the lead player in securing a team for Phoenix.  That bid was successful in 1995 and shortly thereafter Bank One Ballpark broke ground in downtown Phoenix in a public-private partnership with Maricopa County.

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.

The Arizona Diamondbacks began play in 1998 and captured the 2001 World Series in a historic seven-game series against the three-time defending champion New York Yankees.  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.  With the signing of players like Randy Johnson, Luis Gonzalez, Curt Schilling and Matt Williams the Diamondbacks have won the National League West in three of the last six seasons.

Just down the street from the sports facilities, the Dodge Theater opened in April 2002 and hosts a variety of events from concerts to Broadway plays, including boxing, family shows and corporate events. This $35 million downtown venue has the versatility to expand its capacity to as large as 5,000 or scale down to an intimate 3,000 and is another project spearheaded by Colangelo.

Colangelo’s commitment to the Valley transcends sports and he is well-known as one of the city’s most active community leaders. In recognition of his efforts in the community, Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon recently proclaimed March 26, 2004, Jerry Colangelo Day in the city of Phoenix.

He is currently chairman of the board of the Council of Leadership Education and Collaboration for a New Century, Southwest Leadership Foundation, National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and Leadership Foundations of America, trustee of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, national board member of National Italian American Foundation and Young Life International, vice president of the Phoenix Downtown Partnership, chairman and CEO of Phoenix Community Alliance and was a leader in the establishment of Employers Against Domestic Violence.

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. In addition, he is past chairman of Arizona State University’s Dean’s Council of 100 and the Honor Board for Junior Achievement of Central Arizona, served as president of Valley Big Brothers was chairman of the board of the Christian Businessmen’s Club.  As campaign chair for United Way in 1994, Colangelo raised the standard for community fundraising when he secured pledges for $25 million.

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.

Colangelo prepped at Bloom Township High 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. Currently under construction in Chicago is the Colangelo Center that will house the Italian-American Athletic Hall of Fame.

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, all of Phoenix.