Jerry Colangelo is a retired business executive and team owner. He is 82 Years-old. He owned several Arizona based sports teams throughout his career including the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, Arena Football League team Arizona Rattlers, and the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League. He also played a role in bringing the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes (later re-branded Arizona Coyotes). Colangelo was managing director of USA Basketball from 2005 to 2021 and successfully restored USA Basketball’s status of being the best team in the world.
Jerry Colangelo started his business career with the Chicago Bulls in 1966. He spent three seasons with the Bulls before being hired by the NBA expansion team the Phoenix Suns to become the General Manager of the newly founded team. Colangelo ran into some bad luck in the 1969 NBA draft when the Suns lost a coin toss to the Milwaukee Bucks for the number one pick. The Bucks drafted Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) with the number one pick. Nevertheless, Colangelo was able to keep the team competitive throughout the 1970s which included a NBA Finals appearance in 1976. The Suns lost to the Boston Celtics in 6 games.
The 1980s were not friendly for the Suns. The Suns found themselves engulfed in a drug scandal in which 13 members of the Phoenix Suns were indicted on cocaine trafficking charges in 1987. In an unrelated incident, Suns center Nick Vanos died in a plane crash in 1987. From 1985-88 the Suns failed to reach the playoffs. Colangelo bought the Phoenix Suns in 1987, and quickly turned the Franchise around. His first big move was trading for future Suns Ring of Honor player Kevin Johnson. The Suns made the playoffs beginning with the 1988/89 season and would go on to compete in 13 consecutive playoffs. In 1992, Colangelo traded Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Charles Barkley. The Suns made it back to the NBA Finals in 1993, but they lost to the Bulls in 6 games. Colangelo remained owner of the Suns through 2004 before selling the team to its current owner Rob Sarver. Colangelo stayed in charge of basketball operations for the Suns until 2012 when he turned operations of the team over to his son Bryan.
The City of Phoenix was awarded an expansion team in Major League Baseball in 1995. That team would be named the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jerry Colangelo became the team’s first owner. He hired Joe Garagiola Jr to be the team’s first general manager and Buck Showalter to be the team’s first manager. The Diamondbacks signed starting pitcher Randy Johnson in 1999. They traded for Curt Schilling in 2000. Those two players would become Co-MVP of the 2001 World Series. Other notable players on that World Series team include Luis Gonzalez, Mark Grace, Matt Williams, Jay Bell, Steve Finley, and Craig Counsell. Bob Brenly was manager of the Diamondbacks in 2001. While these players were able to deliver a professional sports championship to the state of Arizona, the move also put the team in a considerable amount of debt and Colangelo was forced to sell the team in 2004 to current owner Ken Kendrick.
Jerry Colangelo’s other business ventures include owning the Phoenix Mercury in 1997 in the newly established WNBA, and being an owner of the Arena Football League team Arizona Rattlers. Colangelo owned the Mercury until 2004. The Mercury made it to the WNBA Finals in 1998, but they lost to the Houston Comets. Colangelo owned the Rattlers from 1992 to 2005. They won the Arena Bowl Championship in 1994 and 1997. Colangelo also helped bring the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes. This made Phoenix the 13th U.S. metropolitan area to have professional sports team in all 4 major sports leagues in the U.S. (NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB).
Jerry Colangelo began serving as head of basketball operations of the USA Men’s Basketball Team in 2005. The team was one year removed from a Bronze Medal finish at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Colangelo hired Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) as Head Coach of USA Basketball. This proved to be a very smart move for Colangelo as the U.S. would go on to win Gold in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics under the direction of Coach K. Coach K also led the U.S. to Bronze in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, and Gold in the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Championships. Coach K stepped down from his role as USA Basketball head coach after the 2016 Summer Olympics. Colangelo replaced Coach K with San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich. Popovich coached the U.S. to a 4th straight Gold Medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2021. Jerry Colangelo decided to step down from USA Basketball operations at the conclusion of the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Jerry Colangelo was NBA Executive of the Year 4 times. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004. He was inducted into the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor in 2007.
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