Pat's Open Road

PAT CROCE

Entrepreneur/Sports Team Executive/Author

LEADER INFO:

INTERESTS:

Entrepreneurship

THEMES DISCUSSED:

Goals Values Family Hard Work Failure Individualism

TAGS:

attitude, challenge, create, customer service, dreams, fitness, health, improvement, medicine, observations, odd jobs, organization, persistence, philosophy, react, sports, taking action, vision quest, volunteering, work ethic

BIOGRAPHY:

Pat Croce has been working since he was 11 years old. His childhood paper route in his hometown of Philadelphia, Penn., gave him a strong sense of work ethic, and the disciplinary and organizational skills he learned stayed with him throughout his life. During his college years he played on the football team, hoping it would lead to a professional career; but soon it became clear that playing pro football was not in his future, so he decided to take some time off college. He worked various odd jobs around Philadelphia. Still not knowing what he wanted to do with his life, he began volunteering at the hospital where he was introduced to the world of sports medicine: The perfect fusion of two of his passions, sports and health. He immediately began to plan his future in the field, and by 1979, he had opened the first sports medicine center in the U.S. Fifteen years later, he owned 40 centers across the country. His entrepreneurial spirit has enabled him to accomplish a wide variety of feats throughout his life, from owning the Philadelphia 76ers to being a best-selling self-help author, to founding the world's first authentic pirate museum.