Jerry Colangelo
CEO
Arizona Diamondbacks and Phoenix Suns
Phoenix, AZ USA
“You can't do anything about yesterday, you certainly can't do anything about tomorrow, but you can control what you're doing today.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationJerry Colangelo
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Grew up playing basketball and baseball, wanted to be a professional athlete.
Blew out his arm at age 17, essentially ending his dreams of becoming a pitcher in the MLB.
Says you can't "sit in the corner, coil up and be miserable for the rest of your life" just because you hit a setback.
Grew up in a poor, Italian-American community in Chicago, where they "didn't have very much."
Got a job as a the manager of the Phoenix Suns at age 28, the youngest general manager in professional sports history.
Had to move his family from Chicago to Phoenix with very little money; "it was like starting a new life."
Says that through his upbringing in sports, in a poor neighborhood, he became unafraid to fail.
People think he's caught "lucky breaks," but he believes it's because he's taken every opportunity possible, didn't just wait for his ship to come in.
Education
High School
Bachelor
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General
University of Illinois at Chicago
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General
University of Illinois at Chicago
Career
CEO
I run a professional basketball team.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Sports
Accomplishing Goals
Hurdles
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
Interviewed By
Phoenix - Boulder
The Roadtrip Nation team arrives to Phoenix to sit down with Jerry Colangelo, owner of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks. Then they're off to Boulder to interview David Jacobs, founder and owner of Spider Ski Apparel. Next the team interview Gary Neptune, founder and owner of Neptune Mountaineering.
