Sonny Vaccaro Net Worth 2023: The Man Who Signed Michael Jordan To Nike!

Sonny Vaccaro is an American former sports marketing executive. Vaccaro is best known for his tenure with Nike, Inc., where he signed Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal.

Many people are just now learning Sonny Vaccaro’s name because of the April 5, 2023, release of the movie Air. The sports drama is based on the exciting true story of how the famous Air Jordan shoe came to be. This sneaker was made possible by a historic deal between Michael Jordan, a rookie then, and Nike. Not only did the shoes become very famous, but they also put Nike on the map and immediately helped Jordan become a legend.

Ben Affleck plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight and also directs the movie Air. Matt Damon plays sports marketing employee Sonny Vaccaro. In the movie, Vaccaro is shown to be an important part of making the groundbreaking deal between Nike and Jordan. We know that the Air Jordan shoes were record-breaking sellers of all time. Now, most people are curious to know about the wealth of the man who helped Nike sign Michael Jordan. In this article, we will tell you about Sonny’s net worth.

What Is The Net Worth Of Sonny Vaccaro In 2023?

According to Celebritynetworth, Sonny Vaccaro has a net worth of $5 million in 2023. Sonny Vaccaro is best known for signing Michael Jordan to his first shoe deal when he worked at Nike. In 1991, Vaccaro was fired from Nike. After that, he went to work for Adidas, a Nike competitor. During his time there, he worked with Adidas to sign Kobe Bryant, who was still a high school senior. After his time at Adidas, he went to work for Reebok and continued to sell sports.

The Early Life Of Sonny Vaccaro

John Paul Vincent “Sonny” Vaccaro was born in Trafford, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 1939. Sonny started as a teacher, but by the 1970s, he was putting together games for high school all-stars. In 1965, Vaccaro was one of the people who helped start the first national high school all-star game.

A Glimpse Into Sonny Vaccaro Career

Sonny Vaccaro got his job at Nike because he knew many people in the college basketball world. At the time, Nike was a business that made running shoes that wanted to get into basketball.

Vaccaro was the first to come up with the idea of paying college coaches more money and giving them free shoes if their players wore them during games. He went after big names in coaching like John Thompson, Jerry Tarkanian, Lefty Driesell, and Jim Valvano, and all of a sudden, a team cost was taken out of the budget, and he had new ways to make money for himself.

In 1984, when March Madness became a big TV show, and Vaccaro made his most famous move by getting Michael Jordan to work with Nike, the basketball shoe business exploded and took the industry by storm.

After working for Nike, Vaccaro went on to work for Adidas and then Reebok. Kobe Bryant also signed with Adidas because of what Vaccaro did. He started the ABCD All-America Camp, which allowed high school basketball players to show off their skills from 1984 to 2007. Players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Sebastian Telfair, and Dwight Howard were at the camp.

Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace, and Tracy McGrady are just some players who have played in the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic.

Sonny Vaccaro: Personal Life

Sonny and Pam Vaccaro live in Santa Monica, California, with their two children. George Raveling was the best man at the Vaccaro wedding, but in the years afterwards, he and the groom’s brother fought. The two have always been close friends, but they fought when Raveling didn’t like how Vaccaro ran his high school basketball camps during the summer. Raveling went on to work for Nike and compete with Vaccaro for the same job.

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