“I’ll tell you this much—I’m Pittsburgh pride and Italian centric. I go back to the Romans”, says the effervescent Sonny Vaccaro, a legend of the sports industry with stories for days. A proud product of Western Pennsylvania who made his name in amateur basketball after founding the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic high school basketball All-Star Game, Vaccaro parlayed that into work as an agent and then, most famously, as the Nike executive who signed Michael Jordan to the company.
The story will be told in a feature film “Air” from Amazon Studios starring no less than Matt Damon as Vaccaro and Ben Affleck as Nike co-founder Phil Knight. Early reviews have been positive.
After helping bring Jordan to Nike, Vaccaro later worked for both adidas and Reebok, revolutionizing the world of amateur basketball by encouraging players to seek their fair worth, whether that meant turning pro out of high school, like Tracy McGrady or suing the NCAA for using their name, image and likeness, such as Ed O’Bannon whose lawsuit laid the groundwork for today’s lucrative “NIL” deals.
America Domani spoke with Sonny to relive his myriad professional accomplishments as well as the great pride he has for his Italian heritage. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sonny's uncle Gaspare, Sonny and his father, Natale—out in the backyard of their family home in Falerna (Photo Courtesy of the Vaccaro Family)
America Domani: Where did you grow up and where was your family originally from?
Sonny Vaccaro: I grew up in Trafford, PA - 17 miles east of Pittsburgh. I was a first-generation Italian American. My dad was born in Calabria, in the city of Falerna. My mom’s side, the Mastroiannis, were from the same area. They had an arranged marriage between the two families. My dad’s family came over and spent time in Gary, Indiana and Vaccaros ended up all over the east coast, including Trafford.
AD: What was it like growing up in Pittsburgh?
SV: It was the birthplace of a lot of immigrants. People came to work on the railroad, in the steel mills. My daddy worked in steel mills for 42 years. Everyone in Western Pennsylvania had substance to them.
AD: Was Italian culture a big part of life during that time and place?
SV: For the record: Everything in my life is Italian-centric. The area was a melting pot of all nationalities—Croatians, Serbians, Blacks, Italians. I think I started my life asking if you were Italian. I was born in 1939. My family on both sides were involved in the war. My dad’s brother died fighting for the Allies. My dad was given an exemption because he ran a crane at the steel mills and the Army needed him doing that work. I remember my grandmother’s house as the origin of the family. Every nationality would have a Sunday picnic.
AD: You had your big break when you founded the first national high school basketball all-star game, the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in Pittsburgh. Would you consider Pittsburgh a basketball city?
SV: My friend from Trafford, Pat DiCesare - another Italian-American and I, brought basketball to the city. Pat was a big rock promoter who had brought the Beatles to the Pittsburgh Civic Center. We wanted to do an All-Star basketball game. The Roundball Classic opened the world for me. I had been teaching special education for the county but then I started coaching. High school basketball was pretty big there then. I’d go watch the playoffs and I’d get kids that played on those teams and take them to tournaments. It was like AAU 50 years before. So as the Dapper Dan keeps happening, I’m getting pretty big. We started getting all the good players and all the college coaches. I was this guy who knew all these players. I knew the Pennsylvania kids and then I [got the national] kids out of Parade magazine. Pat DiCesare knew nothing about basketball, but he knew everything about entertainment. And I’d known him my whole life. My family had rented from his family apartment. It was a great time. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was our sponsor and they gave me all this publicity. The Pirates were great. The Steelers were great. The Dapper Dan was huge. I got to know so many people.
(Photo Credit: ESPN Films)
AD: What is your role in the production of “Air” and how are you keeping busy?
SV: I’m a big part of it but also, not part of it. It was a writer who knew my story well and wrote the script. I was just as surprised as you that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wanted to create a movie about me. I visited the set and I think they’re finished with the film.
Otherwise, I’m still fighting the world one person at a time. Still involved with O’Bannon and three or four other projects. Most of it is on the phone, as I’m not able to travel.
AD: When did you move out of Pittsburgh?
SV: I moved in the 70s. First to Vegas and have been west coast based ever since. But, my kids and my parents stayed there. I went back home a lot. Doing the Dapper Dan game and helping kids was what I did.
AD: Did your love for Italian culture in Pittsburgh ever take you back to the old country?
SV: Yes! I’ve been to Italy five times. Rome and all over the country. One time in the 90’s, my wife, Pam and I took my daddy, Natale Vaccaro, and Pam’s mother there. We went to the church where he was baptized. I slept in the bed of my dad’s family. The Vaccaros have a farm. My dad’s father was a farmer. We went back home. I thought I was in The Godfather. My dad’s mother had died when he was nine months old. He was raised by the village, with the help of a midwife. At one point, we go up about 150 yards from the house. We walk up and they have a graveyard. But, it’s different. It’s like a mausoleum. They bury the people in the walls. There must have been a 100 or, I don’t know a lot of people buried up there. And about 25 percent of the names there were Vaccaros and Mastroiannis. They lived together happily all the years.
We spent three days there in Falerna. Went around to my daddy’s cousins. It was the thrill of my lifetime and the best of my five trips to Italy.
Ben Osborne
Ben Osborne has been writing, editing and producing content professionally for more than 25 years. A former Editor-in-Chief at SLAM and Bleacher Report and Head of Content at Just Women’s Sports, Osborne has also worked at the Washington Post and FOX Sports.