Sonny Vaccaro: The man who convinced Nike to sign Michael Jordan

There were 15 seconds left on the clock when a 19-year-old college basketball player launched a 16-foot winning shot that would change sports marketing forever.

Watching that day was marketing executive and grassroots promoter Sonny Vaccaro. He was so impressed by what he saw that two years later he would bet his job at sports manufacturer Nike on backing this relatively untested player.

That player was Michael Jordan.

But not the Jordan we know now. At the point Vaccaro witnessed him score the shot that won the 1982 NCAA championship for North Carolina Tar Heels, Jordan was just a freshman.

When, two years later, Vaccaro urged his bosses to spend their whole yearly basketball endorsement budget on him, Jordan was only 21 and had never competed in the NBA. And no-one was talking about his footwear.

Vaccaro says his conviction in the youngster’s potential was forged the moment he watched him take that shot at the Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans.

“That shot changed the world because of what Michael Jordan became,” the 85-year-old told BBC Sport.

“When he took the shot, it convinced me that he would take any shot in the world.”

But it was Vaccaro who had to take a shot first.

In his memoir, Legends and Soles, he describes how he had to convince his bosses to take a chance on an up-and-coming star, while competitors such as Converse were endorsing household names including Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson.

By that time, Vaccaro had established himself as a basketball insider with an extensive knowledge of young players. In 1964, aged 24, he established The Dapper Dan Roundball Classic – the first national high school all-star basketball game.

The tournament ran under different guises until 2007, showcasing future NBA stars including Moses Malone, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Love, Kobe Bryant, Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O’Neal.

He also founded the ABCD basketball summer camp in 1984 – an invitational that gathered the country’s highest-ranked high school players.

Nevertheless, Vaccaro told BBC Sport former Nike boss Phil Knight was not satisfied with the Jordan proposal “until the last minute”.

Their gamble turned the company’s fortunes around, transformed the way basketball was viewed globally and left an indelible print on sneaker culture worldwide. The story was popularised in 2023 film Air, in which Vaccaro is played by Matt Damon.

In his book, as well as detailing the Jordan deal, he describes how he was able to spot the potential in future stars including Bryant, Tracy McGrady and James, whom he narrowly missed out on signing to an endorsement in 2003.