With over 50 years of experience in the Sports Business, Pat Williams has had tremendous success in nearly every area of the industry. He started off playing professional baseball, playing for seven years in the Philadelphia Phillies’ system. Then he became General Manager of the Chicago Bulls at only 29! Since 1968, he has been affiliated with NBA teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Orlando, leading his teams to 23 NBA Playoffs appearances, 5 NBA Finals, and 1 NBA Championship.
In addition, Pat in highly sought after as a motivational speaker. He’s spoken to thousands of executives in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies and national associations to universities and nonprofits. He’s spoken for such prestigious companies as Coca-Cola, Disney, and Nike, to name a few.
He is also an esteemed author who has written seventy-five books. His 75th book which was just released this year, is his look at leadership after 50 years of experience, entitled “Leadership Excellence“, with the foreword written by the legendary coach Bobby Bowden and Four Star general Tommy Frank.
During the interview, we discussed:
- Pat’s Career History and what got him to where he is
- How he became a General Manager of the NBA at only 29
- His vision for creating the Orlando Magic
- His thoughts on the NBA Draft Lottery system
- His rigorous speaking schedule
- His author career and his new book “Leadership Excellence”
- Why he will never retire
- His battle with Multiple Myeloma Cancer, and keeping his optimism throughout the battle
- His advice for people looking to break into the Sports Business Industry
Video Interview With Pat Williams – Orlando Magic
Video Interview Transcript with Pat Williams – Orlando Magic
Hello everyone my name is Joshua Lagan. I would like to welcome you all to sportsnetworker.com I have a very special guest with me today, Pat Williams, Co-founder and Senior Vice-President of the Orlando Magic. Mr. Williams, thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me today.
Thank you Josh. Nice to be with you. Thanks for setting this up.
Pat, I would really like the viewers to be able to learn about you and your career. So please tell us about how you got to this point, about your time at Wake Forest. Maybe what interested you into Sports Business? Tell us about some of your career background.
Well I grew up in a sports oriented home in Willington Delaware. My dad was a high school coach and teacher so that was kind of the setting I grew up in. I went to my first major league baseball game when I was seven years old. Fell in love with the sights and the sounds and the smell of baseball and that really inspired me. From that point on, from the age of seven, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a ball player. And I had those opportunities through high school and college into the pros. I spent seven years in the Phillies system so my roots are in baseball. But then 44 years ago this summer I got a call from Jack Ramsey who was then the general manager of the 76ers and he was about to become the coach and he needed someone to run the front office while he was away coaching. So he offered me that position and at age 28 I left the Phillies organization and joined the 76ers for that season. And here I am 44 years later with stops in Chicago, Atlanta, back to Philadelphia, and the last 26 years here in Orlando. So a lot has happened in a…well a long period now since its 50 years ago this summer that it all started in pro sports. But I’ve been able to live out my boyhood fantasies. This is what I always dreamed about as a young kid and for 50 years I’ve gotten to do it.
How did you feel transitioning from baseball to basketball? And was that a big change?
Well the principles were the same. You’ve got “x” number of seats and you want to fill them with fans, entertain them, make it fun for them, and win games. I have found the NBA to be a little more streamlined. You’ve got half the home games of baseball and you’ve got half the seats to fill. So I think basketball is a probably a little more (simple is not the word), but the goal or the mission is a little more refined, or clearer, or smaller in that regard. Baseball is a long season. Starting in April all the way through September. But I enjoyed my time in both of them and continue to enjoy my time years in the NBA. It’s been a wonderful experience for me in both areas.
Well as you mentioned it was a childhood fantasy for you. I think it’s a fantasy for a lot of us as well to become general managers or work on the team side so I was hoping you could talk about getting named the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls at 29 years old, and the steps and the effort to get there.
Well I spent that one year in Philadelphia as I mentioned as the business manager while Jack Ramsey was GMing and coaching the team. Then in the summer of 1969, at the one year mark in Philadelphia, seemingly out of the clear blue sky, I heard from the owners of the Chicago Bulls. They were looking for a new GM, and they brought me out for an interview. Fortunately, it went well and they hired me at age 29. I left Philadelphia and moved to Chicago in late August of 69’ and we put shoe leather to the pavement immediately. We had a lot of work to do to catch up and get ready for the season, but that led to four fascinating years in Chicago. We had good teams and made the playoffs, and began to spark interest for pro basketball in Chicago which had not really happened over the years. We made a lot of good headway, and I think laid the groundwork for all the good things that happened in pro basketball in Chicago. But I loved my time in Chicago, love the city of Chicago, still love to go back to Chicago, and aside from the winter time, it’s probably my favorite city in America in many ways.
I mean it’s incredible. It’s showed how hard you worked and how well you worked to be in that position after only one year. So props for that. When I was looking online about you co-founding the Orlando Magic, one word that I saw in a lot of articles was vision. You kept talking about your vision for putting the Magic in Orlando. I was hoping you could talk about what that vision was and the difficulties you had to overcome to accomplish that.
I spent 12 years with the 76ers including the championship year in 83’. But by the time the mid 80’s came around 85-86, I was getting restless and needed a new challenge, and I think the greatest challenge in sports and it comes along very rarely-and the opportunities are not common, but that is to play a role in starting up your own team from scratch an expansion team. So we moved out here with my family and hit the ground running in June of 1986 with this enormous mission or vision of trying to bring pro basketball to Orlando. The problem was Orlando in 1986 was not a major city at that point, it was growing and had a great future but there had never been pro sports in Orlando…there was no building to play in, and the league hadn’t agreed to add more teams. So aside from that, you know it was absolutely secure! But we worked hard for those 10 months, from June of 86’ to April of 87’. Trying to rally the community, get the funding for the building get our ownership stabilized, and convince the NBA to look at Orlando, not just at the moment but 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, 30 years down the road, just to envision what could happen. Well it’s all happening. Orlando has become a major market. It’s the number one tourist destination in the world, and it continues to grow with no end in sight. So it was a very…very exciting time to plant the vision and go after a very difficult goal and see it come to fruition and now all that’s happened as we get ready for our 24th season as an active team , it’s rewarding and I think as the years go on it means a lot more each year.
As a huge magic fan, and on behalf of Magic fans around the world, thank you.
You’re welcome sir.
David Stern, I read a quote by him, he said “you pestered the NBA into allowing a team in Orlando” do you have any comment on that?
Well we pushed hard and we kept David on his toes for all that period and that was a major moment in NBA history. When they brought in four teams, and that had never happened before. It was highly unusual in any sport. And that’s when Miami, Orlando, Charlotte (the first time), and Minnesota came in as expansion teams. And they’ve added a lot to the league, it was a good decision by the owners at the time. I think the owners gave the league a lot of life and confidence that they had a good product, with that many cities trying to get in. Yeah we badgered everybody hard and tried to keep Orlando in front of them that this was the spot and this is the future of Florida this is going to be the crossroads of the worlds in many ways, and we kept selling them the future to a large degree. Look at us now yes, but more importantly what we are going to become down the road and all of that has happened as Orlando continues to grow like crazy.
How did they feel about two expansion teams being in Florida, was that a problem at all?
I think at the end of the day they liked that. They knew it would create a rivalry you know with South Florida and Central Florida, and it would open up this big state. There are 13 million people who live in Florida. It did not have a history of basketball at all, and suddenly Florida has become an outstanding basketball state with enormous coverage and I think it was definitely the right decision to put two teams in Florida. You know suddenly our state is a red hot basketball state now.
Well arguably two of the best centers of all-time have been on your team so that helps creates an impact.
Well there’s no question. We’ve had good fortune with those pingpong balls in the lottery. In 92’ when Shaq came along, then the next year with Penny Hardaway coming through the lottery, then in 2004 when we were in desperate need of a big man, young Dwight Howard was there coming out of high school in Atlanta, and we’ve had a great run with him.
I found a photo online. It shows you and your excitement, immediately after winning the draft lottery. It’s a freeze frame, I’ll have to send it to you have this is over. You can frame it.
Well there’s nothing like that excitement of winning the lottery, and I’ve been there for four wins. One in Philadelphia in 86’ then three here in Orlando. And it is a great moment, there’s such hope such a sense that we’re on our way now. It certainly helps if there’s a great player in the draft that year. We’ve been very fortunate in that regard. We’ve been able to get Shaq, Hardaway and Dwight Howard, and every year it’s not like that, but we’ve hit the jackpot in the right years.
Do you see the NBA staying with that system long term?
Yes I do. It’s designed to keep teams playing hard, all the way through the year. Often it’s easy in this business because one player can turn you around real quick. And it can be real tempting. You know the odds of a coin flip are 50/50 but now all you’ve got is a 25% chance of winning the lottery, even if you have the worst record. There’s no perfect way to do this but it’s designed really to make sure that all 30 teams are playing hard down the stretch and not making a mockery of the game.
Well it seems to be working so far, the NBA only continues to grow.
The growth of the sport is enormous and internationally as well. It’s become a worldwide sport. We’re getting players from nearly every country of the world it’s fascinating to see how all this is happening. There’s no end in sight and I think it’s going to do nothing but increase in interest around the world the talent keeps getting better and it’s fascinating to keep an eye on all this.
I think that’s something the separates the NBA from other leagues like the NFL or NHL, that international push. Really separates it and we can see that now with the Olympics. How competitive it is. It used to be the US just dominated everyone but that’s not really the case anymore.
Yeah these other countries have good teams and they’re putting them out there, and that’s going to continue now. We’re going to have to send our best players every four years. In my opinion I don’t think you can send college players, you’ve got to send your best pros. There’s high expectations every four years from the NBA and Olympic basketball team and we’ve got to go with our best. So I hope that continues Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski have done a marvelous job and they’ve gotten us back on the map where we belong as the basketball country.
Well I’m excited to root for team US for the rest of this Olympics and hopefully we come home with another championship.
Well I do too, but here in Orlando it’s very mixed emotions. But I will be rooting very hard for Lebron James. It doesn’t happen at any other time, but during the Olympics we’re rooting for Lebron James and all of these guys who are our bitter competitors during the season but for this period they’re the players we’re really rooting hard for to play hard and hoping they have a great run.
We’ll have to send him a letter telling him to enjoy it while he can.
There you go.
Pat, you’ve done hundreds of speeches in your life. I read that online that you did 10 speeches a month for a while. You’ve had an incredibly successful career, and had a permanent impact on your industry. Why is it so important for you to continue to take speaking engagements?
Well I think I’m just coming into my own. I’ve been doing this for many…many years, but now I think I’m finding myself as a speaker, and I think now I’ve got more to say, than certainly I did 10 or 20 years ago. I’m not letting up in that regard at all. I still get a great joy from it to walk into an audience. In many cases or most cases they’re strangers, and try to win them over. In some ways it’s kind of like a competition in sports, to get their attention early in the first opening seconds which you have to do. Then keep them locked in for an hour. That’s an enormous challenge every time you do it, but I like the challenge. I think I’m finally finding my stride with how to do all this and over the next decade or so I hope to continue to improve and become even a better speaker. So I still enjoy it and still am challenged by it and like to meet people and like to be out in the middle of all this, so I’m not letting up in that regard.
Well I know another thing you’ve been successful at is book writing. You’ve written an enormous amount of books. I was looking at the number, I think it was 50-60, something like that?
My 75th book came out this Spring Josh, so I’m still writing. It’s called Leadership Excellence. I write about the 7 Steps to Leadership for the 21st century. Bobby Bowden the coach and Tommy Franks the general wrote the forewords for it, and we’ve had a very good response to that book. It is in book stores now and up on Amazon and at this point in my life it’s my ultimate look on leadership. We had a good time getting that book together and it’s doing well.
So you’ve written pretty much a book a year. Well, not that you were writing books as an infant, but 75 books do you find that it’s hard to keep them different? And keep them from overlapping? Or are you finding you’re coming up with new ideas and are able to keep them all unique?
Oh I’m probably over publishing. But I can’t help myself there. As long as I’ve got something that I think is important to say, I’m pushing forward. So I’ve still got a number of books in the pipeline that I want to write, and as long as there’s a publisher I’ll continue.
You are 72 years old. Why haven’t you retired from the yet (from the NBA)?
I will never retire. I’m doing now what I would be doing in my retirement. Everything I’m doing every day is what I want to be doing. I’m not a golfer, I’m not a fisherman, I’m not a stamp collector. My wife would go nuts if I was hanging around the house and I would go nuts as well. So I’m a lifer. I’ll be here till my last breath. I have no plans to retire. I think the best years of your life should be from 70-90. You’ve got experience, your children are raised. You’ve got a lot more knowledge and input. You’ve got a lot more wisdom. So I think that 20 year period form 70-90 should be your most productive if your health is good. If you keep in shape and you know avoid major illness. So those are my plans up to this point.
And I think also when you’ve proven yourself as much as you have, I think then the time when people start listening, to hear what you have to say and learn from your wisdom.
Well I think so. I think you should have your greatest influence in this 20 year period. Well I enjoy doing that. I’ve been through so many experiences and I’ve had so many people who’ve invested in me and I want to now invest back down into the younger generation. So that’s important to me at this point in my life.
Pat this is a difficult question, but I was hoping to talk with you a little bit about your battle with cancer. I just wanted to reiterate again that you’ve inspired me and a lot of other people that I’ve talked to. I was hoping to ask you how have you stayed so optimistic and positive during it? With your slogan the ‘mission is remission’ and has your faith played any role in that?
Definitely, Josh. I was diagnosed about 18 months ago with multiple myeloma it’s cancer of the bone marrow basically. Boy, that was a shock, when I got that word. It came through a routine physical and they saw something in my blood work that wasn’t right. So I’ve been in that cancer battle for the last 18 months, but we’re doing well. I had a stem cell transplant in February which helped enormously and the treatments have been good. My energy level is good. I’m keeping up a normal life and I’m grateful for that. I learned early on when this diagnosis was made, two things: stay optimistic stay positive, and listen to your doctors. They’re the pros and go with them. So I’ve been good at that. I’ve kept my spirits up and I’ve felt that the Lord had a reason for this and I can see now I’ve been thrust out in many ways as a spokes person for cancer, for cancer research. I’m on the Multiple Myeloma Foundation Board. Listen, 18 months ago I’d never heard of it and now I’m right in the middle of it so I think the Lord called me into this cancer battle and I’m prepared to do what I can to help, and in the meantime, I’ve learned the best thing is to go on with your life. Don’t sit around and mope and argue with God about why it happened and feel sorry for yourself. Keep on with life and tuck in the medical treatment around it. Stay engaged, stay occupied and don’t get down, that can be a real deadly problem with cancer. So that’s how I’ve gone about it and tried to encourage others to do the same.
Well it’s a testimony to the rest of us of how to keep going in tough circumstances, so I appreciate your ministry in that.
Thank you, and I feel it is a ministry. I feel that initially it was more Lord why would you do this, but as time went on I can see that God never promises us a red carpet every day and roses strewed at our feet. There are set backs and difficulties but through them we learn and we grow. I think we’re more teachable. Through the tough times I think we really develop as people and we shouldn’t’ run from that. Learn from it and don’t waste those tough times because when you get on the other side you’re a better person for it.
Well people have been listening so we appreciate your message. My last question for you is I was hoping you could give some advice for the young people trying to break into the Sports Business industry? What some of the wisdom that you’ve learned that you could share with us?
Well get a good education. There’s no question. College education, and plan on a Masters right away. And these days you can get a double masters in sports administration and your MBA and by the time you’re 24 years old your formal education is locked in, and that’s so important. So I really encourage that. But most importantly, to really be good at this, you have to love sports, you’ve got to study it, you’ve got to be on top of it closely, you’ve got to learn from the business, you’ve got to be a reader and really love this business. Learn everything you can about it, and not just the sport that you want to go into, but other sports as well. If that’s your profession you’ve got to be knowledgeable and know what’s going on every day and stay on top of everything. So I think that’s vitally important. And don’t get discouraged because it’s tough to get into the business. There are not that many job openings. And everyone is fighting to get one. Internships are important. I advise young people all the time, any time you get internship take them. Because people can see you under fire they can see how you work so if a full-time position, a permanent job opens, the intern usually has an advantage. So those are a few thoughts that come to my mind Josh.
Well it’s great advice, and being one of those young people in the sports business industry it speaks to me and is a good reminder. So Pat, thank you again so much for your time. I really appreciate you speaking with us and imparting your wisdom onto us.
Thank you, Josh. I wish you all the best. Thanks for setting this up.
Awesome. Have a great day Pat.
You too. Bye.
What did you think of the interview with Pat Williams? Did you learn something that will help you climb the ladder in the sports industry? Let us know in the comments below or send us a tweet to @sportsnetworker
Nice work, Joshua! Had all your Qs ready… “Major props for that!”
@ChrisMcKinney Thanks Chris! They certainly get easier with practice. This was my second interview, the third one should hopefully be up soon!