Donald Dell, A Living Legend Sharing His Secrets

Marcus Luer interviews Donald Dell, a living legend in the sports industry. Many considering Donald as one of the founding fathers of the sports marketing and sports agent business together with IMG’s Mark McCormack. 

Donald has had an illustrious career, starting as a tennis player during the Amateur era in the 1960th and representing the US Davis Cup Team, to winning the Davis Cup as the Captain in 1968/69 and being inducted to the Tennis Hall of Fame. 

He started his law firm after his playing career which quickly turned into PRO SERVE, a giant agency with over 300 people across 16 offices around the world. Pro Serve represented top players from Arthur Ash, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors to Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing in Basketball. 

Donald also wrote two best-selling books (Minding other People’s Business & Never Make the First Offer (except when you should)) and teaches Sports Law at Virginia Law School till today. 

 

Key Highlights:  

1. Donald shares his story on how Pro Serve started and his first client Arthur Ash and Stan Smith. 
2. Donald shares how the Stan Smith shoe deal with Adidas came about and how it continued for 47 years on a handshake. 
3. Donald shares stories about how Air Jordan deal came about. 
4. Donald shares his biggest learning during his Pro Serve days. 
5. Donald shares about his “secret” relationship with Mark McCormack of IMG. 
6. Donald’s message to aspiring sports executives and entrepreneurs. 

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