Panelists

Sonny Vaccaro

Director, Vaccaro Sports Partnerships and Founding Chairman, The Roundball Classic and ABCD Camp

Considered one of basketball’s most well-connected insiders, Sonny Vaccaro remains a formidable force in contemporary sports marketing and grassroots basketball. His visionary promotional innovations (beginning with the signing of Michael Jordan to his first major endorsement package) revolutionized the sports marketing genre with shoe endorsements, team affiliations and other ground-breaking promotional partnerships which have helped propel the fortunes of countless athletes, collegiate programs and professional teams. In a career spanning 30-plus years in the shoe industry, he brought his marketing and player development alchemy to Basketball programs at the world’s three largest companies in athletic shoes and apparel.

A keen observer of both up-and-coming talent and promising marketing opportunities, the hyper-kinetic Vaccaro
continues a challenging travel schedule, criss-crossing the country to bring talent, events, coaches, scouts, media
and marketers together working on initiatives focussed primarily on the future of American basketball and its place in an increasingly international arena.

Vaccaro has created several of the leading events in grassroots basketball. The Roundball Classic, America’s original high school All- Star Classic, which began as the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in Pittsburgh 43 years ago. The most widely imitated event in prep basketball, this charitable Classic annually brought together the 22 most-gifted high school all-stars in the country, and holds the all-time attendance record for a high school all-star event. The annual ABCD Camp was a “must-be-there” event for college coaches from leading programs across America. For more than 23 years, the ABCD Camp showcased the next wave of outstanding roundballers for scouts and coaches. And Sonny’s Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas became the largest Summer basketball tournament in the world, featuring 400 teams and 5,000 players from America and internationally.
Continuing a charitable tradition begun when Vaccaro co-founded the Dapper Dan Classic in 1965, Vaccaro established the non-profit organization Hoops That Help in 1990. Contributions have surpassed $4 million over the years for programs benefitting the homeless, AIDS education, The Boys and Girls Clubs and Chicago Sun-Times Charities.

In addition to such diverse projects as helping produce the highly-rated TV special A Comedy Salute to Michael Jordan, Sonny continues to make regular appearances on television and radio sportstalk programs locally and nationally. His frank and often controversial perspectives have made him a widely sought after guest on such programs as 60 Minutes, HBO’s Real Sports, CBS Evening News, On the Record with Bob Costas, ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, ESPN Between the Lines and Rome is Burning, where he has never minced words on a wide range of issues, including student-athlete rights, regulatory hypocrisy, limitations on young athletes crossing over to professional status and other hot-button issues in contemporary sports.

Widely written about over the years in books and newspaper articles, Vaccaro will be portrayed by Emmy-winner James Gandolfini in the HBO original movie, ABCD Camp, which is currently in development. Sonny also continues to write, keeping an ongoing diary. His recent speaking tour has included appearances at the Wharton School of Business, Duke University, Harvard, Yale and the University of Maryland, among others.
One of basketball’s most influential and quotable figures, Sonny, has been listed five times in Sporting News’ top 100 most powerful people in sports.

Vaccaro continues to reside on the West Coast where he spends his day keeping his finger on the pulse of Roundball, promising prospects and the crosscurrents of basketball around the world.

Mike McCann

Associate Professor of Law, Vermont Law School and Legal Analyst, Sports Illustrated

Michael McCann is an Associate Professor of Law at Vermont Law School, where he teaches sports law, business law, and administrative law courses.  He is also a Legal Analyst for Sports Illustrated and the “Sports and the Law” Columnist on SI.com.

Professor McCann is also co-founder of the Harvard Law School Project on Law and Mind Sciences and the Distinguished Visiting Hall of Fame Professor of Law at Mississippi College School of Law, where he was an Assistant Professor of Law between 2005 and 2008 and where he now teaches a sports law class every summer.  During his three-year tenure at Mississippi, Professor McCann was twice honored with the Professor of the Year Award and he received the Professor of the Year for First-Year Courses Award in all three years.  He was also honored by his colleagues with the Shirley Norwood Jones Faculty Award in 2008.

In the fall 2008 semester, Professor McCann was a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Boston College Law School.  He also served as Chair of the Association of American Law School’s Section on Sports and the Law in 2008.

Prior to becoming a law professor in 2005, Professor McCann served as counsel to college football star Maurice Clarett in his lawsuit against the National Football League and its age eligibility rule.  He also served as a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School and Legal Counsel to U.S. Congressman Marty Meehan.

A Massachusetts native, Professor McCann received his LL.M. from Harvard Law School (2005), his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law (2002), and his B.A. from Georgetown University (1998).   Professor McCann has been interviewed on HBO’s “Bob Costas Now”; CNN's “The Glenn Beck Show”, “American Morning”, and “Headline News”; CNBC’s “Morning Call” and “Power Lunch”; and the Jim Rome Show.  He has also been interviewed on NPR, BBC, the Dan Patrick Show, and by the New York Times, Washington Post, The New Republic, and Business Week.

Chris Wallace

General Manager, Memphis Grizzlies

Chris Wallace is the General Manager for the Memphis Grizzlies. He has been in this role since June 18, 2007. Before assuming that position, he was the General Manager of the Boston Celtics for 10 seasons. Prior to his role with the Celtics, Wallace served as director of player personnel for the Miami Heat. The Heat won a franchise-record 61 games in 1996-97, and Wallace is credited with discovering many of the Heat's players.
Wallace also worked in various scouting capacities for the Heat, the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, and New York Knicks. He also worked as a draft consultant for the United States Basketball League.

Wallace is native of Buckhannon, West Virginia. He and his wife, Debby, have a son, Truman.

Bob Scalise

Director of Athletics, Harvard University

Robert L. "Bob" Scalise was introduced as Harvard's Nichols Family Director of Athletics in July 2001 after five years as Associate Dean and Senior Executive Officer of the Harvard Business School. Scalise, the seventh person to hold the Director of Athletics post, is at the helm of the nation's largest Division I athletic program with 41 varsity sports, two dozen junior varsity teams, and more than 1,500 intercollegiate athletes.

In his former position, Scalise oversaw an annual operating budget of approximately $200 million and managed 15 direct reports, including the Chief Officer or Executive Director of all major administrative units. Along with his business background, Scalise has extensive ties to Ivy League athletics as an All-America lacrosse player at Brown and later as head coach of the Harvard men's lacrosse and women's soccer programs.

A 1971 Brown graduate, Scalise was selected three times to the All-Ivy lacrosse team, and twice named All-American and All-New England. He led the nation in scoring (47 goals) as a junior, then co-captained the squad in 1971 when he set a New England record by scoring 11 times against Connecticut while helping the Bears advance to the inaugural NCAA men's lacrosse tournament.  As a senior, he was also the recipient of the Brown University Sportsmanship Award and the Sports Illustrated Award of Merit, and was inducted into the Brown Hall of Fame in 1991. He entered the coaching ranks at his alma mater in the fall of 1971 as an assistant for the men's soccer and lacrosse teams.

Scalise was just 24 years old when named head coach of Harvard men's lacrosse in 1974.  He led the Crimson to the 1980 Ivy League Championship, the program's first in nearly two decades, and an accompanying NCAA bid.  He coached 17 All-Americans and completed his tenure in 1987 with a 98-79 overall record.  In 1998, Scalise was inducted into the New England Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He was also the first coach of Harvard women's soccer, which began varsity play in 1977, and directed that program to Ivy League crowns in 1978, 1979, and 1981, and NCAA berths in 1982 and 1984.  In 1985, Scalise became the nation's first women's collegiate soccer coach to amass 100 victories. He finished with a 113-38-11 overall record.
 
He left coaching in 1987 to enroll in the Harvard Business School, where in 1989 he was awarded a Master in Business Administration.  Later that year, he became Director of MBA Placement Services, managing processes and products serving the Business School community.  He held that post until 1992, when he accepted a position at Bain & Company to become Director of Recruiting, Career Development, and Alumni Relations.  While there, he helped develop strategic and operational initiatives to build people assets for the firm.   Scalise returned to the Business School in 1995 as its Executive Director of MBA Program Administration before assuming the role of Associate Dean and Senior Executive Officer.

During his first seven years as director of athletics, Scalise has guided Harvard to nine team national championships and 48 Ivy League titles.  In the same time, 35 current and former student-athletes have competed at the Olympic Games during his tenure, winning 16 medals.  In 2007-08 alone, the Crimson captured five Ivy League crowns and saw 14 Harvard teams finish the season among the national top 25 in their respective sports.  Individually, 14 Crimson student-athletes were selected to All-America teams last season, 11 were honored as league players or rookies of the year and one was named national player of the year.

Under Scalise’s leadership, five head coaching positions have been endowed by generous donors, including women’s ice hockey and women’s swimming, the first two women’s head coaching endowments in Harvard history, as well men’s lacrosse, men’s tennis and wrestling.  In 2008, Harvard announced the “Preserving the Tradition, Supporting the Future” campaign to continue the pursuit of excellence in athletics.

Scalise has instituted several new innovations to the largest athletic department in the country.  The Crimson played its first night home football game in Harvard Stadium in September 2007.  Most recently, state of the art video boards were installed in Harvard Stadium and Bright Hockey Center in time for the 2008-09 seasons.

In addition, Scalise has overseen a $5 million upgrade to Harvard Stadium that has exponentially expanded the accessibility of Harvard’s athletic facilities to intercollegiate, intramural and recreational users.  Harvard has installed new field turf in both Harvard Stadium and on Cumnock Turf, added a bubble over the playing field at Harvard Stadium during the winter months to increase the accessibility of the facility to the Harvard community.  The department of athletics has upgraded Gordon Track, improved the Palmer Dixon Strength & Conditioning Center and renovated locker rooms for all 41 teams. 

In recent years, Harvard has played host to several national athletic events, including the 2006 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four in Boston and the 2008 men’s lacrosse championships at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.  Harvard will again host the lacrosse championships in the spring of 2009.

The 58-year-old Scalise was born in New York City and graduated from Uniondale (NY) High School in 1967.  He is married to Maura Costin Scalise '80, an All-Ivy swimmer at Harvard who coached the Crimson women's swimming and diving team to Ivy League and national prominence during her tenure from 1984 until 1997.  They reside in Nahant with their children Michael, Mark, Matthew and Rosemary.

Moderator

Bob Ryan

Sports Columnist, The Boston Globe

Ryan is a columnist for the Boston Globe sports section. He is a regular panelist on ESPN's Sunday morning roundtable, The Sports Reporters. He has been writing for the Globe since the 1970s covering all of the Boston sports team and has been a columnist since 1989. He previously served as a beat writer for the Boston Celtics. He is a graduate of Boston College.