Who is Sonny Vaccaro? See Net-worth, Quote, Awards, Fact, Wiki

John Paul Vaccaro Wiki Biography

Sonny Vaccaro was born as John Paul Vincent Vaccaro on the 23rd September 1939, in Trafford, Pennsylvania, USA of American and Italian ancestry. He is a businessman, probably best known for being a former sports marketing executive for Nike, Adidas and Reebok. Thus, he is considered to be the first man who connected college sports with basketball shoe companies. He is also recognized as the founder of the ABCD All America Camp, and the All-Star Game.

Have you ever wondered how rich is Sonny Vaccaro? It is estimated according by sources that the overall amount of Vaccaro’s net worth is over $5 million as of early 2016, earned through his career in the sports industry. Another source is coming from a documentary movie about his life, “Sole Man” (2015), in production by ESPN,.

Sonny Vaccaro Net Worth $5 Million

Sonny Vaccaro is the son of Italian immigrants who came to the USA in search of a beter life. He grew up in Pittsburgh, and later studied at the Youngstown State University.

As the godfather of shoe marketing business, Sonny became widely known in 1984, when he signed the uprising basketball star Michael Jordan to his first shoe contract, making the Air Jordan 1, at Nike Inc. and thereby increasing the popularity of the company. Before that, he was the one responsible for creating the national high school All-Star game, the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic, with a little help from his friend Pat DiCesare, who was a concert promoter at the time. Anyway, the first high school basketball all star game was held in Pitsburgh in 1965. The all star game withstood for 43 years, and featured players such as Shaquille O’Neal, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Garnett, Calvin Murphy, Patrick Ewing, and Rasheed Wallace, among many others.

However, Sonny`s net worth began to increase when he became advertiser for Nike Inc. He managed to bring numerous high school teams to Nike, and later expanded it to Colleges, and eventually the NBA. Nevertheless, Sonny left the Nike Inc. after a number of arguments with board members, but soon joined the Adidas, and quickly landed Kobe Bryant with a million dollar deal. Kobe was soon given the Adidas New Feet You Wear Technology, and their long time relationship was about to begin. Apart from signing him to Adidas, Sonny also helped Bryant to eventually finish as a Laker.

To speak further of Sonny`s accomplishments, he brought Tracy McGrady to Adidas, and tried to sign LeBron James, but failed, as Nike offered him a better contract. Sonny eventually left Adidas and joined Reebok, but still stayed focused on the NCAA league.

For quite some time, Sonny was also a founder of the ABCD All America Camp, where high school prospects showcase their skills to NBA and College franchise teams. It operated from 1984 until 2007, and some of the NBA stars that passed through the camp include Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

When it comes to his personal life, Sonny Vaccaro is married to Pam Monakee. In free time, he enjoys playing tennis.