The ‘Air’ movie not only tells the story of how Michael Jordan signed with Nike and changed the landscape of sports sneakers; also that of Sonny Vaccaro, played by Matt Damon.
Possibly, the most important person in the film is the character of Sonny Vaccaro, because if not for him, the brand of the Swoosh would never have found Michael Jordan and the story would be different.
Basically, Sonny is one of the pillars of the Nike brand and all the success it has to date. You couldn’t understand the Swoosh without the influence of Sonny Vaccaro.
So, We will tell the story of Sonny Vaccaro and everything he has done for Nike and other sneaker brands, as well as discovering Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and other basketball legends.
The story of Sonny Vaccaro and his influence on Nike and Air Jordan
This character grew up in Trafford, Pennsylvania and one of the curiosities about him is that his name is not Sonny. His mother gave him that nickname when he was little, so his real name is John Pual Vincent Vaccaro..
“My mother always told me that I was a shining light in her life. I was the first child… that’s how Sonny came about, my mother just said Sonnysaid Sonny Vaccaro in the 2015 ESPN documentary called ‘Sole Man’.
When he was growing up, basketball was the least thing on his mind, because American football and volleyball were his favorite sports. Unfortunately, an injury interrupted his career at Youngstown State University.
But that injury that took him away from soccer brought him closer to basketball, well a coach asked him for help recruiting Pittsburgh players to go to Youngstown State University.
Creation of the first national high school all-star party
In 1964, Sonny Vaccaro would change the landscape of high school players from all over the United States, because he had the idea -together with one of his friends- to create a national high school star basketball party.
The Dapper Dan Roundball Classic was born a year later, match that brought together the best high school playersand that to date are still being played, as well as generating incredible stars.
Some of the players who have been through this match are Patrick Ewing, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady, Saquille O’Neal, Paul Pierce and more.
His arrival at Nike in 1977
In those days, Sonny Vaccaro worked as a teacher, although he did not seek to do that all his life. Along with his teaching work, design prototypes of sports shoes, including ones for basketball.
Sonny Vaccaro made the journey from his native Trafford to Beaverton, Oregon; where he wanted to present his designs to Nike. At a meeting he met Rob Strasser, the company’s marketing director, got a job.
Already as a member of the Swoosh brand team, signed 10 of the best players in college basketball. He first paid money to 20 coaches and gave shoes to the players, then the number increased to 50 coaches.
Michael Jordan’s signature
Nike was looking for the following stars to promote the brand and those chosen were some of the players who would enter the 1984 NBA Draftincluding Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and John Stockton, according to USA Today.
But, they did not think of Michael Jordan, until Sonny Vaccaro entered the scene, well cHe convinced Nike to give the entire budget to MJ, instead of signing several players.
This is how Michael Jordan left Converse, a brand he used at the University to sign a rather lucrative contract with Nike. 2.5 million dollars and five years were the ones that convinced MJ.
And that’s how Sonny Vaccaro became one of Nike’s important men, although there are several versions of this story. “Sonny helped, but he wasn’t the MVP in that process. Sonny didn’t influence me to go to Nike“Michael Jordan told USA Today Sports.
But, Sonny Vaccaro defends his position, since he does not hide that he was the savior of the Swoosh brand and that only they will know. Although, we have to see ‘Air’ to know a little more about the story.
