Joan Cronan was head of the most successful women's athletic department for nearly 30 years. As women's AD at the Univ. of Tennessee, where she still serves as Senior Adviser to the Chancellor and Women's AD Emeritus, Cronan oversaw Tennessee's growth from seven women's sports to 11; more than quadrupled the department's budget; amassed 10 national championships and 29 SEC titles, including all eight of PAT SUMMITT's NCAA crowns; and with Summitt helped turn women's basketball into a revenue-producing sport. She also stepped in as Vice Chancellor and interim AD in '11, the first person in Tennessee history to hold that position, and outside of Knoxville has served on the NCAA D-I Leadership Council, the NCAA Exec Committee, NCAA Management Council and been elected president of NACDA, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
Wayne Embry is a true NBA pioneer. After a stellar 11-year playing career, the five-time All-Star went on to become the NBA's first African-American GM with the Bucks in '72. He then worked as GM of the Cavaliers, where he was named NBA Exec of the Year in '92 and '98 while paving the way for other minority sports execs -- once again making history in '94 by becoming the first African-American NBA team President and COO. In all, in 20 years as an NBA GM, Embry's teams made the playoffs 13 times. Embry's contributions landed him in the Naismith Memorial Basketball HOF in '99. Since '04, he has worked as a Senior Adviser for the Raptors, where he also served as interim GM in '06.
Rick Hendrick started a NASCAR Winston Cup team in '84 without a sponsor and only enough money to fund a handful of races. He was close to shutting the team down when driver GEOFF BODINE won a race at Martinsville, Va., a victory that helped the team land a sponsor and continue to operate. The rest, as they say, is history. Over the next three decades, Hendrick turned that underfunded, one-car outfit into the most dominant team in NASCAR history. He has won 11 Cup championships and fielded cars for two of the sport's top drivers, JEFF GORDON and JIMMIE JOHNSON. He pioneered today's multicar teams and cut revolutionary sponsorship deals that emphasized bonuses tied to sponsorship. And as he did all of that, he expanded his business from 12 local car dealerships in Charlotte to 87 dealerships nationwide that do more than $6B in annual revenue.
A Tigers' farmhand for three years, Michael Ilitch utilized the wealth he accumulated as founder of the Little Caesars pizza chain to become one of the most successful sports team owners of the last half-century. Ilitch purchased the Red Wings in '82 and the team went on to win the Stanley Cup four times -- in '97, '98, '02 and '08. He then realized a childhood dream in '92 by purchasing the Tigers, seeing the opening of Comerica Park in '00 and winning two AL pennants in the last seven years. A revered contributor to the Detroit community, Ilitch received the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom in '97 and was inducted into the Hockey HOF in '03.
Having just completed his 50th year of sports broadcasting, Verne Lundquist has provided the soundtrack for some of the biggest moments in sports. Who can watch a clip of JACK NICKLAUS draining a long putt at the '86 Masters without hearing Lundquist exclaim "Maybe ... Yes, sir!"? Now the voice of the SEC on CBS, as well as appearing as part of the network's March Madness coverage, Lundquist is still going strong as one of the icons of sports broadcasting, covering the biggest games and the biggest moments, with his signature calls of "Yes, sir!" and "Oh my goodness!" still entertaining fans everywhere.
Having compiled one of the most unique and interesting careers in sports, if not any industry, Bill Schmidt is best known as the head of Gatorade sports marketing in the '80s and '90s, a time of tremendous growth for one of sports' iconic brands. In different circles, he is known as one of America's greatest javelin throwers, a bronze medalist in the '72 Munich Games and the only American to medal in the event in more than 60 years. Along the way he has been VP/Sports at the '84 L.A. Games and Dir of Sports at the '82 World's Fair, CEO of Oakley and owner of his own consultancy, as well as a teacher, coach, professor and serviceman in the U.S. Army. Yet it was during his 15 years at Gatorade that Schmidt made his biggest contributions to sports. He helped make sports drinks the endemic product they are today, from the "Gatorade bath" and the "Be Like Mike" campaign that helped create MICHAEL JORDAN as a marketing icon, to much of the sideline inventory that's now taken for granted.
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