Jerry Colangelo
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"Jerry Colangelo" is an American businessman and sports executive. He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association/NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League (1987–2008)/Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. He was also instrumental in the relocation of the Winnipeg Jets (1972–96)/Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League/NHL to Phoenix, Arizona/Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes.

He became the youngest general manager in professional sports in 1968 after being hired as general manager for the Phoenix Suns. He has the second longest tenure running the same NBA franchise only to be exceeded by Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics.

In the summer of 2005, Colangelo was named director of USA Basketball whose team represented the United States in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 FIBA World Championship. Colangelo also serves as Chairman of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), a nonprofit nonpartisan educational foundation that promotes Italian American culture and heritage.

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When it came right down to it, I had to make a choice. This was the individual, it was the guy, right time, right place. It was the guy I wanted alongside of me to go forward.

We want to make a directional change. I didn't say an attitudinal change.

The league has accomplished so much in the last 30 years, but the potential over the next decade is incredible, just with technology alone. And you really need to have that stability, and the stability that David has offered the league in terms of his leadership and building a strong organization of people is very important to that future.

I've spent my entire life in the game on different levels, and here was an opportunity on an international stage to represent my country at a time when our basketball program needed an awful lot of work as a result of the World Championships in Indianapolis a few years ago and the Olympics in Athens.

We attend and scout all of the international competitions. And so this team will be totally ready. There will not be any concern about not knowing what to expect.

The stability is very important to this league, and the potential over the next decade is huge.

We need to change the perception of how the world looks at us as a country and a basketball power and we have to reclaim what we lost. It's a lot about how they look, how they act on and off the court. The only way to change the perception is to have people doing the right thing and that's the goal.

It's a sensitive deal. It'd be inappropriate for him to be out front.

When it came time to make the decision ... it was obvious.