PHOENIX -- Valley sports legend, Jerry Colangelo met with fans Saturday to sign copies of his new book chronicling his journey with the Olympic 'Redeem Team.'
Jordan. Bird. Magic. Barkley. Robinson. These are just some of the players that formed the legendary USA Men’s Basketball “Dream Team” in the ‘90s, proving to the world America’s dominance in the sport. By 2004, however, USA Basketball was faltering.
A sixth place finish in the 2002 World Championships and a bronze at the 2004 Olympics made clear there were problems within the organization and that the rest of the world had caught up to the United States in talent.
Faced with the possibility of further embarrassment in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, USA Basketball turned to Jerry Colangelo in 2005 to solve the organization’s problems and rebuild its global reputation.
Colangelo was already a legend in American sports - he was a former owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns (and the team’s first general manager in 1968), one of the founding owners of the Arizona Diamondbacks Major League Baseball franchise, and one of the main influences in bringing the NHL to Phoenix.
Now he was tasked with returning Team USA to its glory atop world basketball.
The new book RETURN OF THE GOLD: The Journey of Jerry Colangelo and the Redeem Team (The Sports Professor/ Morgan James, November 2009) is a behind-the-scenes, in-depth look at how Colangelo rebuilt Team USA for the 2008 Olympics.
From naming legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski as the the squad’s head coach to hand-picking the stars who would make up the team’s roster, Colangelo guided it all, and author Dan Bickley was granted unprecedented access to Colangelo throughout the process.
Book Signing & DiscussionSaturday, Nov. 7
1 - 3 p.m.
Border's Books
Biltmore Fashion Park
2402 E. Camelback Rd.
(602) 957-6660
Book Signing
Thurday, Nov. 12
6 - 8 p.m.
Barnes & Noble
Tempe Marketplace
2000 E. Rio Salado Pkwy.
(480) 894-6954
