It goes without saying that we wanted to find a guest with a big enough reputation in the industry to withstand the enormous pressure of celebrating our 100th show. So, it’s a great pleasure to say hello to Donald Dell, one of the real legends of sports marketing folklore.He was the agent who signed the two most valuable and enduring shoe deals in sports history, Stan Smith and Adidas and Michael Jordan and Nike.Dell, now 83, is the Yale educated lawyer and former pro tennis player, who captained the US Davis Cup team in the 1960s containing Smith and Arthur Ashe, two megastars who became the founding clients of Proserv which Dell co founded in 1970.  In an extraordinary career, Dell represented many of the giants of sport, from Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras to Nancy Kerrigan, Patrick Ewing and for a while at least, Jordan. So this is an hour of conversation that moves around from star to star and decade to decade, taking us inside the room with some of the great characters of the sports business, including Phil Knight, Horst Dassler and Mark McCormack to name just a few.If you’re a latecomer to Unofficial Partner, you can go back and listen to our entire back catalogue, for free, via the website or Apple Podcasts. and if you’ve been with us since episode one, we’re really grateful for your support and interest, and rest assured we’re just getting going. We spoke to Dell from his home in Maryland, Washington and we’re grateful to Steve Horowitz of Innercircle Sports for putting us in touch.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
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We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

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