Growing
up on the Northwest Side, Jerry wrote articles about Taft school sports and was
the Aerie’s sports editor. At Bradley University he was a baseball catcher and
worked for the basketball coaching staff and was inducted into the Bradley
Athletic Hall of Fame.
He switched to recruiting, spending 16 years as a scout and special assignment
scout with major league teams in Cleveland, Oakland, Seattle and for the Chicago
White Sox. He shifted his sights to the NBA in 1966 and was signed by
Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf in 1985.
In his years as vice president of Basketball Operations he recruited all of the
stars but Michael Jordan, and brought the Bulls to their multiple world
championships in the 1980s and 1990s. He was voted NBA Executive of the Year in
1987-88.
In 2003, Jerry retired as GM. He is the only man is sports history to be an
executive in both Major League Baseball and Basketball.