A pioneering Chicago Bulls marketing executive has pledged to give $18 million to his alma mater, the University of Maryland, to support the athletics program that launched his career and the new sports management program that he hopes -he, will launch many others.
The university announced Tuesday that Stephen Schanwald ’77 has allocated $10 million to Maryland Athletics to support its top priorities, and $8 million to the Robert H. Smith School of Business to endow its Sport Management Program and to offer scholarships to students who take courses there.
“It’s a great blessing, at this point in my life, to be able to have the opportunity to try to help young people grow and achieve their dreams,” Schanwald said. “The most rewarding thing for me is mentoring people and helping them move up the ladder the same way I was helped.”
In recognition of his generosity, the sports management program as well as the Xfinity Center pavilion and football practice fields at Jones-Hill House will bear his name; external operations suite Stephen M. Schanwald-Russ Potts of the Xfinity Center will honor him and his former mentor at UMD.
“Stephen Schanwald left an indelible mark on the NBA,” said UMD President Darryll J. Pines. “Now he’s doing the same thing for the University of Maryland and current and future generations of Terps students, student-athletes and fans.”
Schanwald calls the unpaid internship he sought and completed at Maryland Athletics for three years under Potts, who in 1970 became the first sports marketing director in the history of collegiate athletics, “the biggest decision that I never took it.”
After earning a general studies degree at UMD, Schanwald followed in Potts’ footsteps, becoming the first director of athletic promotions at the United States Air Force Academy. After a stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he won a World Series championship ring, Schanwald became assistant vice president of marketing for the Chicago White Sox.
He stayed in town to join the Bulls in 1987 and over the next 28 years, as executive vice president of business operations, he reinvented the action in an arena between the whistles.
Photo by John T. Consoli
Gone is the halftime spent watching a ball cart “sitting in center field, waiting for the players to come out and shoot,” as he remembers from his childhood. Inspired by Las Vegas magic shows, he recruited acrobats, Elvis impersonators and Blues Brothers-themed acts to turn 48-minute basketball games into two-and-a-half hour spectacles. He organized basketball competitions between company mascots, pitting Ronald McDonald against Tony the Tiger. He initiated the now-standard technique of lining up babies at the baseline to see which ones could crawl faster to their mothers in half-court.
At one point, Bulls coach Phil Jackson told Schanwald that the theatrics had kept the team from winning.
“We still managed to win six championships,” Schanwald said. “He came.”
During Schanwald’s tenure, the Bulls also recorded 13 consecutive sellout seasons. And through the sale of suites, naming rights and signage, it financed the creation of the United Center arena in 1994, generating additional revenue from concerts, concessions and collegiate athletics. Bulls tickets remained a valuable commodity even after Michael Jordan left following the 1998 season and several years of poor performance.
A pioneer of marketing pillars such as corporate sponsorships, community relations, broadcasting and digital advertising, Schanwald was a “pioneer in every sense of the word,” according to former NBA commissioner David Stern. said once.
By endowing the Smith School-based sports management program, Schanwald wants to give the Terps of today and tomorrow a springboard into the industry. “Nothing feeds my soul more than helping people move forward in life,” he said.
The program, launched last year by the School of Business, the School of Public Health’s Department of Kinesiology, the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and Maryland Athletics, prepares students for careers sports through specialized courses, meetings with industry leaders, networking and other professional opportunities.
Smith School Dean Prabhudev Konana said the endowment fund will help make the program one of the best of its kind.
“Steve is a giant in the sports industry and has a true passion for helping students succeed,” Konana said. “We are very grateful to Steve for his generosity and vision. This transformative investment, combined with our existing strong curricular and co-curricular opportunities, will make the Smith School a truly exceptional place for young people to launch sporting careers.
Schanwald’s donation, among the top four in Maryland Athletics history, marks the second consecutive year of a $10 million commitment to the athletic department.
“It is an honor to recognize Steve for his philanthropy to the University of Maryland and particularly with Maryland Athletics,” said Barry P. Gossett Athletic Director Damon Evans. “With the naming of Schanwald Pavilion, Schanwald Football Practice Fields and Schanwald-Potts Marketing and Revenue Strategy Suite, we honor Steve’s legacy and his values and principles when it comes to dealing with people in the right way and make the game experience the best possible for the fans a true Terp for life.”