Despite illness, tourney founder stays in game

Steve Carp

Monday, July 19, 1999 | 9:45 a.m.

Some greet him like a long-lost relative. Others approach him as if they were in Oz and he was the Wizard.

But nobody ignores him. That's because he's throwing the party and you don't want to be rude to the host.

Three months ago, Sonny Vaccaro couldn't tell you where the house was, let alone if he was holding a party. His memory had taken a brief hiatus. Scared the hell out of him, not to mention his wife, Pam.

For four hours, Vaccaro literally forgot everything stored in his memory bank. It was as if thieves had come in and made a withdrawal, only to put everything back in the safe a few hours later.

The doctors said it was too much stress plus too little sleep that brought on global transient amnesia. Vaccaro has had two bouts of GTA the past five years. The first one lasted 18 hours. By comparison, this wasn't as severe, but no less frightening.

"I remember what happened before and what happened after," Vaccaro said. "I can't tell you what happened in the middle."

He's sitting in his "office" at adidas' The Big Time tournament -- the top row of the Durango High main gym. You want Sonny? Simply look up and start walking.

Florida coach Billy Donovan is holding court with Vaccaro. Then it's Detroit's Perry Watson's turn. Some of the coaches from the competing teams need a minute or two and Vaccaro gives it to them, knowing full well he could easily pass them on to tourney director Larry McKay.

July is Vaccaro's time. Yes, he's busy year-round making sure adidas clients such as Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady are in good shape. But it's the events such as The Big Time, which wraps up its fifth year today at Durango, and his ABCD Camp in Teaneck, N.J., that gets Vaccaro pumped.

Which is risky business considering his health. He's turning 60 in September. He's battling diabetes as well as GTA. He has lost 35 pounds, which is good, except the vehicle which prompted the weight loss wasn't.

"I've got to watch myself," Vaccaro said. "I mean, I still get a thrill out of competing. I've been involved with kids since I was 24. Basketball and kids have been my life.

"But the reality is, Sonny's on the down side. The doctors have told me to slow down. I'm going to have to make some hard decisions soon."

Quit the business?

"I love this too much to give it up altogether," he said. "But I just don't want to see this (The Big Time) die. It's the best tournament of its kind anywhere.

"Look at all these kids getting a chance to play. How can you say that's a bad thing?

"I'll never understand (the NCAA). I know they'd love to put me out of business."

Then Vaccaro offers a challenge to his former employers.

"If they get Nike to quit, I'll quit," he said of the summer camp/tournament business the National Association of Basketball Coaches would like to see toned down, if not eliminated altogether. "That's probably what the NCAA wants.

"I'll tell you the best solution. If they opened it (evaluation periods) up all year, it would eliminate the war (between adidas and Nike), which is really what they want. I can have my tournament at a different time. It would spread everything out. The kids would be under less pressure and so would the coaches.

"Right now, it's insanity. You have three weeks to scout and evaluate. That's not enough time. All it does is increase the pressure on the kids and the coaches."

Vaccaro believes the movement from the blue-ribbon committee formed to look into college basketball's future will recommend drastic reform when it comes to off-season recruiting.

"They'll try and shut the whole summer down," he said. "To me, it's legally and morally wrong. You're going to try and stop kids from playing and legally, they can't do that.

"What they'll do is keep the coaches from evaluating. And to me, that's where it's morally wrong."

Vaccaro said he's prepared for the worst. So he has thought about other avenues where he can stay in basketball.

The idea of working in the NBA intrigues him and he's still very friendly with the first basketball player he signed for Nike, a guy named Jordan.

Vaccaro and Nike had an acrimonious parting of the ways several years ago, prompting adidas to hire Vaccaro as its basketball person.

If and when Michael Jordan decides to get back into the game as an owner, perhaps he and Vaccaro could reunite. Of course, Vaccaro has a multitude of close friends in the NBA, people like Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl he could probably call on if he really wanted to get involved.

But he's not ready to abandon his pet projects although he's pretty much divesting himself from the day-to-day operations of The Big Time and ABCD. He allows McKay to handle the myriad details that go with running a 256-team tournament at eight sites. He has people handling ABCD as well.

"I trust Larry McKay implicitly," he said. "He's been honest with me from day one. He pretty much runs it now. I just give him whatever support he needs."

Pam Vaccaro said: "He loves being intricately involved. But I want him away from the logistics. He's got this great group of people running the events.

"This is so much a part of our lives, we'll never get out of it entirely. He wants to remain in basketball. I see him being the mentor, the father figure.

"Twenty years from now, we still want kids playing in The Big Time and at ABCD. If you love it, you've got to do it."

And there's no doubt Vaccaro loves what he does. So much, that it put him in the hospital. Twice. But he's still a battler, even if he physically can't take on everything anymore.

"I still get a thrill out of competing," Vaccaro said, throwing a not-so-subtle jab at Nike. "So I'm not going anywhere."

Except back to his "office" at the top of the Durango stands. There are a few more people waiting to have a word with him.