Shaq laces up with Mr. Rogers

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001 | 10:31 a.m.

While Andre Agassi has spent the last 16 years striving to be the best men's tennis player in the world, his best friend was busy helping him achieve star status in the corporate world.

It was Perry Rogers who negotiated Agassi's lucrative endorsement contracts with Nike, Canon and most recently, Schick, among others.

So when Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal began searching for a new agent, Rogers was one of the first people he considered.

"The guy knows a lot of people and he's well respected in the industry," the 7-foot-1 O'Neal said. "When you look at a guy with a background like that, my decision wasn't very hard.

"I called all my friends in my position that have great endorsement deals. I called Phil Mickelson, I talked to Andre, asked them who their agents were. I interviewed Phil's people and I interviewed Andre's people and Andre's guy was the best choice."

Earlier this month, O'Neal fired his agent of 10 years, Leonard Armato. Rogers said he officially became O'Neal's new agent within the last 10 days.

Rogers will handle all of the Laker star's future basketball contract negotiations, endorsement deals and his film, music and TV interests.

Other prominent members of O'Neal's support staff are his uncle, Mike Parris, who will be his business advisor, and Lester Knipsel, O'Neal's longtime business manager, who is responsible for taking care of his bills, estate planning and taxes.

O'Neal has been friends with Agassi for 10 years. The two helped launch the All-Star Cafe chain of restaurant/bars along with other athletes including Wayne Gretzky, Monica Seles and Ken Griffey Jr. The venture eventually failed and the Las Vegas location closed more than a year ago.

O'Neal said he has purchased a condominium here and said he will spend more time in Las Vegas.

The usually jovial O'Neal became very serious when asked how long he planned to work with Rogers.

"Long term," O'Neal said. "Forever. We've got a plan and everything is looking good."

Rogers' plan for O'Neal is simple.

He wants to ensure that Shaq is able to endorse products that actually interest him and to align him with companies that won't try to change O'Neal's personality.

"You can't be all things to all people," Rogers said. "You have to simply represent who you are in the most specific way possible.

"It has to be authentic which is what's so great about Shaquille. He's a very authentic person. He's very real about his approach to things.

"When you find those things the athletes themselves like, particularly the things they've liked from the time that they were young, it's always going to be successful, because there's going to be a part of them that is passionate about it."

Armato was successful at helping O'Neal sign his seven-year, $120 million contract to join the Lakers in 1996 and negotiating his three-year extension last year worth about $88.5 million.

He also landed endorsement deals with Starter, Nestle, Pepsi, Reebok and Swatch, among others, worth an estimated $300 million. But Armato gradually lost O'Neal's confidence by asking him to keep his "street image" to himself and tailoring his projects to a youthful audience.

O'Neal starred in several children's movies, including "Kazaam" and "Steel," which were box office bombs. And his six rap albums weren't exactly hits with Armato.

Rogers is intent on allowing O'Neal, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and the 1999-2000 league MVP, to be himself. At the same time, he wants everyone to understand that O'Neal's main focus is basketball and winning NBA championships.

Until Agassi called Rogers in 1993 while the latter was in law school at Arizona, Rogers had no idea he would be orchestrating multi-million contracts and endorsement deals.

"I planned on going to get my MBA after law school," Rogers said. "I would not have any idea what I wanted to do beyond that. I just know that he called my second year (1993) of law school and I started working with him (during) my second semester of my second year."

The following year, Rogers graduated from Arizona and moved back to Las Vegas to work full-time with Agassi and his ex-wife, Brooke Shields. Rogers' official title is president of Agassi Enterprises.

When O'Neal and some of his associates called Rogers recently to discuss a few ideas, he had no idea what was next.

"I thought that they were just asking for my input on some things," Rogers said. "And then the conversation continued and developed into something totally unexpected."

After O'Neal asked Rogers to be his agent, Rogers' first thought was whether he would have enough time to manage two of the best athletes in the world.

Rogers consulted Agassi and others in his inner circle. Rogers said Agassi was "100 percent supportive."

Rogers said he will continue working out of his Las Vegas office and fly to L.A. as needed.

"Andre and Shaquille are different people," he said. "My job is to understand Shaquille and then work from there to accomplish what he wants for all of his business endeavors."