Pat Croce graced the cover of Success magazine as the first person to ascend from the training room to the boardroom of a professional sports team. His remarkable success as a physical therapist and pioneer in the sports medicine field to the colorful leader responsible for the resurrection of the Philadelphia 76ers as a NBA championship contender has been defined as one of the most amazing stories in sports history.
Through his business savvy, dynamic personality, and emphasis on customer service, Croce created Sports Physical Therapists, a sports medicine empire of 40 centers in 11 states, into a top-ten finalist for the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. Following the sale of his company, Croce focused his entrepreneurial spirit and indestructible positive attitude on the purchase of the NBA’s last place team, the Philadelphia 76ers in 1996. During his 5-year tenure as President, the team rose from worst to first in the NBA standings and broke franchise records in attendance, revenue, merchandise, and consecutive wins on the way to the NBA Championships against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001. He was recognized for his role maximizing the potential of one of the challenging NBA stars – Allen Iverson.
Croce next tackled television as a lively commentator on the NBA on NBC, a Tae Kwon Do commentator for the Summer Olympic Games 2004 in Greece (Croce is a 4th degree Black Belt), and during that same year hosted a nationally syndicated daily TV show Pat Croce: Moving In for Sony Pictures Television. His most recent role was as a panel judge on ABC’s American Inventor.
Croce continues to fill requests as a nationally-renowned motivational speaker, and is the author of the New York Times bestseller, I Feel Great and You Will Too!, the motivational tome 110%, and the business book Lead or Get Off the Pot! In addition to his published books, Croce has been a regular contributor to Fortune Small Business and the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazines.
Croce was the proud recipient of the “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award, featured on the cover of Inc magazine as “The Dale Carnegie of the 21st Century,” and honored with A&E Biography’s “Community Hero” Award. He continues to thrive as a serial entrepreneur with interests in the fields of entertainment, technology, and lifestyle.
Testimonials
Your presentation at the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards was one of the highlights of the weekend. ‘Extremely inspiring,’ ‘The best I’ve heard in ten years attending the program,’ ‘An amazing speaker and truly motivating’ were just a few of the comments we received. The standing ovation you received was well-deserved and genuine. I don’t remember a standing ovation for any other speaker in the 16 years of the event!” Gregory Erikson, Global Director, Ernst & Young
“You helped us do what we set out to do – energize and motivate our high performance sales team. Your enthusiasm and energy made our afternoon memorable and valuable.” Chris Rooney, President, AT&T
“It is rare that an outside speaker connects so well with the heart and minds of a group. You and Colin Powell are the two best I have had the privilege of experiencing.” George Morrow, EVP, Worldwide Sales, Amgen
Programs (Detailed descriptions available upon request)
· Mindset for Success: Positivity/Self-Belief, Teamwork, Asking, Quality Work, Listening
· Inspirational Stories
· Customer Service
· Eye on Entrepreneur: Paint The Vision
· Communicate For Success
· Negotiate For Success
· Super Sales Strategies/Everybody Sells
· Marketing Madness/Brand Idea/Marketing the Sixers |