Randy Vataha grew up in Garden Grove, California where he attended Rancho Alamitos High School. He lettered in four sports at Rancho and upon graduation decided to focus on football.
After a year and a half at Golden West Junior College where he made the transition from high school quarterback to college wide receiver, Randy received a football and academic scholarship to Stanford University. He was starting wide receiver in the 1969 and 1970 campaigns. In his senior year, Stanford won the Pacific 8 championship and went on to challenge unbeaten Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The Stanford team quarterbacked by Jim Plunkett defeated Ohio State 27-17 and Randy caught the final and decisive touchdown in the game. Randy went on to complete his academic career at Stanford, receiving a BA Degree in Political Science in 1972.
In 1971 Randy was the 17th draft choice of the Los Angeles Rams. After attending training camp and being released by the Rams, he was picked up by the New England Patriots and reunited with former college teammate Jim Plunkett. Randy went on to play with the Patriots for six years and finished his career with the Green Bay Packers in 1977. In 1974 Randy was elected the Player Representative for the New England Patriots to the NFL Players Association. He became a leader in the Association and served on the Executive Committee for Collective Bargaining.
Randy entered the world of business in 1977 when he started the Playoff Sports and Fitness Clubs, and expanded the company to ten facilities by 1981, all located in New England and New York.
In 1981 Randy Vataha attended the founding meeting of the United States Football League and helped give birth to the USFL. He became co-owner of the Boston Breakers Football Club, which played its inaugural season at Boston University’s Nickerson Field in 1983. The team was moved to the New Orleans Superdome for the second season since a stadium of adequate size was not available long-term in downtown Boston. Randy served as President of the New Orleans Breakers for the 1984 season. Ultimately, the team was sold to new ownership that moved the Breakers to Portland, Oregon when the USFL decided to change its spring schedule to the fall.
After returning to Boston in late 1984, Randy became a partner and vice president in the world's largest executive search firm at that time, Korn-Ferry International. While doing a search for Bob Woolf Associates Inc., a sports agency that represented athletes and entertainers in contract negotiations, Randy’s long-time friend and company founder, Bob Woolf, asked him to consider taking the position of Chief Executive Officer. Randy agreed and became CEO of Bob Woolf Associates Inc. in March of 1986. Randy negotiated major contracts and oversaw the daily operation of the Company which represented a virtual "Who's Who” roster of sports and entertainment superstars including Larry Bird, Tom Glavine, Joe Montana, The New Kids on the Block and Larry King.
In 1994 Randy, along with his partner Robert L. Caporale, formed Game Plan LLC. Game Plan provides consulting and investment banking services to the sports and entertainment industry. The company's primary function is to represent professional sports teams or potential owners of professional teams in their acquisition, sale, financing and/or capitalization. Some of Game Plan’s transactions include the purchase of the Boston Celtics in 2002, the sale of the Ottawa Senators in September of 2003, the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004 and the sale of the St. Louis Blues in June of 2006. In 2005, Game Plan conceived and financed an unprecedented offer to purchase all thirty NHL teams for $4.5 billion with the plan of restructuring the NHL into a single entity company.
Randy is probably the only person in the United States who has been a professional player, sports union negotiator, team president and owner, sports agent and sports investment banker.
Randy is married to the former Deborah Ayn Young of Garden Grove, California, and is the father of three children, Collin, Kyle and Courtney.
John A. Walsh serves as executive vice president and executive editor of ESPN, Inc. Walsh has been the executive editor of ESPN since December 1990. At times during his 20 year career at ESPN, he has overseen the launch of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Radio; was instrumental in developing the many news and information elements within ESPN; including networks and new shows; and has led the editorial direction of ESPN.com and its properties.
Walsh served as the managing editor for ESPN from January 1988 to December 1990, and was responsible for the editorial content of all news and informational programming, including SportsCenter, ESPN's flagship sports news program.
The founding editor of the original Inside Sports magazine (1979-82), Walsh also served as managing editor of U.S. News and World Report (1985-86) and Rolling Stone (1973-74). He held a number of editorial positions at Newsday (1970-73), including sports editor; worked as sports editor of the Columbia Missourian (1967-70), and was an editor at the Washington Post style section (1977-78). He has been the editor of three sports books, including "The Heisman: A Symbol of Excellence," published in 1984. In addition, he has served as a consultant for several publications, including Esquire magazine (1982-83), Vanity Fair magazine (1983-84), the New York Times Sunday sports "Part Two" magazine (1985) and Special Report magazines published by Whittle Communications.
Walsh had been a consultant to ESPN from July 1987 to January 1988. His television experience includes consultancies to CBS Sports' NFL Today program (1986-87 season) and with TVTV on a PBS documentary on the 1976 Super Bowl.
A native of Scranton, Pa., Walsh earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Scranton in 1966 and received a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 1968. In 1991, he received the Frank J. O'Hara Award from the University of Scranton's National Alumni Association, recognizing his "sustained achievement in the communications field." In 2001, he received the University of Missouri Journalism School Medal of Honor.
MODERATOR
Daryl Morey assumed his role as General Manager of the Rockets on May 10, 2007. He enters his first season in this capacity after serving as the
team's Assistant General Manager since joining the organization on Apr. 3,
2006. In his current position, Morey oversee all of Basketball Operations
for the Rockets.
Since taking over as General Manager, Morey worked with Owner Leslie
Alexander to secure Rick Adelman as the 11th head coach in team annals.
Following a trade to bring Mike James back to Houston, Morey selected Aaron
Brooks in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft. Morey then obtained
Argentinean forward Luis Scola from the San Antonio Spurs. Bringing all the
pieces together, Morey re-signed free agents Chuck Hayes and Dikembe
Mutombo. The returning players and additions join Shane Battier, Tracy
McGrady, Bonzi Wells and Yao Ming on a roster considered one of the deepest
and improved in the NBA.
Morey came to Houston after serving three years as SVP Operations for
the Boston Celtics. With the Celtics, his responsibilities included the
development of analytical methods and technology to enhance basketball
decisions, such as the draft, trades, and free agency.
Prior to his time with the Celtics, Morey worked as a Principal
Consultant with an emphasis on sports at The Parthenon Group, a leading
strategy consulting firm. While at Parthenon, he led the Joe O'Donnell/Steve
Karp Boston Red Sox acquisition team and the current Celtics ownership group
acquisition team. In addition to Parthenon, Morey has been a technology lead
at MITRE Corporation, which is a top defense industry advisory firm that
develops systems to aid national security decision making across the
intelligence community. Morey was also a statistical consultant with STATS,
Inc., the industry pioneer in the use of sports statistics highlighted in
the Michael Lewis book Moneyball.
Morey holds a bachelor's degree in computer science with an emphasis
on statistics from Northwestern University, as well as an MBA from the MIT
Sloan School of Management. Morey also served as the professor for the MIT
Sloan class, "Analytical Sports Management."
Morey grew up in a small town near Medina, Ohio. Married for 11 years,
he and his wife have two children, ages seven and five years old.
