Legends and Soles: The Memoir of an American Original

by Sonny Vaccaro, Armen Keteyian

Overview

The gripping and eye-opening memoir from the “Savior of Nike” and the man who discovered Michael Jordan, Sonny Vaccaro.

Written in collaboration with six-time New York Times bestselling author Armen Keteyian, Legends and Soles provides context and truth to the sensational media stories and headlines, including:

• Vaccaro’s pivotal role in the never-before-told story of the courting and signing of Michael Jordan
• How Nike, at the behest of an embittered Knight, went as far as having the Portland FBI investigate Vaccaro who was working for archrival Adidas on a RICO charge of corporate espionage
• His close relationships with NBA superstars Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, and Tracy McGrady, and Hall of Fame coaches Jerry Tarkanian of UNLV and John Thompson of Georgetown
• The high stakes drama behind the O’Bannon lawsuit that changed the entire landscape in college sports

Filled with in-depth stories and sixteen pages of photos illuminating some of Sonny’s most treasured career memories, Legends and Soles is the long-awaited memoir of a giant of American sports and a marketing genius.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063423411
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/05/2026
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sonny Vaccaro’s visionary innovations continue to influence modern sports marketing. He is widely known for the signing of college coaches and later both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Vaccaro has had an unmistakable impact on sports and the cause of athletes’ rights and empowerment at every level. He continues to be a voice in contemporary college sports issues from his home in California.

Armen Keteyian is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and the author or coauthor of six New York Times bestsellers, including The System and Tiger Woods. He lives in Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

Legends and Soles is a riveting narrative that describes first-hand Vaccaro’s remarkable, quintissentially American journey from a self-described “motormouthed extrovert and disruptor who managed to underachieve academically” to one of the most influential sports marketers of all time, not to mention the person who is arguably most responsible for forcing the NCAA to usher in a new era of revenue sharing and athlete compensation." — Seth Davis, Hoops HQ

"Sonny’s had a lot of different lives in this business - he signed Michael, he signed Kobe, nearly signed LeBron, but what he did with Ed O’Bannon and taking on the NCAA is really his legacy because he paved the way to help players get paid. He helped usher in name, image and likeness - not without a fight." — Dan Patrick, The Dan Patrick Show

"Maybe the most remarkable thing about Sonny Vaccaro is that after thousands of interviews, a documentary and a feature film about his one-of-a-kind basketball life and decades worth of news stories that connect him to some of the biggest milestones in American sports, he still has plenty of new stories to tell." — Dan Wolken, USA Today

From the Publisher