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Pat Williams

Senior Vice President of the NBA's

Topics  Leadership  Teamwork  Success  Motivation  Personal Growth  Parenting/Youth Issues  Sales  Faith

Pat Williams' Accomplishments Include . . . Pat Williams is Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic, the NBA team he co-founded in 1987. He has been involved in professional sports for over 45 years and has been affiliated with NBA teams in , Atlanta and , including the 1983 World Champion 76ers. Known as a master marketer, Pat Williams spearheaded the movement to bring a professional team to Orlando. Twenty-four of his teams have gone to the NBA playoffs and six of them have made the NBA finals. In 1996, Pat was named as one of the “50 most influential people in NBA history.” The Orlando Magic became NBA Finals contenders again in 2009.

Pat Williams is one of America’s top motivational speakers and is the author of over 40 books, including: Go for the Magic, How to Be Like Jesus, The Paradox of Power, Coaching Your Kids to Be Leaders, The Warrior Within, The Pursuit, How to Be Like Walt and What Are You Living For?

Pat Williams was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, earned his Bachelor’s degree at Wake Forest University, and his Master’s degree at Indiana University. He has a doctorate in Humane Letters from Flagler University. Pat Williams is a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame, and is also a member of the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.

More About Pat Williams . . . As one of America's top motivational, inspirational, and humorous speakers, Pat Williams has addressed employees from many of the Fortune 500 companies and the Million Dollar Round Table. He has been a featured speaker at two Billy Graham Crusades and two Peter Lowe Success Seminars. Pat Williams has also spoken on many university campuses.

After serving for seven years in the United States Army, Pat Williams spent seven years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, two as a minor league catcher and five in the front office. He then spent three years in the Minnesota Twins organization before moving to the National Basketball Association. Since 1968, Pat has been affiliated with teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, including the 1983 World Champion 76ers, and now the Orlando Magic which he co- founded in 1987 and helped lead to the NBA finals in 1995. They returned to the finals in 2009.

In his NBA career, Pat Williams has traded , traded for , , Penny Hardaway, and won four NBA lotteries, including back-to-back winners in 1992, 1993 and in 2004. He also drafted , Shaquille O'Neal, , and and signed , , and to their first professional coaching contracts. Twelve of Pat Williams’ former players have become NBA Head Coaches and 17 have become assistant coaches.

Pat Williams helps teach an adult Baptist Sunday school class in Orlando and hosts a weekly sports radio show. He has completed 28 marathons - including the Boston Marathon eight times - and also climbed Mt. Rainier. He is a weight lifter, Civil War buff, and serious baseball fan. Every winter he plays in Major League Fantasy Camps.

Pat Williams and his wife Ruth are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations, ranging in age from 18 to 32. For one year, 16 of his children were all teenagers at the same time. Pat and his family have been featured in , Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, The Wall Street Journal, Focus on the Family, New Man Magazine, plus all of the major television networks, The Maury Povich Show and Dr. Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power.