Sonny Vaccaro was the superhero portrayed in Ben Affleck’s film called AIR. The movie was about the blockbuster signing of Michael Jordan to Nike. This deal will forever remain the biggest endorsement ever made in sports history. Nike eventually made Mike’s signature line a separate entity under the company. Today it is famously known as the Jordan Brand, and apart from Nike, they also have several high-profile endorsements.
AIR focuses on the lengths Sonny Vaccaro, Nike’s patriarch Phil Knight and their team went to sign Jordan. While it was Vaccaro who managed to reach out to the GOAT after befriending Deloris Jordan, Nike has tried to make his role seem irrelevant. Unlike AIR, Vaccaro had a very bad time with The Last Dance documentary series.
He revealed to Vanity Fair that the scriptwriters approached him over two years ago. They interviewed him for nearly three and a half hours at his home in Palm Springs, on camera. Ultimately, Sonny did not get a feature during the final cut that was eventually released on Netflix. However, it was quite the opposite for AIR. He said, “I was dubious because I hadn’t talked to anybody at Nike for years. Well, the end result was, in The Last Dance, all you could see was my rear end.”
By award-winning Director, Ben Affleck, Air dramatizes the game-changing partnership between a young Michael and Nike’s basketball division.#AirMovie is now streaming on Prime Video pic.twitter.com/lhhd1oCxdS
— Prime Video Naija (@primevideonaija) June 1, 2023
Sonny Vaccaro was the main character of AIR. He said he was afraid about the storyline as there was a lot of information being circulated about him. Vaccaro admitted that Affleck and his team did not share the script with him even though he was a consultant. But Sonny was approached in a rather unconventional manner. He spoke to Matt Damon for an hour and a half via Zoom which ultimately made Sonny feel happy about the movie.
Sonny Vaccaro is unaware of the exact reason Nike fired him
As mentioned earlier, Sonny Vaccaro was an integral part of the monumental Nike deal. He was also the reason why Nike had signed other superstars like Charles Barkley as well. After a great stint with Nike in the 80s, Vaccaro was fired by the company. “They did well after that, but I also did well after I left. I don’t know enough, and I guess I’ll never know. That’s fine,” he told Bleacher Report.
I recently watched “Air,” the movie about how the legendary sports marketing executive, Sonny Vaccaro, signed Michael Jordan to @Nike. Tommy Sheppard, who is close friends with Sonny, introduced me to him many years ago at NBA All-Star Weekend. Sonny and the legendary… pic.twitter.com/q0LEJvOobP
— Jimmy Lynn (@JimmyLynnDC) June 1, 2023
However, following his release he was allegedly investigated for corporate espionage. He eventually got a job with Adidas, one of Nike’s biggest competitors at the time. Ironically, Michael Jordan was also a big fan of Adidas. Mike had approached Adidas during the 90s in hopes that they would match what Nike offered him. But they weren’t able to meet on the same plain.