Joanne Borzakian Ouellette: Reebok Global Marketin

So the bird basket was in front of us. That was pretty amazing. I never expected that. That was probably the best night I've ever seen. Red just beaming with everybody around him. But you know, I cried because I knew that my childhood was over and those memories were over. They're just gonna be memories in a picture somewhere and that I'd never have that feeling again. Like

the new building, it's not the old building. It's not. The game has changed. I think it was such a family, even the fans, our sections. We were all very close to each other and the players being right there, no luxury seats. There was none of that back then. We were the front row and we were a family. Then you are in our studio right now. You're

talking NBA basketball. You're talking great teams, you're talking great individual players. It takes it off and there's number 23 and of course Johnny goes nuts. We're all good. There's a bunch of things I'm thinking about now. I just tried to go up there and play my game. I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't like anybody. I'm not a decent person. Grant, you make

the pass. Yes. You catch the ball. Yes. All the stars were aligned and all the muscles spawned at the right time and I was out of the ground and throw one down. I was saving that as a surprise for you. And now introducing your host for in all airness at a Ryan. Welcome to Episode 1. 126. Thanks for joining me. Today I'm very pleased to welcome

Joanne, Boiseikian, Wollet. Joanne's family has links to the Boston Celtics that date back nearly 50 years. She details what it was like to grow up within the confines of the Boston Garden. And the unique relationships she has developed with the franchise and its players throughout her lifetime. Our conversation covers a wide range of Joanne's amazing experiences working with Reebok for over 15 years. She joined the

team in the mid 1980s and talks about the development of the brand and how Reebok managed to compete and then drive in an intensely competitive market for shoes and a parallel. You'll hear some tremendous stories about some of the NBA's biggest names of the era including Dominic Wilkins, Sean Kemp, Dee Brown and Chiquillo Neal to name just a few. Towards the end of the episode I'll

share another great podcast review. If you can spare a moment please add your review by Apple podcasts. It'll be most appreciated. Show notes for this episode and access to a huge archive of past episodes are available at inallannis.com. Now on to the show. My guest today must be in the conversation for the greatest Boston Celtics fan of all time. Her family's links to the Celtics stretch

back almost five decades. For more than 16 years she developed long-term industry relationships and friendships whilst working for Reebok. And for almost 10 years in that role she was global marketing director of NBA basketball. Joanne, Bozakian, Willette. Thanks for joining me. Well thank you for having me. Thank you very much for being on the show today. I'm really excited to chat with you. What is the

origin story of your family's strong links to the Boston Celtics Joanne? So I begged my dad to buy tickets for us. I loved basketball and tried to play. We didn't have a hoop at home. We had a shingle. There was a little crooked over the garage doors. Nice to shoot at the shingle and pretend that I was playing basketball that way. And then I begged him

to go to Dave Cowan's and Dodd Nelson, Nelson Sanders Kemp, Satch Sanders Kemp. Every summer I went to those camps and really learned how to play. And back then there weren't a lot of girls at the camps. In fact at Nelson Sanders I think it was me and Nelly's daughters, which was funny because they were all tall. And I went into Kemp and I told Dave

I'm going to be a forward just like you and I'm five two. I'm going to be a forward you are going to be a guide. Some would say they taught me how to play point guard and I could shoot. So I was one or two. But some would tell you especially the players that I work with are all back here that once I learned to play

points I never stopped playing points. But so then my dad and I went in and we bought Celtics tickets. Every night to home games and that was in 1974 or 1973. I was really young. And then he told my mom, this is ridiculous. We're going in and we're buying tickets. Every game we might as well just get season tickets. And I'll never forget it. We went

to the Celtics office and they said this is about where your seats would be. We went into a Bruins practice. And they were like, do you really goalie is it's about where your seats would be. But the floor is not doubt. So that's about where you'd be. And this is the bench and or watching the Bruins practice. And then they had front row balcony. So really

back in the 70s. It was a hockey town, if you will. The front row center court balcony or baseline, which they were selling like, oh it's baseline. So it's one end of the court. But for me, I said down I want to be closer to the action to the game and see the game and hear them call it out plays. And the thing that I'm going

to do is I'm going to be going to play the game and I'm going to be going to play the game. And then I was like, okay, so we got the tickets and there was one press table in front of us. And then the Celtics bench right to our left and Red used to walk by our seats unless he was late. And then he'd cut right

across the court. But he used to come and walk right by our seats. And he has to shake my dad's hand about me on the head. He ended up getting four tickets and that was my mom, my dad, my brother and I. And we went to every single home game. And back then there were a lot of Easter Sunday games too. And we would come right

from church and our best. And I am pretty sharp. The only woman that has the claim to fame of going to the 2002 playoffs after waiting 20 years for playoffs again nine months pregnant. Having the baby after game to being in the hospital. And then the doctor coming in and saying, well, it's your third and four years. You know what to do right now is like,

well, actually if they lose both these games, because the game they were away and the game was there where he was discharging male, I could they happen to lose. Can I go to game five? That was when it was a three out of five. And he was like, she's kidding, right? My husband said, I'm afraid she's not kidding. He knows what he married into. So anyway,

there was a game five. And then I called the Celtics, because it was like, I can't do stairs. Can I get in on the floor? Like, what? And they're like, sure, of course. And then this is really funny. My mom was sitting in the seats and Paul and Antoine were like, did she have the baby? Because they do the layups right in front of us. And

my mom's like, she did. And then I go, my gosh, I tell everybody, say hello. And she's like, tell her yourself. She's over there. And there's another Celtics fan who sits across from the bench, who's been there as long as us. He was just so excited to see me. And then I'd gone over to say hello to him. And they came up and hug me. And

this is so funny. They were saying how the games were too close together for TV. And they were tired. And it was just not fair. And so I was like, listen, I am 72 hours after having a baby. So if anybody talks to me about 10, they're tired or pain, like, please, like you better win this game, replace. So then the game goes, they win the

game. And they're going live at the 11 o'clock news. And there's a reporter in front of us. And he's telling all the kids that are screaming and yelling behind us. And I'm just waiting because I can't go all the way up the stairs, because we have to go all the way down to our seats. So I had a walk out by the players locker room. And

I had wait till everybody was in the locker room and not to impress anymore. My brother or my mom said, why don't you interview my daughter, my sister. I forget who said what she just had a baby. And then this reporter said, you're kidding, right? And I was like, no, I actually just had the baby after game two. And he's like, who's with the baby? And

I said, I'm not going to ask my husband, like, what? Like, they went live on the 11 o'clock news. And he asked me about a picture of the baby. It was pretty cool, actually. They won. Great story. And what dedication is about to be back there so quickly after giving birth? When we did all that time to get back in the play, I was like, couldn't

let them down. I had to be in my seat. An article I saw in the Boston Globe from non-inadie one referenced. Your father who knew somebody that worked for Delta Airlines at Logan Airport. And that particular person let you through the security checkpoints to greet the victorious 1981 NBA champion Boston Celtics. Can you relay the story behind how that came to be? Oh, yeah. Of course.

That was just the greatest situation. They were coming home. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I wish we could greet them and welcome them back. And then my dad knew somebody. And of course, he was Armenian as well. So it didn't take a lot of rocket science to know who let me down there, because there aren't a lot of Armenians in Boston. So that wasn't

great that that article came out. But when the person who let us down there told his boss, the history of our family and my love of basketball and my love of the team and the game and how much it meant to our family and me personally and what the Celtics mean to us. In general, I think it was okay. Yes. That's I'm article incidentally referenced you

as Quark The high school senior famous for the banners she has hung at every Celtics home game since 1974. And in that same article, you say, I deserve to be here. I even took the train to Philadelphia for the Eastern Conference Games. End quote. That's quite incredible. Do you mind us talking about the story behind the banners? So my friend Rita sat next to us. She

had a single season ticket. I met her through the Celtics games in 74. She wanted to meet these signs with me on bed sheets. And so we painted them. And it just started like a few. This is before there was any signage in the building. I should preface this by saying because you can't do that today because every inch of the building is covered in signage.

We hung them over the balcony. The only people in there were the players warming up. We were upstairs hanging them with tape. They didn't drop down. We had to be careful that they were perfectly measured because if they drop down, they would obstruct. If you remember the old garden had overhangs. The balcony hung over the seats below. So we had to make sure that they were

perfectly aligned with where the end of the balcony was. And what was really cool about it was a few of the Celtics would come over and say, Hey, this would be a great sign. This would be a great sign. They were giving us ideas like nicknames and inspiration. And we were like, is that okay to say, is it a fun nickname or is it something we

can put on a wall? That would be great. And so we really became like little sisters to that team. Yeah, I remember that. I begged my dad to go down to Philly and we took the train and went into that was really hostile territory, even for a five foot two girl. And that I wore Celtic stuff, which I shouldn't have done. Looking back. Yeah, that wasn't

very smart. We felt like we were part of the team. We went to every game until my dad had a stroke. And then it became a little difficult to get him in to the new building. But growing up, my dad worked. He was in Hoso grocery. So he worked six, seven days a week. He owned his own business. I got my work ethic from him. We

never went on vacation. There was no such thing as vacation. I am 100% Armenian in any Armenian knows that that we work. We all work hard and we take pride in that. And then it's family. So it's like work and family and school. It was even more special because first of all, the Celtics just brought so much joy and then being one of the only girls

and such a small little girl at camp. I don't know that I just felt this special like they really cared and they wanted to see me do well. And going into the Celtics games was really the time in the car that we had. My mom and dad's full undivided attention. It wasn't work. It's nothing but happiness, nothing but happy memories. And then we get to the

game and then we'd all be sharing for the Celtics and talking about the game all the way home. It was like you listen to music or it was all about Celtics all the way in all the way out. Some very special times for you clearly. You mentioned how you were at Don Nelson's basketball camp and you've shared some fantastic photos on Twitter. I'll link to your

Twitter profile in the show notes. You've got some incredible historical photos that you took yourself, which are great and hopefully we'll chat about a few of those later. You said that you're only one of a few girls with air, including Don's own children. How did you go against the boys at that camp? We had to play with the boys because they're one enough girls. A lot

of the times, Steve's camp had a lot of girls, but they were all much bigger than me too. I really didn't ever think that you had to be tall. I always thought you could do anything. This is a great story. I believe this was the Nelson Sanders camp. I made it all the way to the end. So at the end of the camp, there were singular

competitions, the free throw competition. I was in the finals of the Mike and Drill, which was lefty righty layup under the basket. And I went against a boy who was probably, well, to me, he was six four. I don't know. You probably could have been five eight at the time who knows. And you keep advancing is what happens. You keep advancing. And now I'm in the

finals against this boy. So you started out against the other couple girls that were there. Now it's whoever's in it. You're still going at it. And Nelly came over and he said, you're going to win this. Right. And I was like, first one, he was big in second of all. He had all the boys cheering for him. And I had like Nelly's daughters. And then Nelly

was standing there. And he said, if you don't win this, you're going to have to look at me on the bench every game. I'm not going to let you live it down. I was like, okay, I'm going to win this. This is something my father would say to me. I am going to win this. And I did win it. So fantastic. You must have some absolutely

treasured memories. In the 1970s, who were a couple of your favorite players. If you had to name a few, it's offspring to Monde. So I always picked number 10 because my name was Joanne. And JoJo was closest to my name. I always loved Cowan's and Nelson because they had camps that I could go to. So they were special to me. And that way I loved watching

Paul Westball. I thought he was incredible. Paul Silas. To me, Celtics basketball growing up was always about team basketball. Everybody had their role. Tommy Heinsen treated me like a little daughter to you. You got to remember every game. They watch you grow up. You come back every year. I love the whole team. I'd have to say Nelly and Dave because I got to know them at

camp too. And they really took it personally that I was there. And I was also at all the games. And they wanted to see me do well. I love Charlie Scott too. I just love the whole team. It's a who's who have just incredible names. You're left throughout the history of the entire franchise. I've learned the 1970s there. And I believe you also were there for

the famous triple overtime game in the 1976 NBA finals at Boston Garden. So we were there probably a year or two before that game. And then that game was nuts because everybody ran on the floor. And I got pushed just by the crowd. And then my dad lost me. And then I was like out there with somebody. I think I don't know if that was Nelly

or who in. So it was the second overtime when I got pushed out on the floor. And then whoever I think it was Nelly was saying there's time on the clock this time on the clock. And then they pushed everybody back to go into the third overtime. But they didn't make everybody go back to their seat. So we were surrounded on the floor by thousands people

because there was no way they could get them all back to their seats. It was quite a thing. But it was so incredible. Yeah, that was crazy. I think at the end of the second overtime a fan actually ran on the court and started trying to fight the referee Richie Powers, which was madness. And then obviously it went to the third overtime and eventually Boston would

prevail and win the series in terms of your study for what I've read in 1985. You graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing and marketing management from Bentley. Bentley University and your main focus was on brand and sports marketing. How was that experience in college for you? And what did you learn that set you on the path forward for the rest of your career? So I

can't say enough about Bentley because Bentley University is a business school. At the time it was predominantly men I would say it was known for finance and business and accounting. Excellent school. I wanted to go for marketing. I was very intrigued by it. I loved it. And I structured it. I should all my papers that if I were to work for the Celtics or the MBA,

which really threw a lot of the professors because when we learned about product marketing, we were learning about big products like Nestle or products that you'd see on TV. And for me, I was saying if I were to market the team, I would do it this way. If I were to market the game, I would do it this way. And my professors would just like every

single paper, but it wasn't the same stuff. It was all different ways of what I would do if I could get a chance at marketing. The Celtics were in the MBA. Bentley does these case studies that you have to do as groups and you work on them together. So my preparation getting into the field of collaborating together with people and just getting this would work for

me. This would work for me. This is what I'd like to say. And then you come to the best way. It was really a team approach. And that's what I grew up watching and loving and learning how to play and then learning how to work that way too. At Bentley, in addition to structuring all of my papers and whatever I was working on my paper, my

projects to be basketball, I also thought I could play at Bentley. What I did not realize was that people were recruited in college. I didn't know that. I came out of a small high school. So there was no place for me. Their roster was full, but I wanted to be in the game. I loved. So the girls team didn't have a manager. The boys team did.

So I went to the boys coach. And I asked him if I could be the manager of the men's basketball team. And he said that girls don't even ride the bus with us. So that's a no. And then I said, wow, really? I know the game. I love the game. And I can't play here. And I just want to be involved in the game. So he

said, sorry, no. So I gave him my name and my number. And at the time I was commuting, because my dad didn't want, you know, me living at school and my brother didn't get to live at school either. So I gave him my name. And number, I was about a half an hour from Bentley. And it was a Thanksgiving weekend. And the manager went home. And

he lived in, I believe it was Maine. It's another state that's probably four hour drive from here. And it's north. And it's not snow. It's quite a bit. And he got snowed in. So the coach called me and said, so our manager got snowed in just for this weekend. Could you come and help us out? We need someone to help with practice. And I said, of

course. So I sat at the table and you get the balls out and I'd run the clock. Right. He's doing 30 second drills, whatever. In addition to that, I started just about every drill that they ran. You asked me to do that. I just started because I watched them a couple of times. So I knew their place. I noticed when you were in the side, it'll

be out of bounds play. This happened. And it was like, I know the game. Like I really know the game. So if you would reconsider, I would really, really love that. And so he said, let me think about that. And then he said, okay, you have to ride up the front with us. And I was like, all right. And then I got to do the book,

the official book. And then got to be a manager and got acknowledged on scene. And I graduated with Casey Jones son from Bentley. Casey's son played on that team. Casey had come over to me and said, would you do me a favor? My son won't come to the game unless you bring him in. Because he's got an exam or he's got finals. And for me, because

I grew up that way. Like, I don't care if you have a test tomorrow. We have Saltic tickets and you're going to the game. So you better be prepared for your test and you better do well. And I did not want to get to go to a game. So I learned how to balance all that. So he said, I know you have midterms or whatever was

coming up. But could you bring him in? This is a big game. And I said, of course. So I went to him and I said, you want to come into the game with me. Your dad asked me if you'd come in. We became like brother and sister. I would take him into the games at that time. To me, this is talking about my family. So when

I get out of there, I was really ready to get into the field. What I wasn't ready for was there were not a lot of women in the field at the time. So it was a lot of what you like to be a secretary. Would you like to be a receptionist. It didn't really matter. What my degree was because that was really what was happening. Then

in the firms weren't really big. The teams offices were very small at the time. I really had my self discouraged because I went to television. I had a great degree. There just wasn't a place. So then I get out of school and then the doors aren't really opening. And then Danny and DJ know that I graduated at the same time. So they asked me like, how's

it going? During the layups, because again, we're right there. And there's no luxury seats at that time. We're the front row and one press table. And I said, I don't think I'm going to get the job right now. I want I just don't think I can do it. Nobody really wants a girl. Quite frankly. And they said, we just signed with a shoe company. And they're

here. If you'd like, we could tell them we know you and you have a business degree and a marketing degree and you come here and we know you, your family. And I said, no, I don't want anybody to help me. I don't need that. Like that's not going to work for me. And they said, look, we're not getting you a job. We're getting you in the

door. So you can try to get in the door and get an interview or you can keep trying to do it the way you've been doing. It, which isn't working. So I got the interview and then I got called back like three, four, five times. It was a lot because they were just starting here at the time. So again, there wasn't positions to fill. It was

just evolving. So I get the job offer to start. I'd ask my dad for my graduation from college gift to be to go to the finals. Whenever that may be. And then they were playing in Houston. So I had to say like, I'll accept the job offer, but I have to have this week to go. To Houston. And so I said, well, will you take shoes

with you? And I was like, yeah, sure, I'll take shoes. We shipped all these shoes down in my room. And then there was a live shot going on the six o'clock news. And it was with all the Celtics fans that had gone down to Houston from Austin. I had met Paul Fireman who owned Reebok. And I told Paul Fireman, I'm bringing down a pink sweatshirt. And

if I can get on the TV with the pink sweatshirt, you look for that. I'm going to give you a live TV commercial on the six o'clock news. And I was like, good luck with that. And then they went live and they put me in the middle. I have a picture of it. The whole group is green. And then I've got the Reebok and the and

the snowflake pink sweatshirt. And I'm in front of them for the whole live shot. And they go back and forth to practice. And it was just awesome. So then I came back. And then they said, like, why don't we just pay for that? Brum or whatever. Because you worked like rest out there and you got a job here. You're good. You're with us. So it was

pretty awesome. I was so grateful to John Moore. Morgan, who was a person who hired me and left me go to Houston. It worked out for both of us because the company got a lot of people wearing Reebok shoes for the playoffs. And I got to go on the trip that I wanted for my graduation present and everything was wonderful. And I'm so grateful to John

for taking a chance on a girl with a dream and helping me make my dream come true for a career in the industry that I've grown up in and loved. That's terrific. First of all, I love your data. I love your education to get the team manager position, putting it out there and eventually having an opportunity to do that. Also, it's a great end to have

when you actually have stout ex-players who put in a good word for you to at least get in the line to get a possible job interview. So that was Danny Aege and Dennis Johnson. I was so proud. And what they said is so true. We're not getting you a job. We're getting you an interview. There's a difference. You've got a Natalie interview. And then it wasn't

just an injury and went on and on. And they were even saying, did you get an offer? And I said, no, I got to meet with them. Now people have realized that they're killing and killing and killing every single one of our faithful ochers that I right now have cast out to give a leave. And then, that was such a good time. That I could have

this person. But again roles were being filled. They were just. Here in in, and also at that time, they were reiboective shoes. If you remember, that was right when Whippy Goldberg and sipel shepherd were the colored high tops. I believe that the Oscars and stepped redo sea back was the big fade. We were just getting into basketball at that time. First four athletes signed were Danny,

and DJ, Wamen, Tisdale, and Roy Henson. So those are the first four people that I worked with. And then when I went to Houston, I went and I met with the equipment manager. And I said, Hey, I have a size one of shoes. Is there anybody here without a contract that we can get some shoes on for the finals? I called my boss. And I said,

Oh, by the way, Robert Reed and Jim Peterson, they're going to wear the shoes tonight on the game. And he's like, what? And I said, Yeah, yeah. So I gave him like, look, I'm hearing from Boston. And I got these shoes were a new company. We're trying to like, Oh, I'm sure that we'd love to be with a company that doesn't have a lot of players

instead of being one of 200 with one of your competitors. That was kind of cool. That's how that happened. That's incredible. So that was just your idea at the time, just to float the idea, would any players who are out of contract or don't have a shoe contract. Would they like to wear them for those finals? Obviously before I went for the interview, I did a

little research. I wasn't aware that at the time, I thought everybody had shoe deals. A lot of the players were on product only deals. So they got products. Where my female side came in as a plus was the wives and the moms like our aerobics stuff, our apparel, our shoes, they were just in demand from everybody in some of the wives play tennis. So I was

saying, I'll give you your shoes for the game. And then I had done extra large tall, we call them XLT warm ups for the guys that work for sale. They were just special makeup. And I love fashion. So I would work with the apparel people too and be like, can we put this here? The BB 5600, which was the first basketball shoe. People really didn't recognize

the vector logo yet. John Morgan, Polish field and I decided to put an extra logo on the heel of the shoe that showed up in all the pictures, all the TV shots. So there was no question it was a Reebok shoe. Those were not available at retail. The shoes with the Reebok across the heel were specifically for the players and completely for purposes to let everybody

know what the shoe was. We were in the game so that every shot that Steve Lepowski or Andy shot that Reebok was all over the place. Maybe it's part of just being female. But I took it personally that we were always like not even taken seriously. It was Nike and Adidas. And then there's this other one that a couple of guys are wearing. It's like, no,

we're not the other one. Like we're going to be on Maxon. We got a great product. And I have to say right now, Paul Fireman, he had to say in all of us, all of us, even me, he just hired people that were passionate, respectful and kind. This wasn't about, I have this degree or I have that. Like there's none of that. And that's the way

I was professionally raised. You respected everybody and everybody respected you. That was another family incredible. And that's why we soared the way we did. I can distance the passion in your voice even when you're talking about it now, which is great to hear. You mentioned Steve Lepowski. Andy Bernstein and Roy Hinson there, all former guests on the podcast had Steve on talking about his career as

Boston Seltis photographer. Just fantastic guest all around. That on the floor in front of me, Steve, it took all those incredible pictures and one of my favorite pictures. Everybody loves the most. I'm sure you know it. Adam is the one where I'm talking to kill on the floor because he came out in the wrong shoes. And I had to go right out there and before Paul

Fireman came because Paul was sitting in the front row seats. And I said, you need to go put the shoes on that I brought to the game today early at four. And he was like, no, I didn't break him in. I'm like, no, I'm sorry. This is not up for discussion. He literally said, I don't know what was going on. He handed it because we sat

right behind him. But I had to take this picture. And I was like, my God, that is actually the funniest picture of everything that you had the best picture. It sums me up so because I am really passionate and happy. But if you like mess with me when I'm doing business, I am going to tell you again, who is the point guard? I am running the

play. As most people do, you're looking up at Shaq and he sort of seems to be looking down at you almost disbelief, which I guess is about the time you're telling him, perhaps go and put on the correct shoes. Is that what's unfolding at the time? 100% what is unfolding and he did go into it. Yeah. He listened to you. If that was probably a wise

move. Yes. That's so good to hear. I love these stories. You mentioned briefly the other competitors of Reebok at the time. You've gotten Nike Adidas as they're called or we say Adidas here in Australia. And then Converse probably to three. My brand's way to Reebok's fitting in terms of trying to break into the basketball shoe market around the mid to late Adidas before we get to

talking about Dave Brown, of course, and the 9991 Dunc contest. I think one of the things that we like to do as a basketball unit was identify our markets where basketball sales were strong and go into those markets and sign one or two profile players, if you will, that we're playing a lot of minutes and then take all those product only players. So every time they

shot to the bench, it was all the Reebok logo. All through the bench. So to the eye watching basketball, look like we had almost a whole team, almost like a college team. We were okay with Nike and Adidas and Converse spending all that money on the big stars. We weren't there yet. We didn't have all that money to allocate. What we did have and I've mentioned

this before is we had product for the whole family at the time. We had also launched Reebok for the babies. So we gave all the wise, the Reebok aerobics apparel in footwear. And then I always whenever they had a baby, I sent them a Reebok gift package or their shoes in baby infant. So they could match their daddy or mommy. Again, I treated everything the way

I was raised, which was to not just sign the athlete, sign the family. And I think that's what kept the loyalty because we weren't able to write the checks that some of these other companies could write. We just hadn't had the sales and basketball yet to justify that budget as a company. But what we did have was outstanding product. We did not have computers back then.

And I took carbon copy, shuwers and wrote them six hours out to LA for every player and his family and whatever. And everything needed a separate, you know, skew. And then I'd fax them from the hotel to the warehouse to get filled. This of course is before we had a budget for an assistant and then along came computers. And then I had an assistant to handle

at least the shoe order portion of the phone calls while I was traveling on the road, which was such a huge help because we were growing and we were growing fast in Reebok basketball. This is fascinating to hear. Thanks very much for talking about it. Who were a few of the players that you signed as the 90s went on that started to get a bit of

momentum in terms of what the brand was about. And were you mostly advertising in Prince or was there TV ads at this stage? After Danny and DJ and Roy and Weiman and then I mentioned Jim Peterson Robert Reed that level. Then the big sign for us was taking Dominique from Brooks signing Dominique was huge for Reebok huge. A Berniel Alstar, Hall of Fame athlete, you know,

we knew it was all coming for him. He was special. You can argue at the time it was really Michael magic Larry and Dominique. That's always what I say at that time. Those were the big four to sign Dominique was incredible. And at the time he was ready for a change from Brooks and ready to be the guy. And that's what we were prepared to make

him at Reebok. We had convinced his agent that we really needed one big player at the time. And Dominique obviously human highlight film. He was going to be great. I flew down to Atlanta. I believe with my boss. We met him. He could not have been nicer. Honestly, one of the nicest people in the world. And when we signed Nick, we had him in the pumps

initially. And he was perennial all star, wearing our product. I think that's when the momentum started to shift. People notice that Dominique went to Reebok. And now he's in the pump. And then we had Doc Rivers, Scott Hastings. We had four or five hawks at the time. And it's just escaping. I don't have it in front of me right now. So okay, Atlanta's a hot marker

for us. Celtics. I think this is the right time. Joe Klein and Pinkney at that time in the 90s. It's a Danny DJ D Rick Fox Brian Shaw Reggie Lewis. So we have that whole group everywhere we're going. We have a nucleus. We've also at the time signed a couple of coaches to do coaches clinics for us. We have Mike Frittell. Chuck Daley and Chuck brings

us Dennis Rodman. So now you can imagine this at the 90s. And I'm at the Celtics games. It's the big game with Dominique and Larry. And I have to say, like, listen, I work with you guys. You know what you means me, but you know the Celtics were before all of this. Come 730. I am going to be screaming up. And I will never go like

this behind you to make you Mr. Friedrow. And I will always clap for you. But at the end of the day, if the Celtics went, I am going to be out of my seat. Like I'm not going to shut it here. They understood. And Chuck Daley was so awesome. And he said, can you come out to Detroit and meet with Dennis? And that coordinated with the

playoffs. I'm out with Dennis. I have nothing but good things to say about Dennis. When he was with Reebok, he was a defensive player. He was awesome. Like everybody's asked me like, Oh, we died his hair. He did this. You were a wedding down like he could not have been nicer. We did that original pump commercial. Not a lot of people know this atom. This is

amazing. The original pump commercial was a scripted commercial. One of the women that I work with did all of our sales meetings and trade shows. One of the people in her department have a video camera. Brenda and Kevin were doing ferole behind the scenes. Like, hey, Joe, me, Joe, could you get the guys just talking about what they like about the pump. Like they're really comfortable

with you. They really open up to you. And they talked to you like a sister like. So after they got off set. I had Dennis come over to me. I had Doc come over. Brenda and Kevin with his video camera was so awesome. I was standing off to the side. And that's where we asked the guys to just speak about the pump naturally. That's where if

you have that commercial. Doc says some people like BMWs. I like Jim shoes. That was all B roll. And you push this little thing here and you just pump. Sometimes I like to run behind somebody and let the air out like all that commercial was the B roll of the fun of us all standing in a circle and just going around with the camera talking and

then being just fun. And then it was like, well, we got something here. This is unbelievable. And when it was edited and shown to me, I cried in the conference room. I was like, that is awesome. Cause it was so real. And I remembered how we did that. It was pat Riley digger felps. It was all behind the scenes stuff. The reason it was so well

received is it was real. And they were laughing. And there was no like, did I get that line right? Did I know they were just talking. That commercial comes out. It's really related. It's unbelievable. It takes off. It does great. And then we go on to pump up an air out with Dennis throwing the shoe, which was really edgy for us. Pump up an air out.

Right. You know, we're going at. And then we've got Nick, you know, and slam dunk. Then we come to D. And then we had Byron Scott at the time on the Lakers and Pat Riley was with us for a little while. This is all giving us credibility. And we're also moving into the college game. We have Jim Laranaga, who's now at Miami with the time I

believe it was a fallen green and the coach at E. UCLA. We had some pretty good programs. So we're really getting momentum and basketball. And we're still being referred to as like the little brother on the block. I gotta be honest. Even when I went to all started. I had cases coming up to my room. My competitors. Who I knew, you know, well, yeah, you that's

good. And I'm like, Oh, now we're actually making a lot of progress here. I think people took their eye off of us a little bit. Right to hear the stories. Thank you so much. You mentioned Dave Brown there amongst the Raybo Rock, Stable of players when most diehard NBA fans hear the name Reebok. D Brown's name is probably most likely be recalled. I believe there were

pre-draft camps as I recall. And I found out my competitors were going. I really wasn't talking to the players as much as scouting what I thought would be a great presence on court for us. Something that would be noticed in a style of play. And again, we were really looking for players that whether or not they have that star power. They would be noticed on the

court. So D was small, but he could jump. One of the things I noticed was his leaping ability. And I just thought he was a flashy player. He was a standout in there. And I had also gone to the other camps. Seriously, I don't know where Norfolk could I think Virginia or something. I can't remember now. But I went to all of them. I never stopped

just to back up before this 91. I believe was the first set of international tours. So taking the game global. And just before we get to the I just want to mention to you when I say we signed them for grassroots. We started to do this court renewal project too. So one of the things that I brought to the table. It is always more like March

I talk about, anybody is working to play dance or tools. And, you know, guys, I think I don't know what to do with this something terrible. We're going to have to do an example at the rock boxing team party. So it's a lot easier to get parity checked, playing outside on the black top. So we're doing these court renewals. We're having all these outdoor clinics with

NBA superstars literally around the world. And we're launching this black top collection that's so well received in the market. It was just an outstanding time for Reebok basketball for athletes for fans alike that were coming out to see us just a wonderful time. We did a full refer rush and ripped it up, put down new black top, new courts had the mayor come, a ribbon dedicated.

And then we had some interest in our international market. And so the international department came to me and said, Hey, Joe, can you get any players to go overseas? I didn't really know if that was going to work. That's such a short season for basketball because playoffs go to June and training camp starts in October and they have kids. So I asked them would you consider

going overseas? I believe the first tour we did was Brian Shaw, Reggie Lewis, Dominique Wilkins, Greg Anthony and Sam Perkins. And we went to Europe and we did like five. Five stops in 14 days. And that's when we were really between the pump and then this international and the court rental. That's when our competitors will I hold on a second here. They're all over the place.

And their players are all over the place. And that was what really differentiated because yeah, we're not just on the court. You don't just see our logo on the court. We're everywhere. And we're interfacing with people that are really excited to meet our guys. And we signed quality guys. They were thrilled to go out there and meet their fan base. It was awesome. And I can

hear it in your voice. How much you enjoyed it even all this years on. That also is right around the time when basketball was becoming much more of a global game. And it was approaching the 1992 Olympics as well. Of course, where the dream team would play just in terms of the 1991 dunk contest. A lot of people remember back to Dee Brown and he's pumping

up the shoes before each of his dunks and then letting out the air afterwards. Just some iconic images and moments from that day. I believe you are with Dee prior to that event taking place. How did the idea of the pumping the shoes come to be? And what was the fallout in the days and weeks that followed with how much attention that brought to rebook worldwide?

A lot of people don't know the backstory to this either. But we also had Sean camp. So Sean was going into the dunk contest. And really everybody was banking on Sean winning to be honest with you. Even in my office, they wanted to debut the pump. And my boss and I spoke to him. He spoke about it about him pumping the shoe before and would it

be commercial? Would it be received well or not? Well, because it's one of those things you don't know. That's marketing. It's not immediately quantifiable. When discussing any concept for marketing ideas, you know, it's subjective. But it certainly became quantifiable quickly. I talked to Dee about it and Dee thought he wanted to do it. What we really talked about was, as we call it, the no look

down was supposed to be a hat. I gave him a rebook hat. He was practicing. I had a press pass. I was on the floor and they said, oh, no, no props. Back then, you couldn't bring out stuff, the dragon. And you could not do that. And we weren't a sponsor. So they took the hat away. But I said, can I have back? Like, you can't

take my hat away. I'm going to wear it. I just stayed close to the floor. When he won, you'll see he gets tossed hat for the intramedie puts it on. That's me. Take a look. I'm drinking. I'm going to find him things out. I'm so you'll find it. So magic was like, they went issues tonight. And I said, yeah, there's no break in period. Our shoes

are made on garment leather. He's there getting Mike. And I said, hey, magic. I think something's going to happen tonight. Pretty cool for a company. Like, just keep your eyes on the shoes. Right. Because Dee said, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it. So he's like, what's going to happen? I said, I'm not going to say anything. I want you to be surprised. And

Dominique was there. I think everybody's reaction was natural because when he did it and then he dumped like that, everybody was like, oh my, he's pumping his shoes. Athletes are extremely superstitious. That's why that picture would check. He didn't want to change his shoes. Sometimes they've had a couple great games. They don't want to go to a new style show. For Dee, the pumping is working.

So he's not going to stop. But now we got people thinking we're writing checks for every pump he does. And that was absolutely not true. So he's looking at me. And I'm like, like, they'll tell you I was like, like, cut it out. And he's like, I'm going to do what I'm going to do here. Tell me what to do. And I'm like, oh my gosh,

then I run down to throw in the hat when he's getting interviewed. We still got the hat on there. The next thing I know it's all over the press. So he got paid to dunk and that's not true. We absolutely did not pay him. We did not tell him to pump. To tell him like, no, stop. But that goes on in life as we know. And

then Paul Fireman and I were walking in the day I got back from Charlotte. And he said, that was unbelievable. And I said, did Mark call you? Who's my boss at the time? He said, he did. He said, come on up to my office. Let me show you what it translated into sales. And that's when I said, do we're going to go on a tour? I'm

going to put it toward together for you. And then next thing, you know, we're going to the Empire State Building. And he did that dunk like on this side of the Empire State Building. Then we have interest from Dunkin Donuts to do a cross promotion because Dunkin doesn't make shoes and footwear is all on that shoe. We'll talk about the advertising opportunities and appearances and everything

going on for D after winning slam dunk. We put together toward to Mexico and D is the headliner. And so D is wife Tammy and I go to Mexico. And we do outdoor clinics in store of her and says all through Mexico. And it was just phenomenal. Just so happy for him. That was a really special time. A whirlwind of things happening. I didn't know this

till after he was mad because no one knew who he was. See, for me, it's like, wow, this is a Celtic in the Dunk contest. And we're in Boston. The company's a suburb of 30 minutes out of Boston. So this is very cool. This can really work to our advantage. Because we're right here. Annie's a Celtic. He told me after that while he was sitting there.

He got a lad here. So he was atrea Nullieng. Who holds his head up, it was his leading punk. Especially when he gets up at the start. He had very strong hands, he has heavy elbow fighting Muyster. Back turn. And he was out to his head. He wanted to forego taping your ankles because you had this mechanism from my dear friend Paul Litchfield who designed this

shoe. So this mechanism could be customized, a customized fit. So that really intrigued a lot of the players. And then you've got this momentum of D like you said. And at the time we've got Dominique Wilkins, Sean Kim, Doc Rivers, Nick Van Axel, Dennis Rodman, we've got great players with us. And we're going overseas and we're renovating courts. We're going in a malls and we're doing

things that people don't necessarily do. Maybe they don't have to do, but that's where you differentiate yourself is when you do things that other people don't do. And that's what I pride myself on. The shoe itself, it was called the Omni Zone 2, these shoes. And just recently it was the 30th anniversary of those shoes. And I got re-relaced by Raybok to mark the 1991 dunk

comp. After slam dunk, we came out with the D time that had the little silhouette on the bottom of it. And he was just thrilled with that. And we had a lot of fun. We did a poster series with that. And it was really fun for him. And I was really happy for him because he is a great person. He's still a dear friend of mine.

I just can't say enough about him. I'm very close with him and his wife. We were together the summer before the pandemic and all of our kids were together and his wife's sister and her husband. We were all still friends and it means a lot to me. I'm really pleased to hear that. I uncovered a great photo of you that surfaced from the 9991 playoffs at

Boston. You're holding up a sign which reads quote missing person dial 1 833 L bird, a Larry bird. And you're referring to Chuck person of course. Can you just talk about the impact that sign had the pretty good story behind it? I was mad because Chuck person kept I thought disrespecting Larry and I took that personally. I really did. And again, we're right there. So he's

shooting free throws. We were weaving sweatshirts. We were like doing it throwing our hats and then we were doing whatever we could distract him. It worked. He really was missing free throws down our end. The picture that ended up on the front page of the newspaper. Did you see that? Yes, I did. I'm holding it up in absolute glee. He had just come over to us.

That was the game when Larry went out and everybody was just crushed in myself included. I was the first one in my family to see Larry coming to my left through the tunnel. I swear I ripped my father's shirt off. I was sure that day. I was grabbing his I couldn't even talk. I was trying to get out of the look Larry. But I was like

screaming and grabbing his shirt. Chuck had just come over to our seats. And he put his hands out like grandstanding. That's kind of why I did that with the sign. And he was like, who bossed you? Where's your bird now? And I was like, so done. Like, oh my god Larry's not coming back. Like, uh, and then I was a nice summer. We're shoulder and I

was like, hey Chuckie right behind you. He just felt and stopped his feet. Like he couldn't believe it in there. Larry and we were like, honest to God, thought the roof was going to collapse on the building. It was like the craziest moment ever. So I had my little sign, because I was tired of him melting off about bird, not being as great as everyone thinks

he is. And then that game before, in Indiana, I believe he had basically disappeared. He had a horrible game. Check person. So that was the genesis of the sign. I was like, Oh, look at that. Like you went missing your team. Couldn't rely on you. So I'm going to have fun with this. So I ran and I got post aboard. And we held it up during

the layups. And all the guys were laughing. It was awesome. And they're pointing to each other. They were like, oh my god. Look at her sign. I'm like, I'm going to put this up every free throw. He's not going to hit a free third on our ends. I'm going to have a blast with this. Needless to say, he was not with freebot. That's probably a fair

assumption. That's hilarious. There's some fantastic photos that you shared on your Twitter account. And you sent some ahead of our chat today. Is there any particular photos that you wanted to touch on that you did send through? There's a great one of you and read our back. Maybe the midnight. He's perhaps a really great one where he has his arm around you. So if you can

see behind me, this whole wall is pictures and my son actually said to me, you have all these in a box. Like why wouldn't you frame these? And that was one blessing of the pandemic. It gave me time to go and order all of these frames. And then I blew all these pictures up to eight by 10. Red will forever be special to me. He was

a second father to me 100%. He watched me grow up in those seats and Red had daughters. I didn't know that until I got to know him. He wanted me to succeed because he knew how bad I wanted it. He told me and I never really shared this with anyone except my family. But when I got my job, I was so excited. And he told me

I was going to have to work harder than everybody else. And I was going to have to hold myself to extremely high standards because I was a woman in the industry at a time when that wasn't a thing. I think it's important to recognize when people are giving you good advice and not giving you unreasonable advice because he was absolutely 100%. Right. If I wasn't the

hardest working person in the room, I would never have the respect of who I have on this wall behind me and friendships to this day. There's one picture of him with his arm around me with shoes behind us. And that's at the Super Show in Atlanta, which is the largest trade show in the world. He's in the new balance booth. And I'm running by him to

go get Dominique Wilkins to bring to the Reebok booth. And she calls me in. And I said, I'm quite sure I can't come in here. Everybody knows I'm the Reebok person for the NBA. And you're in the new balance booth. And he said, what are they going to do? They're not going to do anything to you coming to see Red Arrow back. And I was like,

okay. And so then we said, that is like, how is it going? Oh, he got coming in there. And we're just having a conversation. The other picture that you saw where he has a tux on. I believe that was the 75th birthday party where Steve Lepofsky took those incredible pictures. I was so excited to be invited to that. That was one of my favorite nights in

the whole wide world. Casey went from patting me on the head as a little girl to stopping and asking like where I had just come back from where I was traveling, like to carry yourself. This is a funny story. I was a person for a converse that took over and he was nervous to meet Larry. I said, oh, I remember my first day. I'll introduce you.

Nobody introduced me. And I was really nervous too to meet the guys that I was working with beyond DJ and Danny. And he was just watching me from across the old Hellenic college sitting on the stage. And he was smoking his cigar and he was watching me. I brought him over and Larry was on the bike, which was under the stage. So I just introduced them.

And then I walked away. And then he called me over. And he was like, what are you doing? And I said, can I remember my first day? I'll never forget that. He said, you never helped a competition. Don't ever let me catch you doing that again. I was like, I'm not going to ever have Larry bird. We're not signing him. He's with converse for life. Don't

ever help the comedy better than that. That was just so red. It was so great. But I'm just going to glance at my wall for a second. Oh, I placed it. There's shack in the bottom corner over there when I got engaged. And he's looking at the ring, which is hilarious. And then there's Weman and Ralph Samson came in the picture too, who wasn't even with

us. Which is hilarious. Hi, Drexler. There's Reggie and D&I at center core. A lot of the trips from when we were overseas together. There's a picture of Aaron Sinai when the Celtic's Gerald Henderson presented us with a piece of the park. The old garden. It's just amazing. Wow. That's pretty cool. How did that come to be? I think it was longevity. How long we'd been seasoned

ticket holders and they were doing it that last year before the garden closed. That's a pretty special memory, especially with my parents not here anymore. When I talk about Reggie, of course, probably one of the most heartbreaking moments. So Rick Fox, myself, Reggie, D. Brian Shaw, we were all friends. They knew my parents. And again, we're similar ages. My parents became like their parents, especially when

they're out of their state at every game. We got the call that Brian Shaw's family had that car accident. And I made the plane reservations for Reggie and his wife and I to fly out from Boston to be with him. And the quickest way we could get to Oakland was through Dallas. And I said to Reggie and Donna, what do you think? And they said, let's

do it. So we got on the plane down through Dallas, change planes, met up with a girl who worked for the NBA Leo, who's a really very good friend of mine. She did what I did, but for the NBA. And she was coming from New York. And then we all went up to Oakland together. And I just did one way because we didn't really know the

arrangements yet. But we knew that was the most horrific thing. Any of us that ever gone through the NBA. And we sat together in the church. And I'd never seen anything like that. Three caskets right there and your entire family. And the only funeral I had been to was my grandmother. I could not stop crying in the church. And then Reggie put his arm around me

and Donna and Donna got tissues for me. Then a few weeks later, Brian called me. He got the call from the Celtics about Reggie. And he said, is it true, Joe? So it was just such an awful time for all of us. And then I was with Donna. And then I was going to go to the hospital. And then when my mom passed away, Donna brought

her two children and sat there for the whole four hours of the wake to take my kids to get a water or to go to the bathroom because I was there for her. And this is what family does. And that's when I say to you, this game has given me so much more than just a game. There are people in my town that always know you

work for the Celtics. I've been telling people for 300 years. I've never worked for the Celtics. But people are going to say what they're going to say. That's fine. And we know we have our season tickets because there are family season tickets since the 70s. But they don't only know me. Because of the Celtics, we work together. We became family together. We were at each other's

weddings and children born in loss of parents and loss of athletes. And we meant his day. I broke my heart. When we men came to Boston to play with his band. I sat with his wife and my husband. And he called me over to the side of the stage behind the curtain full group in this jazz club. And he's like, Joe, do you think you can

introduce our band? And I was like, of course, of course. And I came back and I'm like, Ritina, he just asked me to introduce the band. He's like, he told me he was going to do that in the hotel room. But he wasn't sure if he'd be comfortable. And I get up and I introduced him. And then they came back for an encore. And he asked

me what the encore song should be. And this goes on the court off the court. We are so close to each other. And such family that our first daughter Gabrielle is actually named after women to his song Gabrielle. And women told me that he and Regina had written that song. As a lullaby for their daughter Gabrielle. So our Gabrielle's are connected. And that song was so

beautiful. And it's so special. We actually played it at her christening. Just amazing. And I always say I didn't have the easiest middle school and high school experience. I looked very different than everybody else. I really had my family. And that was it. I didn't have a lot of friends. And I just kind of thought it was going to be that way. And then I got

the job that was like a gift from God in so many ways. It put me in the game that I love. And it gave me brothers and sisters for life. And we really are brothers and sisters for life. And I never in my wildest dreams thought I would go through all of the things that I've gone through with them. Everybody's a text away. My Bianca is

named after Brian Shaw and Nikki Shaw's daughter Bianca. We were pregnant at the same time. Nikki and I. And I couldn't think of a name. That was the only one we didn't find out if it was going to be a boy or a girl with third. And then I was talking to Brian. And he said, Nikki's going to name the baby Bianca. If it's a girl

and whatever I had the boy name, but we didn't have the girl name. And I was like, Hey, you know what? I think I'm going to do that as a tribute. And then Brian and Nikki and Bianca came to Boston maybe three years ago. And the Bianca's met, which is so cool. That just speaks perfectly to the family that you've developed. Not your immediate family. I

such despite the close knit nature and dealing with their things and tragedies that happen off the court, but also the happy times the weddings, the births and whatnot. So I really appreciate you opening up. I can't imagine. The amount of sadness that followed the accident with Brian's family, of course, the tragic passing of Reggie Lewis as well, even when bias back in 1986. What was it

like for you to be at the ceremony before the Boston Garden was soon to be demolished in 1995? How emotional was that farewell? We're all the great Celtics of years gone by. I got together as well. So the bird basket was in front of us. That was pretty amazing. I never expected that. I didn't that was probably the best night I've ever seen. And red just

beaming with everybody around him. But you know, I cried because I knew that my childhood was over. And those memories were over. They're just going to be memories and a picture somewhere and that I'd never have that feeling again. Like the new building. It's not. The game has changed. I think it was such a family. Even the fans are sections. We were all very close to

each other and not everybody went to every game like us. But you knew who was around you. It's the players being right there. No luxury seats or whatever they call them now owners seats. Whatever that is in front of you. There was none of that back then. We were the front row and we were family. They weren't corporate seats. Just knowing that that was it. I

didn't want it to come to an end. And I know people had said, they call it son air. I mean, I think that was the only thing that was happening in the beginning. It was three thousand degrees during playoffs. Korean with this oxygen mask. That's so awesome about it. And even when they're like a whole red game and he put up the heat in here. It's

like, no, I'm sorry. That's just Boston Heak in the summer. Like that's how it works. It was so fabulous. We were just roasting like them. We were sweating as hard as them. We were just cheering and so invested in the game that pass and the lay up in front of us. I have pictures. You see me post them. But just that. I was like, I'm not

going to be a kid tonight and the hugs to red and just seeing it happen and say, this is it. It just hit me. I believe I was, you know, engaged and I knew my life was changing too. It was just very emotional. It was beautiful. And it was sad all at the same time because I just didn't want any of it to end. When I

chat to a former player, I'll often ask them about the game. They'll never forget his one game that you can point out from all the games you attended over the years. It might not be possible. Any incredible moments? Can you point to one? Well, again, it's all memories connected to my family. So every time we want a championship and even being able to have my son

in 2008 at the game with me and my mom. And that was awesome because it was confetti and all that, which we didn't do back then, right? That was great for a different reason because my son was with me and the kids are in the pictures with my mom, all the videos of that whole year. The one that stands out, the play happened in front of

us. That was the steal in front of us on that Detroit game. I remember saying to my dad, it's never over, right? Because that's what he always said. Like it's never over till it's over. It's never over. He used to always say that. As soon as I saw him coming in to just anticipate that pass and steal it in the video, you can see me. I

have a white and silver dress on. I am jumping up and down before the steal happened. I again, probably ripped his suit coat because I'm like, oh my God. People are standing like the photographers were even standing. So like it was a little tricky to see. We're watching it. And you can't even believe what you're watching. And then the ball goes in. It was like, this

place is magical. And that's when they were talking about the ghosts of Celtics past. That was awesome. Obviously it was really young. But the triple overtime game was awesome. Anything in the 80s with the Celtics and Lakers, the pistons and Celtics. People asked me all the time. Like, how could you possibly work with pistons? Like I went to Detroit for the games because I had to

check me. Great seeds. This is great story. Chuck, give me a ticket. I was alone because I was working. So he had the team put a seat behind him. This is before they were like seven assistant coaches. This M and two assistants. He had them put a seat behind him. And I had a pink pantsuit on. I said, oh gosh. My dad doesn't think he's going

to see me. Think some just going to be an irregular seat. You tell the guy sitting at the end. He's like a press guy who has a phone to you know how they had a wire in the story or whatever they did on the real phone. He's a fall for a minute. I called my parents collect like King reverse charges. I like dad. I can't talk

on. I'm sitting behind Chuck and I'm in a pink suit and Chuck is standing up. And he's like, and it's really pink because it was really pink. And so that was just so cool. There's just so many cool moments. And one thing that I just want to touch on to with the international tours. That was before the NBA was going international really in the early 90s.

And we were just concerned about how well received that be. It was really like traveling with a rock band is all I can say. They were at the hotel screaming for us that we had to cut off the lines and the stadiums. We were doing Greg Anthony is doing a clinic under the Coliseum and Rome with Brian Shaw who had just played at Il Mesa, Jerro.

And then when we brought Shaq, we were in Greece. I got pushed to the ground. There were so many people there. And he picked me up by the back of my shirt and threw me in front of him. And we recreated the picture because I couldn't believe he held me like, I don't even know what how to describe it. Like a loaf of bread. Like you

literally held me like this because the security said, Joe was down. And then I was like screaming because I thought I was going to get left behind. It was 11,000 people just ramping. And they had right. Please. They just couldn't control it. He picked me up and just grabbed me like a little kitten, you know, by the back of my shirt and just threw me in

the front of him. We ran to the limos. And it was fun though. I think Sean Kemp and Shaq had both said to me independently. You want me to break the rim? You want me to break the rim? I'll break the rim. Shaq had just done it in NBA. I said, I'll think about the people over here. What did it be like for them to see

you break a rim? Too bad you can't break a rim here. He's like, you want me to break the rim? I can break a rim. Like you took it personally. And I was like, I don't know if you could just break a rim. He's like, what do you want to do? I think I know the claim to be a shirt of you broke the rim. And

I was like, I was crazy. It's when it was really fun. And then the other thing that was really awesome. This is extremely cool to me. It's on my profile picture in Twitter. It's Jeff Hamilton jackets, which were so big. We were at that pump commercial and then we all went out to eat. We were in LA and Jeff came. I was like, Jeff Hamilton, oh

my gosh, your coat's all there. Unbelievable. And then the guys talked to him and then he asked like, oh, I'm going to have you call my office and give me your address. And I was like, okay, never thinking. You said, well, if you could have whatever coat you'd want. And I said, well, I'd like every logo in the league because I work with all the teams.

But really, I'd like the Celtics on my heart. And then 33 and 32 because it was back and forth with the Lakers and Celtics back then. Three weeks later, he said, I'm going to have a couple of things. He sent me that custom to me. That was like somebody giving me a Bentley or a Rolls Royce. I'm not kidding. He follows me on Instagram. And I

think the world of him. And I still have that jacket. If I wear it to a Celtics game, I literally have 70,000 people coming at me. Oh my God, your jacket. And I'm thinking, yes, like this jacket is 30 years old now. And it's still unbelievable. So that was one of the greatest gifts that they could ever give me in addition to their friendship to have

my own Jeff Hamilton jacket. And I think it's something that only the players had. He does have some amazing designs. Obviously, very well known for putting to you. Those incredible jackets. And of course, I have to mention, although they're not games, these are just a special in my heart, the ring ceremonies, I world championship banner raising nights, plural, every single one of them was special for

different reasons. And of course, each time they retired a number, so many happy smiles and tears to me. You just couldn't believe that it was coming to an end and you watch those greats. I think Cabal Check was the first number I saw go up and I still have my blurry little Polaroids from that night. Red our backnight meant so much DJ JoJo, Cowan's Nelly, Max,

Macayla, Larry, Reggie, even Johnny Moose when they retired his microphone. Just amazing nights on the chief Paul Pierce. And of course, we're looking forward to Kevin Garnat's night as well. Almost everything in the garden. Is so memorable and special to me, but I have to mention those nights right up there with the most special games because those nights were just incredible. And let's face it, they

don't happen in other arenas around the NBA. And that's just one of the many things that makes it Boston so special and whether or not you were physically at the games back then or with us. Or on social media right now part of our Celtics family through Twitter, especially Instagram, our Twitter Celtics family is just incredible. We're all incredibly close and passionate. And it's still to

this day and our memories are crystal clear, quite special. One quick thing I would like to ask you about you went to Australia as part of a tour with some of the Reebok players. I can't believe that I didn't go to it. A few people have mentioned to me that there was a tour that went to Melbourne, which was probably a 90 minute drive from where

I lived. I was a massive NBA fan have no idea why I didn't go to the event. But do you remember anything about that particular Australian tour at all? Oh, yeah. I love to Australia. The only thing that really got to me. And I flew a lot was that flight. That was longer than I ever thought. And so when my son studied abroad for a semester

and went to Australia, I told him I can't do it again. Like I can't take that flight again. Mom, you could have come over and visit. And my husband doesn't travel like that. And I said, I love you, but I can't do that again. I think we went to LA and then we went over but from Boston. That was a long way to go. Tour was

very, very well received. A lot of incredible basketball fans in Australia. Typically our formula for the tours was we would do a store appearance, a retailer dinner, a dignitary dinner, and then outdoor clinics. And then we do a little sightseeing too. I never really got to go sightseeing because I was getting ready for the next thing whether it was dignitary dinner. I was setting everything up

for them. One thing that is cool. Adam is behind me. I have a shelf of scrapbooks that I put together. I begged my dad for a camera when I was 16 and Nikon like the Celtics photographers in front of me used. I made that certainly worth its while. Because you saw Celtics games from my view which was the Free Thresholds and that's what I looked at

every game. So I brought my camera with me everywhere. And I made scrapbooks. And when the guys came through Boston. If they had time, they came to the house and say how did my husband and the kids. And I showed them my scrapbook. Everyone of them asked me for their own scrapbook. So I sent one to Greg Anthony I sent one to Brian Shaw. I sent

one to Dominic. I will never forget like they called me choked up because I got the scrapbook paper on the back and I'm not a scrapbooker by any means. But for that I did because it was so amazing. And plus we had a lot of fun too. Would have an off day and especially in Rome. They always wanted to go shopping because they love designer clothes

even back then. We just have so much fun. I just thought that was interesting that that I could make them a scrapbook and it would mean so much to them and their families to see them not just in the NBA photos. But what they did off the court and how much joy that was the other thing I would always shoot in Australia in Rome. I shot

the fans as well from my view. Every single face is elated. I would wrap up with this. I love what I did. I love what I still do through other athletes and celebrities that I do now. The gift to bring such joy to people through me because sometimes you just need somebody to set that whole thing up for you. I'm a five foot two girls very

knowledgeable about the game and marketing. But if they don't accept me and work with me and come to me. With what they have in mind or what they need and where the shoes when I ask them to and go on tour overseas. And none of this Joanne Borsaken will let story unfolds. And none of these memories unfold. And I'm able to be a role model for

male and female like that are young that want to pursue something in sports marketing that touches me when I speak. Doc was at our wedding. Dominique was at our wedding. Like how much that meant me everybody's busy. And to put that on their schedule. That is lost on me. They're all stars. You're coming in my wedding. I don't expect that. Even Shaq he sent me his

rookie shoe and rookie jersey when Kyle was born. And he said like you might think I'm cheap. But this is going to be worth something someday. And so what I did Kyle was only six pounds. He was full term. He was six pounds again. I'm small. So I put Kyle inside the shoe. And I took a picture and that's the thank you note. And I was

like, oh, look at this. It's a bass and who know that's it. We have fun together. And I'm so blessed to have them. I'm going to be a part of my life right now. You've shared some fantastic stories and great memories for me a life. And I really appreciate the time you've afforded me today. So thank you very much. Joanne and I hope we can get

you back on the show again at some stage to talk. Even more memories about old school basketball. But I think at the heart of the conversation today. You can tell the importance of family and being there for one another on and off the court really does ring true. Oh, absolutely. Like in the game of basketball. You have to play a team sport to win. Right. We've

seen the people that tried to play. One star on the team and they really been win championships. Right. Until they adopted the team philosophy. We had an unbelievable team at Reebok. I can't say enough about Paul fireman. He's in multiple places in my office. I just thank God for him because he had the bless me being hired. Obviously. And he did. I think every single one

of these athletes that I've worked with. I mean, Danny, age to this day. So close. His wife Michelle Dominique. Every single one of them. Wait a little. There are text away. There's a mutual respect. It was important to me. I had a knowledge of the game, but I did have to work harder and I certainly didn't have any problem doing that. But the gift that it

gave me that I didn't ever see happening was lifetime friendships. And so I thank you, Adam, for allowing me to come on here and tell these stories because I think it's important. The people recognize that you can lead your life a certain way and good things really do happen to good people. I was raised in the city of Boston and I'm so proud of that. It

made me who I am. And I had big dreams. I was just a little girl. But the story is really for anybody out there. Keep dreaming. You don't have to start with a lot to get a lot and have your faith, your family, your loyal person and a good person. And hopefully your story will be as beautiful as mine. I'm just so grateful to God for

all the gifts I've been given and also for allowing me to be an instrument to share so many memories with so many people. By having all these athletes as friends and being able to go out there, touch literally people around the world and give them a lifetime full of memories with the most wonderful people on earth. That's really what the gift is that God gave me.

And I'm just so grateful to him and to my family for raising me the right way and giving me the work ethic I have and to the athletes for being so gracious with their time. And to you, Adam, for allowing me to share this beautiful story with everyone. I can't say enough about what the game has given me. Beautifully said. Until we do talk again and

cover some more old school basketball and your memories about all these things, don't thanks again and enjoy the rest of your week. Thank you so much. You too. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it, Adam. Thanks for listening. I welcome your interaction with the show. Tap the microphone icon on my website to send me a voicemail. You can suggest discussion topics or guests you'd

like to hear conversation with. Time now to share another great review from a fan of the show. Thanks to SB Tang, the Apple podcast Australia. It's titled an excellent podcast and is rated five stars. It reads an excellent, incredibly well researched podcast. The host Adam Ryan does an impressive amount of research before you interviews his guests, which means that his questions are intelligent and relevant. His

slate of guests is impressive too. See, for example, Sam Smith, Christian Latina, Luke Longley, Bill Cardride, David Bridges, Jordan's childhood friend, and Mike Tibo, who scouted Jordan. Thank you very much. SB, very nice for you to say. I appreciate the review. Worldwide, the show has 184 ratings on Apple.com. Thank you for your support. If you had a review, I'd love to read it out on the

future episode. You're writing to reviews of one of the best ways to support the podcast. If you enjoy the show, please tell your basketball loving friends about it. Word of mouth recommendations are truly worth their weight in gold. Step today with my podcast and subscribe to my free NBA history newsletter. You'll receive exclusive details on upcoming episodes, future guests to appear on the show and more.

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