“Sole Man” is a definitive, first-hand and unflinching account of how former sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro rose from his humble Pennsylvania steel-town roots to be at the forefront of the modern era of sports marketing in the $13 billion athletic-shoe industry.

Vaccaro’s supporters call him a visionary. His friends laud his loyalty. And his enemies accuse him of corrupting a sport and profiting off amateur athletes. What’s undeniable is this: Sonny Vaccaro is one of the sports world’s most polarizing and influential figures. Now 75, he is still a fast-talking maverick whose zeal for basketball and instinct for sales forged an era of unprecedented growth for two pillars of pop culture: basketball and sneakers.

It was Vaccaro who was instrumental in launching Nike’s “Air Jordan” empire in the ‘80s and started the movement of paying college coaches to have their players wear Nike shoes. He ushered in the professionalization of youth basketball in the ‘90s by creating a new era of high school all-star games led by his ABCD camp at a time when players such as Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady—both of whom signed shoe deals brokered by Vaccaro—turned high school games into auditions for the NBA. “Sole Man” will take viewers through Vaccaro’s personal story, which mirrors the narrative of basketball’s ascent over the last 40 years. It is an era in which James Naismith’s creation morphed into a global enterprise that stretches from Brooklyn to Beijing. To a staggering degree, many corners of the basketball world are really just “Six Degrees of Sonny.”

The film features original interviews with many of the biggest names in basketball, including legendary coaches Jim Boeheim, John Thompson, Larry Brown, Jim Calhoun and John Calipari, as well as former and current NBA stars such as Chris Webber, Tracy McGrady, Brandon Jennings and Joakim Noah. Five years in the making, “Sole Man” is executive produced by Jamie Patricof (“The Place Beyond the Pines” and “Blue Valentine”), Cash Warren and former NBA All-Star Baron Davis.

It was a pretty good documentary. I knew of him but didn't really know the whole story. Based on who refused to be interviewed for it you have to
know that the stories are all true. Sonny did well for himself, his wife still keeping it together at an advanced age.