Pat Williams | Author and Senior Vice President of NBA's Orlando Magic

Pat Williams

Author and Senior Vice President of NBA's Orlando Magic

Pat Williams
Biography

Pat Williams is a basketball Hall-of-Famer, currently serving as co-founder and senior vice president of the NBA's Orlando Magic. As one of America's top motivational speakers, he has addressed thousands of executives in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies and national associations to universities and nonprofits. Clients include AllState, American Express, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Disney, Honeywell, IBM, ING, Lockheed Martin, Nike, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Tyson Foods to name a few. Pat is also the author of over 100 books, his most recent title highlighting the secrets to peak performance in COACH WOODEN'S FORGOTTEN TEAMS.

Since 1968, Pat has been in the NBA as general manager for 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 and 2009. In 1996, Pat was named as one of the 50 most influential people in NBA history by Beckett's, a national publication. In 2012, Pat received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Pat has been an integral part of NBA history, including bringing the NBA to Orlando. He has traded Pete Maravich as well as traded for Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Penny Hardaway. He has won four NBA draft lotteries, including back-to-back winners in 1992 and 1993. He also drafted Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Darryl Dawkins. He signed Billy Cunningham, Chuck Daly, and Matt Guokas to their first professional coaching contracts. Nineteen of his former players have become NBA head coaches, nine have become college head coaches while seven have become assistant NBA coaches.

Additionally, Pat served for seven years in the United States Army, spent seven years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization--two as a minor league catcher and five in the front office--and has also spent three years in the Minnesota Twins organization.

Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four
nations, ranging in age from 30 to 44. For one year, 16 of his children were all teenagers at the same time. Currently, Pat has 15 grandchildren and counting. Pat and his family have been featured in Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Focus on the Family as well as all of the major network and cable television news channels.
Pat was diagnosed in February of 2011 with Multiple Myeloma. After several rounds of chemo treatments, Pat received a bone marrow transplant where the doctors injected him with almost 5 million of his own stem cells. Pat's recovery from the stem cell transplant has been remarkable and the doctors are extremely pleased. While Multiple Myeloma is incurable the goal is to get the cancer into remission (Pat's personal slogan has been "The Mission is Remission"); Pat's doctors have told him that they are unable to detect any myeloma in his body and have given him a clean bill of health. Pat has accepted positions on several boards for different cancer groups, including an appointment on the Board of Directors for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Pat spends many hours each week responding to emails and phone calls of others affected by cancer,
offering hope and words of encouragement.

Pat teaches an adult Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Orlando and hosts three weekly radio shows. In the last 15 years, he has completed 58 marathons--most recently, the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon--and also climbed Mt. Rainier. He is a weightlifter, Civil War buff and serious baseball fan. Every winter he plays in Major League Fantasy Camps and has caught Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, Tom Seaver and Goose Gossage.

Pat was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, earned his bachelor's degree at Wake Forest University, and his master's degree at Indiana University. He is a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame after catching for the Deacon baseball team, including the 1962 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship team. He is also a member of nine other hall of fames around the country.

Shortened Bio

Pat Williams is a basketball Hall-of-Famer, currently serving as co-founder and senior vice president of the NBA's Orlando Magic. Also one of America's top motivational, inspirational, and humorous speakers, Pat has addressed employees from many of the Fortune 500 companies. Pat is also the author of 100 books, his most recent title highlighting the secrets to peak performance in COACH WOODEN'S FORGOTTEN TEAMS.

Since 1968, Pat has been the general manager with teams in Chicago, Atlanta,
Philadelphia and Orlando, including the 1983 World Champion 76ers. In 1996, Pat was named as one of the 50 most influential people in NBA history. In 2012, Pat received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four
nations. Pat and his family have been featured in Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest,
Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

Pat was diagnosed in February of 2011 with Multiple Myeloma, an incurable form of
cancer. However, after several rounds of chemo, Pat's doctors have told him that they are unable to detect any myeloma in his body and have given him a clean bill of health.

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Champions under Construction

In this perceptive and practical speech, Pat presents the key steps needed to go from dreaming to achieving. Whether it is being a fantastic father or the top sales associate for your entire region, this developmental speech provides the blueprint for working and living a life full of passion, energy, imagination and creativity. You will see big changes in the results you seek. From executives to entry-level employees, this speech will increase your success and happiness, both personally and professionally.

Souls of Steel

In his realistic approach, Pat teaches how you can achieve great success while maintaining your values and integrity. An entertaining yet earnest account, Pat discusses the importance of developing core values and leading by example. This speech will leave you with meaningful solutions, a sense of purpose and specific material to reinforce your leadership role.

Finding the Will to Win

How have “The Greats” achieved such extraordinary success? How can you achieve the same results? In this speech, Pat discusses the qualities that the winners in life possess. Based on over 40 years in professional sports studying successful athletes and coaches who have produced great triumphs, Pat will teach you the secrets to being a more focused person, finding passion in your work and succeeding in the face of defeat. After hearing this speech, you will feel like you can conquer the world!

The Six Wisdom Principles to Pursuing Your Dreams

Don’t drift through your world; seize it! In this fast-paced, in-your-face presentation, Williams challenges the audience to not only plan your ideal future but to achieve it, as well. Using the proven principles passed along to him by his mentor, oil tycoon R.E. Littlejohn, Pat provides the road map from goal-setting to goal-achieving. Students, parents and teachers will remember this speech as one that changed their life.

Pat Williams
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