Pat Williams is Co-founder & senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.

Pat has been an integral part of NBA history, not only bringing the NBA to Orlando but he has traded for Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Penny Hardaway. He also drafted Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and many more.

He is one of America’s top motivational speakers and has addressed companies such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Nike, just to name a few. Pat is also the author of over 85 books, his most recent title: Coach Wooden’s Greatest Secret

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• What is the writing process look like for Pat Williams after completing over 85 books?
• Who is Pat Williams’ favorite pitcher to catch?
• How did Pat Williams get started in the NBA?
• How did Jack Ramsey meet Pat Williams?
• How did Pat Williams start the NBA franchise and attract thousands of season ticket holders?
• What was the hardest part about the Orlando Magic’s first season?
• What are some of the lessons he imparts on big companies as a motivational speaker?
• What are the attributes of a winner?
• What inspired Pat Williams to stay productive?
• What is Pat Williams’ proudest achievement?

In this episode…

Pat and Ruth are the parents of 19 children, 14 of whom are adopted from four foreign countries. The Williams family roster reads as follows: Stephanie (40), Jim (38), Bobby (35), David (35), Peter (34), Brian (33), Karyn (33), Thomas (32), Stephen (32), Sarah (32), Daniella (31), Andrea (31), Richie (31), Sammy (30), Caroline (29), Michael (28), Gabriella (28), Katarina (27) and Alan (26). Four of the children are from Korea, four from the Philippines, two from Romania, and four from Brazil. Pat and Ruth also have 12 grandchildren: Laila, Brianna, Ava, Austin, Audri, Max, Anthony, Nola-Blair, Zachary, Olivia and twins Jack and Teddy.

An avid runner, Williams completed the Boston Marathon 13 times in the last 15 years. He has completed 58 marathons in the last 15 years.

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, Citrix, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Disney, Honeywell, IBM, ING, Lockheed Martin, Nike, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Tyson Foods to name a few. Pat is also the author of over 80 books, his most recent title being The Difference You Make: Changing Your World Through the Impact of Your Influence.

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 six other hall of fames around the country.

Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations, ranging in age from 26 to 40. For one year, 16 of his children were all teenagers at the same time. Currently, Pat has 12 grandchildren and counting…with twins due in July. 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.

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.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Coach Wooden’s Greatest Secret
• How to be like Coach Wooden
• Coach Wooden: The 7 Principles That Shaped His Life and Will Change Yours
• Rolly Carpenter
• Bob Carpenter
• R.E Littlejohn
• Rich DeVos

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Episode Transcript:

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 00:03

In this InspiredInsider.com interview, we talked with Pat Williams. He’s a Basketball Hall of Famer, co-founder and senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. He’s played an integral part of NBA history, trading for Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and he’s even drafted Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. He’s a top speaker. He speaks to Nike and many more. He talks about the books he’s written, upcoming coach Wooden, he fought cancer and he even has 19 kids. That and much more coming up next.

Jeremy Weisz here. I’m the founder of InspiredInsider.com. I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders and how they overcome big challenges in life and business. I’m honored to have Pat Williams today. Pat Williams is a basketball Hall of Famer. He’s co-founder and senior vice president of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. And you know anyone who knows anything about the NBA. You know, he’s played an integral part of NBA history, not only bringing the NBA to Orlando, but he’s traded people like Pete Maravich. He’s traded for Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Penny Hardaway. He drafted Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Maurice Cheeks and many more. He’s also I mean, if that’s not enough, he’s one of America’s top motivational speakers. He’s addressed companies such as Coca-Cola, Disney, IBM, Nike, just to name a few.

And he’s authored over 85 books. And his most recent upcoming title is Coach Wooden’s Greatest Secret, and I read Wooden, the book Wooden every single year, so I’m especially excited to read this one. Pat, thank you so much for joining us.

Pat Williams: 02:07

My pleasure, Jeremy, thanks for inviting me and I look forward to our visit.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 02:11

There’s so many. You know, that’s probably one of my longest intros. And there’s so many more things that I could have mentioned, which we’ll get into. But first of all, most people don’t read 85 books in their lifetime. You’ve written 85 books.

What’s that writing process look like for you?

Pat Williams: 02:28

Well, it’s a good question, Jeremy, but the ideas have to well, up from within. And I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have lots of welling up. And these ideas come to me in various forms. Most of my writing is triggered by leadership, teamwork, winning, slash success. I think those are the areas that I write in primarily.

I’m a saver. Anytime I come across a great story or an anecdote or something that I think might fit into a book someday, I save it and keep it on file. So my research is done in the flow of life. So when it’s time to write the book after a publisher signs off on it, I’ve, I’ve done most of my research. So it’s an ongoing process. And as long as the ideas keep flowing, Jeremy, I’m able to keep writing.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:20

I love it. And so how do you choose Wooden for your latest book?

Pat Williams: 03:25

Well, I’ve been very fortunate. I was very fortunate. Coach Wooden let me into his life in the last decade of his life, and I’ve since then written three books about him. The first one was called How to Be Like Coach Wooden. And then a few years ago, I wrote a book called Coach Wooden: The 7 Principles That Shaped His Life and Will Change Yours.

And this most recent book is called Coach Wooden’s Greatest Secret, and it came from having dinner with him one night at the Valley Inn near his home in Encino, California. That was Coach Wooden’s favorite restaurant. And as we were sitting there, I just asked him a question. I said, coach, in your 90 years on earth, have you come up or discovered one secret of success? And that was the question I asked.

And in his wonderful, understated way, he said, well, he said, the closest I can come to one secret of success is a lot of little things done well. That’s what he said to me. And and so I thought, boy, that would be a good book one day, you know, if we could expand on that topic. And so we have. And the end result is this book that is just coming out now, Coach Wooden’s Greatest Secret.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:43

I’m looking forward to it. So that brings up a question which, you know, so what would you say now to that question, that same question. What would be the one secret? Yeah.

Pat Williams: 04:56

If somebody asked me, what’s the secret? Well, I would have to say that when your greatest talent crosses over or intersects with your greatest passion, you have found the secret to success in life. When your greatest talent, your greatest skill intersects with your greatest passion, I think then you have found your sweet spot in life. And then you can build upon that.

I think that’s what most successful people have done. They may not have been aware of it or conscious of it, but I think that would really probably be the book that I would end up writing if somebody asked me that question.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 05:38

So and again, yeah, I mean, a lot of people may think they have a lot of different skills. What would you say, when did you discover what your greatest skill was? I mean, obviously passion is sports, right?

Pat Williams: 05:52

So I was very young, Jeremy, my dad, who was a coach and a teacher in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 15th, 1947. I had just turned seven. And he said to me, we’re going to Philadelphia and we’re going to see a ball game. I didn’t really understand what was going on, but off we went to Philadelphia, went to Shibe Park 21st in Lehigh in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia A’s were in town then, and they were playing a doubleheader that afternoon with the Cleveland Indians.

And I sat there. I remember vividly sitting in the upper deck on the third base side, and I was captured, riveted by the sights and the sound and the smell of baseball and the color. Everything was green grass and seats and the walls and I woke up the next morning. Jeremy, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a ballplayer, and I dedicated myself to that.

You know, all the way through college into pro baseball and then switched hats and went into the executive end of the business. And here I am some 50 years later, and I’ve spent every, every year of my life, every day of my life in this business of professional athletics. But it all started as a seven year old. So I think the earliest earlier in life, you can plant a seed and get a young person excited or passionate about some particular area or skill. I think those kids are better off. I certainly was. I knew right from being a little boy what I wanted to do.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 07:26

Yeah. Yeah. I’m a fellow catcher and I know you caught two. Who’s been one of your favorite pitchers to catch?

Pat Williams: 07:34

Well, my first year as a pro ball player, I went to Wake Forest and played baseball there and then signed with the Phillies in June of 1962. I was a catcher, and they sent me to Miami in the Florida State League, one of their farm clubs, And arriving that same week was a young right handed pitcher. They had just signed 18 years old. His name was Ferguson Jenkins. Sure.

And for that summer and again the next year, he was there and I got to catch him on many nights. And little did we realize that 18 year old Fergie Jenkins was a future Hall of Famer. But I looked back and counted quite a privilege, you know, to have been a teammate of his and a battery mate. And every time I see Fergie, he always reminds people that this was my first catcher. This is the first catcher. So I’m very pleased about that.

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