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Thoughts about Jim Warsaw

When Jim Warsaw passed away in April, after an extended battle with Parkinson’s Disease, academic sports marketing lost one of its best friend. Jim advocated tirelessly for sound scholarship and superior training in his favorite industry to the benefit of everyone who cares about it. For those among us who were fortunate enough to know Jim personally, the news of his passing rekindled many fond memories about his work over the previous 15 years.

The reason Jim Warsaw smiled so easily may be that he had figured out the secret to happiness. Love your work, love your family, know and live your values, treat others well, fight for justice and success when you might be able to win, and let go of what you cannot change. Often enough, that love will be returned. One way to show your affectionto many people is to share in their vision of sports and sports teams.

In 2004 John Genzale, founding editor of SportsBusiness Journal, wrote an article about what makes someone a hero. THE hero he identified from among all of the people in sports was, of course, Jim Warsaw. John quoted Jim, saying he "told me how happy he was to be back with his family in Newport Beach, Calif., after a four-day stay in a Boston hospital... He wrote that he was ‘blessed and lucky to be in the position I am right now.’…Here was a man who in the face of horrible disease wrote about his ‘huge personal reward in learning to manage my life with optimism, a positive attitude [while] having fun and being passionate about causes in which I believe.’"

I first met Jim Warsaw in the early 1990’s. I had been teaching a course (on a volunteer, overload basis) about sports marketing after the Portland Trailblazers recommended that it was an area in dire need of better scholarship. Dean Jim Reinmuth knew about the class and its popularity, and he stopped me in the hall one day to ask if I thought our college could host an entire Center devoted to sports marketing. When I said I thought the idea was great, he told me he had someone named Jim Warsaw whom he wanted me to meet, someone who independently shared the concerns of the Trailblazers. That meeting literally changed my life. Jim shared his dream of funding a sports marketing center and allowed me to participate in it. We developed a Prospectus for the Center, and I served as the first Director until we were able to hire Mike Ritchey to work full time in that capacity so that I could focus on scholarship. Jim called me constantly to monitor the progress of the Center and to offer visionary suggestions. He clearly wanted a hands-on approach to ensuring its success.

Jim gave not only money but also his spirit, friendship, encouragement, and wisdom back to his beloved University of Oregon. Jim’s vision always included sharing with students his path to happiness. He probably lectured to my classes 20 times over the years, never using a prepared speech or a canned message, but students regularly praised his talks effusively because his genuine message taught so much more than nuances of business strategy. Students recognized in both his greatness and his humility a plan for life, whether in the sports industry or elsewhere. Jim worked extensively to guide students to what he had discovered to be a productive and happy lifestyle.

The respect for Jim Warsaw throughout the sports industry opened countless doors for the University of Oregon. Jim help attract terrific guest speakers and advisors, and he told the world about the exciting developments in Oregon with a credibility that no other academic could match. He also used his contacts to help students find jobs and gain entry into places students from other schools could not easily access. Jim was understandably proud when Sports Illustrated declared the Oregon Warsaw Sports Marketing Center the "best sports management school" for the first time in 2002. Jim Warsaw’s investment and hard work (along with some others with names like Mike Ritchey and Rick Burton) had paid high dividends for the school, the students, and the industry. Jim’s model of living had become institutionalized and widely admired in 8 short years. It also became a model for education that others have copied.

One example of Jim’s character has to do with the controversial topic in sports business of Asian sourcing. Some American businesses have exploitive relations with their Asian suppliers. On one of my trips to Korea Jim insisted that I look up Sung Hak Baik of the Young An Hat Co., Ltd., an Asian supplier for the Warsaw family business. Mr. Baik today is a decidedly successful and highly regarded businessperson and philanthropist in S. Korea, yet it became clear in conversations with Mr. Baik that he had a genuinely warm feeling toward the Warsaw family because his business relationship with them was built on solid values of trust and honesty. I learned from Mr. Baik about all of the business ideals the Warsaw family showed in its business activities and also brought to the University of Oregon Warsaw Sports Marketing Center: integrity, ethics, passion, excellence, justice, understanding opportunities, street-smarts, generosity, giving back to society, and effective international cooperation. Many sour relationships have emerged from relations between American sports businesses and Asian suppliers, but Jim would not tolerate such a state of affairs when he called the shots. Jim’s insistence on standards sometimes created friction, but everyone who learned from Jim knew the difference between right and wrong.

Although Jim deserves the credit for the success of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, he always shared the spotlight and showed his appreciation to everyone else who contributed to the success. I have posted in my office a highly prized note he sent me that said, "Your scholarly works, dedication, and commitment have created a unique and special environment at the Warsaw Center. More important, your friendship means a great deal to me. All the best, and Go Ducks!" I’m sure he shared similar notes with many people, but his appreciation for my small part in his achievement touched me deeply because it illustrates what a kind and generous person Jim was. Also, with his frequent phone calls and careful monitoring of what everyone in the Center did, we all knew that Jim understood what happened at the Center better than anyone else. It made me proud that for more than a decade my official title at the University of Oregon was the "James Warsaw Professor of Sports Marketing" because honored someone I held in hefty esteem. Much of what I have done during the past two decades would not have happened if it were not for Jim Warsaw allowing me to participate in his dream. I would never have been Editor of Sport Marketing Quarterly or President of the American Marketing Association’s Sports and Special Events Special Interest Group if it were not for Jim. Jim also influenced many of the things I have written, which is in part why I dedicated my book (edited with Chris Riley) Sports Marketing and the Psychology of Marketing Communication to him.

"Some men see things as they are and ask ‘Why?’ Others dream things that never were and ask ‘Why not?’" --George Bernard Shaw

This quote illustrates the highest form of intelligence. Jim Warsaw intelligently dreamed of improving sports business education as a way to show people how to live, and he had a convincing, intelligent answer for every "Why not?" ever thrown in his way. Jim Warsaw showed his spirit when he loved his work, loved his family, knew and lived his values, treated others well, fought for justice and success when he thought he might be able to win, and let go of obsessing about what he could not change, such as in his battle with Parkinson’s Disease. That spirit is why so many people also loved Jim Warsaw, and why so many of us smile when we think of Jim Warsaw.

--Lynn R. Kahle
Giustina Professor of Marketing
Warsaw Sports Marketing Center
University of Oregon

References

Bee, Colleen C., and Lynn R. Kahle (2006). "Relationship Marketing in Sports: A Functional Approach," Sport Marketing Quarterly, 15, 101-110.

Eisert, Debra C. and Lynn R. Kahle (1983), "Values and Psychological Adaptation: Well-Being," in Lynn R. Kahle, Ed., Social Values and Social Change: Adaptation to Life in America. New York: Praeger, 207-225.

Kahle, Lynn R., Mark P. Elton, and Kenneth M. Kambara (1997). "Sports Talk and the Development of Marketing Relationships," Sport Marketing Quarterly, 6(2), 35-40.

Kahle, Lynn R., David M. Boush, and Mark Phelps. (2000). "Good Morning, Vietnam: An Ethical Analysis of Nike Activities in Southeast Asia," Sport Marketing Quarterly, 9(1), 43-52.

Kahle, Lynn R., and Chris Riley, Eds. (2004a). Sports Marketing and the Psychology of Marketing Communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.