Sir Rocco Forte is rare in having a successful sporting career after a successful business career. Some manage a bit of both – such as Sir Richard Branson, who indulges his taste for extreme sports while running a business. But a sporting career tends to come first for obvious reasons.
In our last issue, Will Carling showed that business and sport have many parallels (see archive). It is certainly true that the drive needed to succeed in sport serves people well in commerce, as these sporting and business heroes demonstrate.
1. Adi Dassler
Adolf Dassler was an enthusiastic, rather than great, club runner and football player. Acutely aware of his own limitations, he sought to give himself an edge by developing footwear that would provide extra support and traction. In 1920, aged 20, he invented the world's first spiked running shoes. Five years later, with his brother Rudolph, he was manufacturing football boots with nailed studs. In 1948, Rudi left to set up the Puma brand, so Adi named the company after himself. Adidas and its iconic three stripes logo were born. By the mid 1950s, Adidas was the leading sports shoe manufacturer in the world.
2. Fred Perry
Three times Wimbledon champion and table tennis world champion, Fred Perry is considered to be one of the greatest male tennis players of all time. But, outside tennis circles, he is best known for the Fred Perry brand of sportswear that bears his name. A natural entrepreneur and salesman, he only became involved in sportswear by accident, when he was approached in 1947 by former Austrian footballer, Tibby Wegner, to endorse a sweat band he had designed. The sports shirt soon followed and was an instant success. Although it is primarily a youth culture brand in the UK, in the rest of the world Fred Perry is a luxury brand worn by wealthy businesspeople, film stars and presidents.
3. Tony O'Reilly
Tony O’Reilly is one of those annoying people who is good at everything. A world-class sportsman, he represented Ireland at rugby as well as playing for the British Lions. But that was only the beginning of his achievements. He has a PhD in agricultural marketing, is chairman and chief executive officer of the H J Heinz Company, controls Independent Newspapers Plc and serves as Chairman of Fitzwilton Plc, an industrial holdings company, which is the majority shareholder in Waterford Wedgwood. He is now the second richest man in Ireland, worth £1.4bn.
4. Mike Corby
Mike Corby represented his country at hockey and squash more than 150 times in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He went to the 1964 and 1972 Olympic games as a hockey player and spent nine years as England's number one at squash. In the mid-1970s, despite overwhelming cynicism, he opened the first squash club in the city of London. Famously outspoken on the subject of venture capital and the dangers of borrowing, Corby is now outright owner of The Fitness Exchange, a highly successful nationwide chain of health and leisure clubs.
5. Francis Lee
Famously tenacious, barrel-chested attacking midfielder Francis Lee played his football for Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, and Derby County. He also won 27 caps for England. Lee went on to run Manchester City in the 1990s after ousting the previous chairman Peter Swales. He hired his good friend, World Cup hero Alan Ball, and plunged Manchester City into one of their famous yo-yo periods, where they managed to go from the top division of the Football League into the third division and back again in short order. He is now known as "The Bog Roll King" due to his successful loo roll manufacturing business.
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