Chris Hightower ’97

CH: The Prep is special because it’s a melting pot of individuals with different talents and ambitions. It teaches you how to deal with all different kinds of people, to be self-aware, and how to deal with adversity. In my time, everyone was embraced for who they are. We all learned from each other.

I also have great memories playing basketball for Eddie Burke ’63 and Maurice "Mo" Howard '72 and competing in the Catholic League. But most meaningful are the memories of the people who were there to help me out. As simple as the friends who had a car who would always come pick me up — whether it was for a practice or just to hang out — and make sure I got home safe. That meant a lot. I remember guys like Jim McDermott ’97 or Fred Massanova ’96. I was always included, appreciated, and respected. Whether I was the only Black guy in the group, or one of a few, I never felt different. I felt like I belonged. It was never brought up; it was never an issue. 

CH: When I was in high school and college, I was fortunate to be surrounded by a ton of talented players. I became very observant and self-aware, especially at a young age.  I can't say I had things figured out, but I knew I loved sports, and I had a passion for basketball and football. Everyone wants to make it to the next level and to play in the NBA, but growing up around guys like Kobe Bryant showed me just how much you have to do to be great. I met Kobe first at a Lower Merion dance and he brought his basketball as his date. That’s the kind of tenacious mindset he had. I remember having conversations with siblings and saying "There's no way I'm playing in the NBA. This guy [Kobe] is crazy; you have to see the stuff he does." And I thought to myself, if that’s what I need to do to play at the highest level, I’m okay if I don’t quite get there. However, I always had an infatuation with sneakers and the various style trends in the sport, and as my passion for shoes grew I began paying more attention to the marketing and business side of the industry. 

CH: I finished my high school career and I wanted an opportunity to play while also receiving a great education. I started at Widener University thinking "I can go there for a year and transfer," but I fell in love with the school, the campus, and the opportunity to play a lot — which other schools couldn’t offer. I didn’t want to sit on the bench or be a practice player. After four years, I remember one of my coaches asking me if I wanted to play overseas and my response was "Absolutely not." I just wanted to get in the workforce. That same coach connected me with a friend of his who worked at And1. After weeks of persistent outreach, the friend finally got back to me and invited me to the office. So I borrowed a car from a teammate, drove out to the office, met the staff, and ended up getting an opportunity to be an intern on the Mixtape Tour [a traveling series of basketball exhibitions and competitions]. 

CH: I was a super green 21-year-old traveling the country for the first time, so I learned a lot about myself. I stuck to being observant and working hard — all the skills and traits I learned at the Prep and through sports. I put in the effort and developed the necessary skills through repetition. I was given an opportunity to work full-time, but I made them promise me that I could finish my senior year at Widener. They agreed; so I played my senior season and got my degree. I graduated on a Saturday, and by that Monday I was on the road working on the Mixtape Tour.

CH: I worked for them for about a year managing player relations: from recruiting talent or coming up with incentives for the winning teams. I didn’t realize it at the time, but meeting the people that I did, including the likes of LL Cool J and Vince Carter, gave me great opportunities to grow. After about a year of working on the street ball side of things, I was given the chance to work on the NBA side as a player field rep: building relationships with agents, signing players to endorsement deals, and really focusing on the marketing and management side of things. 

CH: I decided to accept an offer to be a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch. I was able to leverage some of the relationships I had with NBA players to help them with their retirement plans and educate them on various financial topics. I also worked with future retirees, which taught me how to have difficult conversations with people who were planning to retire in five months, but who really needed five more years of work. All of this, like my work in basketball, was less about finance and more about building relationships.

CH: Absolutely. I learned really quickly that I needed to get back to sports marketing. I was fortunate to get a phone call from the same guy who hired me at And1, who was starting Under Armour’s basketball branch. After a long interview process, I was offered a job to join the Under Armour team and I moved down to Baltimore in July 2010. 

CH: It was a challenge, but we really focused on building it from the ground up at the grassroots level. I was really excited to be a part of the design process and making sure kids would want to wear the shoes. We would then get the product out in front of young players in the community, who in turn would essentially market them in their own neighborhood or region. When we had the opportunity to sign Steph Curry, which we really got lucky with, that allowed us to get to the next level.

CH: In March 2020, I had the opportunity to work at the sports agent Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports Group. Obviously, the timing could not have been worse with the COVID pandemic, and I ended up getting let go shortly after. I then moved on to a sports agency based in Charlotte and a footwear and apparel brand based in Los Angeles before venturing into a different capacity for a company called Prep Network as their director of business development and event strategies. I was managing a team of seven working on our basketball events: how they are marketed; branding; the feel and look of each event; the approach we take to attract clubs to sign up; and selling the extra value we are bringing to the table. This has also opened the doors for an opportunity to work with a company in Wisconsin doing digital ticketing; as well as an opportunity to work with BSN Sports in a pilot program as a Business Development Rep for the Philadelphia area. 

CH: Being around sports and being around top athletes from a young age has taught me that everyone's just a normal person. These athletes put their pants on one leg at a time just like you and me. They want to be treated like a normal person and they appreciate people who show a real interest in their personal life away from sports. Spending time with these professionals has really shown the importance of building genuine relationships in any type of work that you do.