In 2014, Grand Canyon University renamed its Christian based school of business after Jerry Colangelo, replacing Ken Blanchard's namesake.

He holds the distinction of the second-longest tenure running an NBA franchise, exceeded only by that of Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics.

[3] In the summer of 2005, Colangelo was named director of USA Basketball whose team represented the United States in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Colangelo was born and raised in Chicago Heights, Illinois, to an Italian-American working class family.

[5] In his autobiography, How You Play the Game, Colangelo tells of working at the House of Charles, a tuxedo rental shop in Chicago Heights, after graduating from college.

[7] Colangelo got off to an unlucky start, losing a 1969 coin flip to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to UCLA phenom Lew Alcindor (who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Colangelo assembled a group of investors that bought the Suns in late 1987, in the wake of the drug scandal.

In 1992, Colangelo traded Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang to the Philadelphia 76ers for Charles Barkley.

Throughout his time with the Suns, Colangelo would win four different NBA Executive of the Year honors with the team.

He eventually turned over the Suns' presidency to his son Bryan, who later left the organization to become general manager of the Toronto Raptors.

On December 7, 2015, Colangelo decided to return to the NBA to become the new chairman of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers,[10] as well as special adviser to the team's managing partner.

Colangelo stepped down as chairman of basketball operations following the hiring of his son, but he retained his role as special adviser to the managing partner.

[13] Just before his son's later resignation from the position of general manager, Colangelo attempted to save Bryan's job by threatening to damage the team's NBA relationships.

He assembled a group of investors in 1994 to buy a franchise, a year ahead of MLB's proposed expansion selection meetings.

Key acquisitions made by Garagiola included the signing of Randy Johnson in 1999 and a trade for Curt Schilling in 2000 from the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ken Kendrick succeeded him as managing general partner, while Jeff Moorad became CEO and operating head of the franchise.

[16] Following the demise of the proposed move of the Winnipeg Jets to Minneapolis, Colangelo was involved in bringing the National Hockey League (NHL) to Arizona, successfully convincing the team's ownership to relocate the franchise to the area as the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996.

At the time, the move made Phoenix one of 13 metropolitan areas with franchises in all four major North American professional sports leagues.

The Coyotes played in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe at Arizona State University facilities prior to the team's sale and relocation to Salt Lake City in 2024.

In April 2004, Colangelo sold the Suns, Mercury and Rattlers to an investment group headed by San Diego, California businessman, Tucson, Arizona native Robert Sarver for $401 million.

Late in the 2004 baseball season, Colangelo sold his controlling interest in the Arizona Diamondbacks to a group of investors led by Jeff Moorad.