On the basketball court, Lake Forest native Rob Pelinka always displayed an ability to prove those wrong who questioned his ability.
When local talent scouts doubted that Pelinka could compete with the best players in the area, he won MVP honors of a city-suburban all-star game after his senior season at Lake Forest
When some of the same skeptics questioned whether Pelinka deserved a scholarship to the University of Michigan, he became a part of three Final Four squads during his four years in Ann Arbor.
And when he decided that practicing corporate law for a downtown Chicago firm wasn't his life's calling, he used the same brand of tenacity and determination to build a new career as one of the NBA's most successful and high-profile player agents.
"The work I did in corporate law was a great training field for representing players," said Pelinka. "I was immersed in negotiations and the transactional fields of a deal but also missed the competitive side of sports. It was a door that kind of opened up for me."
He recently went into business on his own, leaving the SFX agency to form the Landmark Sports Agency, a full-service shop headquartered in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. Pelinka's current stable of NBA clients stands at 12 players. His most recognizable client is Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, but the rest of his list is impressive, with the likes of Carlos Boozer, Andre Iguodala, Chris Kaman, Gerald Wallace, Channing Frye, Morris Peterson and Chicago-area natives Corey Maggette and rookie Julian Wright.
"Kobe is the most driven competitor I've ever met," said Pelinka. "We share some of the same drive to achieve excellence. That was a foundation point in our connection to work and partner together and it's developed into a very fulfilling friendship."
Pelinka prides himself full-service representation to his clients. Pelinka breaks it down into four components.
"My role is to be part of the support system that a player has," said Pelinka. "I try to provide a good range of advice -- with legal decisions, business decisions, basketball decisions and life decisions. Being able to do that has been very rewarding."
Basketball has always been rewarding for Pelinka, who says his initial exposure to the game came when he was approximately two-years-old. Pelinka's father taught and coached at Lake Forest when Pelinka was growing up, which was a big factor in getting his son off and running on a basketball career.
"I grew up around hoops and I got a chance to play against all kinds of competition," said Pelinka. "My performance in that one particular all-star game was really a proud moment, though. It proved to people that I could compete against anybody."
While at Lake Forest, Pelinka teamed with Billy Douglass, the son of former Bears quarterback Bobby Douglass who went to play at Wisconsin, to help lead the Scouts to multiple 20-win seasons. The success he enjoyed in high school, however, was nothing compared to what he would experience at Michigan.
Pelinka's freshman year was in 1988-89 when Steve Fisher took over in mid-season for Bill Frieder and led Michigan to an improbable national championship. That team was paced by eventual NBA players Glen Rice and Rumeal Robinson and included a last-second Final Four semifinal win over Lou Henson's Flying Illini squad and a championship game victory over Seton Hall.
Pelinka didn't play a major role for that team but it laid the groundwork for what would transpire over the next three seasons when the Fab Five, featuring Chris Webber and Jalen Rose, were making national headlines.
"I was blessed to be able to go to Michigan at a great time in that program's history," said Pelinka. "I got to play in three Final Fours -- most players dream of getting there just once."
Unlike Webber or Rose or others at the forefront of Michigan's basketball renewal during that span, Pelinka didn't harbor any false assumptions about playing professionally.
He also had no intention of becoming a sports agent. Toward the end of his senior season, Pelinka had already been accepted into a dual law/business program at Michigan. Pelinka remembers Webber kidding him about becoming an agent when the Wolverines would arrive at hotels and arenas to find a slew of agents congregating around the bus vying for some of the players' services.
Pelinka doesn't canvass buses to attract clients these days and he doesn't worry about the stereotypes people have of people in his field.
"At the end of the day, the most important opinions come from people who actually know you," he said. "I try to serve people with true compassion -- to use my basketball, legal and business background. That's the DNA of what I am now."
• Labor Day weekend means cutdown time for NFL franchises and most first-year local products trying to make pro rosters didn't fare very well.
Besides Bears' running back Garrett Wolfe and Tampa Bay linebacker Quincy Black, the only Chicago-area rookie to stick on a 53-man roster was former Illinois RB Pierre Thomas (Thornton Fractional South), who overcame long odds to make the New Orleans Saints.
Thomas went undrafted in April but was impressive enough in camp and preseason to force the Saints to keep him over several other backs, including former Ohio State standout Antonio Pittman, who was picked in the fourth round. Thomas doesn't figure to play a prominent role, due to the presence of both second-year back Reggie Bush and veteran Deuce McAllister.
Thomas helped state his case in August by rushing for 90 yards and two touchdowns in 11 carries in a 30-7 preseason road win over the Chiefs Aug. 23. He also rushed 16 times for 81 yards and the game's only score in last Thursday's preseason finale, a 7-0 win over Miami.
Among those who weren't as fortunate as Thomas are former Notre Dame offensive lineman Dan Santucci (St. Patrick), former Northwestern cornerback Marquice Cole (Hillcrest), former Western Illinois wide receiver Marco Thomas (Bogan) and former Iowa guard Mike Jones (Richards).
Santucci was among the last players waived Sunday by the Cincinnati Bengals but he's eligible to be signed to the team's practice squad Monday.
Cole, Thomas and Jones were let go by the Raiders, Giants and Chargers, respectively, after spending the off-season and preseason with those clubs.
Also over the weekend, former Central Michigan OL Drew Mormino (Stevenson) was placed on injured reserve by the Miami Dolphins due to a shoulder injury. He was picked by the Dolphins in the sixth round of the NFL Draft last April but won't be eligible to play until 2008.
Among the 2006 NFL rookies with local connections, Carolina placed former Northwestern quarterback Brett Basanez (St. Viator) on IR last Tuesday due to a wrist injury. Basanez made the Panther roster in 2006 as an undrafted rookie free agent and appeared in a late-season game vs. Pittsburgh, completing six-of-11 passes for 56 yards with one interception.
• Labor Day weekend also means the end of the year for most minor league baseball players but local product Luke Gregerson (Morton) has had his 2007 campaign extended with his promotion last week to Double-A.
The St. Louis Cardinal farmhand had an outstanding regular season with the advanced Single-A Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League, recording a 3-4 record, a sparkling 1.97 ERA and 29 saves in 53 appearances. The save total ranked third in the league and his 53 appearances tied for tops.
Batters hit only .188 against him at Palm Beach and he hasn't allowed a home run this season. He'll be on the playoff roster for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals of the Texas League, where his only regular season appearance came Sunday when he struck out the side and allowed one hit in his only inning of work.
Gregerson was selected by the Cardinals in June 2006 in the 28th round (856th overall) out of St. Xavier University. The southpaw had a stellar 2006 college season as St. Xavier's closer, compiling nine saves and a 3-1 win-loss record with a miniscule ERA of 0.68.
In addition, Gregerson earned both Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference and Region VII Player of the Year honors as the team's starting right fielder, hitting .330 and leading the team with 49 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He also had 15 doubles, five home runs, and 46 runs scored.
After signing his pro contract, Gregerson split 2006 between Johnson City (Tenn.) of the Rookie-level Appalachian League and the Class A short-season State College (Pa.) Spikes. He went 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA and five saves over 15 relief outings for Johnson City and was 6-1 with four saves and a 1.72 ERA for State College in 12 games.
• In men's cross country, two local products helped the University of Illinois get off to a fast start in its 2007 season. Sophomore Jacob Nachel (Lyons Township) and redshirt freshman Michael Murray (Prospect) were among the top finishers for the Fighting Illini as they claimed their third straight Illini Challenge team title in Champaign last Friday.
Nachel, who won the state 3,200-meter title as a senior in 2006, won the individual title Friday, covering six kilometers in 18:15.30. That time was 16 seconds faster than the mark he made running the same distance on the same course in 2006. He led the entire race and his time was only four seconds off the course record.
Murray, a member of Prospect's state title-winning 4x800 meter relay squad in 2004, was Illinois' third finisher, finishing sixth in 18:48.88.
• In men's soccer, Northwestern freshman forward Matt Eliason (Glenbard East) started his college career in fine fashion, scoring the game-winning goal in the Wildcats' 2-1 win over Bucknell Sunday afternoon. The goal came 19 seconds into overtime and gave No. 14 Northwestern the team title in the Lakeside Classic, which the Wildcats hosted over the weekend.
Eliason came to Northwestern on the heels of a high school career that saw him help Glenbard East to the most successful two-year period in the school's history. Over his junior and senior seasons the Rams were 29-8-4 and Eliason was an All-State selection as a senior in 2006.
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