'Air' follows Trafford native's pursuit of Michael Jordan for Nike

Apr. 4—Most people won't get a chance to see a movie made about their lives — much less see themselves portrayed by A-list Hollywood leading man Matt Damon.

Trafford native John "Sonny" Vaccaro is about to get both.

"Air: Courting a Legend" premieres Wednesday in theaters nationwide. Directed by Ben Affleck, who also stars in the movie alongside Damon, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman and Marlon Wayans, the film tells the story of Vaccaro persuading Nike head Phil Knight (Affleck) to sign a young Michael Jordan as the face of the company, before Jordan had even set foot on an NBA court.

Vaccaro's gamble led to the creation of the Air Jordan shoe line and revolutionized the way athletic apparel was marketed.

Over the years, Vaccaro has rubbed elbows with future and current NBA superstars all over the world. But he said it was still quite something to be on a Zoom call with Matt Damon.

"He took his own notes, and I love to talk, so it was great," Vaccaro said. "Eventually, we met on the set."

Vaccaro has had quite a journey, from growing up near the banks of Turtle Creek in Trafford to helping Nike become a billion-dollar corporate titan to becoming the subject of a major motion picture.

A way with words

In 1958, John Paul Vincent Vaccaro wasn't thinking much about shoes, and certainly not about Michael Jordan.

Mostly he was thinking about what he'd say at the Friday pep rally before his Trafford High School football team took the field.

He certainly wasn't thinking that, someday, a Hollywood film might get made about his efforts to sign the world's most famous basketball player to a shoe contract that would change the face of athlete-endorsed footwear.

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In fact, Vaccaro said the most important person in the world to him turned out to be right there at the high school: his guidance counselor, Alice Giglio.

"I was the football captain in '57 and '58, so I always spoke at the pep rallies," said Vaccaro, 83, from his home in Palm Springs. "One day, Mrs. Giglio came up and asked me if I ever thought about going to college."

Vaccaro was a star athlete in high school and thought he might be able to make it onto a minor-league baseball team, "but she said something that honestly changed my life," he said. "She said, 'You have a gift for speaking. I really love the speeches you give at the pep rallies.' "

Giglio said Vaccaro should consider furthering his education.

"As I follow my life to today, if she hadn't said that to me, I don't know if I'd be where I'm at," he said.

Where Vaccaro's at is not a bad spot at all: He spent a career in sports marketing with Nike, Adidas and Reebok, founded the ABCD Camp, which ran from 1984-2007 and showcased pre-NBA phenoms like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, and founded the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic with fellow Trafford and legendary Pittsburgh concert promoter Pat DiCesare.

"We grew up next door to one another," DiCesare said.

The pair unsuccessfully attempted to secure the talents of one Lew Alcindor — later to be known as NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — but still ended up staging the first Dapper Dan Roundball Classic at the former Civic Arena with 10,000 people in attendance.

Key role with Jordan

Vaccaro said he can remember the exact moment he knew Jordan was the athlete he wanted to pursue.

"One of my favorite teams in the world was the 1982 Georgetown Hoyas," he said. "I was repping Nike at the time and getting college teams to wear Nike shoes. We weren't thinking about the pros."

Vaccaro was at the 1982 NCAA championship game in which Jordan — a freshman at the time — sank a go-ahead basket for the North Carolina Tar Heels with 15 seconds remaining in the game to help secure the championship.

"When he made that shot — and when you watch the film, you can see it — he was a killer," Vaccaro said. "In 1984, Nike was looking for a player who'd be in the draft and could become the face of Nike. And I said, 'Give it all to the kid.' I didn't know him, he wasn't a friend, but I remembered that shot."

The rest is well-known sports history: Jordan went on to become one of the most celebrated basketball players of all time, and Nike hasn't stopped manufacturing new Air Jordan shoes since signing him.

Documentary to cinema

Over the years, Vaccaro has often recounted his role in signing Jordan and has spoken at prestigious colleges and companies across the globe about his experience — notably in 2015's ESPN "30 for 30" film "Sole Man."

The makers of "Sole Man" eventually reached out to Vaccaro as they prepared to put "Air" into production.

"They called me up to say they were doing a new film and wanted to talk to me about it," he said. "We drove down to L.A. to meet with (Mandalay Pictures producer) Peter Guber and (Skydance Sports producer) Jon Weinbach."

As it turned out, a production intern named Alex Convery had spent his first assignment editing 60 hours of raw video for "Sole Man."

"He had my life story," Vaccaro said. "Then later he edited film for 'The Last Dance' documentary about Jordan. I interviewed for that, but they never used it."

Vaccaro said Convery took inspiration from his interview footage and developed the script that eventually became "Air."

"I had no say over how things ultimately went," he said. "And I was told I wouldn't be able to see the script, but they wanted me involved."

Vaccaro has seen the finished film — which is "inspired by true events," according to the trailer — and said that while certain aspects of the story are exaggerated or compressed, he's happy with the way it turned out.

"All the things you see — they recreated Nike headquarters the way it looked in 1984 — look absolutely great," he said. "There are little things like a change of scenery when it comes to where things happened. For example, Michael's mother and I did meet in person, but when she finally told us he would come to Oregon and sign with Nike, that was done over the phone."

A big family

While Vaccaro and his wife haven't been back to Trafford since before the covid-19 pandemic, it would be difficult to throw a rock in the borough without potentially injuring a relative.

"All my cousins and my wife's family, the Mastroiannis, are still there," he said.

Vaccaro's second cousin, Matt Mastroianni, owns Mastro Signs and Printing in Trafford.

"My granddad ran the printing press for Westinghouse. My great uncle was the police chief. My dad started his police career here and retired as Penn Township chief," Mastroianni said. "And my aunt and uncle started A&S Carpet two doors down from my shop."

He said it's wild to think that Matt Damon is going to play his second cousin on the big screen.

"I always heard stories about Sonny growing up," he said.

During this year's Super Bowl, when the official trailer for "Air" premiered, Mastroianni said family texts were flying back and forth.

"We were all saying how cool it was," he said.

Vaccaro's legacy has even extended to the new generation. Mastroianni's 10-year-old son, Levi, has multiple apps on his phone that lets users design shoes and their color schemes.

"He's into shoes like you wouldn't believe," Mastroianni said. "I thought, man, he's really following in Sonny's footsteps."

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .