Pat Croce

Pasquale "Pat" Croce (born November 2, 1954) is an American entrepreneur, sports team executive and owner, author, and TV personality.

Biography

Early life and career

Croce, the son of an Italian American father and Irish American mother, began his career as a physical therapist and was an athletic trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers for more than 10 years, originally hired to help thin 7'6" center Shawn Bradley bulk up. He founded Sports Physical Therapists in 1984 and grew the business into a chain of 40 centers spanning 11 states before selling it in 1993 for $40 million. As of October 22, 2014, Croce had a net worth of $300 million.

Philadelphia 76ers

He became president of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team in 1996 as part of a group led by Flyers founder Ed Snider and Comcast Corporation that bought the team. Under their ownership, the Sixers went from last place in 1996 to the NBA Finals in 2001. He resigned after the 2001 season. He appeared on the cover of Success magazine as the first trainer to rise to an ownership position with a professional sports team. He has also been featured in Inc. and Sales & Marketing Management.

Howard Stern

Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, producer, author, actor, and photographer. He is best known as the host of The Howard Stern Show, his long-running radio show which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005 before its move to Sirius XM Radio in 2006. Stern first wished to be on the radio at five years of age. He landed his first radio jobs while at Boston University—WTBU, the campus station, and WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts. From 1976 to 1982, Stern developed his on-air personality through morning positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut, WWWW in Detroit, Michigan, and WWDC in Washington, D.C. Stern worked afternoons at WNBC in New York City from 1982 until his firing in 1985.

In 1985, Stern began a 20-year run at WXRK in New York City, where his show was syndicated to 60 markets and attracted 20 million listeners. Stern won numerous awards, including Billboard’s Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year eight times. He became the most fined radio host when the Federal Communications Commission issued fines totaling $2.5 million to station licensees for content it deemed indecent. Stern became one of the highest paid radio figures after signing a five-year deal with Sirius in 2004 worth $500 million. In recent years, Stern took up photography and has had work featured in Hamptons and WHIRL magazines. From 2012 to 2015, he served as a judge on America's Got Talent.

Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers (also commonly known as the Sixers) are an American professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 and originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA, and one of only eight (out of 23) to survive the league's first decade.

The 76ers have had a rich history, with many of the greatest players in NBA history having played for the organization, including Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, and Dikembe Mutombo. They have won three NBA championships, with their first coming as the Syracuse Nationals in 1955. The second title came in the 1966–67 season, a team which was led by Chamberlain. The third title came in the 1982–83 season, won by a team led by Erving and Malone. They have only been back to the Finals once since then, during the 2001 campaign, led by Iverson and Mutombo, only to fall to the Los Angeles Lakers, 4 games to 1.

Howard

Howard is a popular English given name originating from Old Norse Hávarðr, which means "high guard". A diminutive is "Howie" and its shortened form is "Ward" (most common in the 19th century). Between 1900-1960, Howard ranked in the U.S. Top 200; between 1960–1990, it ranked in the U.S. Top 400; between 1990–2004, it ranked in the U.S. Top 600. People with the given name Howard or its variants include:

Howard, given name

The Howard Stern Show

The Howard Stern Show is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern. It gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005. The show has been exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, since 2006. Other prominent staff members include co-host and news anchor Robin Quivers, writer Fred Norris, and executive producer Gary Dell'Abate.

The show developed in 1979 when Stern landed his first morning shift at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut, four years into his professional radio career. He continued to break out as a morning personality at WWWW in Detroit, Michigan in 1980, and was paired with Quivers in 1981 at WWDC in Washington, D.C.. In 1982, Stern's success in Washington led to a spot at WNBC in New York City, where he hosted the city's top afternoon show until his firing in 1985. That year, the show began a 20-year run at WXRK in New York City where it aired on a total of 60 markets across the United States and Canada and gained an audience of 20 million listeners at its peak. In the New York area, the show was the highest-rated morning program consecutively between 1994 and 2001. A total of $2.5 million in fines were issued to station licensees that carried the show by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for what it considered indecent material. Following Stern's contract with Sirius in 2004, the show left terrestrial radio in December 2005.