Slam Dunk.

• Author: Gray, Carol Lippert
• Position: Interview

The Boston Celtics' Joe DiLorenzo is one team member you might not have heard about. But he knows sports finance from the bottom up and inside out.

Joe DiLorenzo has always been on the ball. When he was a teenager in Medford, Mass., the president of Boston Garden lived around the corner, and offered jobs to the neighborhood kids for spending money. That's how DiLorenzo, now senior vice president of administration for the Boston Celtics, got started - he sold refreshments on commission at Garden events throughout high school.

His father died just before he was to start classes at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., so he kept on selling while he studied for a degree in accounting. But talent is as important behind the scenes as it is in the arena, and he soon was promoted to an office position that included nightly cash balancing. He also was elected union steward of United Clerks International Local 1445 (now known as the United Food Workers Union) from 1974 to 1977 and negotiated two, three-year collective bargaining agreements for approximately 150 employees.

In 1977, the same year he received his B.S. in accounting with a minor in business education, DiLorenzo moved up again, to assistant manager and cashier of the Boston Garden ticket office. By 1982, he was managing director of the ticket office, reporting directly to the president and responsible for $40 million in ticket inventories. His duties included supervising union and nonunion personnel, solving technical problems associated with the production of live entertainment and making decisions involving Boston Garden and outside promoters.

"I went from the bottom up," DiLorenzo jokes. "Then one day I heard the Celtics were looking for a controller. I had the job within about 15 hours of finding out about the opening." Less than four years later, he was named vice president of finance and CFO for the Celtics. In 1995, in addition to being CFO, he was appointed vice president of finance and administration. Then, in August 1996, he became senior vice president of administration. "I have a job I absolutely love," he says.

The Sporting Life

The Celtics, one of the original NBA franchises, were founded in 1946. They've won 16 NBA championships, more than any other pro team in the last 50 years. And the team's annals boast basketball legends like "Red" Auerbach, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Bill Russell and Larry Bird. But times have changed since DiLorenzo peddled popcorn.

"When I started...