Mark McCormack, Superagent

The founder of IMG managed and marketed athletes from Arnold Palmer to Monica Seles in a way that changed the game profoundly

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November 10, 2004 at 5:00 AM UTC

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By Mike Brewster

In a famous scene in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, the sports agent played by Tom Cruise is goaded by his client, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., to repeatedly scream into the phone "Show me the money." By the time that film came out, however, the role of the sports agent had long since been transformed into one far more sophisticated than simply negotiating contracts. And while screenwriter Cameron Crowe based the Jerry Maguire character on agent Leigh Steinberg, it was Mark McCormack who ushered in the modern era of sports management and marketing.