Sports media was a space Derek Spallone immersed himself in when he was just a junior in high school. From blogging to event coverage to digital interviews, Derek was intrigued to explore an area of the industry that allowed him to remain connected to sports and also fulfilled his passion for storytelling. It was up from there. After graduating early from high school and attending the Illinois Center for Broadcasting—diving into the ins and outs of broadcast media, production, and content creation—, he was ready to embark on his journey as a sports media professional. Covering everything from high school athletics to college sports to professional teams, Derek began to expand his network in the industry and foster his personal brand. He was on a mission. Inspired by the opportunity to connect with different athletes and brands, Derek worked with several sports organizations including the Chicago Wolves, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Green Bay Packers; and dove into broadcasting, social media management, and digital media further. Along with this, he also founded his own digital platform called Spallone Sports. He hasn't slowed down one bit since. Currently working as a sports reporter for Spallone Sports and a social media specialist with Wilson Sporting Goods, Derek maintains storytelling at the forefront of all of his endeavors in the industry and remains anchored by his mission to highlight athletes as individuals first and athletes second. Truly inspiring!
Take us back to the very beginning! How did you get started in the industry?
Growing up, I had the aspirations to play basketball and be a professional athlete. That was kind of my goal—play college and play professionally. When I got through high school, around my junior year of high school, I was cut from my Varsity team. I didn't have that Michael Jordan comeback story where he comes back afterwards and becomes the greatest basketball player of all time (*laughs*). Instead, my journey leaned towards the world of sports media. There were individuals that were in my life that planted seeds. They would share thoughts with me like, “Hey you like sports and you like talking, have you ever thought about sports media?” Around my junior year of high school—during that transition phase of: “What's the way to stay involved with the game without necessarily playing at the highest level?”—, I pivoted towards that sports media route. I was doing a lot of blogging, helping under the radar prospects in the area gain exposure, and doing interviews and articles. Then, I had a friend who had a camcorder back at that time—in 2011 or 2012—, and would take tape cassettes. Every Sunday, we took that video camera and he and I went to this place called “Joy of the Game.” It was a big basketball facility in Northbrook and they had the fall league for a lot of the high school kids and teams. A lot of those individuals were around my age too so it was easy to connect and things like that. I started off doing high school basketball interviews, video interviews, and posted them on my YouTube and Twitter. From there I was able to really feel like, “Wow, this is something I really do enjoy.” Between the writing, the interviews, and covering high school sports, I had the chance to then take that next step and cover collegiate athletics. I covered the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's basketball, UIC basketball, and from there had the chance to also cover the Chicago Sky in the WNBA front. That was my journey from high school sports to collegiate sports to professional athletics. That was really my route and, through knowing that that was a passion of mine, I graduated high school early from Wheeling High School and then attended a trade school called the Illinois Center for Broadcasting. Now, it's called the Illinois Media School.
I attended there—it's a one year program where they really taught the ins and outs of broadcast media, and everything encompassing from on-camera to behind the scenes to production. I knew the trade school route was for me because I knew this is what I was passionate about and really wanted to go head on towards it. While my journey was a little different than maybe a traditional four-year university, I appreciated that there was an opportunity to get an education in a field that I knew I really wanted to dive head first into. During my time in trade school, I interned at Comcast SportsNet in Chicago—which is now NBC Sports Chicago—, and I was a news intern. From there, I continued to cover college sports, had that chance in the WNBA with the Chicago Sky, and then from there was really involved in the media space.
That’s awesome! Fast-forwarding to your time now at Wilson Sporting Goods, could you share more with us about your journey there? What has this experience been like for you thus far?
I think the role for me has evolved over the course of time where, when I first started, we didn't have the NBA and WNBA partnership. We really leaned heavily into the basketball side, specific partnerships, and the history of a lot of our products that may resonate with our audience throughout their basketball journey. Same thing for football—where you're the ball of every point scored in NFL history. You know, since 1941 every point has been scored with the Duke and that's a Wilson football. Then (with) professional volleyball, you're that prestigious ball on the sand. So there's that whole component of learning about the product, understanding the consumer, and understanding the storytelling you want to craft and be a part of. I think it’s evolved over the course of time with just how we show up, and how we try to work with ambassadors, athletes, and influential individuals who can help bring your storytelling and your product to the forefront too. I'll give an example…last year, part of our Wilson Football storytelling was a mantra campaign. It was: “Where there's football, there's Wilson.” The pillars were pride, progress, and play. A lot of times when you think of those pillars—there's so much that goes into the game of football—, specifically with pride, you think fandom.
There's a lot of passionate fans who show up for their team every Sunday, they don't miss a game, and they're season ticket holders for 30 plus years or whatnot. An idea that sparked, I was fortunate enough to pitch, and to my pleasant surprise got green lighted on was a ‘Super Fan Tailgate Series’ where we were actually able to go to the market where these individuals lived and they would share the story behind their fandom. Then, you're going with them for that tailgate experience. So you're really pulling the curtain back and putting the spotlight on the fan to share the story behind their fandom—what the team means to them, where their passion and pride for their organization stems from, and the storytelling. I think the neat thing was we did three episodes last year and culminated with a fourth Super Bowl episode. Those three episodes were all different and I thought that was a neat way for us to think about content. Yes, you have certain storytelling and you lean into your product and that pillar; but also what you're doing is (showing) other ways to storytell that incorporate everything that the brand stands for or what your messaging is but doesn't always just have to be pushing the certain product per se. You're able to say, “Hey, this is an extension of what Wilson Football in this case means for the game and what it means for the fans.” Having those opportunities to craft different content has been really fun.
We did a “Path to the Draft” on the NFL and NBA side this year where we worked with a respective prospect and followed their journey to draft nights. That was really cool to experience first-hand too because you're seeing somebody's life change. You’re seeing somebody achieve their dreams and you're there to help put that story together. It’s a collaboration but it’s motivating too, right? Because we all have dreams and goals and you literally see that moment where somebody's worked so hard to achieve something, and it pays off. So there's definitely been that elevated storytelling, and it's been a blessing to be a part of it and to work with a great brand here at Wilson.
Along with your work at Wilson, you have also created and fostered your own platform in the industry with Spallone Sports. How did you get started building your personal brand in the space?
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