California attorney Everett L. Glenn, is expanding his business law practice with the establishment of Entertainment & Sports Plus. The firm will focus on providing tools and services to help athletes avoid being part of the 80 percent of professional athletes who, according to a recent Fox Sports News report, are bankrupt, unemployed and/or divorced within 2 years of retirement.
“Because of my Christian faith, my own life has been transformed and empowered, and I am confident that we can equip young athletes with the tools necessary to make informed decisions, live victorious lives and achieve life sustaining results,” said Glenn, who burst onto the sports scene in 1983. That year, Glenn negotiated the richest contract for a rookie wide receiver, and the first lifetime income contract in NFL history for Olympic sprinter/hurdler and University of Tennessee All-American Willie Gault, and the NBA playing contract for 2-time Big-10 MVP and NBA Rookie-of-the-Year Clark Kellogg. Over the course of the next 3 years, Glenn directed the affairs of 11 other 1st round draft selections including Gill Byrd (Chargers Hall-of-Fame), Jerry Rice, John L. Williams, and Super Bowl MVP Richard Dent.
Having achieved a level of success and accomplishment notwithstanding his own humble beginnings, Glenn’s is driven by and committed to providing the solution to what he sees as the miss-education and exploitation of athletes. “Athletes must begin to experience the inherent value in viewing themselves as more than just athletically gifted. They must also begin to understand the connection between their character and their gift, be provided with the tools to develop them both, and come to understand how the tunnel vision focus on developing their gift without also developing their character is a recipe for ultimate failure,” says Glenn, who leads an experienced and qualified team of personal development coaches, leadership training and life skills development professionals and assorted business professionals who share his passion and commitment to making a difference.
“I come from the same tough inner city as many professional athletes and entertainers and I have faced some of the same obstacles…a wealth of talent but low self-esteem, a lack of positive role models, a dysfunctional family, negative peer pressure and the “it won’t happen to me’ attitude,” says Glenn. The unsportsmanlike behavior of athletes which has grabbed headlines across the country is merely a symptom of a bigger problem,” says Glenn, who believes that a faith-based game plan for character development will enhance a player’s achievement of long-term lifestyle goals and objectives. “Our goal is to see our clients become better people and better men and women as a result of our association. We are committed to making our clients millionaires at the peak of their game and providing them with the resources and tools to walk away from the game with the financial resources to support their lifestyle goals and objectives on a long-term basis.”
Glenn has a long history of using his position and influence to assist in the cause of Black business and community development. He recently authored the Small Business Enterprise Program for the Port of Long Beach, the nation’s busiest port, to promote participation of small and very small business concerns in Port spending. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2006, the program resulted in the awarding of 60% or $17 million in construction and planning contracts for small businesses. As a result of the 2006 success, the Port recently voted to establish a new and higher goal for 2007.
As the first Black in the Office of the City Attorney for the City of Long Beach, Glenn took the lead on ensuring compliance by developers with Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Act of 1968 on over $100 million in affordable housing projects. By promoting economic development, neighborhood improvement, and individual self-sufficiency, low-income residents were able to obtain the skills and jobs needed to become self-sufficient and significant contracting opportunities were provided for qualified, low-income business owners on HUD-funded contracts.
Glenn also served as Senior Attorney with the Resolution Trust Corporation, the federal agency established to manage the disposition of the deposits, branches and assets of over 750 failed savings and loan institutions (S&Ls’). In that capacity, Glenn administered a program which resulted in the award of over $1.6 billion in service and legal contracts to companies headed by minorities and women as part of the management and disposition of over $560 billion in assets of the failed S&Ls’.
Glenn was recently selected to participate on the Sports & Entertainment panel at the 6th Annual PowerNetworking Conference in Atlanta. The conference is the Black community’s most comprehensive resource for connecting, training, developing, promoting and networking for Black professionals, entrepreneurs, community, educational and political leaders and is sponsored by George C. Fraser and the FraserNet family. The panel examined the state of the Black dollar in sports and entertainment and included noted sports agent Bill Strickland of Blackwave Sports (Michael Jordan, Rasheed Wallace), Hollywood attorney Darrell Miller, whose clients include writers, producers, executives and various corporations in the entertainment industry, Jini D. Thornton, CPA and CEO of Envision Business Management Group (Atlanta rapper TI), and Courtney B. Vance, actor and producer, Bassett (Angela) Vance Productions.
Entertainment & Sports Plus (ESP) is a full-service management firm headquartered in Long Beach, CA. The company represents professional athletes and entertainers in contract negotiations and provides business, financial and personal development services to maximize the business and career success and community impact of its clients. For additional information, please visit the company website at www.espsportslawpro.com or (562) 619-8460.
