Jack Ankerson (born March 1, 1942) is an American sports executive. A native of

Neenah, Wisconsin Neenah () is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, in the north central United States. It is situated on the banks of Lake Winnebago, Little Lake Butte des Morts, and the Fox River, approximately forty miles (60 km) southwest of Green ...

, attended Ripon College, where he played football,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, earning all-conference honors in 1963 and 1964 and ranked as one of the small school's all-time leading scorers. He was drafted as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the 16th round of the

1964 NFL Draft The 1964 National Football League draft was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers on Monday, December 2, 1963. The first overall pick was Dave Parks, an end from Texas Tech, selected by the San Francisco 49ers. The AFL ...

by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. After a brief football career with the Cardinals, Ankerson worked in the front office of the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association (ABA). He was later hired as general manager of the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

, where in 1974,

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

named him ABA Executive of the Year. In May 1974, Ankerson was hired as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the ABA's

Virginia Squires The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, ...

, who would finish the 1974–75 season with a record of 15–69, the worst in the league. Ankerson served as head coach of the Squires for two games, going 1–1, after taking over for

Bill Musselman William Clifford Musselman (August 13, 1940 – May 5, 2000) was an American basketball coach in the NCAA, the ABA, the WBA, the CBA, and the NBA. He was known for his trademark intensity, once being quoted as saying, "Defeat is worse than deat ...

on January 21, 1976. Ankerson was replaced by

Zelmo Beaty Zelmo "Big Z" Beaty ( ; October 25, 1939 – August 27, 2013) was an American basketball player. He played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and four in the rival American Basketball Association (ABA). A three-time ABA A ...

two days later. Ankerson worked for several years as a sports and program director at

WTAR WTAR (850 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads (Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News) radio market. WTAR is owned and operated by Sinclair Telecable, Inc. It broadcasts a hot adult cont ...

radio station in Norfolk, Virginia In 1995, at the age of 53, Ankerson joined the

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

, then the Triple A affiliate of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

, as the team's director of broadcasting and sales. Since February 2000, Ankerson has served as Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Sports Commission in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

. He is also the "Voice of the Monarchs," the public address announcer for

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia w ...

football and men's and women's basketball games. In 2010, he was selected for induction into the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame.

References

1942 births Living people American football quarterbacks Kentucky Colonels executives National Basketball Association general managers Ripon Red Hawks football players Ripon Red Hawks men's basketball players Ripon Red Hawks men's tennis players San Antonio Spurs executives St. Louis Cardinals (football) players Virginia Squires coaches Virginia Squires executives Sportspeople from Neenah, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin Basketball players from Wisconsin American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Wisconsin {{quarterback-stub