32 | INNOVISION MAGAZINE GUEST SPEAKER KURT LANDES a Season Ticket Rep, a season ticket holder eyed him saying, “when I buy my own team, I want you to be the general manager.” Landes thought he was joking and didn’t pay much attention to it, however, about a year later a call came from that very fan saying, “you ready?” Landes still thought he was joking but soon relocated to Daytona Beach, Florida to start the new role. “It’s about experience on one hand,” Landes expressed, “but it is also about how you make connections and treat other people because you never know if who you meet might be your future employer and open a door for you.” Overtime, as this owner bought more teams, Landes found himself overseeing teams in Erie, PA, Staten Island, NY, Hagerstown, MD, as well as Dayton Beach clubs. In 2006, however, he discovered an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up. “What intrigued me about coming here to the Lehigh Valley,” Landes relayed, “was the ability to start a team, brand, and logo from scratch within a community.” He was the very first employee of the franchise and has stayed with the team ever since. One of Landes’ first tasks was to find a name for the franchise which, before social media, was no easy task. The office received thousands of name suggestions via mail and chose the name IronPigs because the ‘iron’ paid tribute to the steelOver one hundred students tuned into the virtual meeting to hear the Lehigh Valley IronPigs General Manager, Kurt Landes, present his thirty-year journey in minor league baseball. After introductions by Dr. Soojin Kim, who announced the many awards that the IronPigs brand has earned, including the Larry McPhail Award, which represents the ‘top promotional team in minor league baseball’, Landes began unfolding his progression for KU students of varying majors. Landes was like many students, not knowing exactly what he wanted to do for a career, but his love of sports led him to an internship for a minor league baseball team called the Toledo Mud Heads from Toledo, Ohio. Landes found that he loved working with baseball, as opposed to other sports because of the downtime in the game. With this downtime, Landes would find that he could better “make his mark” in how he chose to entertain the crowd. He viewed every break between innings as an opportunity for a small Broadway show allowing him to be creative in making fun, unique, and poignant memories for the fans. Landes bounced around several minor league baseball teams before ultimately finding his long-term role with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. When he was just
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzcxOTE=