DETROIT (May 28, 2021) – Intersport announced today that registration for ‘THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit’ presented by Rocket Mortgage is now open for all high school and college students of color. The Sports Business Summit will be held virtually June 29-30 to create national awareness and opportunities for students of color interested in pursuing careers in the business of sports. Registration is free, and available now at www.thejohnshippen.com.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit was created by Intersport to address the lack of people of color in business and leadership roles in golf and across professional sports. To create an avenue for awareness and opportunities, THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit will provide students with exposure to powerful and leading voices across sports and business, and those individuals will share their experiences and offer advice about how to pursue and secure a career within the business of sports.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit panel topics will include:
So You Want to Work in Sports? Improving Communities Through Sports
Beyond the Green: Careers in the Golf Industry The Power of Sports Marketing & Social Media
Sports Journalism x Sports Broadcasting Esports x Gaming
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Impact Within Sport s The Business of Sneakers
How to Land Your First Sports Internship How to Become an Athletic Director x Commissioner
Entrepreneurship in Sports The World of Global Sponsorship
The Unsung Careers: Sports Diplomacy, International Catering & Hospitality: The Heart of Customer Service
Olympics Committee & Youth Sports Programming
“We at Intersport, alongside Woods & Watts Effect, designed THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit as a platform to create meaningful and tangible information and networking relationships to impact the expansion of career opportunities for people of color in the business of sports,” said Jason Langwell, Executive Vice President of Intersport and Executive Director of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. “We are overwhelmed and encouraged by the support from our corporate partners and associates in business and sports industries across the country who are equally passionate and enthusiastic in their desire to participate in and provide support for THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit.”
Using a state-of-the-art virtual platform, THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit attendees will learn about a wide range of topics, from landing your first internship to industry trends, to athlete activism and social justice work via sports. Summit attendees will be given the opportunity to apply for paid internships and scholarships from sponsors, organizations and foundations within and beyond the sports industry.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN Achievement Scholarship was created in honor of John Shippen, Jr., the first American-born and the first Black golf professional. Fifteen $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to current students of color (high school junior through graduate student status) who have demonstrated leadership and service with a commitment to inclusion and diversity efforts on campus and in the community. THE JOHN SHIPPEN Achievement Scholarship is powered by the McClendon Foundation, whose mission is to empower and cultivate minority students who aspire to be principled leaders in athletics. To apply, and for eligibility requirements, please visit www.thejohnshippen.com.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN Internships will be co-created and co-funded in conjunction with corporations, foundations and partners to provide young adults of color across the nation a chance to turn their passions into fruitful, sustainable professional careers in sports. All Sports Business Summit attendees will be eligible to apply for internship positions based on their qualifications.
“THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit is a groundbreaking event that will provide a tremendous wealth of knowledge for students of color as they seek to obtain careers in the sports business world,” said Ebony Walls, Director of Philanthropy and Partnerships for Intersport. “In addition to the Summit, we also developed the Achievement Scholarship and Internship programs to immediately impact students in a positive way, by providing financial assistance and exposure to experience that could lead directly to future career opportunities. These opportunities wouldn’t be possible without our corporate partners, specifically Rocket Mortgage and Trion Solutions, the first two companies to put their support behind this initiative.”
Intersport collaborated with Woods and Watts Effect to design THE JOHN SHIPPEN as a vehicle to fundamentally increase diversity in golf and to create opportunities for young men and women of color in sports on a national scale.
The sport of golf is an $84 billion industry with more than two million golf-related jobs. However, less than one percent of PGA of America club professionals are Black, and only four current PGA TOUR players are Black. These statistics do not reflect a lack of talented Black golfers – they reflect limited access and resources.
Historical barriers for Black golfers include: affordable and consistent access to championship courses; quality golf equipment; top-rated swing coaches; sponsorship; and access to capital for housing and travel.
Rocket Mortgage is the presenting partner of THE JOHN SHIPPEN. National partners include: Trion Solutions, the nation’s largest minority-owned professional employer organization; DOW; The Children’s Foundation; Cooper Tires; CDW; Optum and MasterCard.
For updated information on THE JOHN SHIPPEN, please visit www.TheJohnShippen.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@TheJohnShippen) and on Twitter (@TheJShippen). For information about sponsorship opportunities or how to get involved, email us at thejohnshippen@intersport.net.
ABOUT ‘THE JOHN SHIPPEN’
Intersport, in partnership with Rocket Mortgage and in collaboration with Woods and Watts Effect, announced earlier this year the launch of a new national golf event: ‘THE JOHN SHIPPEN’ to identify historical barriers and expand Black representation in the sport of golf. The National Invitational will be held at Detroit Golf Club June 27-28, with a one-hour TV special about THE JOHN SHIPPEN airing on CBS leading into final-round coverage of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday, July 4.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN will invite the nation’s top amateur and professional Black golfers to provide a platform for heightened opportunities and recognition within the sport.
The men’s division will be individual stroke play, and the winner will receive an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Rocket Mortgage Classic (July 1-4). To ensure that any financial barriers are removed, THE JOHN SHIPPEN will cover all travel costs (airfare and hotel) for participating players.
THE JOHN SHIPPEN was also created to address the lack of Black representation in business and leadership roles in golf and across professional sports. To create an avenue for awareness and opportunities, THE JOHN SHIPPEN Sports Business Summit for high school and college students will be held virtually June 29-30. Summit attendees will be given the opportunity to apply for paid internships and scholarships from sponsors, organizations and foundations within and beyond the sports industry.
The event, designed to showcase Black collegiate and professional golfers, is named after John Shippen, Jr., who was the first American-born golf professional and also the country’s first Black golf professional. Shippen was bestowed PGA of America membership posthumously in 2009.
ABOUT JOHN SHIPPEN, JR.
John Shippen, Jr. first worked in golf as a caddie at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, and after playing in his first of six U.S. Opens in 1896, was hired as the golf professional at the Maidstone Club in East Hampton, New York later that year.
Shippen later worked as a golf professional at Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia and spent the majority of his working life at Shady Rest Golf Course in Scotch Plains, New Jersey – the first African-American owned and operated golf club in the United States – where he served from 1924-1960.
The John Shippen Memorial Golf Foundation was founded in 1995 by Thurman and Ruby Simmons in Scotch Plains. They began studying his legacy in 1988 and have spent more than 30 years elevating Shippen’s name and recognizing his place in American history. In addition to funding paid internship and scholarship opportunities, a portion of the proceeds from THE JOHN SHIPPEN will be donated to The John Shippen Memorial Golf Foundation.
ABOUT INTERSPORT
Since 1985, Intersport has been an award-winning innovator and leader in the creation of sports, lifestyle, culinary and entertainment-based marketing platforms. With expertise in Sponsorship Consulting, Experiential Marketing, Hospitality, Customer Engagement, Content Marketing, Productions and Sports Properties, this Chicago-based Marketing & Media Solutions Company helps their clients to create ideas, content and experiences that attract and engage passionate audiences. To learn more about Intersport, visit www.intersport.global, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
ABOUT WOODS & WATTS EFFECT
Woods & Watts Effect is an equity and inclusion consulting firm of transformation engineers, co-founded by Sommer Woods and Michele Lewis Watts, Ph.D. They are a solutions-driven team that adeptly designs programs that assess a company’s strengths and areas for improvement relative to inclusion and social equity. Woods & Watts Effect is innovative in their thinking, their engagement and their execution. Through a bold, non-traditional and engaging approach, they produce viable and actionable solutions for sustainable change. More information is available at WoodsWattsEffect.com.
ABOUT ROCKET MORTGAGE
Detroit-based Rocket Mortgage, the nation’s largest home mortgage lender, enables the American Dream of homeownership and financial freedom through its obsession with an industry-leading, digital-driven client experience. Rocket Mortgage closed $320 billion dollars of mortgage volume across all 50 states in 2020. In late 2015, it introduced the first fully digital, completely online mortgage experience. Currently, 99% of all home loans originated by the company utilize Rocket Mortgage technology.
Rocket Mortgage moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010. Today, Rocket Mortgage and Rocket Companies employ 24,000 full-time team members nationwide. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Phoenix and operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit. Rocket Mortgage ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction for primary mortgage origination by J.D. Power for the past 11 consecutive years, 2010 – 2020, and also ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past seven straight years, 2014 – 2020.
Rocket Companies, Rocket Mortgage’s parent company, ranked #5 on Fortune’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2021 and has placed in the top third of the list for 18 consecutive years.
For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/PressRoom.
ABOUT TRION SOLUTIONS
Trion Solutions, with corporate headquarters in Troy, Mich., and additional offices in Aventura, Fla., Scottsdale, Ariz. and Traverse City, Mich., is among the nation’s Top 10 largest Professional Employer Organizations. Trion works to relieve the stress and burden for businesses of all sizes in managing payroll, benefits administration, workers’ compensation, regulatory compliance, retirement planning and other HR-related services. The company was co-founded by Bonner Upshaw III and David L. Stone, Trion CEO and President respectfully. It is certified minority owned and was a national finalist in the 2019 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. More about Trion Solutions can be found at www.relyontrion.com.
ABOUT THE McLENDON FOUNDATION
The McLendon Foundation, established in 1999, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded and administered by NACDA. Through the scholarship program and leadership initiative, the McLendon Foundation provides minorities educational resources, practical experiences and serves as a vehicle for networking, career advancement and advocacy on behalf of the profession. More information regarding the McLendon Foundation can be found at minorityleaders.org.
