Jerry Colangelo, former University basketball captain and former chairman of the Phoenix Suns, spoke Thursday at the 12th annual V. Dale Cozad Lecture in Entrepreneurship.

The lecture was held in the Deloitte Auditorium at the Business Instructional Facility, 515 E. Gregory Drive, Champaign. More than 200 people attended the event.

The series is named after Cozad, a local entrepreneur who founded the insurance company Cozad Asset Management, Inc.

Colangelo opened the lecture with his personal history at the University.

“Coming back is always very nostalgic,” Colangelo said. “It’s never quite the same, but once you’re here again, it brings back a lot of memories; good memories.”

Colangelo, 70, spent the majority of his talk giving a time line of events that had made up his life and how those events helped him become successful.

“I became the first person in my family to have the opportunity to attend college, and it was here at the University of Illinois that I became a man,” Colangelo said. ”After graduation, I learned some lessons the hard way in business. I went back to my hometown, played in a semi-pro league for $50 an hour, and then I met someone who wanted to bring pro basketball back to Chicago, Dick Klein.”

Together with Klein, Colangelo played a role in the creation of the Chicago Bulls in 1966. While many of today’s sports franchises spend thousands on naming and marketing, Klein and Colangelo named their future basketball team while out to dinner.

“I noticed that newspaper headlines always had short names, (such as) the Bills and the Cubs. So I said to Dick, ‘What about the Bulls? That’s a sort of menacing name. It’s short.’”

Colangelo then moved on to become chairman of the Phoenix Suns.

“I treated (the Suns) like it was my team and my money,” Colangelo said. “I was always asked to lead. In my heart of hearts, I always felt that it was about the community.”

Audience members included Colangelo’s peers, University program representatives and undergraduate and graduate students. Scott Cruwys, freshman in Business, attended the lecture for extra credit and out of personal interest.

“I played lacrosse and football in high school,” Cruwys said. ”I’m interested in sports management, so I’ve heard of him before. This looked like the most interesting (extra credit opportunity).”

Ron Guenther, athletic director at the University and longtime peer of Colangelo, said when it comes to entrepreneurship, “he lives it and walks it.”