Jim Solano, 81, of Broomall, pioneering sports agent, retired associate professor of accounting at Temple and Philadelphia Universities, certified public accountant, philanthropist, and mentor, died Sunday, Jan. 26, at his home of complications from pneumonia.
A fixture on the Philadelphia sports scene for five decades, Mr. Solano represented more than 700 professional football players and coaches, 500 of them Philadelphia Eagles, and other clients in thorny contact negotiations and other important financial affairs. He was an expert on taxes, investments, financial planning, and pro football’s salary structure, and he pioneered the emerging role of sports agents in the 1960s and beyond.
From 1969 until recently, he hammered out high-profile and groundbreaking contracts for Eagles coach Buddy Ryan and star players such as Harold Jackson, Harold Carmichael, Jerome Brown, Seth Joyner, Mike Quick, Andre Waters, and Clyde Simmons. He was a tough negotiator, football insiders said. He told the Daily News in 1996: “There is no loyalty. It is all about money.”
But he was affable and energetic with his clients, and his intensely personal attention to their specific needs helped his business grow. When family of his players flew to Philadelphia for games, he picked them up at the airport.
He took care of ticket requests his players received. He did their taxes and advised on investments. He even stationed himself outside the locker room at Veterans Stadium after practice for weeks and delighted his players with their favorite snacks.
“I started to come with bags of candy and hand them out to my guys,” Mr. Solano told The Inquirer in 2021. “And then, guys I didn’t represent would want some. That’s how I got Jerome Brown as a client. Giving him candy.”
“I won’t represent bad guys. If a guy is into drugs, if he wanders the streets at night, I don’t want him.”
Mr. Solano to the Daily News in 1996
He represented 18 of the 40 players on the Eagles’ 1980 Super Bowl team and nearly 30 Eagles players and coaches by 1989. Eventually, he had to charge his football clients a percentage of their contract value instead of an hourly rate.
“Whatever they needed done, I got it done for them.” he said in 2021. “If I charged them by the hour for all the financial planning and taxes and other things I did for them, it would have been ridiculous.”
He met Jackson, his first client, after the star wide receiver was traded to the Eagles in 1969. In 1970, Jackson asked him to negotiate a new contact with then-Eagles general manager Pete Retzlaff.
“He told Pete I was going to help him with his contract, and Pete immediately walked out of the room,” Mr. Solano said in 2021. In the end, Mr. Solano said, he got Jackson a $22,000 raise.
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Colleagues called him a “legend in the sports agent industry.” His clients called him trustworthy and dependable, and several players asked him to be godfather to their children.
In 2021, Carmichael invited him to be the presenter when the retired wide receiver was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Former Eagles safety Terry Hoage said: “He was everything to me, my friend, my mentor, my goombah.”
Mr. Solano earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting at Temple, and joined the faculty at what is now Temple’s Fox School of Business and Management in 1969. He moved to Philadelphia University, now part of Thomas Jefferson University, in the early 1970s and taught classes in accounting and related subjects. He retired from teaching in 2017 and earned Fox’s Lifetime Achievement Award for accounting.
“I love the impact that I have on my students’ lives,” he said in a 2016 online interview with the Fox School of Business. “I truly believe that if you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work.”
“I had another agent when I got drafted. But after I got to Philadelphia, Harold [Jackson] introduced me to Jim, and I eventually asked him to represent me.”
Mr. Solano founded the now-defunct Jerome Brown Foundation for underserved children in the 1990s and later cofounded the Otho Davis Scholarship Foundation for graduate students in sports medicine, training, and marketing. “He was real, sincere, and authentic,” said his son-in-law, Chris Dente. “People gave him energy.”
James Nicholas Solano was born Jan. 9, 1944, in Philadelphia. He graduated from the old Bishop Neumann High School, started his own accounting firm after college in 1966, and worked with physician groups, small businesses, and individuals before diving into sports.
He met Teri Jewell in an elevator when they both lived in Society Hill Towers, and they married in 1971. They had a daughter, Lesley, and lived in Villanova before moving to Broomall 15 years ago. “He was charismatic,” his wife said. “He was fun.”
Mr. Solano was a longtime member of the Llanerch Country Club, and he enjoyed playing golf and cards with friends. He liked old movies and Broadway musicals.
He was a jokester and gave his daughter endearing nicknames. “He was the best dad,” she said.
He openly doted on his family and told a writer for the Fox School of Business in 2016: “They are my entire world.”
In addition to his wife, daughter, and son-in-law, Mr. Solano is survived by three grandchildren, three brothers, two sisters, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
Visitation with the family is to be from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, at Logan-Videon Funeral Home, 2001 Sproul Rd., Broomall, Pa. 19008, and 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 31, at St. Thomas of Villanova Church, 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, Pa. 19085. A Funeral Mass is to follow. Interment is to be at SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, 1600 S. Sproul Rd., Springfield, Pa. 19064.
Donations in his name may be made to Otho Davis Scholarship Foundation, 120 Liberty Way, Deptford, N.J. 08096.