Ivan Blumberg - Sports Agent Who Leveraged the Power of the Athlete to Make the World a Better Place.

Chris Waddell Living It

It was Arthur Ashe, who made Ivan recognize the power of the athlete. Arthur had just been diagnosed with AIDS as a result of a tainted blood transfusion during heart by-pass surgery. He was dying and he could have hidden, but he asked, how can we use this? The resulting widely viewed, highly attended televised event the day before the US Open in what would eventually become Arthur Ashe Stadium put a face on the AIDS epidemic. After twenty-five years in the agent business, Ivan started Athletes for Hope to help athletes leverage their unique skills the way that Arthur had. Muhammad Ali, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Warrick Dunn, Andre Agassi, Alonzo Mourning and Jackie Joyner-Kersee remain the founding members of an organization that now numbers more than 12,000 athletes.