Arn Tellem

Arn Herschel Tellem (born February 21, 1954) is vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Detroit Pistons. From 1981 to 2015 he was a sports agent best known for his representation of basketball and baseball players. He was Vice Chairman of the Wasserman Media Group, a global sport and entertainment marketing agency headed by Casey Wasserman. From 2009 to 2010 he wrote a semi-weekly sports column for The Huffington Post. He has also written for Sports Illustrated, the Op-ed page of The New York Times,Grantland and The Japan Times.

Background

Tellem is a native of Philadelphia. His mother named him after a brave knight in the Prince Valiant comic strip. He grew up on the Main Line and became a sports junkie at age eight by playing APBA Baseball, a mail-order board game. Years later, for luck on his wedding night, he propped his treasured 1938 Hank Greenberg APBA card on the nightstand next to the conjugal bed. At 12, he found career inspiration from legendary Temple University basketball coach Harry Litwack, who answered a question -- "What's your favorite food?"—that young Arn had phoned in to a local radio station.