G n the arena of sports agents, a profession crowded with more lawyers wanting to represent athletes than athletes who need representation, Arn Tellem, ’79, always finds room. Now principal of WMG Management, Tellem has been named the most influential agent in sports by both The Sporting News and the Sports Business Journal. He has represented such NBA superstars as longtime Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller and Chicago Bulls standout Derrick Rose, as well as MLB talents such as Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas and MVP second baseman Chase Utley. Yet when Tellem was embarking on law school, the sports agent industry was so young that even he, a lifelong sports fan with an affinity for his hometown Philadelphia teams, never considered a career as an agent.
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“I always had an interest in sports, but the agent business and working as a lawyer in sports was still really in its infancy,” Tellem says. “I wasn’t really aware of lawyers working for teams as I entered law school. My first interest was politics, and my goal was to run a presidential campaign.”