Michael Winger can trace his path to the Washington Wizards’ front office through three NBA cities: Cleveland, Oklahoma City and Los Angeles. But perhaps none of those formative experiences ever would’ve occurred if, nearly 22 years ago, he didn’t first pause to read a poster on the Miami University campus in Oxford, Ohio.
There, on a routine walk through a school building, he and another undergraduate spotted a placard: Ron Shapiro, a powerhouse agent for baseball players, was scheduled to give an on-campus talk. All students could attend.
Winger wanted advice on how to enter the sports business. He gained so much more. Over the next several years, Winger and Shapiro developed a bond that endures. Shapiro became not just a mentor but also a father figure. And the Shapiro family — which includes Shapiro’s wife, Kathryn Adams Shapiro, and seven children — treated Winger like one of their own.
“That underscores Ron and Cathi,” Winger says. “That’s just who they are as people: ‘Stray cats? Bring ’em in.’ And I was a stray cat.”
Winger is 43 now, with a wife and children of his own, and no one within the basketball industry would describe him as a “stray.” Late last month, Ted Leonsis, the CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment and the Wizards’…
