Jerry Sachs

Jerry Sachs was born January 2, 1935, the first Jewish boy born in the then-new University Hospital in Baltimore. He graduated from Baltimore City College (high school), where he played lacrosse. He attended Dartmouth College, where he also played lacrosse, spent two years in the US Marine Corps, and graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Jerry was with the Baltimore Orioles for five years, first as a volunteer, then as public relations director. He joined the Atlanta Braves as public relations director in 1966, their first season in Atlanta. In 1968, he became Coca-Cola USA’s first director of sports marketing. He moved to Baltimore in 1970 as the Baltimore Bullets vice president and general manager. Jerry participated in the design of the Capital Centre and became president of Centre Group, the operating entity that included the Washington Bullets, Capitals, Centre Management and local Ticketmaster. While he was with the Bullets, they went to the NBA finals four times and won the championship in 1978. Jerry retired in 1998 and has been at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History since 2000.