Top football agent visits Hawken interns

Tom Condon, known as being the top football agent in the country, recently paid a visit to Hawken students and grads as part of an ongoing sports internship hosted at the School. Condon, whose clients include Peyton and Eli Manning and Brady Quinn, played football for 13 years as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots and is a former president of the NFL Players Association. After retiring from football, he joined International Management Group and became the president of its football division. He is now head of Creative Artists Agency`s football division. For an hour, Condon gave the interns a look into the world of sports management and marketing that involves million-dollar contract negotiations and signings, ruthless competition, player holdouts and lucrative endorsements. The interns are working with Hawken parents, who are also some of the nation`s top sports management professionals, to host and promote Walton Weekend, an August grand opening celebration of Hawken`s new $1.9 million turf field with lights, named after longtime coach Cliff Walton. \"Even though Tom`s focused on...football..., what he says is applicable across the board. If you`re interested in going into a career in sports marketing and management, all the skills he`s described are critical,\" Hawken parent Stephanie Tolleson told the interns after Condon had finished his session. Tolleson, a former Senior Corporate Vice President at IMG, is one of the parents guiding the students this summer. \"...You gotta be inquisitve, you gotta be agressive, you gotta be the smart guy out there and you gotta want it more and work harder than any one else, so that`s why this summer, we`re trying to expose you all to these things,\" she said.