Few can understand what will get Donald Trump to stop and listen, but according to Cincybiz Blog, Cincinnati sports agent and private equity investment manager Jim Gould can shed some light.
Gould worked for Trump with the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League. At the conclusion of the first season in 1983, Oklahoma oilman Walter Duncan was looking to sell the New Jersey Generals and sought out Gould for assistance. Gould instantly sought out Trump because he would be great for the league, but he found out that Trump is a hard man to connect with.
Like any good networker, though, he thought of an idea to connect with Trump’s assistant, Lisa, in trump tower. Gould knew that Lisa was an ice cream lover so he sent 10 pints of Graeter’s ice cream directly to Trump Towers. When Gould attempted to call later that day, he was given a much warmer welcome.
“You would have thought the waters had parted,” Gould aid. “She said, ‘This is the best ice cream I’ve ever had in my life. Let me get him out of a board meeting.’ He got on the phone and said, ‘What’s so important that you’re calling me three times a day? You’ve got everybody in my office earing ice cream, and we don’t do that around here.
That call led to a deal for Trump to buy the Generals for $8.5 million. As the most famous owner in the USFL, Trump quickly made his mark by paying for high-profile players like Doug Flutie, Brian Sipe and Bengals linebacker Jim LeClair. His success was short lived, though, as the USFL tried to directly compete with the NFL by moving their season to the fall, at the recommendation of Trump.
Although the USFL didn’t lead to the return that both Gould and Trump had hoped, the two men developed a bond. Gould says, “Trump taught me a lot: how to read a contract, how to learn, what was important. I spent every day with him. He was a big influence on my life.”