Pat Williams will speak on Thursday, November 16, at the gala that will take place at Highland Manor, 604 E. Main St, Apopka. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with dinner served at 7 p.m.

Pat is a Basketball Hall-of-Famer, known for co-founding the NBA’s Orlando Magic as well as serving as general manager for the Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic.

Our guest speaker, Pat Williams, was born in 1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was raised in Wilmington, Delaware. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Wake Forest University, his master’s degree at Indiana University, and his doctorate degree at Flagler College. Additionally, Pat served in the United States Army for seven years.

Pat began his career in 1962, as a minor league baseball player, where he debuted as a catcher for the Miami Marlins. After two years, he retired as a player and transitioned into a front office role.

In 1965, he was appointed by the Philadelphia Phillies to be a general manager of their minor league team, the Spartanburg Phillies, where he built one of the most successful teams of the Western Carolinas League.

In 1968, Pat changed course to basketball when he was offered an opportunity to help run the business operations for the Philadelphia 76ers as a business manager. While with the 76ers, he helped to revitalize the franchise with his out-of-the-box promotional efforts, which led to the third-highest attendance for the 1968-69 NBA season.

Pat has since been the general manager for NBA teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Orlando, including the 1983 World Champion 76ers. In 1986, Pat left the 76ers organized to focus on bringing an NBA expansion team to Orlando. In 1987, he co-founded the Orlando Magic, and he helped lead the team to the NBA finals in 1995 and in 2009.

In 1996, Pat was named as one of the 50 most influential people in NBA  history by Beckett’s, a national publication. In 2012, Pat received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

In February of 2011, Pat was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.  After several rounds of chemo treatments, Pat received a bone marrow transplant and his recovery from the transplant has been remarkable. While Multiple Myeloma is an incurable form of cancer, it is treatable, and his doctors have since told him that they are unable to detect any myeloma in his body and have given him a clean bill of health.

Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations. Pat is a devout Christian who teaches an adult Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Orlando. He also hosts three weekly radio shows.

Currently, Pat works as one of America’s top motivational and inspirational corporate speakers. While working as a motivational and inspirational speaker, Pat has had the opportunity to address employees from many of the Fortune 500 companies. Pat has also authored over 100 books, including his most recent book “Revolutionary Leadership”, which provides lessons from the men and women of the American Revolution.

Tickets to the 5th Annual John Land Trust Gala can be purchased at One Florida Bank, 21 E. Third Street, Apopka, 407-693-0610 and at The Apopka Chief Newspaper, 400 N. Park Ave., Apopka, 407-886-2777.