+
May 2013
29
Bank
notes
Community Bankers Association of Illinois
Closing General Session
Stephen Bardo is a motivational master.
His experience on the basketball court
and as a television analyst with ESPN
helped forge his fast-paced presentations
that provide audiences with tools they
can use immediately to achieve greater
results in their professions.
Growing up in Carbondale, IL, Bardo
always strived to be the best at
anything he did. This included school
and especially sports where he was an
All-State and honorable mention All-
American basketball player in high
school and led his team to the state
tournament. All of his hard work and
dedication paid off when he received
a scholarship from the University of
Illinois, Urbana.
At Illinois, Bardo started all four years
at point guard and helped the Fighting
Illini reach the NCAA tournament
each season. During his successful
collegiate career, he was named Big
Ten Defensive Player of the year and
made all conference twice. He led the
“Flyin’ Illini” to the Final Four in 1989,
one of the most memorable teams in
NCAA history.
After graduating from Illinois, Bardo
was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in
the 1990 NBA draft (2nd round, 41st
pick overall). All had gone according
to plan to this point, but this is where
his professional life really began. He
was devastated one night during the
preseason when he was called into the
coaches’ office to learn he had been cut
from the team. In shock, and having
not given any thought that he would
not make it straight to the NBA, Bardo
regrouped and played in the CBA
(developmental league for the NBA).
He soon returned to his winning ways
and led his team to Game Seven of the
CBA championship, only to lose in the
final seconds during his rookie season.
A year later he played his way onto
the Dallas Mavericks, realizing yet
another dream. Bardo went on to have
a 10-year career with stops in the
NBA (including Detroit, Dallas, and
San Antonio), the CBA, and overseas
in France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and
Venezuela. His very last game of his
career, Stephen walked off the floor
with a championship, a winner!
During the off-seasons of his playing
career, Bardo worked with television
stations and ran his own sports marketing
company, preparing himself for the day
the ball stopped bouncing. Once the
ball stopped he didn’t miss a beat. He is
currently a college-basketball and First-
Take analyst for ESPN.
His program, “Don’t Let the Stone
Stop You,” fits well for today’s turbulent
economic times. His emphasis that
you control your destiny regardless
of unsettled world issues rings true
whether the audience includes CEOs,
entrepreneurs, or coaches. Among the
stories that Bardo shares are tales of
his challenges en route to playing in
the NBA. His is a story of overcoming
personal and professional adversity,
something with which most audiences
identify in some way.
Saturday Night Dinner Dance
Taking the stage at the Saturday night
dinner dance is Lou Gramm, the
voice of Foreigner. Gramm was the
lead vocalist on all of Foreigner’s hit
songs, including “Feels Like the First
Time,” “Cold as Ice,” “Long, Long Way
from Home,” “Hot Blooded,” “Double
Vision,” “Blue Morning, Blue Day,”
“Head Games,” “Dirty White Boy,”
“Urgent,” “Juke Box Hero,” “Break It
Up,” and “Say You Will.” He co-wrote
most of the songs for the band, which
achieved two of its biggest hits with the
ballads “Waiting for a Girl Like You,”
which spent 10 weeks at number two
on the 1981-82 American Hot 100, and
“I Want to Know What Love Is,” which
was a number-one hit internationally
(US & UK) in 1985. Foreigner’s first
eight singles cracked the Billboard Top
20 (four went Top 10) making it the
first group to achieve this since the
Beatles. The group has sold more than
70 million records worldwide. Gramm
has enjoyed a successful solo career
since his time in Foreigner. In 1987,
Gramm released his first solo album,
Ready or Not, which received critical
acclaim and contained a top-five hit
single with “Midnight Blue.”
Don’t miss out! For more information
or to register, call Tracy McQuinn at
217/529-2265 or visit
.
n
CBAI CONVENTION
The 39
th
Annual Convention & Expo, “Community Bankers: Illinois’ Treasure,” held at the
Crowne Plaza in Springfield, has the education and activities you won’t want to miss.
