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Photograph by Dai Sugano
Jeff Cable, president of Pro Sports Marketing in Saratoga, has been collecting pro sports memorabilia since 1987.
Networking leads Saratogan to sports stars, successful business
By Steve Enders
One of the unwritten rules of Silicon Valley business, or all business for that matter, is: "It's not what you know, but who you know." Of course, if you happen to know something about what you're doing, it certainly helps.
Jeff Cable lives by the mantra, and that's why he's so excited right now. For the past decade, this software know-it-all cum entrepreneur has been milking the Bay Area for all it's worth in terms of networking capabilities and business opportunities.
And along the way, he's become pretty good friends with the region's most famous athletes and high-tech pioneers. One wouldn't think that the two--computers and sports stars--would have much, if anything, in common.
But this is the Bay Area, and Cable has found a way to mix the two and has been reaping the benefits ever since.
Besides being a software developer, Cable formed his own sports star marketing company, called Pro Sport Marketing, which brings in the area's biggest names in football and matches them with the biggest names in the high-tech industry to sell products.
Cable, because of his background and passion for computers, happened to be at the right place at the right time when working in 1987 for a large, Los Gatos computer reseller.
One day, former San Francisco 49er tackle Keith Fahnhorst wedged through the door and asked to try out some of the equipment. Cable, then a store manager, set him up with all the latest.
Fahnhorst was so happy with Cable's service and the computer he sold him, that he told all his 49er teammates. They soon lined up to meet Cable and get dialed in with the era's hottest new toys.
With sales to about 50 other players soon after, and the National Football League phenomenon of free-agency, players began shuffling from team to team around the league. Because of it, Cable is pretty well-known in 27 other NFL locker rooms.
A hyperactive sports fanatic and self-admitted "little kid," Cable then began thinking about the possibilities with all his newfound, famous friends.
Thus, Pro Sport was born. A side project to his former full-time career at Symantec software company, Cable used his contacts in the industry to hook players up with high-tech toys.
Nothing comes for free, so in return Cable asked players to make appearances at product launches, grand openings, business functions and select charity events. Along the way, he'd ask someone like Joe Montana out to lunch with him and a high-powered colleague to help make deals happen. Who can say "no" when Joe Montana is at the table? Not too many, apparently.
So what do football players need these computers and gadgets for? "What do you use them for?" Cable asks. "They do their finances, write speeches and letters, and now they use the Internet and email. Since they travel so much, it makes sense."
After he set up a website from home, Cable and Pro Sport became known internationally. Because of the site, nearly 20 résumés are emailed to him each month, all for a business he runs by himself out of his Saratoga home.
The sky was the limit, but Cable decided against living as a full-time entrepreneur. Family life and stability were calling, as was another business opportunity.
He's scaled back the sports operation significantly, and only does a few events each year. A few weeks ago, he arranged for some 49ers to appear at the new Star Wars movie opening for charity in San Francisco.
And because of all this now, Cable is an executive vice president for Paragon Software, a company about to strike it big with a program that downloads personal database information to cellular phones.
Now, he's working the deals to his advantage again, by asking the athletes to help bring in cellular companies' business.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
