John "JR" Rickert (born 1970) is an American sports agent who represents players in the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association, as well as boxers. He is the president and CEO of JR Sports Enterprises LLC based in New York state and is the former co-owner of National Sports Management. Additionally, he is a former high school teacher and coach, and the principal of Niskayuna High School. JR has been recognized for his accomplishments in both education and business by Success Magazine (Men of Distinction - June, 2011), Princeton University's (2010) successful entrepreneur's list, and the Capital District Business Review's "Forty Under 40" (2009).[1]
Rickert represents more than 80 athletes including Kevin Burnett, Joshua Cribbs, Jordan Babineaux, Mike Patterson, Lorenzo Alexander, Artis Hicks and Greg Camarillo. He also represents Philadelphia Phillies' top 50 prospect and pitcher, Tyler Cloyd, and the future middleweight champion of the world, J'Leon Love.
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Rickert was born in 1970 in Woodbury, New Jersey. He graduated from Holy Cross High School in Delran, New Jersey in 1988.[2] He went on to get a degrees in History and Communications at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York in 1992. He was a 4-year starter at left tackle for the Division III Cardinals' football team. In 1994 he received his Masters in Education from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. In 2000, Rickert signed his first NFL client and in 2001 Artis Hicks of the Philadelphia Eagles became Rickert's first client to make an NFL roster.[3]
JR entered the sports agent industry in 1999 through his affiliation with Peter Schaffer. He worked with Schaffer through All Pro Sports & Entertainment, Inc. out of Denver, Colordo. Rickert and Schaffer have maintained their affiliation ever since and continue to work together today through Schaffer's Authletic Athletix which was launched in August 2011. Together, Rickert and Schaffer represent over 125 professional athletes and have over 80 clients in the NFL, and have successfully negotiated over $ 1 Billion in contracts. Recent deals have included Joe Thomas ($ 83 Million) and Kevin Burnett ($ 21 Million). This makes Rickert and Schaffer one of the biggest NFL agent tandems in terms of overall clients and value of contracts.
In 2003 Rickert formed National Sports Management (NSM) to handle the sports side of his representation business. To date Rickert has negotiated more than $250 Million in player contracts. He has had at least one client drafted in 8 consecutive NFL drafts from 2004 - 2011. He also has had at least one client drafted in 6 consecutive MLB drafts from 2006 - 2011. Beginning in 2012, JR will operate all of his representation services under JR Sports Enterprises LLC and will only be associated with one firm, Peter Schaffer's Authentic Athletix.
In 2010 Rickert successfully negotiated more NFL free agent contracts than any other NFL agent,[1] most notably that of Joshua Cribbs of the Cleveland Browns, which was made famous by Deion Sanders on NFL Network when he on air began to refer to Cribbs as "Pay The Man". He also negotiated contracts for Lorenzo Alexander, Artis Hicks, Rex Hadnot, and Matt Ware in the 2010 free agency period.[4]
In 2007 Rickert formed JR Enterprises Entertainment Group as an entertainment, media, and celebrity representation division. During that same year Rickert co-created and launched "Inside Pro Football", a radio show on WOFX (AM), Fox Sports 980. The division's notable clients include former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown and The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Sheree Whitfield. JR has also advised several celebrities including: Derek Anderson (retired NBA player), Rachel Rickert (who performs as pop star Rae), Cynthia Bailey (Super model and Real Housewives of Altanta star), Peter Thomas (Cynthia's husband and Real Housewives of Atlanta star), Tracey Lynn (Toronto TV's Channel 9) and Myte Garcia (LA socialiate and dance performer).[5]
Rickert began representing boxers in 2001 with former NFL player and heavyweight Jevon Langford, who retired undefeated. In 2003, he became a consultant to former Welterweight Champion Tony Marshall. In 2009, Rickert represented the 7th rated female middleweight in the world, S'kati Katz, who also retired undefeated. In 2011 he signed undefeated middleweight, J'Leon Love of Detroit, Michigan. J'Leon was featured on HBO's Margarito/Cotto 24/7. Rickert also added Super Middleweight "Irish" Joey McCreedy to his boxing division. Joey is trained by Dicky Eklund and mentored by Mickey Ward, both of whom were featured in the motion picture, "The Fighter." In addition McCreedy trains in Las Vegas with Floyd Mayweather Sr. and was seen with Mayweather on the HBO Series 24/7.[6] In 2012, JR added undefeated lightweight Mikey "Baby Faced Beast" Faragon to the boxing division.
In May 2011, Rickert joined Philadelphia Eagles blog Bleed-Green.com as the featured columnist of the "Inside Man: Diary Of An NFL Agent" series, which documents his life and dealings as a sports agent. He also writes blogs for www.technorati.com and orchestrated the "Year of the Fan" campaign which has been featured on Technorati. Rickert was also featured in Tweetsicles.com and SportsRantz.com for his work with social media and his athletes.[5]