Alex Spanos: Sharing the Wealth

The year is 1951, and Alex Spanos, twenty-seven years old, is an unemployed father of two with no money in the bank and no prospects. His first order of business is sheer survival. Then he gets an idea. Days later he secures a meager $800 loan to start his own business. And he never looks back – until he becomes one of the nation's top businessmen and the owner of the San Diego Chargers.

Sharing the Wealth is the inspiring and exciting story of how one man rose from the humblest of beginnings to become one of America's most dynamic business leaders. Along the way, Spanos shares the secrets of his success – the strategies, knowledge, and insights from his remarkable fifty-year career.

Now the owner of a professional sports franchise and the chairman of a corporate giant, Alex Spanos has fulfilled his aspirations and reached the heights of success. Yet this son of poor Greek immigrants has never forgotten his origins or the opportunities he found in America. And he has always been eager to help others take advantage of the abundant opportunities that still exist. That is why he shares with all readers his fifteen "Fundamentals of Success."

"Success," Spanos writes, "cannot be summed up in a sound bite, but it can be explained in a story." And Sharing the Wealth is a remarkable and inspiring story that will help countless others set goals and reach them.

Alex Spanos, owner of the National Football League's San Diego Chargers, is chairman and owner of the A.G. Spanos Companies, one of the nation's leading builders of apartment communities. His business career began in 1951 with an $800 loan that enabled him to buy a truck and start his own catering business. With his entrepreneurial genius, he moved quickly into the fields of real estate and construction, where he became an industry leader.

A noted philanthropist, he has donated millions to benefit charities, educational institutions, hospitals, churches, and civic and athletic organizations. He has received many honors and awards, including the Horatio Alger Award and the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He and his wife, Faye, have four children – Dean, Dea, Alexis, and Michael – and fifteen grandchildren.