By the time he gets to Phoenix…

Like anyone studying finance and numbers in college, Rick Steltenpohl probably lusted after an office overlooking Wall Street. He’s got one and he’s giving it up.

Of course, Steltenpohl’s office doesn’t overlook that Wall Street, but it does have a nice view of the STA Plaza.

You know, in downtown Spokane.

The downtown that, for the past 16 years, has been taken over during June’s last weekend by Hoopfest, the world’s largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

And the reason for Rick Steltenpohl’s office.

For the past 13 years, Steltenpohl has been Hoopfest’s executive director, or CEO if you will. But on June 26, after all the backboards are put away, after all the portable toilets are hauled away, after all the garbage is carted out, and after all the tape is pulled off Riverside Avenue, that chapter of Rick Steltenpohl’s life will close.

He and his family are leaving for Phoenix and another chapter. But before Spokane could let one of Hoopfest’s founding fathers leave, it had to ask a few questions. And Steltenpohl was nice enough to sit down in that palatial – if by palatial you mean crowded and cramped – office and answer them.

How can you leave Spokane?

“It was, obviously a difficult decision. My wife (Martha) and my daughters (Chelsea and Leah) and I have been here 18 years. We love Spokane. I grew up really with Hoopfest and it’s part of me. So it was a very difficult decision. Over the years things have come up and I’ve always said no to them. This opportunity just drew me. Over a number of months of reflection on it, it just kept drawing me. I kind of went with my heart, my heart said to do this. My wife was very supportive, so ultimately we decided to take this opportunity.”

What do your daughters think about moving?

“There is mixed emotions there, certainly. We love Spokane, we’ve spent most of our lives here, and they feel that from Martha and me. We have a great life here. To leave is perhaps easier for us as parents to do because we understand it more fully, we’re confident.”

With Hoopfest now, you’re probably not surprised by much anymore. Were you looking for a new surprise?

“No. I would say that when you hit a certain age you start thinking what do I want to do for the next 10 to 15 years? I did that a couple of years ago. I opened up my heart – I’m a heart guy, I go with my heart and I don’t do things for money, money’s nice, I always say, but it’s not my main motivation – saying what should I be doing. I went to this leadership retreat for four days a year-and-a-half ago and it was a very enriching experience. I was just open to whatever my next steps were. I talked with my wife and asked ‘Should we actively look to do a different thing just to experience life?’ I decided no. And then opportunity just presented itself. Normally, as I told you, I wouldn’t pursue that, but this one just drew me. It evolved from maybe I would do some consulting with you, to hey, you offered me ownership and I will go with this and maybe it would be a fun new adventure. ‘Martha, what do you think?’ ‘Let’s go for it. If you think it’s a good opportunity, I support you, let’s go for it.’ It’s just a risk. I could do this job forever, and be good at it forever. To take a chance like that when you are doing so well, is an interesting thing.”

You have already proved, when you took the Hoopfest job, that you were willing to take a chance.

“Yes, you’re right. And what I’ve learned and with my values, things will work out how they are supposed to, I’m confident of that. In the same breath, I’m fully aware of what I have here and I’m very grateful for that.”

If you were talking to yourself in 1990, what is the first thing you would tell yourself?

“Good decision to get involved in it. You have no idea how you are going to develop as a person and how much fun you are going to have. And how many close relationships you are going to develop through this silly thing called Hoopfest.”

Was it hard to take the Hoopfest job in 1990?

“Decided to go for it and accepted it. It was a tough decision at the time. Do I step out of kind of the business world into this? Who knew what this would be. I felt like it was an incredible opportunity, the chance to be the head of marketing, management, public relations, I felt like I was going to become, in effect, the president of this small company, which I loved. I just loved Hoopfest, as those of us who have been around it forever have. I felt it was an honor (to get the job). Every day I’ve come to work I’ve felt like it’s an honor.”

“I’ve grown up with this. I’ve developed so many skills and so many relationships in this job. It’s been fun to evolve in that person I am because of that magic that is Hoopfest, and it is a magical thing. The people that have built Hoopfest and who continue to be around Hoopfest are the greatest people.”

But it takes more than magic to get it done every year.

“(Laughing) Yeah, we work hard. It was brutal up until the last three years. I used to work, in April, May and June, just insane hours. To this day (Martha) is like, May and June are not her favorite months, I was just gone so much. Now we’ve got it figured out. It’s still a lot of work, but the online registration, and the figuring out of the site and all the different intricacies of it have made the job – and the expansion of the staff with AAU basketball – those things have made it become a job that isn’t as time-consuming as it once was. (But) even then I loved it.”

So it’s more relaxed?

“I’ve changed. I used to wear ties to work and long pants, like (new executive director) Brady (Crooks) does now. I’ve evolved. I wore a suit to the prayer breakfast this morning, but the first thing I do is get into my Nikes when I get into the office. We’ve always been comfortable, we have music going, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are intensely proud of what we do and we pay attention to details and we want to be the very, very, very, very best. But we don’t think too much of it. Let’s just do it and enjoy it. Do it for the right reasons in the right way. That’s been the mantra of what Hoopfest has always been. I’m the most proud of that, that we’ve always been able to keep the quality improving, while having a great time at it and being humble about it.

“I think the personality of the event is really my personality. “

When you were studying to be an accountant, I’m sure this type of job was probably exactly what you envisioned doing.

“(Laughing) Exactly. Growing up what do you want to do, you want to play ball and that’s all I ever wanted to do. I didn’t know what to do in college so I decided to be a CPA. It would be a good starting point. I thought about lots of things. Everyone wants to do sports. Dennis Manger, who was one of the founding six guys (of Hoopfest) and still a good friend of mine, the first year of Hoopfest he gave me a ride home after Sunday and we were just on Cloud Nine and he said ‘One day, you’re going to be running this place.’ And I said ‘You’re crazy, we’re never going to be big enough to have a full-time person running this. There’s no way I could get that lucky.’ Just a few years later that came about and it’s really has been a magical run.”

What’s the most magical part?

“What I love about Hoopfest is it’s not mine, it’s yours, it’s yours, it’s everybody’s, it’s the community’s. That’s what’s made it great. That’s how we’ve always positioned it. I’ve just been blessed to be the one sitting in the lead position. But it’s ours. People love this thing. I love going down Saturday morning and seeing it. And I love Sunday night when the last game is over, and the sun shined the whole time and we got through it without the play stopping because of rain, and it’s a great feeling. It’s the community that loves Hoopfest. I’m that type of guy, I love relationships, I love closeness and I love people who do things for the right reasons. That’s really what Hoopfest is. My great joy from it is to have been a part of that, to hopefully have set the standard for it to go on and be that way.”

What was the hardest thing that you’ve had to do in the past 15 years?

“Boy, that’s a good question. One year, back in the mid-90s, we had this computer program that spit all the brackets out and printed the draw sheets out. It died on us. I had to stay up, I don’t know how many hours straight, all night and into the next day, writing everyone of those out. I just said I’ll take care of it. And remember thinking, ‘what am I doing?’ But it’s been great, we’ve had a great run. There’s been no regrets and no deep pain.

“We’ve had tough negotiations, great concern over getting streets and having enough court monitors, making sure people don’t have a poor experience, because it pains me when they do. We just want it all to be right, so when things don’t go just right, which is almost impossible for it to do, it does pain me.”

You’ve played in every Hoopfest. Have you ever had a poor experience?

“Yeah, we’ve lost a lot.”

Ever had a problem where you’ve played people where you think ‘These people are jerks?’

“Yeah, certainly. Or stalling when they shouldn’t be. Last year, in fact, we’re playing and there’s this guy who’s not even playing – he’s on the team but he’s not playing – and he’s on the back line and the ball goes out of bounds on the baseline. He’s goes, ‘It’s our ball.’ And I’m like ‘How do you know that, you’re 35 feet away.’ He says ‘I saw it.’ ‘No, you don’t get the ball. If you want to monitor the game, then monitor. But if you’re going to play in the game, just play it or just sit out.’ I like fairness, you know? I like playing the game, playing as hard as you can, if you win you win, but afterwards, you shake hands if you respect the way it was done. The end does not justify the means. We say that a lot. The end does not justify the means. It doesn’t justify it on the court, it doesn’t justify it in business, it doesn’t justify it in family. It translates into how you conduct everything. It’s how you do it, it’s the process. That’s what’s meaningful to me.”