No Finish Line

Senior Journalist

John Crawford

A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.

| November 18, 2017

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On any given Sunday, The Home Depot co-founder and Babson alumnus Arthur Blank ’63, H’98 can be seen sporting a touch of Falcons red and cheering on the players, even dancing with joy after a big win.

Being an NFL owner has brought him both epic highs and lows. With a Super Bowl loss in 2017, also came the opening of a dramatic new home for the Falcons, the $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium, an immense and impressive structure that Blank calls “a dream come true.”

Blank has plenty to keep him busy outside of football as well. He’s the owner of the Atlanta United soccer team, two Montana ranches, and the PGA Tour Superstore, which has locations across the country.

He also is dedicated to philanthropy, following the lead of Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates by signing the Giving Pledge, a commitment by billionaires to donate at least half of their wealth to charity. Blank has promised to give 95 percent of his estate to The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

“I have all the things I need and want and could use, so it’s an opportunity to make a difference,” he says. “You want to have meaning in your life in some form or fashion, and meaning for me comes from making a difference in others’ lives.”

In November 2019, Blank brought this commitment to Babson College by investing $50 million in the College’s new Arthur M. Blank School of Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Read the rest of “No Finish Line” from the Fall 2017 issue of Babson Magazine.

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Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

Tagged Babson Magazine, Alumni, Household Names

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