“There are so many really good Black agents, but I think the biggest thing is educating the players on that so that they know those agents,” Gilmore said. “Unfortunately, I’ll still get that question, ‘are you doing the contract?’ I think it’s a mindset that we have to educate a lot of the players that there’s quality people who are working on deals and doing great things. And it’s great to be able to get parents to look at our accomplishments so that when they go to make a decision on an agent, they will say, ‘This can be a great opportunity for my child, someone who’s gonna really wrap their arms around them.’”
Gilmore’s accomplishments are evident.
He represents NFL players Haloti Ngata, James Carpenter, DJ Fluker, Shaq Mason, and Mike Evans. A few months ago, Gilmore negotiated a $52 million contract on behalf of Evans who will remain with the Tampa Bay Bucs.
“This is not a deal that just happened overnight,” Gilmore said. “I think it’s always good to be working on the next deal. Whenever you’re with your client. That’s kind of what you want to do. We finished his first deal in 2019. Three years after my mindset was to start working on the next one. So really, about two years ago, we were talking to the team and really just trying to plant the seeds of where he would be hoping to get a deal done really before the season. And we weren’t able to do that. But I feel like that was a blessing. And when you have clients that believe in you and you can believe in them, you’re really not worried. You go to the table and stand on what you believe was right and also stand on what they should get. We were able to do that and it became very lucrative for us this past season.”
Gilmore believes that there are opportunities for more diverse representation to occur when it comes to sports agents. However, it take sacrifice and time to be successful in this field.
“I think you have to have a determination that is in you and selflessness is important,” Gilmore says. “There’s so much more to it. And I don’t think that a lot of people are willing to pay the dues that it takes to be successful. And it shows sometimes.”I often wake up at 4 a.m., I travel a lot. You sacrifice your time, your family, your physical, and your finances. And there’s a lot of selflessness. You have to be willing to sacrifice.”
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