LaSonjia Jack is confident that even if you’ve never been interested in hockey, she can turn you into a fanatic for the fast-paced game on the ice. She knows firsthand just how heart-pumping and intense the games can get, as both a fan and the co-owner of the Allen Americans hockey team in Texas.
“I say, if you’ve never been to a [hockey game], come with us. I’m telling you, everybody who goes to one is hooked, you’re hooked after it.” It’s the signature confidence of a woman who, with her son Myles Jack, has had to pull up a seat at the table and grab the opportunity to purchase their own team in a predominantly white sport, all in the name of building a family legacy that they hope will soon be a formidable force in sports.
Football devotees know the names Myles and LaSonjia Jack from the NFL field. Myles played with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars for an impressive seven-season career in the league, with LaSonjia there to cheer him on every step of the way. Now, their fans can also throw on the signature red and white jersey of their Allen Americans hockey team, a purchase that cemented the family in history as the first African American owners of a hockey team.
Some people react in surprise when LaSonjia tells them of their ownership of the Allen Americans, but she lets them know that the sport has always been in her life, starting from her childhood near the Chicago area.
“Hockey is exciting,” she says. “It’s absolutely a fun family environment.”
She admits, however, that she is surprised by how quickly the opportunity to own the team came about. “If you were to ask me if this was going to happen last year, I would have told you ‘no,’” she laughs. “I would have said we were looking for 2025 or 2026.” But the opportunity to buy the team was too good to pass up, and the family moved fast, having their first press conference announcing the historic decision in October 2023.
The ownership has proven to be an incredible success for both the East Coast Hockey League team and the Jack family; the Allen Americans’ ticket sales and membership have increased since they became majority owners, and LaSonjia notes they’ve already had eight sell-out games.
The family is determined that their success won’t stop at hockey; they intend to build a Jack family sports empire like the billion-dollar Glazer family. Myles has already acquired ownership in teams in various other sports, including the Leeds United Soccer team and the Cleburne Railroaders baseball team, among others. As the CEO of the Jack Family businesses, the Allen Americans team is a crucial building block to that goal.
Behind all the victories on the ice and connections the family has forged with the hockey community in Allen, Texas, and beyond, LaSonjia noted that she feels her family’s position as the first African Americans to own a hockey team brings more responsibility than intense pressure. “We would go above and beyond to ensure that operations work appropriately and that our community respects us, regardless of us happening to be the first people of color.”
Being a positive force in hockey means more than just giving fans a good time. Along the way, the Jack family has made sure to uplift the community with them, giving everyone in Allen and beyond a chance to interact with the sport and perhaps inspire a new generation of players.
“Kids get an opportunity to learn about ice skating and community involvement, and these kids that maybe look like myself or others maybe don’t have an opportunity to see the ice,” LaSonjia says of the importance of the Jack family’s recent investment in Jacksonville’s ice rink center.
Out of the rink, young girls and boys have approached the CEO to tell her that they’ve been inspired to not only strap on a pair of skates but also own a team one day.
The community outreach and visibility seem to be working. In 2023, Tennessee State University became the first HBCU to offer men’s ice hockey, repping their royal blue and white tiger jersey in the rink. Announcements like these fill the Jack family matriarch with palpable pride, and she has no doubt that this is only the beginning of a new era for the sport.
“I don’t want them [to be] the last,” she says. “I think you’re going to see a wave of hockey.” There’s been a noticeable shift in the conversation around sports that LaSonjia has experienced firsthand.
“I’ve had a bunch of ladies reach out to me who play hockey,” she says of the visibility that comes with the distinction. “It’s like, this is just great to see that you don’t have to play sports. You can also own them, too. So that’s the responsibility—to show them what great looks like.”
The revered businesswoman, who has been in the C-suite boardrooms at Microsoft, T-Mobile and now the Allen Americans, is sharing the secrets to her success in an upcoming book. The executive sees the key to breaking through the glass ceiling in the business world as “having the self-confidence that we belong” in the boardroom, especially when you’re the only woman or person of color in the room.
“Don’t let anything or anyone stop you from fulfilling those goals,” she says. “I’m a person who loves when people tell me ‘no’ because then I have to ask a whole lot of questions to figure out how to get to that yes. And don’t be afraid to try anything.”