Harold Henderson. The NFL's vice president for labor relations, Henderson should be Upshaw's adversary. Yet Henderson has been a driving force behind union conciliation, and since he joined the league in 1991, labor peace has been his hallmark. Henderson has gone further by designing education and career planning programs to benefit players. As Henderson describes his challenge, "The players had no relationship with the league. There was a void, a need. Players weren't getting services from the league of any kind in a centralized way."

Dwyane Wade. "I'm not Michael Jordan. I never will be Michael Jordan," Wade said last year. "Lord knows I don't want to be Michael Jordan." Still, Wade has emerged as the NBA's most marketable player — a humble, family-oriented guy with absurd on-floor abilities. He has boosted Converse into market respectability, appears in popular car, cell phone and sports drink commercials and his jersey has been the NBA's top seller. Wade may not be Jordan, but he's the most like Mike since the league had Mike.

Tony Dungy. Dungy is the first black coach to win a Super Bowl, but his contributions run much deeper. After years of being passed over for head coaching jobs, Dungy has leveraged his own opportunities into opportunities for others. As Buccaneers coach, he gave Bears coach Lovie Smith and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin their first pro jobs, and he had Chiefs coach Herm Edwards on his staff. "I think there was a subconscious barrier," Dungy says. "I think we had a vision of what a head coach looked like. White, middle-aged." Not anymore.

Jonathan Mariner. Mariner's reputation as an astute accountant might be unmatched in sports, plus he is a black belt in shaolin kung fu. Good thing he has that fighting spirit -- he took over a financial mess as MLB's CFO in 2002 and has helped direct baseball to better financial times. Ultimately, his job focus is to get owners to keep their balance sheets clean. Knowing Mariner could drop the whirling horse maneuver on them, most listen.

Trevor Edwards. No company influences the way fans think about athletes and sports more than Nike, and few employees have more say in Nike's branding efforts than Edwards, vice president of global brand and category management. He helps forge and manage Nike's multimedia advertising approach, no matter the audience. "We create demand for our brand by being flexible about how we tell the story," Edwards told Advertising Age magazine.

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