Dan Klores
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Daniel A. Klores (born December 1949) is American film producer, philanthropist, and the founder and chairman of public relations firm DKC (company).
Early life
[edit]Raised in Brooklyn, New York. Klores attended NYC public schools.[1] The oldest of two boys, Dan was the first high school graduate in his family.[2] His father Al, a veteran of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, sold pots and pans door-to-door in the borough.[2] His mother, Esther Molliver, was a homemaker who grew up in the foster care system.[2] Al and Esther were 23 and 18, respectively, when Klores was born[2] Dan's first marriage ended in divorce.[2] On September 30, 1995, Klores married Abbe Goldman, a then-executive vice president of Dan Klores Associates Inc., a public relations and management company in New York.[2]
An honor student through the 7th grade, Klores then encountered many personal struggles.[1] He was rejected from every college to which he applied, eventually receiving a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of South Carolina in August 1973.[1] Later, he attended graduate school for American History, finishing ABD.[1] He taught college-level history in a variety of extension programs, including a maximum security prison, the Central Corrections Institute, and aboard a US Navy nuclear missile destroyer as it toured the Mediterranean for a year. He was a founding Board member of The Children’s Health Fund.[3] and a longtime Member of the Board of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[3]
Early career
[edit]In 1991, Klores founded the public relations firm, DKC.[1] He then went on to direct and write seven documentary films, four of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.[4]
His next project was founding a charter high school in the Bronx for hundreds of children of color.[5][5][5]
Klores has written three off-Broadway plays, two books, newspaper and magazine columns, essays and articles published in the New York Times, New York Post, Esquire, Southern Exposure, Daily News, The Undefeated, Grantland, Tablet, and The Ringer.[6] He received a Peabody Award and the Independent Spirit Award for best director of the year.[citation needed]
Basketball and Activism
[edit]In 2014, Klores created his first non-profit for inner city children, these, ages seven through 17, ‘the RENS,’ named after the 1930’s and 40’s all-Black basketball team.[7][7] Ninety nine percent of its 17 year-old graduates have received full scholarships and or critical financial aid from universities across the nation including: Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Duke, Kentucky, Indiana, Stanford, North Carolina, Wesleyan, Tufts, West Point, and Notre Dame.[citation needed]
In 2009, President Barack Obama hosted some of the organization’s young people to acknowledge the team’s first-of-its-kind nationwide orange emblem program against gun violence.[8][7] Klores created a tutoring program for RENS youth, pairing grade-school students at their homes with graduate students in education at St Francis College in Brooklyn[9]
Personal life
[edit]He has three sons, Jake, Sam and Luke[10]
Filmography
[edit]A filmography of Klores's work as director and writer includes:
2003: The Boys of Second Street Park - Showtime [4]
2005: Ring of Fire: the Emile Griffith Story - Universal TV; USA Network [11]
2005: Viva Baseball - Spike TV [12]
2007: Crazy Love - Magnolia Studios [13]
2008: Black Magic – ESPN, (two parts over four hours)[14]
2010: Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs the New York Knicks - ESPN [15]
2018: Basketball: a Love Story – ESPN (a 10-part series spanning 20 hours)[16]
Theater work
[edit]His off-Broadway work as a writer include:
2003: Myrtle Beach at the Duke Theatre starring Yul Vazquez and David Deblinger [17]
2006: Little Doc at the Rattlestick Playhouse, starring Adam Driver [18]
2009: The Wood at Rattlestick, directed by David Bar Katz, about the life of the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper columnist, Mike MacAlary[19]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Geist, William (April 8, 1990). "What really makes New York work: Secret Powers; Dan Klores: the man behind the images". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e f "WEDDINGS; Abbe Goldman and Daniel A. Klores". The New York Times. October 1, 1995.
- ^ a b "Key Executive Joins Children's Health Fund Board" (PDF). Children's Health Fund. August 18, 2018.
- ^ a b Harvey, Dennis (January 28, 2003). "The Boys Of 2nd Street Park". variety.com.
- ^ a b c Barron, James (September 25, 2024). "A School for the Basketball World". The New York Times.
- ^ "Dan Klores - New York Magazine". NYMag. Retrieved 2025-04-29.
- ^ a b c "The History of the New York Renaissance". nyrhoops.org.
- ^ Isola, Frank (April 9, 2018). "New York hoopsters team up against gun violence". nydailynews.com.
- ^ "Free SAT Prep for RENS". rens.d1scout.com. March 31, 2014.
- ^ Brett, Alexander (November 29, 2018). "For the love of basketball: A family bond highlights the game's power". columbiaspectator.com.
- ^ Herbert, Bob (April 14, 2005). "The Haunting of Emile Griffith". The New York Times.
- ^ Gallo, Phil (September 21, 2005). "Viva Baseball". variety.com.
- ^ "Crazy Love". Magnolia Pictures.
- ^ Katz, Milton (March 12, 2008). ""Black Magic" an ESPN Original Entertainment features many former NAIA coaches and players". naia.org.
- ^ Sandomir, Richard (March 13, 2010). "This Reggie Miller Is the Straw That Stirred the Garden". The New York Times.
- ^ Bucholtz, Andrew (October 9, 2018). "Dan Klores discusses the 15-year process behind "Basketball: A Love Story," his 20-hour, 62-short-story ESPN Films project". awfulannouncing.com.
- ^ Pincus-Roth, Zachary (April 11, 2007). "Tomei, Hoffmann, Marvel and More Added to Naked Angels Issues Project Beginning April 11". playbill.com.
- ^ Blank, Matthew (June 17, 2010). "PHOTO CALL: Rattlestick Premieres Klores' Little Doc". playbill.com.
- ^ Stasio, Marilyn (September 19, 2011). "The Wood". variety.com.