When he was 4 years old, Simon Gourdine decided he wanted to be a lawyer.

Born in Jersey City, N.J., and raised in New York City on the Upper West Side and the Bronx, Gourdine ultimately achieved that dream, forging a legal career that took him to South Vietnam and then back to the United States, where he became the highest-ranking African-American executive in pro sports before moving on to become a distinguished public servant.