When Chappaqua-based public relations executive John Cirillo was a student at Fordham University in the Bronx, he broadcast the school’s games over its WFUV radio – whose alumni have included Vince Scully, “the voice of the Dodgers”; Mike Breen, “the voice of the Knicks”; and Michael Kay, “the voice of the Yankees” – with an eye to a career behind the mic. 

But an assignment at Yonkers Raceway – where then publicist Mike Cohen seated him right up front with sportswriters from New York City’s big newspapers  — led to a career in public relations with an emphasis on sports that included executive positions with Yonkers Raceway, the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden before he went out on his own with his 28-year-old company, Cirillo World.