Leonard Tose | |
|---|---|
 Tose in 1984 | |
| Born | Leonard Hyman Tose (1915-03-06)March 6, 1915 Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | April 15, 2003(2003-04-15) (aged 88) Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Owner |
| Organization | Philadelphia Eagles (1969–1985) |
| Spouse(s) | Jayne Orenstein (divorced) Andrea Tose (divorced) Caroline Collum (divorced) Julia Farber (divorced) |
| Children | with Orenstein: --Susan Tose Spencer --Nan Tose Schwartz |
Leonard Hyman Tose (March 6, 1915 – April 15, 2003) was an owner of thePhiladelphia Eagles from 1969 to 1985. He made a fortune in thetrucking industry and was known for his lavish lifestyle but he eventually lost it all due to agambling addiction[1] andalcoholism.
Tose's father, aRussian Jewish immigrant to the United States, settled outsidePhiladelphia, where he was a peddler with a pack on his back.[2] He launched a trucking business, owning ten trucks, which represented the beginning of the Tose family business, Tose Inc. The company ultimately owned more than 700 trucks and grossed $20 million a year.
Tose was born inBridgeport, Pennsylvania and graduated from theUniversity of Notre Dame in 1937.[3]
A lifelong fan of thePhiladelphia Eagles, Tose invested in the Eagles as a member of the "Happy Hundred," a group led byJames P. Clark. Tose invested $3,000 as one of the one hundred owners to purchase the team fromAlexis Thompson on January 15, 1949. Tose tried to buy the team with his own group of investors in 1956, but was unable to do so. The team was bought in December 1963 byJerry Wolman for $5,505,000 and Tose received more than $60,000.[4] He bought the team from Wolman in 1969 for $16,155,000, then a record for a professional sports franchise. Tose's first official act was to fire head coachJoe Kuharich.[5] He followed this by naming former Eagles receiving greatPete Retzlaff asgeneral manager andJerry Williams as coach.
In 1976, he, along withGeneral ManagerJimmy Murray, luredDick Vermeil fromUCLA to coach the hapless Eagles, who had one winning season from 1962 to 1975. Vermeil's 1980 team lost toOakland in theSuper Bowl.
The1982 NFL strike cost the Eagles revenue from seven games and placed the team, which was already in debt, in a difficult financial situation. Shortly after the season ended, Tose's daughter,Susan Tose Fletcher, took over the day-to-day operations of the team from Murray.[6] In 1985, after attempts to move the franchise toPhoenix, Arizona and/or trade franchises withBuffalo Bills ownerRalph Wilson[7] failed, Tose was forced to sell the Eagles toFlorida automobile dealersNorman Braman and Ed Leibowitz for a reported $65 million to pay off his more than $25 million in gambling debts atAtlantic City casinos.[8][9]
In 1991, theSands sued Tose for $1.23 million in gambling debts. He countersued, contending that the casino got him too drunk to know what he was doing. Eventually, the casino won. There was testimony from a cocktail waitress swearing that her job description was "to keep Mr. Tose's glass filled." The casino provided a monogrammed glass which she was instructed to keep filled with top-shelf scotch.
In the end, Tose lost (by his estimate), more than $20 million at Resorts International and $14 million at the Sands. In 1996, on his 81st birthday, Tose was evicted from his seven-bedroomVillanova mansion after losing the house in aU.S. Marshal's sale.
In 1999, Tose told a congressional hearing on compulsive gambling that his losses totaled between $40 and $50 million. He spent his last years alone in adowntown hotel room after his home in the upscalePhiladelphia Main Line was confiscated for unpaid taxes.
Tose had been married five times. His first wife was Jayne Ester Orenstein, who was also Jewish.[10] They had two daughters, Nan Tose Schwartz and Susan Tose Fletcher.[10][11]
His second wife was Andrea Tose; they divorced in 1981.[11][12]
In 1981, he married his third wife, former stewardess Caroline Collum, who used to be in charge of the Eagle cheerleaders, then known as the Liberty Belles.[12] They divorced and she then married I.G. "Jack" Davis, the former president ofResorts International,[13] and she later marriedSidney Kimmel, founder ofJones Apparel Group.[14] His fourth wife was Julia Farber ofCherry Hill, New Jersey.[11]
By his own admission, Tose was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic with a lifestyle others called flamboyant and he called comfortable.[citation needed] He and the fourth of his five wives had matchingRolls-Royces. Tose flew to Eagles home games in a helicopter, was married aboardQueen Elizabeth 2, and fed reporters filet mignon and shrimp cocktail.
During his tenure as owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, Tose was instrumental in helping establish the firstRonald McDonald House. Together with general manager Jim Murray and Eagles playerFred Hill, whose daughter had leukemia, Dr. Audrey Evans, and McDonald's regional manager Ed Rensi, a house was established for families to stay when their children received treatment for pediatric cancers. The house was financed by proceeds from sales ofShamrock Shakes throughout the Philadelphia area.[15]
Tose died in his sleep in the hospice wing of St. Agnes Medical Center inPhiladelphia on April 15, 2003. He was 88. No cause of death was released. An obituary by Dan Dunkin captured his life, "To put Leonard Tose's life in football terms, he threw on every down."