Pete Rozelle | |
|---|---|
 Rozelle in 1975 | |
| 4thCommissioner of the NFL | |
| In office January 26, 1960 – November 5, 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Austin Gunsel (interim) |
| Succeeded by | Paul Tagliabue |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alvin Ray Rozelle (1926-03-01)March 1, 1926 South Gate, California, U.S. |
| Died | December 6, 1996(1996-12-06) (aged 70) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Compton College |
| Awards | Sportsman of the Year (1963) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1944-1945 |
| Battles / wars | |
| Football career | |
Alvin Ray "Pete"Rozelle (/roʊˈzɛl/; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was an American professionalfootball executive. Rozelle served as thecommissioner of theNational Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retirement in November 1989.[1] He became the youngest commissioner in NFL history at the age of just 33. He is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.[2][3]
During his tenure, Rozelle saw the NFL grow from 12 teams to 28, oversaw the creation of large television-rights deals and the creation ofMonday Night Football in 1970, oversaw the 1970AFL–NFL merger and the creation of theSuper Bowl, and helped the NFL move from a twelve-game schedule to a sixteen-game schedule. By the time of his retirement, many people considered him the most powerful commissioner in sports.[4] He was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
Born inSouth Gate, California, Rozelle grew up in neighboringLynwood during theGreat Depression. He graduated fromCompton High School in 1944, withDuke Snider, lettering intennis andbasketball.[5] He was drafted into theU.S. Navy in 1944 and served 18 months in thePacific on an oil tanker.[6]
Rozelle enteredCompton Community College in 1946.[7] While there he worked as the student athletic news director and also worked part-time for theLos Angeles Rams as apublic relations assistant.Pete Newell, head coach for theUniversity of San FranciscoDons basketball team, came to Compton in 1948 for a recruiting visit. Impressed by Rozelle, Newell helped arrange for him to get a full scholarship to work in a similar capacity at USF.[7]
Rozelle enrolled at USF that year and worked as a student publicist for theUSF Dons athletic department. In addition to promoting the school's football team he was able to draw national attention to the Dons' 1949National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championshipbasketball team. After graduating from USF in 1950 he was hired by the school as the full-time athletic news director.[8]
In 1952, he re-joined the Rams as a PR specialist. Leaving after three years, he held a series of public relations jobs insouthern California, including marketing the1956 Olympics inMelbourne, Australia for a Los Angeles-based company. In1957, he returned to the Rams, a disorganized, unprofitable team, lost in the growing L.A. market, as theirgeneral manager. In spite of continued struggles on the field, including a league-worst 2–10 record in1959, he turned them into a business success in just three years.[7]
AfterBert Bell's death in October1959, the 33-year-old Rozelle was the surprise choice for his replacement as NFL commissioner. According toHoward Cosell in his 1985 bookI Never Played the Game, the owners took 23 ballots before settling on Rozelle as NFL Commissioner at a January 26, 1960, meeting.[9][10]
When he took office following the1959 season, there were twelve teams in the NFL playing a twelve-game schedule to frequently half-empty stadiums, and only a few teams had television contracts. The NFL in1960 was following a business model that had evolved from the 1930s. One of Rozelle's early accomplishments was helping the league adopt profit-sharing of gate and television revenues.[11] The revenue-sharing was a major factor in stabilizing the NFL and guaranteeing the success of its small-market teams. Another important contribution was Rozelle's success in negotiating large television contracts to broadcast every NFL game played each season. In doing so, he deftly played one television network against the other. In early 1962, Rozelle was re-elected to a five-year contract to remain as commissioner, with a salary continuing at $50,000 per year.[12][13] Less than five months later, he was granted a $10,000 bonus (for1961) and his annual salary was increased by $10,000 to $60,000.[14][15]
After theassassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, Rozelle wrestled with the decision of whether to cancel that Sunday's games. Rozelle and White House press secretaryPierre Salinger had been classmates at the University of San Francisco, so Rozelle consulted with him. Salinger urged Rozelle to play the games, so he agreed for the schedule to proceed. Rozelle felt that way, saying: "It has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy. Football was Mr. Kennedy's game. He thrived on competition."[16] After their win over thePhiladelphia Eagles inPhiladelphia, players on theWashington Redskins asked CoachBill McPeak to send the game ball to the White House, thanking Rozelle for allowing the games to be played that weekend,[17] saying that they were "playing...for President Kennedy and in his memory."[18] There were players and news outlets that disagreed with the decision, and Rozelle subsequently thought it might have been wiser to cancel those games.[19] TheAmerican Football League (AFL) andmost major colleges did not play games that weekend.
Citing his "aptitude for conciliation" with the league's owners, his work in expanding the NFL, and his crackdown on player gambling,Sports Illustrated named Rozelle their "Sportsman of the Year" for 1963.[20]
By1965, the rivalAmerican Football League obtained a newNBC-TV contract and had signed a new superstar inJoe Namath. As the leagues battled to sign top talent, bonuses and salaries grew dramatically, especially after a series of "raids" on each other's talent, both signed and unsigned. The leagues agreed to a merger in 1966. Among the conditions were a common draft and a championship game played between the two league champions first played in early 1967, the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, which would eventually become known as the Super Bowl. Rozelle led negotiations with AFL and NFL executives tomerge the two leagues.[21] In October 1966, he testified in front ofCongress and convinced them to allow the merger.[22] Rozelle played an important role in making theSuper Bowl the most watched sporting event in the United States.[23]
Due to television contracts, the AFL and NFL operated as separate leagues until 1970, with separate regular season schedules, but they met in the preseason and in the championship game. Although Rozelle nominally remained the NFL commissioner, he was given broad authority over both leagues after AFL CommissionerAl Davis was forced to resign and ultimately replaced by an AFLPresident subordinate to the NFL Commissioner. During this time, the NFL Commissioner's office came to resemble that of theCommissioner of Baseball and Rozelle unofficially became known as theFootball Commissioner although that was never an official title.[citation needed] Meanwhile, the AFL expanded, adding the Miami Dolphins in 1966, and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1967. Also during this period, the NFL added the Atlanta Falcons in 1966, and the New Orleans Saints in 1967. In 1970, the AFL was absorbed into the NFL and the league reorganized with the ten AFL franchises along with the previous NFL teams Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers becoming part of the newly formed American Football Conference (AFC), with all of the remaining pre-merger NFL teams forming the National Football Conference (NFC). By 1970, the newly reconstituted NFL stood at 26 teams.[citation needed]
In 1970, Rozelle proposed his week-nightprime time television concept,Monday Night Football, toRoone Arledge, then the president ofABC Sports.[24] After selling his idea to ABC,Monday Night Football premiered in September 1970 with theCleveland Browns against theNew York Jets; the Browns won the game, 31–21.[25] The program is still broadcast today.Monday Night Football aired on ABC for 36 seasons (1970–2005). Except for the 1998 season in which games aired at 8:20 p.m. Eastern Time, games aired at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The first broadcast announcing team wasDon Meredith,Howard Cosell, andKeith Jackson.[26] In 2006,Monday Night Football was moved to ABC's sister networkESPN. The NFL expanded by two more teams in 1976, with the addition of theTampa Bay Buccaneers andSeattle Seahawks; this brought the league to 28 teams, which would stand as such for the rest of Rozelle's tenure as commissioner.[27]
He enacted in 1963 and was the namesake of theRozelle rule which required a team signing afree agent to compensate that player's former ballclub with other players and/or draft selections and that he was the lone arbiter in determining the compensation package. Exercised only four times, the rule was declared a violation ofantitrust laws by JudgeEarl R. Larson inMackey v. National Football League on December 30, 1975. The plaintiffs had successfully contended that the rule deterred teams from signing free agents out of fear of not knowing the compensation that would have to be surrendered.[28][29]
In the 1980s,Al Davis, owner of theOakland Raiders franchise, sued the NFL in order to relocate the team to Los Angeles. Rozelle represented the NFL, testifying in court to block the Raiders' move. Ultimately, the NFL lost its court case with Davis, and the Oakland franchise moved to Los Angeles in1982. The tension between Rozelle and Davis, who had wanted to be NFL commissioner, was apparent throughout the case. In January 1981, just after the case was settled, the Oakland Raiders wonSuper Bowl XV and Rozelle as commissioner was tasked with handing theSuper Bowl Trophy to Davis.[30][31] The Raiders moved back to Oakland in 1995.
Under Rozelle the NFL thrived and became an American institution, despite two players'strikes and two different competing leagues. He retired as commissioner on November 5,1989. By the time of his resignation, the number of teams in the league had grown to 28, and team owners presided over sizable revenues from American broadcasting networks.
Rozelle's legacy of equalization has been felt not only in the NFL,[32] but also in theAustralian Football League, the majorAustralian-rules football competition. In 1986, The AFL Commission adopted a policy of equalization based on the method pioneered by Rozelle in the NFL. It is because of this decision that expansion clubs have been able to survive, as well as older clubs with smaller support bases.[33] An example of this is the 1996AFL Grand Final betweenNorth Melbourne and theSydney Swans, two teams with small supporter bases.[34]
Rozelle was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 while still serving as its commissioner.[35] The NFL's annualPete Rozelle Radio-Television Award was established in 1989 to recognize "longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football",[36] and is awarded annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In 1990, the league instituted the Pete Rozelle Trophy to honor theSuper Bowl MVP, first awarded in the1990 season atSuper Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991.[37] A month after Rozelle's death in December 1996, the NFL honored his legacy with a decal on the back of the helmets of the teams competing inSuper Bowl XXXI.[38]
In 1990, Rozelle received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[39] He was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation in 1991.[40]
For his contribution to sports in Los Angeles, Rozelle was honored byLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum commissioners with a"Court of Honor" plaque at the Coliseum.[41]
Rozelle married Jane Coupe, an artist, in 1949. The couple had one child, Anne Marie, born in 1958. Rozelle was awarded full custody of Anne Marie after his 1972 divorce due to Coupe's alcoholism. Rozelle remarried in December 1973 toCarrie Cooke, a former daughter-in-law ofJack Kent Cooke, owner of theWashington Redskins.[42]
On December 6, 1996, seven years after his retirement in 1989, Rozelle died ofbrain cancer at the age of 70 atRancho Santa Fe, California,[43] and was interred at El Camino Memorial Park inSan Diego.[44]
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