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Post by Jack on Oct 30, 2005 10:57:02 GMT -5
One of the patriarchs of the NFL died recently-Wellington Mara, owner of the NY Giants. Mara started his NFL involvement at age 9, as a ballboy, when his father bought the franchise in 1925. Way back when the NFL first was shown on TV- when baseball was by far the most popular sport in America- the owners were deciding on the issue of revenue sharing. The big media market teams, like NY, could get rich from TV contracts, while small market teams like Minnesota could go broke. Wellington Mara was the guy that stood up and pushed for revenue sharing- when he could have gotten rich by keeping his mouth shut. The NFL is as healthy as it is today because of revenue sharing. Dick Ebersole, the chairman of ABC sports, said about Mara: ..."he set the single best example as a gentleman and a sportsman of any figure in American sports in the past half century."
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Post by klsm54 on Oct 30, 2005 11:28:27 GMT -5
He was one of the pioneers, one of the great ones among NFL ownership. Him and Art Rooney of the Steelers were 2 great men, both from a time where there was honor among men, when a man's word was as good as gold. He will be sadly missed, and shoes like his will be hard to fill.
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kragman71
Member
Hey, I,m back. In a Nursing Home, but back
Posts: 428
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Post by kragman71 on Nov 11, 2005 10:07:08 GMT -5
Hello, I seem to recall that it was Wellington Mara who loaned Art rooney the 500 bucks that he needed to start the Steeler franchise. I started watching the Giants when they played at the old Polo Grounds,in the Bronx;on Coogans Bluff. Tickets could be bought at #1 42nd street,at any time. After they moved to Yankee Stadium and plyed that memorial game with the Baltimore Colts(that wa the first 'Super Bowl',tickets became hard to get. Frank
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