Nzoner
10-25-2005, 10:52 AM
from the related story....
Mara became a Giants’ ballboy at age 9 on Oct. 18, 1925 after his father, Timothy J. Mara, bought the team. He stayed fully involved in its operation for almost 80 years, except for three years while in the Navy during World War II. Until he became ill last spring, he attended most practices and every game. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9775854/)
NEW YORK - Wellington Mara of the New York Giants, one of the NFL’s most influential owners for more than a half century and the last of the league’s founding generation, died Tuesday. He was 89.
Mara, who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997, died of cancer at his home in Rye, the team said.
Mara’s influence went far beyond the Giants. He clearly was one of the most important figures in NFL history
“Wellington Mara represented the heart and soul of the National Football League,” NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. “He was a man of deep conviction who stood as a beacon of integrity.”
One of Mara’s greatest contributions came in the early 1960s. He and brother Jack, owners of the biggest team in the biggest market, agreed to share television revenue on a leaguewide basis, dividing the huge amounts of money available in cities like New York with smaller markets from Pittsburgh to Green Bay.
Part of that agreement meant that the Giants ceded the right to sell their own games to television for a leaguewide contract, in those days with CBS. That concept of revenue sharing allowed the NFL to thrive and remains in place today.
He also served during the 1970s as chairman of the NFL’s Management Council, which negotiated labor contracts, and as a member of the competition committee.
In 1989, he and group of older owners wanted Pete Rozelle’s successor to be Jim Finks, then the New Orleans general manager, rather than Tagliabue, then a league lawyer. Mara thought the league should be run by a football man.
Mara became a Giants’ ballboy at age 9 on Oct. 18, 1925 after his father, Timothy J. Mara, bought the team. He stayed fully involved in its operation for almost 80 years, except for three years while in the Navy during World War II. Until he became ill last spring, he attended most practices and every game. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9775854/)
NEW YORK - Wellington Mara of the New York Giants, one of the NFL’s most influential owners for more than a half century and the last of the league’s founding generation, died Tuesday. He was 89.
Mara, who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997, died of cancer at his home in Rye, the team said.
Mara’s influence went far beyond the Giants. He clearly was one of the most important figures in NFL history
“Wellington Mara represented the heart and soul of the National Football League,” NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. “He was a man of deep conviction who stood as a beacon of integrity.”
One of Mara’s greatest contributions came in the early 1960s. He and brother Jack, owners of the biggest team in the biggest market, agreed to share television revenue on a leaguewide basis, dividing the huge amounts of money available in cities like New York with smaller markets from Pittsburgh to Green Bay.
Part of that agreement meant that the Giants ceded the right to sell their own games to television for a leaguewide contract, in those days with CBS. That concept of revenue sharing allowed the NFL to thrive and remains in place today.
He also served during the 1970s as chairman of the NFL’s Management Council, which negotiated labor contracts, and as a member of the competition committee.
In 1989, he and group of older owners wanted Pete Rozelle’s successor to be Jim Finks, then the New Orleans general manager, rather than Tagliabue, then a league lawyer. Mara thought the league should be run by a football man.