Pete Rozelle - Early life, Commissioner, Retirement and death

Executive of American football, born in South Gate, California, USA. He was serving as Los Angeles Rams general manager when he was selected as National Football League (NFL) commissioner in 1960. In his 30 years as commissioner (1960–89), he guided the league through a ‘war’ and subsequent merger with the American Football League, fought off challenges by two other rival leagues, and led the NFL to unprecedented respect and financial success. He retired as NFL Commissioner in 1989.

Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.

Early life

Rozelle was born in South Gate, California and grew up in suburban Lynwood, California during the Great Depression. Rozelle began his career at the University of San Francisco, working as a student publicist for the school's football team.

Commissioner

1960s

After Bert Bell's death in 1959, Rozelle was the surprise choice for his replacement as NFL commissioner. According to Howard Cosell in his book I Never Played the Game, the owners took 23 ballots before settling on Rozelle as NFL Commissioner at a January 26, 1960 meeting. When he took office there were ten teams in the NFL playing a twelve game schedule to frequently half-empty stadiums, and only several teams had television contracts. By the time of Rozelle's resignation, the number of teams had grown to 28, and team owners presided over sizable revenues from U.S. broadcasting networks. Following the lead of the rival American Football League, Rozelle negotiated large television contracts to broadcast every NFL game played each season. In doing so, Rozelle not only deftly played one television network against the other, but also persuaded NFL team owners -- most notably Carroll Rosenbloom of the Colts, and George Preston Marshall of the Redskins -- to agree to share revenues between teams, as the American Football League had done since its inception.

JFK assassination

See also: 1963 NFL season

In November 1963 the NFL played its full schedule of games (untelevised due to uninterrupted coverage of the assassination), only two days after JFK's assassination, while the rival American Football League (AFL) postponed its games out of respect for the fallen president. Rozelle rued his decision to have the NFL play, and frequently stated publicly that it had been his worst mistake. However, Rozelle and then-White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had been classmates at the University of San Francisco years before, and Rozelle consulted with him. However, he didn't cite Rozelle's decision, but that the events were so deadly there were legitimate security concerns.) Rozelle's "aptitude for conciliation" with the league's owners, however, led to his receiving Sports Illustrated magazine's 1963 "Sportsman of the Year" award.

The AFL

With American Football League commissioner Al Davis and other AFL and NFL executives, he negotiated the merger between the American Football League and the NFL. and "Every franchise of both leagues will remain in its present location." The merger was allowed, but regardless of the promises, numerous NFL teams have since moved, or used the threat of moving to have cities build or improve stadiums. Following the urging of American Football League commissioner Al Davis, Rozelle also agreed to the creation of the Super Bowl and later supported the concept of Monday Night Football.

1970s

The 1970s saw Rozelle at the peak of his powers as a sports league commissioner. Towards the end of the decade, labor unrest and litigation over issues such as the NFL Players Association and team movement to new markets foreshadowed Rozelle's decline as commissioner. Rozelle, again according to Monday Night Football commentator Howard Cosell, pushed the NFL into an internecine struggle with Al Davis concerning the movement of the Oakland Raiders franchise to Los Angeles.

Retirement and death

Under Rozelle the NFL thrived and had become an American icon, despite two players' strikes and two different upstart leagues.