NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle
The sports landscape was changed forever on January 26, 1960 when the most innovative sports executive of all time, PETE ROZELLE, was elected Commissioner of the NFL.
"He was the greatest commissioner I have ever seen in sports," says Pittsburgh Steelers owner emeritus DAN ROONEY. "If Pete had not been commissioner, we would have gotten on as a league, but we wouldn't be the sport we grew to be under his tenure, the top American sport."
Rozelle guided the still-developing NFL to its position today as America's most popular sport.
He accomplished this feat by convincing rival owners to agree on a league-wide television contract; by successfully merging the NFL with the upstart American Football League; by starting NFL Properties and NFL Films; by creating a pageantry-filled championship game between the two leagues, now known as the Super Bowl; and by taking a chance with ABC-TV that the country wanted to watch primetime football on Monday nights.
And he did it all with a smile.
"He was a very special man," says former Baltimore Ravens owner ART MODELL. "You could like him on Madison Avenue or in Peoria. He would never use his muscle, only his persuasion. He was truly a giant. Remember, there was no frame of reference back then, because no one had done what he accomplished."
Pete Rozelle on:
Super Bowl I
"That first game was the only year we had double network coverage -- CBS and NBC -- and it was a real battle to see who could get the better rating. At that time, everybody made a big thing of it because, except for space shots and Presidential press conferences, that first game was the only event to ever attract multiple network coverage."
Presidents
"I realized the length of time I've served in the job. I've known eight Presidents. There was Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Carter, Bush. My favorite, one I was close to and I liked a lot because of his interest in football and his attention to the NFL, was Nixon. My mother was a doorbell-ringing volunteer for him when he ran for Congress the first time."
Most Thrilling Players
"Boy, there were so many, it's difficult. At the very top it would have to be ROGER STAUBACH and WALTER PAYTON (right), both great players and great, outstanding public citizens."
Best Football City
"Green Bay. A small town. People owning their own football team. Rabid supporters."
THE ROZELLE FILE
Source: National Football League | |||||
Born | March 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California | ||||
Elected Commissioner | January 26, 1960 on the 23rd ballot as a compromise candidate | ||||
League-wide TV Contract | NFL signed its first league-wide contract on January 10, 1962 | ||||
NFL Properties Founded | 1963 | ||||
NFL Films Purchased | March 5, 1964 | ||||
AFL-NFL Merger | A series of meetings in 1966 led to the merger | ||||
Super Bowl I | Originally called "AFL-NFL World Championship Game" between Green Bay (NFL) and Kansas City (AFL) on January 15, 1967 | ||||
Monday Night Football | Cleveland defeated the New York Jets 31-21 in the first-ever NFL Monday Night Football game on ABC on September 21, 1970 | ||||
Inducted into Hall of Fame | August 3, 1985 in Canton, Ohio | ||||
Retired | Last day as Commissioner was Saturday, November 4, 1989 | ||||
Died | December 6, 1996 | ||||
Sportsman of the Century | Named the most powerful man in sports during the 20th century by The Sporting News on December 15, 1999 |
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NFL History - 1960 Pete Rozelle Elected NFL Commissioner