The greatest commissioner ever, steps down...
Surprising even his closest friends, how do you think the NFL team owners felt when Pete Rozelle announced his retirement on March 22, 1989 ? Deciding in October not to "become a lame-duck commissioner", Rozelle broke the bad news to the football world at a news conference conducted at a league owners meeting in Palm Desert, CA. He added that he will stay until a new commissioner is found..
Wanting "everything solved on a high note with no outstanding litigation" before resigning, Rozelle walks away with too many accomplishments to mention. Most will agree, if you had to pick just 3 though, they would be:
- 1) The merger of the NFL and AFL...
- 2) Creation of the Super Bowl (and)
- 3) Pro football becoming the dominant spectator sport...
At the time of the announcement, Rozelle was in good health and had just turned 63 on March 1st. Asked for an explanation, Rozelle answered by saying, "I just think it is the overall period of time that has accumulated". Elected as commissioner of the NFL in January, 1960, Rozelle's 29-year watch elevated the NFL to the best organized and run professional sports league to this day. Pete Rozelle died of brain cancer at the age of 70 at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, CA in December of 1996...
The man who replaced Rozelle in 1989 has just announced his retirement. Paul Tagliabue who also did an outstanding job as NFL commisioner is stepping down in July. From 1960 to 2006, a 46-year span, there have been but 2 commissioners in the sport. No wonder the NFL is the best sports league of them all...
More March 22 Memories...
1630) The 1st legislation to prohibit gambling is enacted in Boston (of course)...
1733) Joseph Priestly invents seltzer (with a name like Priestly ?)...
1765) The Stamp Act is passed. It's the 1st direct British tax on the American colonists (it will be repealed March 17, 1766)...
1874) The Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) is organized in New York City (free seltzer for everyone)...
1882) Congress outlaws polygamy (tell that to the Mormons)...
1894) Hockey's 1st Stanley Cup championship game is played with Montreal beating Ottawa 3-1 in Montreal...
1895) Auguste and Louis Lumiere show the 1st movie to be projected on a screen to an invited audience in Paris...
1958) Movie producer and 3rd husband of Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd dies in a plane crash (the couple had only been married for one year and the name of the plane was "Lucky Liz")...
1960) A.L. Schawlow & C.H. Townes obtain a patent for the laser (the 1st such laser patent)...
1970) Simon & Garfunkel are #1 with "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (the album and single will win 6 Grammy's)...
1977) John Denver's TV special, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" is aired on ABC-TV...
1978) Karl Wallenda, 73-year old patriarch of The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between 2 hotels in San Juan, PR...
1980) The Pink Floyd single, "Another Brick in the Wall" is #1 (the band's 1st and only #1 single in the U.S. Their LP "Dark Side of the Moon" stays on the album charts for a record breaking 741 weeks back in 1973 though)...
1990) Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood is found innocent of 3 major charges but is convicted of a minor charge (negligent discharge of oil) in the Alaska oil spill...
1991) Exeter, NH high school instructor Pamela Smart, accused of manipulating her student-lover into killing her husband is convicted of murder-conspiracy (not too smart)...
1993) Cleveland Indian pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews are killed in a boating accident in Florida during a spring training off-day. Bob Ojeda was seriously injured but survives...
1995) Colin Ferguson is sentenced to life in prison for the LIRR massacre that killed 6 people in 1993...
1997) At 14 years, 10 months, Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest female world figure skating champion...
1999) Acting as his own lawyer, Dr. Jack (nick-named "Dr. Death") Kevorkian goes on trial for murder. He tells the jury he was carrying out the wishes of his patient in an assisted death shown on "60 Minutes"...
2002) A collection of letters and cards sent by Princess Diana of Wales fetches $33,000 (they were written and sent to a former housekeeper at Diana's teenage home)...
(To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline)...
Happy Birthday To...
1912) Karl Malden...
1920) "Hogan's Heroes" Colonel Klink and musician Warner Klemperer...
1923) Marcel Marceau (who will celebrate by blowing out imaginary candles on an imaginary cake if he can ever get out of that damn cube he's been stuck in since 1923)...
1931) William Shatner...
1943) George Benson...
1948) Wolf Blitzer...
1952) Bob Costas...
1976) Academy Award winning actress Reese Witherspoon...
(Today is the 81st day of 2006 with 284 days remaining in the year and we're down to 10 days before opening day)
