Rozelle

The definitive biography of Mr. Monday Night Football--the powerful commissioner who created the future of American professional sports "As I look at the landscape of the National Football League over the past 47 years, during 35 of which I was involved, I'm struck by how many great men contributed to the birth of the league, its survival during a depression and a world war, its growth, and its achievement as the pinnacle of sport. . . . [But] for the National Football League to have become what it has become one event was indispensable: Pete Rozelle had to be the commissioner. There is no way, no possible way, all of this could have ever happened without him." --From the Foreword by Ernie Accorsi, general manager of the New York Giants,/p> He invented the Super Bowl, merged the NFL and AFL, and turned football from a second-string sport into a billion-dollar business. Before he came along, Monday was just another weeknight. As Time magazine put it when naming him one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, "He hooked us on football as showbiz and gave Sunday (and Monday) a new kind of religious significance." He was Pete Rozelle: titan, power broker, archetype of a modern sports commissioner. In Rozelle, critically acclaimed biographer and bestselling author of Papa Bear: The Life and Legacy of George Halas Jeff Davis goes deep into the extraordinary story of this legendary figure. Born in California on the cusp of the Great Depression, Pete Rozelle began his career in college handling public relations for athletics at the University of San Francisco. His rocket took off when the call came from Los Angeles asking him to be publicist for the Rams. In a few short years, he was the team's general manager, but he would not last long in that position. By 1960, at the age of 33, he was commissioner of the NFL, presiding over a ragtag bunch of 10 infighting franchises that rarely saw the light of television. But with Rozelle's talent and ingenuity, the game changed forever. Over the next several years, he would wrangle billions from the broadcasting networks, lobby Congress, and push until pro football became the richest, most powerful sport on earth. Davis weaves a compelling narrative fabric that masterfully brings to life the saga of Pete Rozelle, from his youth to his everlasting impact on the American way of sport. Showcasing exclusive interviews with more than one hundred of Rozelle's family members, colleagues, admirers, and detractors-including Paul Tagliabue, Keith Jackson, Don Shula, Frank Gifford, Pat Summerall, and Lamar Hunt--Rozelle transcends football to reveal the character of one of the most important sports personalities of the past century.Davis, Jeff is the author of 'Rozelle ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780071471664 and ISBN 0071471669.