Rozelle

view and talking, and I looked at Thelma and saw her face, and I sud-

  denly was struck with the thought, “Wow, she has a romantic inter-

  est in him!”

  We had always wondered why she never had a boyfriend or a hus-

  band. My dad’s theory was that maybe she had been married and he

  had been killed in the war.

  I believe that time in Miami Beach was one of the best weekends

  she ever had in her life. I know she took one vacation when she went

  to Denmark, where her family originally came from, but I think that

  was the only vacation she ever had.

  She worked five days a week for my dad in New York, sometimes

  Death Be Not Proud

  279

  as late as nine at night, and then I was there in her apartment so many weekends as a kid. She always seemed to be there for me from the

  time I was born.

  I think about when she moved here. She was seventy years old, and

  she never drove a car in her entire life, but she bought one and got her driver’s license, and they worked in that office at the bottom of the hill.

  When Rozelle became bedridden in the final month of his life,

  Thelma came up the hill from the office and to the house regu-

  larly. Anne Marie, who like her father had worked in public rela-

  tions, was now married with her own family in Fort Worth, Texas.

  But Thelma told her it was time to come. Anne Marie knew that

  if Thelma said it, she would be on her way.

  “I slept on the floor next to his bed until the end,” Anne Marie

  said. “His mind was so strong and his body was so weak, and I

  remember I thought that, because of that, it was so unfair for him

  to be watching himself die.”

  During those final months, Carrie and Thelma were not in the

  same room very often. They did not like each other much. Anne

  Marie thought it might have been because Carrie suspected that

  Thelma was in love with him.

  “Thelma was there every day now,” Anne Marie said, “and she’d

  give him reports like, ‘I know you’d want to know that so- and- so

  called today,’ or ‘Mr. Tagliabue wants you to know such- and- such.’”

  He could barely speak by then, and then one day she came in and

  walked upstairs to where Dad and I were, and she said to me, “I really have to speak to your father in private, and I don’t want other people coming in,” and I told her I understood, and I started to back out and close the door. But she said, “No, don’t go. I want you to hear this.”

  I can’t recall it exactly word for word, but while I stood there she

  told him how important he was to her. She said something like he was

  a great man and meant so much to her, and then I clearly remember

  she added: “I have given you more than forty years of my life, and I

  have always really loved you.”

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  Death Be Not Proud

  He tried to speak, and his voice was barely audible, and, very weakly, he said, “Thelma . . . Thelma . . . Thelma.”

  And I thought how hard it must have been for this woman to endure

  all the women he dated. I thought how she came here to him at sev-

  enty in the middle of nowhere and how hard it must have been for

  her, and she did it all for him. Even after that, I can’t ever remember her calling him anything but Mr. Rozelle.

  Time was rapidly running out for him, and he knew it. So did

  his stepson Philip, who was on a mission of his own. He had des-

  ignated himself to protect the interests of his mother, his surviv-

  ing brother, and his sister.

  He sent a barrage of e- mails to Pete, Anne Marie said, and he

  dropped by to visit him. He wanted him to turn over power of attor-

  ney. Rozelle did not answer his e- mails. He ignored the requests

  on the visit. He never forgot the Cornell failure. Philip had dis-

  appointed him terribly in life. He wasn’t going to give him the

  opportunity to fail him again, this time when he was near death.

  “The hospice people say that sometimes the body is ready to

  die, but something they feel they need to do keeps them alive until

  they get it done,” Anne Marie said. She is convinced that it was

  that way with her father:

  Philip came downstairs one day, and he said, “You won’t believe it.

  It’s almost like your father is coming back to life.”

  So I go upstairs and Dad is very agitated. He locks his eyes on me

  and he is staring very hard, and I ask what is it, and then he turns his head and locks them in on Philip, who is standing next to me. Then

  he does the whole thing all over again— twice more— and I under-

  stand he is trying to tell me something about Philip. The side of his

  hospital bed is up, and he grips it and with tremendous effort pulls

  himself until he’s almost sitting up.

  Then he stares at me again and turns back to Philip and gives him

  the finger, and I understand what he’s doing. He is saying, “Don’t

  trust this man.”

  Death Be Not Proud

  281

  He died within twenty- four hours, on December 6. And he was right, of course, because Philip engineered a family suit over the

  will. It held the estate settlement up for a long time.

  He had left Thelma some money, but the case was tied up for

  so long that she died before it was settled, and the money went to

  her brother and sister.

  The funeral, as Rozelle requested, was private, with burial in El

  Camino Park, San Diego. He also made two other requests that

  were typical of him. Because he knew there were so many on the

  East Coast who would want to be there, he requested the family

  hold two separate memorials so as not to put a travel burden on

  them. He also asked that they be held after Christmas so as not

  interfere with the plans of his friends’ families.

  The first was held more than a month after his death in a hotel

  ballroom in Beverly Hills, California. The East Coast memorial

  was the following week at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church

  in Manhattan. The Loyola University choir sang his favorite song,

  “Try to Remember,” at the West Coast memorial, whose speakers

  included Frank Gifford, Jack Kemp, Don Klosterman, and lifelong

  friend John Lehman. At the East Coast memorial, the speakers

  were Wellington Mara, Roone Arledge, Joe Browne, Herb Sie-

  gel, Frank Gifford, and Paul Tagliabue. Anne Marie Rozelle Brat-

  ton spoke at both.

  Her speeches were a kind of genetic reflection of the man they

  had come to honor, turning the mourners into celebrants on both

  occasions. She spoke of how her father— a single dad for almost all

  of her youth— rode with her eleven straight times on the “Small,

  Small World” ride, how he danced with her “on two left feet,” how

  they hid the food her nanny cooked because they didn’t want to

  hurt her feelings and then sneaked out for hamburgers.

  “He never missed a father- daughter dance, a birthday, or a grad-

  uation,” she told them, “and he never broke a promise.”

  Perhaps her best anecdote was about Talking Barbie, the doll

  she wanted for Christmas. Every store was sold out. “Then Dad

  went to every black market source he could find, and on Christ-

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  Deat
h Be Not Proud

  mas morning, there it was under the tree. I ran to it and pulled the string, and it said, ‘Buenos dias. Donde esta Ken?’”

  It broke up the audience.

  “After I finished my eulogy at the Beverly Hills memorial,”

  Anne Marie recalled,

  I was momentarily blinded by flashbulbs, and I could feel someone

  was grabbing my hand. There were photographers everywhere, and

  then my vision cleared, and I looked down and Al Davis was gripping

  it. He looked up at me and said, “I revered your father.”

  I can’t believe this is happening at my dad’s memorial. There are

  cameras everywhere, and here I am with my father’s nemesis, and he

  is making it a photo op. I was upset, but then I took a deep breath and I did exactly what I thought my dad would have wanted.

  I looked at him and put a smile on my face.

  She was, in that instant, every inch the commissioner’s daughter.

  Death Be Not Proud

  283

  List of Interviews

  Ernie Accorsi, employee of Rozelle, Rosenbloom, and Modell

  Ron Borges, sportswriter and former Oakland beat writer

  Gil Brandt, Cowboys scout, personnel man, and key nfl “babysitter”

  in the war between leagues

  Anne Marie (Rozelle) Bratton, Pete Rozelle’s daughter

  Joe Browne, former nfl communications chief and current

  government affairs specialist for the nfl

  Bill Cunningham, on Lynwood memories of Rozelle’s youth

  Al Davis

  Myron De Long

  David Dixon, helped build Superdome and bring nfl to New Orleans Marc Duncan, early Rozelle hire as nfl supervisor of officials

  Thelma Elkjer, Rozelle secretary

  Larry Felzer

  Pete Finney, New Orleans columnist

  Larry Fleisher

  Jim Gallagher, former Eagles gm

  Frank Gifford, Giants player and friend of Rozelle

  Shep Goldfein, lawyer in usfl case

  Dr. Bob Goldman, author and internationally recognized expert on illegal use of steroids in sports

  Bill Granholm, Rams equipment man and nfl employee

  Jerry Greene, Detroit News writer, covered every Super Bowl Peter Hadhazy, former Rozelle and usfl employee

  George Halas, owner of the Chicago Bears

  Jim Hamilton

  Doug Hart

  Mickey Herskowitz, Houston columnist and former afl and nfl employee Paul Hornung, Green Bay Packer all- pro

  Jim Lee Howell

  Lamar Hunt, afl founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner

  Jim Kensil, nfl publicist and New York Jets president

  Gene Kilroy, former Philadelphia Eagles marketing director

  285

  Don Klosterman, boyhood friend of Rozelle, Loyola- sf rival, pro football exec

  Vince Lombardi

  D. Wayne Lukas, thoroughbred horse trainer and friend of Pete Rozelle Jerry Magee, former San Diego Chargers beat writer

  John Mara, co- owner of the New York Football Giants

  Tim Mara, Wellington’s nephew and co- owner of the Giants

  Wellington Mara, Giants owner and Rozelle ally

  Art Modell, owner of the Browns, then Ravens

  Jay Moyer, Rozelle’s in- house counselor

  Dave Newhouse, retired Oakland Tribune columnist

  Murray Olderman, sportswriter, author, and cartoonist

  Jose Ortiz, on Lynwood and Compton

  Bernie Parrish

  Edwin Pope, Miami Herald writer, covered every Super Bowl Eddie Robinson

  Dan Rooney, former Steelers president and ambassador to Ireland Carroll Rosenbloom, owner of the Colts and Rams

  Harold Rosenthal

  Pete Rozelle, interviewed regularly and often privately over

  thirty- five years

  Ray Rozelle, Pete’s father

  Blair Sabol, daughter of Ed, nfl Films founder

  Ed Sabol, founder of nfl Films

  Steve Sabol, president of nfl Films

  George Sauer Sr.

  Tex Schramm

  Blackie Sherrod

  Herb Siegel, Rozelle’s close personal friend for years

  Mo Siegel

  Seymour Siwoff

  David Stern

  Scotty Stirling, former Raiders gm

  Pat Sumerall, player, tv announcer, and close friend to Rozelle Paul Tagliabue, former nfl commissioner and Rozelle’s close friend John Unitas

  Wayne Valley

  Pete Waldmeir, former Detroit News columnist

  Lloyd Wells

  Sonny Werblin

  Buddy Young

  George Young, installed as Giants gm during Mara- versus- Mara feud Gertrude Young

  286

  List of Interviews

  Notes

  1. in the beginning

  7 And why not?: Interview with Bill Cunningham.

  8

  “The kids, they grow up too fast”: Interview with Myron De Long.

  8 “Lynwood was a man”: Interview with De Long.

  9 “Just about the time a big one was coming up”: Interview with De Long.

  10 “He did so much with what he had”: Interview with Pete Rozelle. All subsequent references to interviews with Rozelle are to Pete Rozelle, unless otherwise indicated.

  11 “I am,” his father, Ray Rozelle: Interview with Ray Rozelle.

  11 “I guess anybody who was”: Interview with Ray Rozelle.

  12 “Once he started doing work”: Interview with Ray Rozelle.

  13 “Well, we had some neighbors”: Interview with Ray Rozelle.

  13 “I remember,” Rozelle told me: Interview with Rozelle.

  14 “It was the damnedest thing”: Interview with Ray Rozelle.

  14 “It was an old standard tanker”: Interview with Rozelle.

  15 “Well, I don’t quite remember that”: Interview with Rozelle.

  16 “A lot of things began to happen that year”: Interview with De Long.

  17 “A guy named Maxwell Stiles”: Interview with De Long.

  19 “We both wanted to get our four- year degrees”: Interview with Rozelle.

  19 “I don’t know what he got”: Interview with De Long.

  20 “Right from the start”: Interview with Rozelle.

  22 “the truth is that we were pretty darn good”: Interview with Rozelle.

  23 “It happened so fast”: Interview with De Long.

  24 “He would do almost anything”: Interview with De Long.

  25 “For once a college press agent”: New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 21, 1951.

  26 All they had to do: New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 21, 1951.

  26 “He is going to be my All- America”: Interview with De Long.

  27 “You have a praaayer name”: Interview with Rozelle.

  2. moving on

  30 “I was the equipment manager”: Interview with Bill Granholm.

  33 “I never did find out”: Interview with Granholm.

  287

  33 “We went to preseason camp”: Interview with Granholm.

  34 “I do wonder what really might have”: Interview with Rozelle.

  35 “I wasn’t all that serious”: Interview with De Long.

  35 “It was,” Rozelle confirmed: Interview with Rozelle.

  36 “I think it was on a Monday”: Interview with Ray Rozelle.

  37 “I don’t think I would ever tell him”: Interview with Ray Rozelle.

  39 “You can laugh if you want”: Interview with Mark Duncan.

  40 “But Gilman had a friend”: Interview with Granholm.

  41 When Rozelle ignored the request: Interview with Rozelle.

  41 “I think in a way”: Interview with Granholm.

  42 “Everything he did really prepared him”: Interview with De Long.

  3. the accidental coronation

  47 There are
two schools of thought: Interview with Ernie Accorsi.

  47 On the twentieth ballot: Interview with Accorsi.

  48 “I know him”: Interview with Rozelle.

  48 “This will never end”: Interview with Wellington Mara.

  49 Mara, eager to end this marathon: Interview with Dan Rooney.

  49 “It was a mistake”: Interview with Carroll Rosenbloom.

  49 But back then Rosenbloom was eager: Interview with Rosenbloom.

  50 Reassured by Reeves’s promise of neutrality: Interview with Rozelle.

  50 “I heard it on the radio”: Interview with De Long.

  51 “I’m going to move the league”: Interview with Rozelle.

  51 On the day he moved the operation: Interview with Rozelle.

  4. the boy wonder takes center stage

  52 Yet, ironically, at the end of the 1959 season: Events confirmed by Sports Illustrated profile of Walter Wolfner, April 4, 1960.

  54 “Hail to the Redskins”: Interview with Mo Siegel.

  55 “No son of a bitch who steals”: Interview with Rozelle.

  55 Their reluctant choice of commissioner: Interview with Rosenbloom.

  59 At one point every league official: Interview with Accorsi.

  59 “He had an ability to attract good people”: Interview with Accorsi.

  60 It was, indeed, an interview: Interview with Jim Kensil.

  61 He conceived of a package: Interview with Mara.

  5. how do you tell vince?

  63 In addition, his television contacts: Interview with Sonny Werblin.

  64 “You are made to feel special”: Jerry Izenberg, The Rivals (New York: Simon and Flynn, 1968).

  65 Alvin Paris, a man who left no other: Interview with Mara.

  66 Shortly after three on that Saturday: Interview with Mara.

  67 When Unitas was challenged: Told to reporters in the postgame dressing room and verified by former Colts gm Ernie Accorsi.

  288

  Notes

  67 On January 3, 1961: Halas’s request told to me in a background interview in Rozelle’s office.

  68 In 1956 Hornung, a Notre Dame senior: Interview with Paul Hornung.

  68 By the summer of 1959: Interview with Jim Hamilton.

  69 His public relations instincts told him: Interview with Rozelle.

  70 “I knew the Packers were not”: Interview with Rozelle.

  71 But more important, the Karras issue: Interview with Pete Waldmeir.

  71 “They would walk across an alley”: Interview with Waldmeir.

  74 “I remember,” Rozelle said, “that I watched him read it”: Interview with Rozelle.

  75 “I felt the first thing I wanted to do”: Interview with Rozelle.