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Giants owner, NFL patriarch Mara dies at 89

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 11:19 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Giants owner Wellington Mara, a link to the earliest days of the National Football League who was tied to the storied franchise for 80 years, died on Tuesday, the NFL said. He was 89.

Mara, who was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997, died of cancer at his home in Rye, New York, surrounded by his wife, his 11 children and many of his 40 grandchildren.

Mara was 9 years old when his father, Tim, bought the New York City franchise in the fledgling professional football league for $500 in 1925.

He started as a water boy for the Giants and as a ticket hawker drumming up business for the professional team.

Over time he graduated to the administrative ranks of the family-controlled club, working as a scout and then vice president before becoming team president in 1965 after the death of his older brother, Jack.

The Giants dedicated their dramatic, come-from-behind 24-23 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday to Mara and his co-owner Robert Tisch, 79, who is suffering from brain cancer.

"Wellington Mara is the face of not only the New York Giants, but the NFL," Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey told reporters after Sunday's game.

"He's a pioneer and the guy that everybody in this game looks up to."

Mara joined the Giants staff full time in 1938 as club secretary. Over the years, he scouted for the club, engineered trades, made draft picks and negotiated contracts on the way to becoming president of the club.

A fixture in the Giants clubhouse, at practices and at training camps, Mara helped preside over a golden age for the Giants from 1956 to 1963, when the team won six NFL Eastern Conference championships and claimed the 1956 NFL title.

Those teams also produced a pair of future coaching legends in assistant coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.

In all, the Giants have won 18 NFL divisional titles and six NFL championships, including Super Bowl XXI and XXV under coach Bill Parcells.

Mara also served on numerous executive panels for the NFL, including its labor council and competition committee.

Players from all generations attended his Hall of Fame induction in 1997.

"He's been as much my family as my family is," said Frank Gifford, a star running back and receiver during the Giants heyday of the 1950s and '60s.

"He could be the perfect father, you'd be blessed to have him as a brother, and more than anything he's the best friend you can ever have."

Source: REUTERS

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