Sonny Werblin
Encyclopedia
David Abraham "Sonny" Werblin (March 17, 1910 in Brooklyn
, New York - November 21, 1991 in Manhattan
, New York) was a prominent entertainment industry executive and sports impresario who was an owner of the New York Jets
, Chairman of Madison Square Gardens, and who built and managed the Meadowlands Sports Complex
.
A graduate of Rutgers University
, Werblin went to work for Music Corporation of America
(MCA) in 1932 and was so successful that in 1951 he was made president of M.C.A.'s television division.
In 1938, he married Leah Ray Hubbard
(1915–1999) of Norfolk, Virginia
. Performing as Leah Ray, she was a well known vocalist in the Big Band
era. Ms. Ray sang with major orchestras such as those of Tommy Dorsey
and Phil Harris
, and acted in more than a dozen films. Among her film appearances, in 1936 she co-starred with Phil Harris in the Academy Award nominated short film titled, Double or Nothing
. While performing with the Phil Harris orchestra she met Sonny Werblin. They married in 1938 and remained together for more than fifty years until his death in 1991.
Werblin died of a heart attack
on November 21, 1991, at the age of 81 at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City
. He had homes in Manhattan, Miami, Florida
and Rumson, New Jersey
.
(AFL) Titans of New York
from original owner Harry Wismer
. Werblin changed the team's name to the Jets, and drafted Matt Snell
in the first round, signing him away from the crosstown NFL Giants
. His biggest coup came in 1965, when for $400,000 he signed University of Alabama
quarterback Joe Namath
, who had been drafted by the NFL St. Louis Cardinals
. Werblin and the Oakland Raiders
' Al Davis
resisted the indemnity the NFL demanded, which was $100,000 per year for twenty years. Other AFL owners agreed to the terms, along with stripping the name and logo from the AFL.
Werblin was bought out by Jets management prior to the 1968 season, which concluded with the team winning Super Bowl III
over the Baltimore Colts
in one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Newark
Star-Ledger sports columnists Jerry Izenberg and Sidney Zion would later speculate that, because the Jets fired Werblin, there was a "Curse of Sonny Werblin" on the team. By an unusual coincidence, Werblin and Izenberg were elected to the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey
in the same year, 1997.
Sonny Werblin built the Meadowlands Sports Complex
in East Rutherford, New Jersey
which he ran from 1971 to 1977. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/626128032.html?dids=626128032:626128032&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+24%2C+1979&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Star+system+works+well+in+Werblin's+sports+empire&pqatl=google http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/23/sports/sonny-werblin-an-impresario-of-new-york-s-sports-extravaganza-is-dead-at-81.html
When it was announced that the New York Giants
would begin playing at the new Giants Stadium
in 1976, a reporter ask Werblin about the New York Giants playing in New Jersey, he explained the geography in the New York City Metro area by saying "If you pave the Hudson River
it becomes 13th Avenue." In 1978 Werblin took over as head of Madison Square Garden
and its properties, including the New York Rangers
and New York Knicks
. In 1984 he gave up day-to-day control of Madison Square Garden but remained Chairman of its Board of Directors
.
horses under the nom de course, Elberon Farm. Among their racing successes, their colt, Silent Screen
, earned 1969 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors and their filly
, Process Shot
was the 1968 American Co-Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. In addition, Sonny Werblin was a major shareholder and member of the Board of Directors of Monmouth Park Racetrack
in Oceanport, New Jersey
.
from its main campus in New Brunswick
. The Center is home to weight-training facilities and the University's main venues for water-sports competition.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York - November 21, 1991 in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York) was a prominent entertainment industry executive and sports impresario who was an owner of the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Chairman of Madison Square Gardens, and who built and managed the Meadowlands Sports Complex
Meadowlands Sports Complex
The MetLife Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility located in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority...
.
A graduate of Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, Werblin went to work for Music Corporation of America
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
(MCA) in 1932 and was so successful that in 1951 he was made president of M.C.A.'s television division.
In 1938, he married Leah Ray Hubbard
Leah Ray
Leah Ray Hubbard Werblin was an American singer born in Norfolk, Virginia who performed in the Big Band era and who sang and acted in more than a dozen motion pictures....
(1915–1999) of Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
. Performing as Leah Ray, she was a well known vocalist in the Big Band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
era. Ms. Ray sang with major orchestras such as those of Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
and Phil Harris
Phil Harris
Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
, and acted in more than a dozen films. Among her film appearances, in 1936 she co-starred with Phil Harris in the Academy Award nominated short film titled, Double or Nothing
Double or Nothing (1936 film)
Double or Nothing is a 1936 American short comedy film directed by Joseph Henabery. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject .-Cast:* Phil Harris* Leah Ray* Harry Tyler* Vicki Joyce...
. While performing with the Phil Harris orchestra she met Sonny Werblin. They married in 1938 and remained together for more than fifty years until his death in 1991.
Werblin died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on November 21, 1991, at the age of 81 at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He had homes in Manhattan, Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
and Rumson, New Jersey
Rumson, New Jersey
Rumson is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,122.Rumson was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 15, 1907, from portions of Shrewsbury Township, based on the results of a...
.
Sports business
In 1963, Sonny Werblin and his partners purchased the American Football LeagueAmerican Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
(AFL) Titans of New York
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
from original owner Harry Wismer
Harry Wismer
Harry Wismer was a sports broadcaster and charter owner of the New York Titans franchise in the American Football League.-Early years:...
. Werblin changed the team's name to the Jets, and drafted Matt Snell
Matt Snell
Matt Snell was the American Football League's New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin's first coup, prior to his 1965 acquisition of Joe Namath...
in the first round, signing him away from the crosstown NFL Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. His biggest coup came in 1965, when for $400,000 he signed University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
quarterback Joe Namath
Joe Namath
Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...
, who had been drafted by the NFL St. Louis Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Werblin and the Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
' Al Davis
Al Davis
Allen "Al" Davis was an American football executive. He was the principal owner of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League from 1970 to 2011...
resisted the indemnity the NFL demanded, which was $100,000 per year for twenty years. Other AFL owners agreed to the terms, along with stripping the name and logo from the AFL.
Werblin was bought out by Jets management prior to the 1968 season, which concluded with the team winning Super Bowl III
Super Bowl III
Super Bowl III was the third AFL-NFL Championship Game in professional American football, but the first to officially bear the name "Super Bowl". This game is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in sports history...
over the Baltimore Colts
History of the Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They play in the AFC South division of the National Football League. They have won 3 NFL championships and 2 Super Bowls....
in one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
Star-Ledger sports columnists Jerry Izenberg and Sidney Zion would later speculate that, because the Jets fired Werblin, there was a "Curse of Sonny Werblin" on the team. By an unusual coincidence, Werblin and Izenberg were elected to the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey
Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey
The Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey was established in 1988 to honor athletes, teams, events and contributors associated with the state of New Jersey...
in the same year, 1997.
Sonny Werblin built the Meadowlands Sports Complex
Meadowlands Sports Complex
The MetLife Sports Complex is a sports and entertainment facility located in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority...
in East Rutherford, New Jersey
East Rutherford, New Jersey
East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,913. It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan....
which he ran from 1971 to 1977. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/626128032.html?dids=626128032:626128032&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+24%2C+1979&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Star+system+works+well+in+Werblin's+sports+empire&pqatl=google http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/23/sports/sonny-werblin-an-impresario-of-new-york-s-sports-extravaganza-is-dead-at-81.html
When it was announced that the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
would begin playing at the new Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
in 1976, a reporter ask Werblin about the New York Giants playing in New Jersey, he explained the geography in the New York City Metro area by saying "If you pave the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
it becomes 13th Avenue." In 1978 Werblin took over as head of Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
and its properties, including the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
and New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
. In 1984 he gave up day-to-day control of Madison Square Garden but remained Chairman of its Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
.
Thoroughbred racing
Sonny and Leah Werblin raced ThoroughbredThoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horses under the nom de course, Elberon Farm. Among their racing successes, their colt, Silent Screen
Silent Screen
Silent Screen was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was trained by J. Bowes Bond for owners Sonny and Leah Ray Werbin who raced under the nom de course, Elberon Farm....
, earned 1969 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors and their filly
Filly
A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....
, Process Shot
Process Shot
Process Shot was a bay American Champion filly racehorse. Owned and bred by Elberon Farm, she descended from her sire Restless Wind out of a Determine mare named Possessed...
was the 1968 American Co-Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. In addition, Sonny Werblin was a major shareholder and member of the Board of Directors of Monmouth Park Racetrack
Monmouth Park Racetrack
Monmouth Park Racetrack is an American race track for thoroughbred horse racing in Oceanport, New Jersey. It is owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and is operated under a five-year lease as a partnership with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.Monmouth Park's marquee event...
in Oceanport, New Jersey
Oceanport, New Jersey
Oceanport is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 5,832.Oceanport was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 6, 1920, from portions of Eatontown Township , based on the results of a...
.
Philanthropy
Sonny Werblin and his wife established the David and Leah Ray Werblin Foundation which provides financial support for Rutgers University, charitable causes, and cultural activities. http://ur.rutgers.edu/focus/article/Gift%20honors%20memory%20of%20%22Sonny%22%20Werblin/339/ Rutgers University built the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center on its Busch Campus, near High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey, across the Raritan RiverRaritan River
The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
from its main campus in New Brunswick
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
. The Center is home to weight-training facilities and the University's main venues for water-sports competition.