Tim Mara
Encyclopedia
Timothy James "Tim" Mara (July 29, 1887 – February 16, 1959) was the founder and administrator for the New York Giants
of the National Football League
. The Giants', under Mara, would win NFL championships in 1934, 1938, and 1956 and divisional titles in 1933, 1939, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1958, 1959.
. At the age of 13, he quit school in order to find work to support his mother. His first job was as an usher in a theater. He then worked as a newsboy selling newspapers on the streets. This job brought him into contact with many of New York’s bookmakers (or bookies), which was a legal business at the time. He soon became a runner for the bookies, earning five percent of the bets he collected and receiving tips from winners when he delivered their cash. By age 18, he was an established bookmaker himself.
, traveled to New York to offer boxing
promoter Billy Gibson
a franchise. Gibson, the former owner of the NFL's last New York Franchise, the New York Brickley Giants, refused the offer. However he referred Carr to his friend Tim Mara. While Mara did not know much about football, Mara's friend, Dr. Harry March
, did. March, a former physician for the Canton Bulldogs
of the pre-NFL "Ohio League
" and the future author of the first professional football history book Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs
, soon became the club's first secretary.
This backing led Mara to purchase the NFL franchise for New York at a cost of $500. Mara and March, even signed Jim Thorpe
to play several half games in order to boost attendance. However many of the New York sports fans still took to college football
and stayed away from the pro sport. During the Giants' first season, attendance was so poor that that Mara lost over $40,000. To tap into New York's college football fans, Mara tried to sign ex-college football superstar Red Grange
only to find that he aleady was a member of the Chicago Bears
. However still looking for a way to cash in on Grange's popularity, Mara scheduled a game against the Bears to be played at the Polo Grounds
. The gate receipts totalled $143,000 for that one game against Grange and Bears, and Mara recovered all of his losses for the 1925 season.
, formed the first American Football League
with a New York franchise
to compete with the Giants. New York's coach Bob Folwell
and star tackle, Century Milstead
, left to join the AFL's Philadelphia Quakers
. This led Mara to increase the salaries of all his players by $50 a game to prevent them from leaving the Giants' too. He also signed many players to full-season contracts. Mara suffered $60,000 in financial losses that season. However all but four of the AFL franchises finished the 1926 season. Mara then challenged the AFL champion Philadelphia Quakers to a game and they accepted. In the first inter-league post-season confrontation, the seventh-place Giants defeated the AFL’s champion, 31-0. The AFL folded soon after.
By now, Mara was now willing to admit the Yankees into the NFL, as the only survivor of the defunct AFL. He even allowed the team to play its home games at Yankee Stadium. However Mara was able to dictate the Yankees' schedule. When the Giants were in the Polo Grounds, the Yankees were to be on the road.
The next year, the Giants went 11-1-1 and Mara had his first championship. At the end of the 1928 season, Pyle turned his Yankees' franchise over to Mara. In 1929 Dan Blaine
, the owner of the Staten Island Stapletons
, applied for an NFL franchise. However he first needed permission from Mara to set up his franchise, because Staten Island
was within Mara's exclusive territory. But Mara actually had an extra franchise since the Yankees folded after the 1928 season, so the franchise again went back to Mara and he passed those franchise's rights on to Staten Island.
of the Detroit Wolverines was the best option available. When he couldn’t make a deal for Friedman, Mara simply bought the entire Detroit franchise for $10,000. For the next few years, Mara had ultimate ownership of three NFL franchises however, he never interfered with the management of any of the teams that operated under his leases.
in 1930, New York Mayor Jimmy Walker
approached Mara about playing a charity exhibition game, which he quickly agreed. The Giants defeated the Notre Dame All-Stars
, which included the legendary Four Horsemen
. The Giants easily outscored Notre Dame, 21-0. As a result of the game, Mara and the Giants raised $115,153 for the New York City Unemployment Fund.
Mara died on February 16, 1959 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 1963.
and the New York Yankees
of the second American Football League
. He also successfully outlasted the third New York Yankees
of the third American Football League
.
However from 1946 to 1949, Mara engaged in an all-out war with the All-America Football Conference
. Mara and the Giants were faced with two AAFC opponents in the New York City area, the New York Yankees
and the Brooklyn Dodgers
. Again Mara fought hard for New Yorks pro football fanbase and eventually won. When the two leagues parially merged after the 1949 season, Mara demanded and got the best players from the combined New York-Brooklyn franchise that had operated in 1949.
.
, who also is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
, and Jack Mara
. His grandson, John Mara
is currently the Giants' president. He is the great-grandfather to the actresses Rooney and Kate Mara.
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...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. The Giants', under Mara, would win NFL championships in 1934, 1938, and 1956 and divisional titles in 1933, 1939, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1958, 1959.
Early life
Mara was born into poverty on New York's Lower East SideLower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
. At the age of 13, he quit school in order to find work to support his mother. His first job was as an usher in a theater. He then worked as a newsboy selling newspapers on the streets. This job brought him into contact with many of New York’s bookmakers (or bookies), which was a legal business at the time. He soon became a runner for the bookies, earning five percent of the bets he collected and receiving tips from winners when he delivered their cash. By age 18, he was an established bookmaker himself.
Formation of the Giants
In 1925, the NFL was in need of a franchise in a large city market that could be used to showcase the league. NFL President, Joseph CarrJoseph Carr
Joseph "Joe" F. Carr was the president of the National Football League from 1921 until his death in 1939. Carr was born in Columbus, Ohio. As a mechanic for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus, he directed the Columbus Panhandles football team in 1907 until 1922...
, traveled to New York to offer boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
promoter Billy Gibson
Billy Gibson (boxing)
William J. Gibson was a boxing promoter and manager for Benny Leonard , Gene Tunney , Paulino Uzcudun, and featherweight Louis Kaplan. He was also the owner of the short-lived New York Brickley Giants of the National Football League. Gibson began his career in boxing as a promoter in Bronx...
a franchise. Gibson, the former owner of the NFL's last New York Franchise, the New York Brickley Giants, refused the offer. However he referred Carr to his friend Tim Mara. While Mara did not know much about football, Mara's friend, Dr. Harry March
Harry March
Harry Addison March was an early football historian and promoter, as well as a medical doctor. He also helped organize the National Football League and well as the second American Football League. March is also credited with convincing Tim Mara to purchase an NFL franchise for New York City, which...
, did. March, a former physician for the Canton Bulldogs
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the National Football League, from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917, 1918...
of the pre-NFL "Ohio League
Ohio League
The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1903 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship . As the name implied, its teams were based in Ohio...
" and the future author of the first professional football history book Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs
Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs
Pro Football: Its Ups and Downs, published in 1934, is a novel by Dr. Harry March that was the first ever attempt to write a history of professional American football. March had served in several executive offices with the New York Giants of the National Football League in the late 1920s and was a...
, soon became the club's first secretary.
This backing led Mara to purchase the NFL franchise for New York at a cost of $500. Mara and March, even signed Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...
to play several half games in order to boost attendance. However many of the New York sports fans still took to college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and stayed away from the pro sport. During the Giants' first season, attendance was so poor that that Mara lost over $40,000. To tap into New York's college football fans, Mara tried to sign ex-college football superstar Red Grange
Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
only to find that he aleady was a member of the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. However still looking for a way to cash in on Grange's popularity, Mara scheduled a game against the Bears to be played at the Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
. The gate receipts totalled $143,000 for that one game against Grange and Bears, and Mara recovered all of his losses for the 1925 season.
Battle with the AFL and first NFL Championship
In 1926, Grange and his manager, C. C. PyleC. C. Pyle
Charles C. "C. C." Pyle , often called Cash and Carry Pyle, was a Champaign, Illinois theater owner and sports agent who represented American football star Red Grange and French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen...
, formed the first American Football League
American Football League (1926)
The first American Football League , sometimes called AFL I, AFLG, or the Grange League, was a professional American football league that operated in 1926. It was the first major competitor to the National Football League. Founded by C. C...
with a New York franchise
New York Yankees (NFL)
The New York Yankees were a short-lived professional American football team from 1926 to 1928. The team was a member of the first American Football League in 1926, and later the National Football League from 1927-1928. They played their home games at Yankee Stadium...
to compete with the Giants. New York's coach Bob Folwell
Bob Folwell
Robert Cook "Bob" Folwell, Jr. was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Lafayette College , Washington & Jefferson College , the University of Pennsylvania , and the United States Naval Academy , compiling a career college football record of...
and star tackle, Century Milstead
Century Milstead
Century Allen "Wally" Milstead was a collegiate and professional American football player. He played college football at Wabash College and at Yale University, where his play earned him All-America recognition....
, left to join the AFL's Philadelphia Quakers
Philadelphia Quakers
Philadelphia Quakers may refer to:*Members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends .*Philadelphia Phillies, an American baseball team originally known as the Philadelphia Quakers...
. This led Mara to increase the salaries of all his players by $50 a game to prevent them from leaving the Giants' too. He also signed many players to full-season contracts. Mara suffered $60,000 in financial losses that season. However all but four of the AFL franchises finished the 1926 season. Mara then challenged the AFL champion Philadelphia Quakers to a game and they accepted. In the first inter-league post-season confrontation, the seventh-place Giants defeated the AFL’s champion, 31-0. The AFL folded soon after.
By now, Mara was now willing to admit the Yankees into the NFL, as the only survivor of the defunct AFL. He even allowed the team to play its home games at Yankee Stadium. However Mara was able to dictate the Yankees' schedule. When the Giants were in the Polo Grounds, the Yankees were to be on the road.
The next year, the Giants went 11-1-1 and Mara had his first championship. At the end of the 1928 season, Pyle turned his Yankees' franchise over to Mara. In 1929 Dan Blaine
Dan Blaine
Daniel Blaine was an professional football player for the Staten Island Stapletons from 1915 until 1924. In 1915 he, along with three other players, formed the team to play other semi-pro teams from New York and New Jersey. He suspended his football career in 1918 to serve in the United States...
, the owner of the Staten Island Stapletons
Staten Island Stapletons
The Staten Island Stapletons also known as the Staten Island Stapes were a professional American football team founded in 1915 that played in the National Football League from 1929 to 1930. The team was based in the Stapleton section of Staten Island. Under the shortened nickname the "Stapes"...
, applied for an NFL franchise. However he first needed permission from Mara to set up his franchise, because Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
was within Mara's exclusive territory. But Mara actually had an extra franchise since the Yankees folded after the 1928 season, so the franchise again went back to Mara and he passed those franchise's rights on to Staten Island.
Takeover of the Wolverines
In 1929, Mara was looking for a player who might approach Grange in fan appeal. He saw Benny FriedmanBenny Friedman
Benjamin "Benny" Friedman was an American football quarterback who played for the University of Michigan , Cleveland Bulldogs , Detroit Wolverines , New York Giants , and Brooklyn Dodgers .He is generally considered the first great passer in professional football...
of the Detroit Wolverines was the best option available. When he couldn’t make a deal for Friedman, Mara simply bought the entire Detroit franchise for $10,000. For the next few years, Mara had ultimate ownership of three NFL franchises however, he never interfered with the management of any of the teams that operated under his leases.
Great Depression era
During the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in 1930, New York Mayor Jimmy Walker
Jimmy Walker
James John Walker, often known as Jimmy Walker and colloquially as Beau James , was the mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932...
approached Mara about playing a charity exhibition game, which he quickly agreed. The Giants defeated the Notre Dame All-Stars
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
, which included the legendary Four Horsemen
Four Horsemen (football)
The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame comprised a winning group of American football players at the University of Notre Dame under coach Knute Rockne. They were the backfield of Notre Dame's 1924 football team...
. The Giants easily outscored Notre Dame, 21-0. As a result of the game, Mara and the Giants raised $115,153 for the New York City Unemployment Fund.
Mara died on February 16, 1959 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
in 1963.
Battles with other rival leagues
In 1936 and 1937, Mara successfully battled for New York's pro football market against Brooklyn TigersRochester Tigers
The Rochester Tigers were a professional American football team that competed in the second American Football League in 1936 and 1937. Owned by Mike Palm and Harry Newman, the Tigers were originally awarded to Rochester as a charter member of the AFL, but were shifted to Brooklyn two weeks...
and the New York Yankees
New York Yankees (1936 AFL)
The New York Yankees of the second American Football League was the second professional American football team competing under that name. It is unrelated to the Yankees of the first AFL , the Yankees of the third AFL, the Yankees of the American Association and the Yankees of the All America...
of the second American Football League
American Football League (1936)
Sometimes called AFL II, the second American Football League was a professional American football league that operated in 1936 and 1937. The AFL operated in direct competition with the more established National Football League throughout its existence...
. He also successfully outlasted the third New York Yankees
New York Yankees (1940 AFL)
The New York Yankees of the third American Football League was the third professional American football team competing under that name. It is unrelated to the Yankees of the first AFL , the Yankees of the second AFL, and the Yankees of the All America Football Conference...
of the third American Football League
American Football League (1940)
American Football League, also known as the AFL III to distinguish it from earlier organizations of that name, was a major professional American football league that operated from 1940-1941...
.
However from 1946 to 1949, Mara engaged in an all-out war with the All-America Football Conference
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...
. Mara and the Giants were faced with two AAFC opponents in the New York City area, the New York Yankees
New York Yankees (AAFC)
The New York Yankees were a professional American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. The team played in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and often played in front of sold-out crowds . They were owned by Dan Topping, who brought many of his Brooklyn...
and the Brooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn Dodgers (AAFC)
The Brooklyn Dodgers was an American Football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1948. The team is unrelated to the Brooklyn Dodgers that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943...
. Again Mara fought hard for New Yorks pro football fanbase and eventually won. When the two leagues parially merged after the 1949 season, Mara demanded and got the best players from the combined New York-Brooklyn franchise that had operated in 1949.
Legacy
Mara died in 1959 at the age of 71. His vast contributions to the NFL were recognized with his 1963 election to charter membership in the Pro Football Hall of FamePro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
.
Family
He was the father of the late Wellington MaraWellington Mara
Wellington Timothy Mara was the co-owner of the NFL's New York Giants from 1959 until his death, and one of the most influential and iconic figures in the history of the National Football League. He was the younger son of Tim Mara, who founded the Giants in 1925...
, who also is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
, and Jack Mara
Jack Mara
John V. Mara was a co-owner of the New York Giants; an American football team which plays in the National Football League. Jack was the son of Tim Mara and brother of Wellington, and served as the team's president for 24 years...
. His grandson, John Mara
John Mara
John Kevin Mara is the president, CEO, and co-owner of the New York Giants.Mara was born in New York City and grew up in White Plains, New York. He is the oldest son of Ann and former Giants owner Wellington Mara. He attended Iona Preparatory School in nearby New Rochelle, graduating in 1972. He...
is currently the Giants' president. He is the great-grandfather to the actresses Rooney and Kate Mara.
Sources
- Gottehrer, Barry. The Giants of New York, the history of professional football's most fabulous dynasty. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1963 OCLC 1356301
External links
- Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile