Wayne Weaver
Encyclopedia
J. Wayne Weaver is the majority owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 franchise 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...

. He built the wealth that allowed him to purchase the expansion franchise as the owner of the shoe store chains Shoe Carnival
Shoe Carnival
Shoe Carnival is a retailer of family footwear in the United States. The company operates over 400 stores throughout the midwest, south, and southeast regions. It was founded by David Russell in 1978 and is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana....

 and Nine West
Nine West
Nine West is a fashion wholesale and retail company best known for quickly translating runway trends into styles attainable by mass consumers. Initially founded as a fashion footwear brand, Nine West has since expanded into handbags, sunglasses, legwear, outerwear, jewelry, belts, watches, cold...

.

Biography

Weaver was born in Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...

. He worked his way up the corporate ladder at the St. Louis-based clothing company, Brown Group, Inc. In 1978, he left to found his own shoe corporation, which he sold in the 1990s. After his partnership was awarded an NFL franchise, Weaver and his wife, Delores, moved from Darien, Connecticut
Darien, Connecticut
Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. A relatively small community on Connecticut's "Gold Coast", the population was 20,732 at the 2010 census. Darien was listed at #9 at CNN Money's list of "top-earning towns" in the United States as of 2011...

 to Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, where they built a new 22228 square feet (2,065 m²) home on four riverfront acres in the Lakewood area. The six bedroom, twelve bath house was assessed at $8.6 million in 2008. In 2006, they moved to a smaller, $2.4 million condo in the Riverside area.

Wayne Weaver married Delores Barr in 1955. Their children are grown and have families of their own. Delores is Chairman and CEO of the Jaguars Foundation, which grants over $1 million annually to organizations that assist "economically and socially disadvantaged youth and families", according to the foundation's mission statement. Delores Weaver was named Episcopal Children's Services (ECS) Children's Champion 2007 in recognition for her years of leadership at the Jaguars Foundation that have had a profound impact upon Jacksonville youth. The honor was created in 2006 to recognize a Jacksonville resident who has committed their time and resources to help First Coast children.

On November 29, 2011, Wayne Weaver announced that he would be selling controlling interest in the Jaguars to Shahid Khan
Shahid Khan
Shahid Khan is a Pakistani-born American businessman. He is the owner of automobile parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate Corp. in Urbana, Illinois...

. The majority share in the Jaguars is planned to be sold for 760 million. The deal is reported to be finalized on January 4, 2012.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK