- Jerry Wolman
-
Jerry Wolman (born 1927 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania) is a former Washington, D.C. developer and the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles football team of the National Football League. Wolman bought the Eagles franchise in 1963 from the "Happy Hundred," a group of investors that owned the team from 1949–1963, for a sale price of $5,505,000,[1] to become the youngest owner in the league. He was also the owner of Connie Mack Stadium.[2]
He was also one of the founding owners, briefly in 1967, of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. Over the next two years, his $100-million financial empire crumbled into bankruptcy, and he was forced to give up his interests in both teams. In 1967, he sold his Flyers interest to his co-owners, with Ed Snider assuming control, along with his partners, Bill Putnam and Joe Scott. In 1969, he sold the Eagles to Leonard Tose for a reported $16.1 million, then a record price for a professional sports team.
Wolman is a member of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame; one of its chapters is named after him. Wolman was a philanthropic individual who never forgot his coal mining town roots. He kept in contact with his hometown of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania through good and bad times.
Wolman had also initiated the development of the John Hancock Center, a 100-story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, but withdrew from the project because of financial difficulties.
Wolman now lives in Potomac, Maryland, with his wife Bobbie and he is a father of two and a grandfather of eight.
Notes
- ^ Didinger, Ray; Robert S. Lyons (2005). The Eagles Encyclopedia. Temple University Press. pp. 127-128. ISBN 1-59213-449-1.
- ^ "62-Year-Old Shibe Park Is Sold For $1,000,000". Gettysburg Times: p. 9. 1971-03-13. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uoUlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1vIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5103,4353002&dq=shibe+park&hl=en.
Further reading
- Jerry Wolman, Joseph Bockol, Richard Bockol, Jerry Wolman: The World's Richest Man, 3rd & Long Productions, Rockville, Maryland, 2010.
External links
- Biographical note at Famous Coal Crackers
Philadelphia Eagles owners Bert Bell & Lud Wray (1933–1940) • Alexis Thompson (1940–1949) • "Happy Hundred" (1949–1963) • Jerry Wolman (1963–1969) • Leonard Tose (1969–1985) • Norman Braman & Ed Leibowitz (1985–1986) • Norman Braman (1986–1994) • Jeffrey Lurie (1994– )
Categories:- 1927 births
- Living people
- National Football League owners
- National Hockey League executives
- Philadelphia Eagles owners
- Philadelphia Flyers owners
- People from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
- Jewish American sportspeople
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
