Carroll Rosenbloom
Encyclopedia
Carroll Rosenbloom was an American
entrepreneur
and former owner of two professional football teams, the Baltimore Colts and the Los Angeles Rams.
During his stewardship of both franchises, Rosenbloom amassed the best ownership winning percentage in league history (.660), a total regular season record of 226 wins, 116 losses and 8 ties and 3 NFL championships.
Rosenbloom has been described as the NFL’s first modern owner and the first players’ owner. Rosenbloom was part of the NFL inner circle that negotiated the League’s network TV contracts with NBC
and CBS
and the NFL/AFL merger, both which contributed to professional football becoming both profitable and the most watched spectator sport in the United States
.
As a youth, Sports Illustrated described Rosenbloom as an “indifferent student” but a “good athlete.” He played football
, baseball
and boxed.
Rosenbloom graduated from Baltimore City College in 1926 then later that year attended the University of Pennsylvania
, where he studied psychology
and business
and played halfback
on the football team. At the time, the Quakers backfield coach was Bert Bell
, who later became the commissioner of the NFL.
, Blue Ridge had suffered during the Depression
. But Rosenbloom was intent to turn it around. When the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps
was authorized in 1933 and officials needed denim work clothes, Rosenbloom successfully secured Blue Ridge a large order.
By 1940, after attaining distribution through large channels like Sears-Roebuck and J.C. Penney
, Blue Ridge had grown into a prosperous company allowing Rosenbloom to retire at 32. (As a youth, Rosenbloom told his brother Ben he planned to retire at 34.) During a brief retirement, Rosenbloom lived as a gentleman farmer on Maryland’s
Eastern Shore, growing corn
and peach
es. As well, during this time, Rosenbloom married Velma Anderson.
Rosenbloom’s father’s death in 1942 cut his retirement
short, however. When Rosenbloom was named the executor of his father’s estate
, he chose to return to business life.
By 1959, Blue Ridge had grown to include almost a dozen shirt
and overall companies and 7000 employees, leading some to dub Rosenbloom “America’s Overalls King.” In the financial interests of his family, Rosenbloom decided to sell the company to P & R. The price: $7 million in cash and more than $20 million in stock. At P & R, Rosenbloom served as a Director.
With the success of his first enterprise
, Rosenbloom diversified his business interests. In late 1950s, Rosenbloom and his partners bought control of Universal Products Co. He went on to buy American Totalisator and other small companies, eventually lumping them all together under the name Universal Controls, Inc.
Rosenbloom was one of the largest individual shareholders in Seven Arts Productions Limited, which backed the Broadway
musical Funny Girl, and the films Lolita
, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
and The Night of the Iguana
.
petitioned the NFL for another franchise. Around this time, NFL Commissioner Bert Bell
wanted to find a new home for the Dallas Texans, an NFL expansion team that folded after one failed season in 1952. Bell sought a competitive new owner with financial resources. From their days together at Penn, Bell thought Rosenbloom would be great fit. Though Rosenbloom was hesitant at first to own a franchise
, he relented and bought the team along with a group of other investors. Rosenbloom’s share cost him $13,000. And in January 1953, the NFL awarded the city of Baltimore the Dallas Texans
franchise, with Rosenbloom as the principal owner.
Adopting the nickname of the city's earlier professional incarnation, the Colts, Rosenbloom asked fans to give him five years to create a winning team.
Before their first season, Rosenbloom helped organize one of the biggest trades in sports history: in exchange for ten Cleveland Browns
, the Colts traded five players. Among the players traded to Baltimore were Don Shula
, Art Spinney, Bert Rechichar, Carl Taseff, Ed Sharkey, Gern Nagler, Harry Agganis, Dick Batten, Stu Sheets, and Elmer Willhoite.
In 1954, the Colts hired Weeb Ewbank as head coach. Ewbank lead the Colts for nine seasons and won two conference and NFL Championships with the help of 1956 free agent quarterback Johnny Unitas
.
On November 30, 1958, the Colts clinched their first Western Conference title. Four weeks later, the team won its first NFL Championship, beating the New York Giants
, 23-17 in “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” six years after Rosenbloom purchased the team. The televised game, a sudden death thriller, would serve as a launching point for the start of the NFL's enormous boom in popularity.
The Colts repeated as champions in 1959, again defeating the Giants, 31-16, for the NFL Championship.
During the 1960 through 1962 seasons, the Colts struggled. So in 1963 Rosenbloom let go of Coach Ewbank and hired Don Shula, then the youngest coach in NFL history.
Over the next several seasons the team did not win another championship but did make it to the NFL Championship game in 1964, losing to the Cleveland Browns
27-0, and to the 1968 Super Bowl III
, again to lose, this time to the New York Jets
16-7. (The NFL Championship retroactively changed names to the Super Bowl in 1966 prior to the AFC-NFL merger of 1970.)
After the 1969 season, Shula left Baltimore for Miami after Dolphins owner Joe Robbie tempted Shula with about $750,000 and other perks. Rosenbloom was furious and successfully argued that Miami had tampered with Shula. Because of the infraction, the NFL awarded the Colts Miami's 1971 first-round draft choice.
On January 17, 1971, the Colts won a fourth league title, defeating the Dallas Cowboys
16-13 in Super Bowl V
.
A fierce competitor, Rosenbloom had a profound interest in his team succeeding. Describing his commitment to the Colts and his experience running a franchise, Rosenbloom told Sports Illustrated:
"After the first year in football, I found that of all the things I've ever done, this is the thing. There is nothing more rewarding. You have everything wrapped up in one bundle. You meet much nicer people than you do in business. You meet the public, and you must learn to look out for them. There's no place where your word is more your bond than in sports. You'd never find 14 men who deal as fairly with one another as the 14 owners in the National Football League, particularly after some of the things that have gone on in business or on Wall Street. You play a part in the lives of young men, and you help them grow. And then every Sunday you have the great pleasure of dying."
However, while Rosenbloom loved the Colts, issues with the Baltimore Memorial Stadium and the city’s officials, Rosenbloom wanted to leave Baltimore. And in the next offseason in 1972, Rosenbloom completed a historic tax-free swapping of teams with new Los Angeles Rams owner Robert Irsay
. When Rosenbloom left, he received recognition from his players. Colts linebacker Mike Curtis said, "I hate to see Carroll go. He was a damn good owner. It wasn't the coaches who made Baltimore a winner for 14 years."
The Rams remained solid contenders in the 1970s, winning seven straight NFC West
Championships between 1973–79. Though a strong team, the Rams lost the first four conference championship games they played in that decade, twice to Minnesota
(1974, 1976) and twice to Dallas (1975, 1978) and failed to win a Super Bowl
.
In 1978, Rosenbloom announced plans to move the Rams to a new stadium in Anaheim, citing dissatisfaction with the Los Angeles Coliseum and the location as the motives behind the move. (The move eventually occurred in 1980, a year after Rosenbloom’s death.)
, Rosenbloom drowned on April 2, 1979. He was 72. Though Dr. Joseph H. Davis, the Dade County
coroner, stated, “there is not one scintilla of reason to believe this is anything other than an unfortunate accident,” a PBS
Frontline documentary called “An Unauthorized History of the NFL” suggested that Rosenbloom, a known gambler, may have been murdered, causing conspiracy theorists to question the case.
The final conclusion was that Carroll, who had been one of the first heart bypass patients, had suffered a heart attack while swimming. Witnesses at the scene and the Miami coroner’s office and the Miami chief of police confirmed this finding.
After Rosenbloom’s death, his second wife, Georgia Frontiere
, inherited a 70% ownership stake in the Los Angeles Rams. Rosenbloom’s five children inherited the other 30%.
Frontiere’s inheritance came as a surprise to many fans (though not to close friends and family) who thought Steve Rosenbloom, the former owner’s son from a previous marriage and the Rams’ vice-president, would take a leadership role in the team’s management. It was not a surprise to close friends and family because Rosenbloom was trying to take advantage of the widow's tax exemption. Steve Rosenbloom later would comment on the bizarre situation stating that "Dad told me he was trying to take advantage of the widows tax exemption (by making Georgia the prime beneficiary). He said he'd rather trust Georgia to do the right thing than to battle with Uncle Sam. He expected her to sit home and do the social things" he then went on to say "Dad wasn't dead 15 minutes and she was in her glory." There was a draft of Rosenbloom's will was also to be changed so the team would be left to his son Steve, however, it was never executed.
Over 900 people attended Rosenbloom’s memorial service, including 15 NFL owners, sportscaster Howard Cosell
(1918–1995), the entire Rams organization and actors Warren Beatty
, Kirk Douglas
, Cary Grant
(1904–1986), Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997), Rod Steiger
(1925–2002) and Henry Mancini
(1924–1994).
as a compromise candidate because he had successfully made the Rams profitable.
At the age of 33, Rozelle was elected commissioner. Rozelle, with the help of Rosenbloom, would spearhead equal revenue sharing of all TV contracts among the 12 league franchises, which helped make the league profitable and caused football to surpass baseball as the most watch spectator sport
in the US.
When Rozelle retired in 1989, he was regarded as the greatest sports commissioner ever. Upon Rosenbloom’s death, Rozelle said, “Carroll Rosenbloom played a major role in the growth and success of the NFL, both through the teams he produced and through his active participation in the league’s decision making process.”
Rosenbloom was also influential in making the AFL-NFL merger possible. He helped push the merger forward in 1970 by taking $3 million and agreeing to move the Colts to the American Football Conference (along with the Browns and Steelers).
He was also the NFL’s first visible owner and its first players’ owner, and envisioned revenue-generating stadiums and luxury suites before anyone else.
Since his death, the Rams’ players and coaches give the Carroll Rosenbloom Memorial Award to the team’s rookie of the year.
Rosenbloom was elected to the Rams’ Ring of Honor.
, then a TV personality in Miami.
Rosenbloom and Georgia were engaged in 1960, however it took Rosenbloom ten years to divorce his first wife. Rosenbloom and Frontiere married in 1966, though they had been together for eight years and had two children together. When Rosenbloom died, Frontiere and five children (Dan, Steve and Suzanne, from his first wife, and Lucia and Chip
from his second wife) survived him.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and former owner of two professional football teams, the Baltimore Colts and the Los Angeles Rams.
During his stewardship of both franchises, Rosenbloom amassed the best ownership winning percentage in league history (.660), a total regular season record of 226 wins, 116 losses and 8 ties and 3 NFL championships.
Rosenbloom has been described as the NFL’s first modern owner and the first players’ owner. Rosenbloom was part of the NFL inner circle that negotiated the League’s network TV contracts with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and the NFL/AFL merger, both which contributed to professional football becoming both profitable and the most watched spectator sport in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Early life and education
Rosenbloom was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 5, 1907 to Anna and Solomon Rosenbloom. He was the eighth of nine children, raised in a Jewish family. His father, an immigrant from Russian Poland, started a successful work-clothing manufacturing company.As a youth, Sports Illustrated described Rosenbloom as an “indifferent student” but a “good athlete.” He played football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and boxed.
Rosenbloom graduated from Baltimore City College in 1926 then later that year attended the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, where he studied psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and played halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
on the football team. At the time, the Quakers backfield coach was Bert Bell
Bert Bell
De Benneville "Bert" Bell was the National Football League commissioner from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he helped chart a path for the NFL to facilitate its rise in becoming the most popular sports attraction in the United States...
, who later became the commissioner of the NFL.
Business career
Upon graduation, Rosenbloom returned to Baltimore to work for his father’s clothing company. After being sent to liquidate the Blue Ridge Overalls Company, a small factory his father had acquired, Rosenbloom decided he wanted to run the fledgling company on his own. Based in Roanoke, VirginiaRoanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
, Blue Ridge had suffered during the Depression
Great 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...
. But Rosenbloom was intent to turn it around. When the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
was authorized in 1933 and officials needed denim work clothes, Rosenbloom successfully secured Blue Ridge a large order.
By 1940, after attaining distribution through large channels like Sears-Roebuck and J.C. Penney
J.C. Penney
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many...
, Blue Ridge had grown into a prosperous company allowing Rosenbloom to retire at 32. (As a youth, Rosenbloom told his brother Ben he planned to retire at 34.) During a brief retirement, Rosenbloom lived as a gentleman farmer on Maryland’s
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
Eastern Shore, growing corn
Corn
Corn is the name used in the United States, Canada, and Australia for the grain maize.In much of the English-speaking world, the term "corn" is a generic term for cereal crops, such as* Barley* Oats* Wheat* Rye- Places :...
and peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
es. As well, during this time, Rosenbloom married Velma Anderson.
Rosenbloom’s father’s death in 1942 cut his retirement
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
short, however. When Rosenbloom was named the executor of his father’s estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
, he chose to return to business life.
By 1959, Blue Ridge had grown to include almost a dozen shirt
Shirt
A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for almost any garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers...
and overall companies and 7000 employees, leading some to dub Rosenbloom “America’s Overalls King.” In the financial interests of his family, Rosenbloom decided to sell the company to P & R. The price: $7 million in cash and more than $20 million in stock. At P & R, Rosenbloom served as a Director.
With the success of his first enterprise
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, Rosenbloom diversified his business interests. In late 1950s, Rosenbloom and his partners bought control of Universal Products Co. He went on to buy American Totalisator and other small companies, eventually lumping them all together under the name Universal Controls, Inc.
Rosenbloom was one of the largest individual shareholders in Seven Arts Productions Limited, which backed the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical Funny Girl, and the films Lolita
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a suspense novel by author Henry Farrell published in 1960 by Rinehart & Company. The novel has earned a cult following and has been made into several movies.-Plot summary:...
and The Night of the Iguana
The Night of the Iguana
The Night of the Iguana is a stageplay written by American author Tennessee Williams, based on his 1948 short story. The play premiered on Broadway in 1961. Two film adaptations have been made, including the Academy Award-winning 1964 film of the same name....
.
Baltimore Colts (1953-1971)
After losing the original Colts team in 1951, the city of BaltimoreBaltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
petitioned the NFL for another franchise. Around this time, NFL Commissioner Bert Bell
Bert Bell
De Benneville "Bert" Bell was the National Football League commissioner from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he helped chart a path for the NFL to facilitate its rise in becoming the most popular sports attraction in the United States...
wanted to find a new home for the Dallas Texans, an NFL expansion team that folded after one failed season in 1952. Bell sought a competitive new owner with financial resources. From their days together at Penn, Bell thought Rosenbloom would be great fit. Though Rosenbloom was hesitant at first to own a franchise
Professional sports league organization
Professional sports leagues are organized in numerous ways. The two most significant types are a European model, characterised by a tiered structure using promotion and relegation to determine participation in a hierarchy of leagues or divisions and a North American model characterized by its use...
, he relented and bought the team along with a group of other investors. Rosenbloom’s share cost him $13,000. And in January 1953, the NFL awarded the city of Baltimore the Dallas Texans
Dallas Texans (NFL)
The Dallas Texans played in the National Football League for one season, 1952, with a record of 1–11.-History:After the 1951 NFL season, the financially troubled New York Yanks franchise were put on the market. Ted Collins had founded that franchise in 1944 as the Boston Yanks, moved it to New...
franchise, with Rosenbloom as the principal owner.
Adopting the nickname of the city's earlier professional incarnation, the Colts, Rosenbloom asked fans to give him five years to create a winning team.
Before their first season, Rosenbloom helped organize one of the biggest trades in sports history: in exchange for ten Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, the Colts traded five players. Among the players traded to Baltimore were Don Shula
Don Shula
Donald Francis "Don" Shula is a former American football cornerback and coach.He is best known as coach of the Miami Dolphins, the team he led to two Super Bowl victories, and to the National Football League's only perfect season. Shula was named 1993 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated....
, Art Spinney, Bert Rechichar, Carl Taseff, Ed Sharkey, Gern Nagler, Harry Agganis, Dick Batten, Stu Sheets, and Elmer Willhoite.
In 1954, the Colts hired Weeb Ewbank as head coach. Ewbank lead the Colts for nine seasons and won two conference and NFL Championships with the help of 1956 free agent quarterback Johnny Unitas
Johnny Unitas
John Constantine Unitas , known as Johnny Unitas or "Johnny U", and nicknamed "The Golden Arm", was a professional American football player in the 1950s through the 1970s, spending the majority of his career with the Baltimore Colts. He was a record-setting quarterback, and the National Football...
.
On November 30, 1958, the Colts clinched their first Western Conference title. Four weeks later, the team won its first NFL Championship, beating 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...
, 23-17 in “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” six years after Rosenbloom purchased the team. The televised game, a sudden death thriller, would serve as a launching point for the start of the NFL's enormous boom in popularity.
The Colts repeated as champions in 1959, again defeating the Giants, 31-16, for the NFL Championship.
During the 1960 through 1962 seasons, the Colts struggled. So in 1963 Rosenbloom let go of Coach Ewbank and hired Don Shula, then the youngest coach in NFL history.
Over the next several seasons the team did not win another championship but did make it to the NFL Championship game in 1964, losing to the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
27-0, and to the 1968 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...
, again to lose, this time to 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...
16-7. (The NFL Championship retroactively changed names to the Super Bowl in 1966 prior to the AFC-NFL merger of 1970.)
After the 1969 season, Shula left Baltimore for Miami after Dolphins owner Joe Robbie tempted Shula with about $750,000 and other perks. Rosenbloom was furious and successfully argued that Miami had tampered with Shula. Because of the infraction, the NFL awarded the Colts Miami's 1971 first-round draft choice.
On January 17, 1971, the Colts won a fourth league title, defeating the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
16-13 in Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V was an American football game played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1970 regular season...
.
A fierce competitor, Rosenbloom had a profound interest in his team succeeding. Describing his commitment to the Colts and his experience running a franchise, Rosenbloom told Sports Illustrated:
"After the first year in football, I found that of all the things I've ever done, this is the thing. There is nothing more rewarding. You have everything wrapped up in one bundle. You meet much nicer people than you do in business. You meet the public, and you must learn to look out for them. There's no place where your word is more your bond than in sports. You'd never find 14 men who deal as fairly with one another as the 14 owners in the National Football League, particularly after some of the things that have gone on in business or on Wall Street. You play a part in the lives of young men, and you help them grow. And then every Sunday you have the great pleasure of dying."
However, while Rosenbloom loved the Colts, issues with the Baltimore Memorial Stadium and the city’s officials, Rosenbloom wanted to leave Baltimore. And in the next offseason in 1972, Rosenbloom completed a historic tax-free swapping of teams with new Los Angeles Rams owner Robert Irsay
Robert Irsay
Robert Irsay , was an American professional football team owner. He owned the National Football League's Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts franchise and, briefly, the former Los Angeles Rams.-Biography:...
. When Rosenbloom left, he received recognition from his players. Colts linebacker Mike Curtis said, "I hate to see Carroll go. He was a damn good owner. It wasn't the coaches who made Baltimore a winner for 14 years."
Los Angeles Rams (1972-1979)
By the 1972 season, Rosenbloom assumed control as the majority owner of the Rams.The Rams remained solid contenders in the 1970s, winning seven straight NFC West
NFC West
The NFC West is a division of the National Football League's National Football Conference. It currently has four members: Arizona Cardinals, St...
Championships between 1973–79. Though a strong team, the Rams lost the first four conference championship games they played in that decade, twice to Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
(1974, 1976) and twice to Dallas (1975, 1978) and failed to win a Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
.
In 1978, Rosenbloom announced plans to move the Rams to a new stadium in Anaheim, citing dissatisfaction with the Los Angeles Coliseum and the location as the motives behind the move. (The move eventually occurred in 1980, a year after Rosenbloom’s death.)
Death and ensuing controversy
While swimming at Golden Beach, FloridaGolden Beach, Florida
Golden Beach is a town located in the northeast corner of Miami-Dade County, Florida, between the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 919. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 921.-Geography:Golden Beach is...
, Rosenbloom drowned on April 2, 1979. He was 72. Though Dr. Joseph H. Davis, the Dade County
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
coroner, stated, “there is not one scintilla of reason to believe this is anything other than an unfortunate accident,” a PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
Frontline documentary called “An Unauthorized History of the NFL” suggested that Rosenbloom, a known gambler, may have been murdered, causing conspiracy theorists to question the case.
The final conclusion was that Carroll, who had been one of the first heart bypass patients, had suffered a heart attack while swimming. Witnesses at the scene and the Miami coroner’s office and the Miami chief of police confirmed this finding.
After Rosenbloom’s death, his second wife, Georgia Frontiere
Georgia Frontiere
Georgia Frontiere was the majority owner and chairman of the St. Louis Rams football team and the most prominent female owner in a league historically dominated by males....
, inherited a 70% ownership stake in the Los Angeles Rams. Rosenbloom’s five children inherited the other 30%.
Frontiere’s inheritance came as a surprise to many fans (though not to close friends and family) who thought Steve Rosenbloom, the former owner’s son from a previous marriage and the Rams’ vice-president, would take a leadership role in the team’s management. It was not a surprise to close friends and family because Rosenbloom was trying to take advantage of the widow's tax exemption. Steve Rosenbloom later would comment on the bizarre situation stating that "Dad told me he was trying to take advantage of the widows tax exemption (by making Georgia the prime beneficiary). He said he'd rather trust Georgia to do the right thing than to battle with Uncle Sam. He expected her to sit home and do the social things" he then went on to say "Dad wasn't dead 15 minutes and she was in her glory." There was a draft of Rosenbloom's will was also to be changed so the team would be left to his son Steve, however, it was never executed.
Over 900 people attended Rosenbloom’s memorial service, including 15 NFL owners, sportscaster Howard Cosell
Howard Cosell
Howard William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...
(1918–1995), the entire Rams organization and actors Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
(1904–1986), Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997), Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
(1925–2002) and Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
(1924–1994).
Influence on the NFL
Rosenbloom influenced the modern day NFL in many ways, namely in that he envisioned that the league could be a successful business. In 1960, the NFL owners were deadlocked about naming a successor to Commissioner Bell. After reviewing 23 ballots, Rosenbloom brought up the name of Los Angeles Rams general manager Pete RozellePete Rozelle
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world....
as a compromise candidate because he had successfully made the Rams profitable.
At the age of 33, Rozelle was elected commissioner. Rozelle, with the help of Rosenbloom, would spearhead equal revenue sharing of all TV contracts among the 12 league franchises, which helped make the league profitable and caused football to surpass baseball as the most watch spectator sport
Spectator sport
A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches. For instance, Tennis, Rugby, F-1, baseball, basketball, cricket, football , and ice hockey are spectator sports, while hunting or underwater hockey typically are not...
in the US.
When Rozelle retired in 1989, he was regarded as the greatest sports commissioner ever. Upon Rosenbloom’s death, Rozelle said, “Carroll Rosenbloom played a major role in the growth and success of the NFL, both through the teams he produced and through his active participation in the league’s decision making process.”
Rosenbloom was also influential in making the AFL-NFL merger possible. He helped push the merger forward in 1970 by taking $3 million and agreeing to move the Colts to the American Football Conference (along with the Browns and Steelers).
He was also the NFL’s first visible owner and its first players’ owner, and envisioned revenue-generating stadiums and luxury suites before anyone else.
Awards and recognition
In 1960, the City of Baltimore awarded Rosenbloom the “Man of the Year Award.”Since his death, the Rams’ players and coaches give the Carroll Rosenbloom Memorial Award to the team’s rookie of the year.
Rosenbloom was elected to the Rams’ Ring of Honor.
Personal life
Rosenbloom separated from first wife, Velma, in the early 1950s. And at a party hosted by his friend Joseph Kennedy at his Palm Beach estate in 1957. Rosenbloom met his second wife, Georgia FrontiereGeorgia Frontiere
Georgia Frontiere was the majority owner and chairman of the St. Louis Rams football team and the most prominent female owner in a league historically dominated by males....
, then a TV personality in Miami.
Rosenbloom and Georgia were engaged in 1960, however it took Rosenbloom ten years to divorce his first wife. Rosenbloom and Frontiere married in 1966, though they had been together for eight years and had two children together. When Rosenbloom died, Frontiere and five children (Dan, Steve and Suzanne, from his first wife, and Lucia and Chip
Chip Rosenbloom
Dale "Chip" Rosenbloom, the son of Carroll Rosenbloom and Georgia Frontiere, is part owner of the St. Louis Rams alongside his sister Lucia Rodriguez, which they inherited from their mother...
from his second wife) survived him.