A brief history of the Eagles owners

[Procus]

Was wondering about how the various owners of the Eagles franchise fared through the years.  Surprisingly, there's no wiki on it.  Here's what I found.  Lurie by far is the most successful, and it really isn't close.  Consider the following:

1933- Bert Bell and Lud Wray - owners and founders of the Philadelphia Eagles expansion team buy the assets of the defunct Frankford Yellow Jackets for $2,500.  Team has a losing record each year.

1936 - Bert Bell buys out Lud Wray for $4500 and becomes sole owner after team suffers severe financial losses, but keeps the team afloat.  The Eagles win one game his first year as sole owner.  Bell's tenure as owner was unsuccessful.

1940  Art Rooney buys half interest in Eagles with Bell for $80,000.00

1941  Eagles and Steelers swap franchises.  Alexis Thompson becomes Eagles owner and hires Greasey Neale.  Neale's Eagles win only 2 games each of their first two seasons, but the direction of the franchise shifts for the better.

1943  Steagles - Eagles and Steelers merge franchises for one season during WWII.  First winning season for a Philly NFL team since Frankford Yellow Jackets.

1944 Under head coach Greasy Neale, and but for 1949, under the ownership of Alexis Thompson, Eagles post six consecutive winning seasons, including three straight championship games and the team's first  NFL Championships. 

1949 - Alexis Thompson sells to the Happy Hundred - a group of investors - for $250,000.  The team wins its second NFL Championship in 1949.  But the ownership pulls a bonehead move and fires Neale after the team goes 6-6 in 1950 in a year where a lot of injuries and unlucky bounces seem to converge.  Most of the 1950's Eagles were mired in mediocrity and losing, but the team began an upswing after acquiring Norm Van Brocklin and hiring Buck Shaw.  In 1960, the team wins its third NFL Championship and has the distinction of being the only team to beat Lombardi's Packers in the playoffs.  Small consolation though as team management wanted to hire Lombardi before Buck Shaw was hired, but Wellington Mara talks him out of the move citing financial instability of the team.  This would become a lingering problem over the decades that would follow.

1963 - the Happy Hundred sell the Eagles for $5.5 million to Jerry Wolman, a real estate developer who owned Connie Mack Stadium.  Wolman's tenure as owner was short lived and mostly a disaster.  Future HOF QB Sonny Jurgenson was traded for journeyman Norm Snead.  Joe Kuharich was given a 15 year contract to coach the team after a 6-8 record (the team only won five games the previous two years).  Kuharich's Eagles win only 2 games in 1968, but the Eagles lose the OJ Simpson sweepstakes to Buffalo.  Chants of Joe Must Go are rampant at the stadium and Wolman's financial empire starts to collapse around him. 

1969 - Leonard Tose, one of the Happy Hundred buys the Eagles from a bankrupt Jerry Wolman for $16.1 million.  Tose's first move as owner is to fire Joe Kuharich, but he has trouble finding a good replacement.  Tose's first three head coaching hires - Jerry Williams, Ed Khayat and Mike McCormack all have losing records and the Eagles are one of the NFL doormat franchises.  McCormack's tenure is especially disastrous as he trades away stockpiles of Eagles draft picks - mostly to Paul Brown's Bengals, leaving the team with no draft capital to speak of for the middle and latter part of the 1970's.  After a horrible 4-10 season, Tose fires McCormack and makes his single best move as owner.  Fresh off an upset victory over Woody Hayes Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl, Tose swoops in secretly with a helicopter (that was a big deal at the time) and hires Dick Vermeil to coach the team.  Vermeil takes to the city and to the team, and through grueling work, the team claws its way back to respectability and earns a playoff spot in 1978 (the year when the team's fortunes permanently shift for the better with the Miracle at the Meadowlands).  The team continuously improves and becomes a powerhouse earning playoff berths, wins, and culminating in an NFC Championship win over Dallas and the team's first Super Bowl berth.  Ominously Joe Kuharch dies during the first half of the Super Bowl and the Eagles lose in a stinker.  After a losing strike shortened year, a burnt out Vermeil quits, and Marion Campbell is hired.  Tose's tenure as owner of the Eagles is marred with financial instability caused by his jet set lifestyle and huge gambling losses.  At one point during his ownership, the bank took control of team finances, and Tose needed a bailout from the owner of the Lions.  Toward the end of his tenure as owner, Tose appoints his daughter - attorney Susan Fletcher - as VP and she starts running the team.  Cost cutting moves are put in place, and rumors are floated that Tose was considering relocating the team to Phoenix.  Ultimately, Tose had to sell.

1985 -West Philly born and raised, South Florida car dealer Norman Braman buys the Eagles for $65 million (initially with his brother in law Ed Liebowitz who later sold out his interest to Braman) and keeps the franchise in Philly.  Braman inherits Marion Campbell and Ron Jaworski, among others, and wants to move the Eagles in a new direction.  In a bold move, he hires Buddy Ryan BEFORE the Bears play in the Super Bowl.  Hiring Ryan looks to be a stroke of genius.  He puts together a talented, helter skelter club with an exciting offense led by Randall Cunningham and a bone crushing defense led by Reggie White.  But Braman focuses on running the Eagles as an ongoing profit center, and is viewed negatively by the fans, his head coach, the players, and ultimately, his fellow owners - all of whom he clashes with at sometime or another.  He develops a reputation as a skin flint, unwilling to pay star players their worth, and seemingly holding back the team from meeting its full potential.  He fires popular head coach Buddy Ryan (who famously referred to Braman as "the guy in France") in a controversial move and replaces him with Rich Kotite who has some success with Ryan's players early in his tenure, winning a playoff game, but being denied a playoff berth in 1991 - a year when the team was marred with injuries at QB - but fielded a historically great defense.  As free agency rules change, many star players loyal to Buddy Ryan sign elsewhere.  Ultimately, Braman is forced out by the other owners after he threatens to sue for not receiving draft compensation for free agent departures.

1994 - Jeff Lurie buys the Eagles from Braman for $185 million.  His mother takes out a loan for most of the purchase price in a move which would later prove to be a stroke of genius.  In his first year, the Eagles start off hot, and Rich Kotite publicly states his "record stood for itself" implying that he should be rewarded with a hefty contract from the new owner.  The team then goes into free fall losing seven straight, some in outright bizarre fashion.  Kotite is fired, and after flirting with Dick Vermeil, the team hires Ray Rhodes as its head coach.  Rhodes' tenure starts off nicely with two playoff appearances and a blowout playoff win against the Lions.  But the team starts to falter after offensive coordinator Jon Gruden is hired away.  After a disastrous 3-13 season, Rhodes is fired and replaced with a relative unknown - Packers QB coach Andy Reid.  The hire was against the advice of then GM Tom Modrak (who later loses a power struggle with Reid) who wanted to select Jim Haslett.  Reid achieves historical success with the team, including a Super Bowl appearance, five NFC Championship games, and numerous division titles, winning seasons and playoff wins.  But a Super Bowl victory eludes Reid, who is ultimately replaced on the heels of the tragic death of his son during training camp.  Lurie and Roseman hire Chip Kelly who makes the playoffs his first year, but goes downhill thereafter and ultimately is fired after bungling the roster and salary cap, and going overboard on a power trip.  In 2016, Kelly is replaced with Doug Pederson, the team trades up to draft Carson Wentz, and a surreal 2017 starts off with Philly absolutely killing it as host city for the NFL Draft, Brian Dawkins selection into the HOF, and culminating with an improbable Super Bowl run and victory.  The Eagles franchise, while unable to duplicate its Super Bowl success, continues to field playoff teams in all but one of the following years, and projects to have a promising future with a talented young roster and a bounty of draft picks in future years.  The current value of the Eagles is estimated to be $3.8 billion.  They are a financially sound, well run organization and a respected institution in Philadelphia and throughout the NFL.

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So looking back at this history of owners of the Eagles, the Bert Bell and Jerry Wolman eras were absolute disasters marred in losing.  Tose also had a losing tenure as owner, but he lifted the team out of the doldrums with the bold Vermeil hire.  Braman's era fielded winning, but underachieving teams leaving you to wonder what could have been.  Ultimately, his penny pinching, miserly ways caused him to lose sight of the big picture and cost him billions. 

The Happy Hundred era fielded two championship teams.  But the first was really Alexis Thompson's and Greasy Neale's team.  Huge failures including dismissing Neale as head coach after a fluke year, and failing to hire Vince Lombardi.

You could argue that Alexis Thompson was the most successful owner.  He hired Greasy Neale, and oversaw the growth of the team from being an expansion doormat to league powerhouse and champion.  But Thompson only owned the Eagles for 8 years.  We never know how the team would have fared if Thompson and Neale hung on for a few more years.  As a footnote, Thompson died of a heart attack a few years after he sold the team.  He was only in his 40's.

The Jeff Lurie era clearly is the crown jewel of Eagle history.  He's owned the team going on 28 years now, longer than any other owner, and its not even close.  During the Lurie era, the Eagles  routinely made the playoffs and had an long run of success, especially during the 14 year Reid era.  The hiring of Pederson and construction of the 2017 team of course is the highlight of his ownership.  But even today, the Eagles are known as a well run franchise and a team to be reckoned with.  Looking at the bigger picture, Lurie paid $185 million for the team with mostly borrowed money.  He oversaw the construction of the Linc and Novacare Center.  The team is worth almost $4 billion today.  By far, Lurie is the Eagles most successful owner, and it's not even close.

 

 

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

Buddy Ryan was definitely popular with his players, but by the end of the 1990 season, it was hard to find Eagles fans who didn’t want him fired. I was not among that overwhelming majority. On the contrary, I was disgusted when he was fired. The press conference to announce the move was particularly gross, as the media seemed to treat it with a party atmosphere. Everyone was celebrating the ousting. It was nauseating, much like about thirty years later when the Eagles fired a future Hall of Fame coach and the majority of fans were in love with the move. 

 

[Procus]

15 hours ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

Buddy Ryan was definitely popular with his players, but by the end of the 1990 season, it was hard to find Eagles fans who didn’t want him fired. I was not among that overwhelming majority. On the contrary, I was disgusted when he was fired. The press conference to announce the move was particularly gross, as the media seemed to treat it with a party atmosphere. Everyone was celebrating the ousting. It was nauseating, much like about thirty years later when the Eagles fired a future Hall of Fame coach and the majority of fans were in love with the move.

IIRC, the fan base was not enthused about Richie K as head coach.  To Kotite's credit, he made a brilliant hire in Bud Carson who took the defense to new heights.  Ultimately though, Richie didn't have the mettle to properly use Cunningham and otherwise go on a playoff run.

[Talonblood]

Lurie has done a good job as owner. He wants to win.

[opa-opa]

I loved the Buddy Ryan teams but man the offense were awful to watch outside of Randall. The whole offense was basically "Randall, do something". 

[FranklinFldEBUpper]

6 hours ago, Procus said:

IIRC, the fan base was not enthused about Richie K as head coach.  To Kotite's credit, he made a brilliant hire in Bud Carson who took the defense to new heights.  Ultimately though, Richie didn't have the mettle to properly use Cunningham and otherwise go on a playoff run.

I think that developed over time. But the day that Buddy was fired and Kotite got the job, everyone and his cousin was over the moon with excitement. It was nauseating how stupid the world was at that moment in time. I was seething and everyone else seemed to be joyous. It was the damndest thing.

Agreed about Bud Carson. That man knew how to coach defense, and he actually got Buddy's guys to perform better. They were a more disciplined unit under Bud than they were under Buddy. 

To be fair, Randall was injured in the opener in Kotite's first year, so it's hard to say what would have happened. And his second year, they actually did make the playoffs and won a game. By the following season, the wheels were already falling off with Reggie White leaving. We know what happened after that.

Sorry to derail the thread about ownership into a Buddy Ryan discussion. But it's a real tender issue for me. Likewise for Andy getting fired.

[birdman#12]

Easy to see how a team, despite having a rabid fan base, can be lousy and not win championships.  It all starts at the top.....good ownership who know how to build an organization gets results. 

Lurie is far and away the one of the best owners in the NFL.  When he bought the eagles, they were a lower tier organization.  He built the scouting dept, the personnel dept, had the Novacare complex built, got the eagles more involved with the community and being truly dedicated to winning a championship.

 

[EaglesAddict]

I loved when Buddy referred to Braman as the "guy in France", lol.  Those years with Randall and the Gang Green D were both fun and frustrating because we had the talent to win it all.  Just sucks that also was at the same time when the NFC East was dominant.

Lurie has obviously been best owner of this franchise, no question.  Ever since he's been here, for the most part the Eagles shifted from being expected to lose to expected to win.

[SB52]

Thanks so much for putting this together. It was a very enjoyable read.

[Procus]

7 hours ago, birdman#12 said:

Easy to see how a team, despite having a rabid fan base, can be lousy and not win championships.  It all starts at the top.....good ownership who know how to build an organization gets results. 

Lurie is far and away the one of the best owners in the NFL.  When he bought the eagles, they were a lower tier organization.  He built the scouting dept, the personnel dept, had the Novacare complex built, got the eagles more involved with the community and being truly dedicated to winning a championship.

Lurie recognized little things about the franchise that were overlooked for so many years.  Something as trivial as the Eagles fight song that you didn't hear for years.  Lurie succeeded where Braman failed in that Lurie was able to build the ongoing year in and year out profitable business that Braman focused on, but Lurie also kept is eye out on the big picture by embracing the history and venue of the franchise and building up the long term value of the franchise. 

Oh, and a couple of blockbuster hit Eagle themed Hollywood films during his tenure was a nice little touch.

 

[time2rock]

Very cool read … thanks for putting the time into creating this thread @Procus!  

[Procus]

Going through this, there's really some alternative "what if" scenarios that could have sent the franchise in entirely different directions.  I see two blaring us the face:

1.  Suppose Thompson sold out to a more stable and civic minded owner who stuck with Greasy Neale through the 50's.  Neale was a brilliant coach and ahead of his time in so many ways.  Given the right ownership, I believe he could have continued fielding exceptional teams well into the 1950's.

2.  Taking it a step further, suppose this stable owner oversaw the orderly transition of the team from Greasy Neale coach and GM to Vince Lombardi overseeing football operations in 1958.  The Eagles supposedly offered the HC job to Lombardi.  The team was owned by the Happy Hundred, and Mara pointed out to Lombardi that it was up for sale, dissuading Lombardi from taking the job.  Suppose instead a stable owner was in place.

What if . . .