Pete Rozelle Interview (page: 4 / 9) Pro Football Hall of Fame	Print Interview

You mentioned your father, and we gather that he was an inspiration personally. What was he like?

Pete Rozelle: Well, he was at the time, and even more so later. Because he did so much with what he had. He never went to college more or less because of the Depression. My dad had a great influence on me, particularly later, because I was so impressed with what he did with his life. He grew up during the Depression, and when he and Mother were married, he managed market stores. And I can remember when I was very young, we had an earthquake -- 1932 -- and he was the store manager. I can remember distinctly he would come home with what he called earthquake soap. Everything was shattered on the floor in the market, and so he swept up the Rinso with the Oxydol and so forth and he brought the soap home, and he was selling it at the store as Earthquake Soap. He later worked for the Aluminum Company of America. He went to work with Alcoa in Southern California at the outbreak of the war, and worked there the rest of his life in the shipping department. But he and mother built a very fine middle class home when my brother and I were very young, and right near a school. They did a great job with what they had.

You've said that he was a patient man.

Pete Rozelle: Very patient. Patient with my brother and myself. I think I'm a lot like him, in manner and so forth. I can sort of detect it today. I learned a lot.

That patience must have come in very handy in your dealings with team owners in the NFL.

Pete Rozelle: Yes.

Were your parents supportive of your career choice?

Pete Rozelle: Oh, very much so. All the time I was working and going to school, they were very happy to see me doing sports writing on the weekends, and so forth, for papers. And then when I became athletic publicity director at the university, well, they thought that was great. They were always very supportive of me.

What about academically? Were you very motivated academically at school?

Pete Rozelle: Sports was really my life. I got good grades. I got mostly As and some Bs all through school, but I really crashed to get them. I didn't stay up with my studies as I should have to really learn. I'd cram for a test and get an A or a B. My interest was in my avocation, which later became my vocation, of course.

How did your parents react when you became nationally prominent?

Pete Rozelle: Oh, they were just out of their minds, they were so happy when their kid became Commissioner of the National Football League. They thought that was wonderful.

In general, did you get along well with classmates? You're known as such a good negotiator.

Pete Rozelle: Yes, I had many good friends in school that I still see, from junior high school through, say, 1939 and '40. A number of them will go to the Super Bowl game with me every year and I'm still close to them.

It sounds like you've always been a kind of people person.

Pete Rozelle: I enjoy people a great deal, and I've had many good friends. I'm very fortunate in that respect.

You met some interesting people along the way. Pierre Salinger for one.

Pete Rozelle: Yes, that was something. When I was at the University of San Francisco, he was taking his final classes there, and he was working at the San Francisco Chronicle at the same time. So I've known Pierre ever since then. Ever since about 1950, I guess.

And then he began to be involved in ABC?

Pete Rozelle: Well, the first big thing he became was President Kennedy's press secretary in 1960, and that was the same year I became Commissioner of the National Football League. So we both went east then, and kept up with each other.

Did his television contacts play any role in your vision of an expanded TV presence for the NFL?

Pete Rozelle: Not really. We knew many of the same people in that field, of course. But it had no bearing, particularly, on that.

Looking back, how much of a role would you say that luck has had in your success?

Pete Rozelle: An ungodly amount. So much of timing and luck was involved. When I look back, I think if things just hadn't worked out as they did on every occasion, I'd have never gotten where I did. I was very, very fortunate.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. When I came back from the war, in 1946, I knew all the people at the Junior College, and I was able to become their athletic news director. I think I got about -- I don't know -- $50 a month, but a lot of experience. And then again, through people I knew, I was invited to be the University of San Francisco news director. So I went up there, and worked there during the final two years of college and my first two years after college. That was a great experience. We were lucky, because they had a couple of very hot teams. The 1951 football team was unbeaten, untied, and they sent three people: Ollie Matson, a fullback; and Gino Marchetti, the great defensive lineman of Baltimore; and Bob St. Clair, offensive tackle (for the) 49ers. All were from that team. Plus myself, being their publicity man. We all ended up in the Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So that exposure -- and also Pete Newell, the basketball coach at USF, was a great friend of mine. They won the National Invitational Tournament in 1949. So because I was the publicity man, I met a lot of people. Newspaper people would ask me about the team and so forth, and I got to know them quite well, because of the success of the team. That led to the Ram job. Because when the Rams were looking around for a publicity director in 1952, they called a number of newspaper people, and some of them recommended me because I had dealt with them. That was a very fortuitous event. The next big step after the Rams publicity job -- I actually left the Rams, went with a small public relations firm in San Francisco for two years, 1955 and '56. During that period, a difficulty between the owners of the Rams surfaced, and they weren't getting along, and so they decided to go into the hands of that commissioner, Bert Bell, (with) the job of recommending a general manager. And because I had been there as publicity manager, why, I was considered, and I got my own people while I was there. So they made me general manager of the Rams. And so that was, again, the ultimate for me.

[ Key to Success ] Preparation

What did Bert Bell see in you that made you seem like such an attractive candidate for this important job?

Pete Rozelle: I don't think he knew me that well then. I hadn't seen him at that time. But I guess he talked to people. I know the president of the Rams, Dan Reeves, recommended me. And he probably also talked to some newspaper people and so forth, and people in the National Football League I had worked with when I was publicity director. It was very nice. He had a gravelly voice, and he called me on the phone. As I say, I was with the little PR firm in San Francisco then, and he said, "Well," he says, "We checked around, and you are the first thing the Ram owners have agreed upon since Garfield was shot. So..." he says, "Do you want to take the job?" And I said, "We can sure talk about it." It was about double the money I was making then. So I would say I was flattered, and took it.

Why did you leave the Rams to go to the PR firm?

Pete Rozelle: I thought it was probably the right thing to do, because sports was involved in that account indirectly, because they had an Australian Airline, Qantas. It was the time of the Olympic Games in Australia, so some sports was involved. I thought then it was an opportunity to broaden myself, learn more about general public relations. I thought I might go that route rather than stay in sports at that time.

You mentioned that there was trouble with the Rams owners. Were your skills at negotiating already apparent?

Pete Rozelle: I got along with them well enough to get the job. So that was very good timing on my part.

A lot of people have good minds and good potential. Why would you say that you've succeeded in your field, when so many others haven't?

Pete Rozelle: Timing and luck would be one thing certainly, as I mentioned earlier.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I can be patient, which I think is probably a very fortunate trait to have on a job as commissioner, where you have to get along with so many different constituencies: the owners, the press, the fans, the coaches. There are so many people involved in the strange nature that constitutes a sports league. I think that was very fortunate. I think that if you're high strung, and flare, you could have problems, and I was fortunate that I didn't. Also, I think that you have to spend a lot of time, and you have to think about things that lead to better the sport -- changes, innovations, progress -- and I always felt that very strongly. We were fortunate that some of the things we developed played a big part in the development of the league.

[ Key to Success ] Perseverance

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