The Daily Alaska empire., 1935-12-22
By EARL HILLIGAN

DETROIT, Dec. 2l Walter O. Briggs. for years Detroit industrial ist-millionaire and now, at the age of 53. the new sole owner and director of the world champion Detroit Ilg- CTS of the American league, should make an excellent boss" for the man who brought two pennants and one world title to Detroit.
 Both Briggs and Manager Mickey Cochrane are known as hard los- CTS" because they have the will to win and have won in careers carved cut of widely separated fields. Briggs himself picked Cochrane to lead the Tigers cut of the doldrums after the 1883 season.
 The new owner joins the select group of baseball magnates after years of hard work, foresight and tenacity have made him indepen- dantly wealthy. For years a fan, he became direcetly connected with the game in 1920, when he and the late John Kelsey purchased quarter interests in the Detroit Baseball com pany out of the estate of William H. Yawkey. Briggs later bought Kel- seys holdings
 Frank J. Navin, who died of heart attack recently, urged Briggs to buy into the club then, and down through the years there existed a fine bond of friendship between B.iggs and Nayin. Their friendship led to an agreement that when one died, the other would have an option on the others baseball holdings, and Briggs announces he is exercising that option by buying Nayin's half share from the heirs.
 Briggs rose from factory work bench to his present position Of power. In late years he has worked just as hard as he did early in his career, but has found time for play. He likes to win, whether it's business or games, and those close to him be- i lieve he and Cochrane should make combination which opposing clubs will find hard to beat.
 Born in Ypsilanti, Mich, February 27, 1877, Briggs is descendant of pioneer stock, his great-great grand- father having been soldier in the Revolutionary war. His father, Rod ney Davis Briggs, was for 50 years an engineer for the Michigan Central railroad.
 At 15, young Walter went to work in the car shops of railroad at $15 week. In 1917, he entered the en- ploy of the Everett Manufacturing Co as a body trimmer. He rose to shipping clerk, then general handy man in the office Promotions came fast, and in a few years he was one of the active heads of the company. In 1914, Briggs bought the company and the, Briggs Manufacturing Con- pany was born. Today it supplies most of the bodies for the Ford Motor Co, employs thousands and has plants here and abroad
 Briggs plays contract bridge and dominoes frequently. He loves horses, has a fine yacht, and is devotee of the theatre He has a home in Detroit, one at Bloomfield Hills and another in Miami Beach, Fla. Thir- ty-one years ago he married Jane Elizabeth Cameron The family con- sists of Mrs. Briggs, four daughters and one son, Walter Owen, jr., who is known to intimates as Spike" and who probably will be associated with his father in some capacity with the club.
 The elder Briggs is member of the New York Yacht Club, the Lambs, the Players and the Larch- mont Yacht Club, of New York, in addition to numerous Detroit clubs and organizations.
 He always has admired Cochrane. When reports said Cochrane was for sale by Connie Mack, the Philadel- phia Athletics head man, Briggs told his partner, Frank J. Navin, to ar range the purchase of the peppery catcher Mack refused. Briggs per sisted that Cochrane should be bought, contending he would make