E . Michael Burke Edmund Michael Burke ( August 6 , 1916 – February 5 , 1987 ) was a U . S . Navy Officer , O . S . S . agent , C . I . A . agent , general manager of Ringling Bros . and Barnum & Bailey Circus , CBS executive , President of the New York Yankees , the New York Knicks , New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden . Early life . Burke was born in Enfield , Connecticut , and attended Kingswood - Oxford School in West Hartford , Connecticut . He was awarded an athletic scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania playing halfback on the football team . He graduated in 1939 and was given a tryout by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1941 . World War II . After working as a cargo inspector in the New York waterfront , Burke was commissioned an Ensign in the US Navy . A chance meeting with head of the O . S . S General William J . Donovan led to transfer to his command . Donovan told him " Anybody who can run back punts the way you can ought to be able to wiggle behind enemy lines " Ensign Burke was sent to Algiers in 1942 , then Sicily in 1943 , and later landing in Salerno in the same year . Burke was one of the members of the " MacGregor Mission " led by Lt . John M . Shaheen consiting of Burke , John Ringling North and Marcello Girosi , a former New York businessman who had a brother Massimo who was an Italian admiral . The " MacGregor Mission " was responsible for discovering information on Axis weapons . One of the missions was to smuggle Italian Vice Admiral Eugenio Minisini out of Italy in 1943 . Admiral Minisini was in the Engineering section of the Italian Navy and was directing the use of a magnetic firing device for torpedoes . As the American Navy was having problems with their detonators setting off torpedoes this a crucial piece of technology . The four men landed by PT Boat in Capri and brought back Admiral Minisini . Burke and North were both awarded the Silver Star for their work . Following the Italian campaign , Burke was parachuted into the Vosges region of France to arm and organise the French Resistance . During World War II , Michael Burke was awarded the Navy Cross , Silver Star , and the French Médaille de la Résistance . Cloak and Dagger . After the war Burke was recruited by Warner Brothers to be a technical advisor for Fritz Lang ' s O . S . S . film " Cloak and Dagger " . Burke had a bit part in the film but it was cut during editing . During the filming he met Henry Ringling North ' s sister whom he later married . During the filming Burke and a fellow OSS agent Andreas Diamond met at Lang ' s home to discuss various methods of killing someone with your bare hands and were seen rolling around the floor to design a fight scene with OSS methods for the film . A Warner Bros memo records the fact that the fight scene was the only scene that Gary Cooper , who had problems with the scientific dialogue his character had to say , did well during the film . C . I . A . . When Burke ' s screenwriting career didn ' t pan out he was recruited into the C . I . A . after lunch in the Algonquin Hotel serving in Rome and other parts of Europe for five years . Burke was allowed to use the cover of working for Warner Brothers whilst he was doing various scouting and liaison missions in Europe . Using his experience with French Resistance groups in the War , Burke was given the mission to " Recruit a limited number of refugees , train them as agents and place them clandestinely back on their native soil . There they would seek out any incipient resistance elements that might exist " behind the Iron Curtain . In 1949 he replaced Robert Low as the American officer in charge of setting up paramilitary and political operations in Albania . Following Albania Burke worked on Polish anti Soviet resistance operations and tested Soviet radar capabilities by using Polish pilots . Burke served as an intelligence and special operations adviser to John J . McCloy , the United States High Commissioner in Germany , from 1951 to 1954 . Post CIA . Following his CIA career , Burke ' s brother - in - law and comrade in arms John Ringling North hired him for the Ringling Bros . and Barnum & Bailey Circus as an executive director . Though new to the circus world Burke found himself battling cheating ushers and Jimmy Hoffa ' s Teamster Union . CBS . When his friend North hired a manager Burke didn ' t like , Burke left the big top and met Frank Stanton of CBS . Burke ' s European knowledge led him to be sent back to Europe to develop television programs , eventually becoming the President of CBS Europe . Burke was summoned back to America as Vice President in charge of Diversification . One of Burke ' s accomplishments was recommending CBS purchase the rights to the play " My Fair Lady . " New York Yankees . CBS acquired the New York Yankees on August 13 , 1964 in order to diversify their interests in the entertainment industry . On September 20 , 1966 ; Burke became president and CEO of the Yankees after Dan Topping sold the remainder of his stock to CBS . He retained these posts for the remainder of CBS ' ownership . In 1968 , he was a candidate to become Commissioner of Baseball ( although Bowie Kuhn would get the appointment ) . In 1972 , CBS head William Paley told Burke to either sell the Yankees or buy them himself which he did with George Steinbrenner in January 1973 . Burke and Steinbrenner had a parting of the ways with Burke resigning in April 1973 . Burke ' s most famous achievement occurred when he successfully negotiated with Mayor John V . Lindsay to keep the Yankees in New York by having the city agree to rebuild Yankee Stadium . Burke became President of Madison Square Garden in 1973 on a five - year contract that also made him president of the New York Rangers and New York Knicks . In 1981 , Burke sold his five percent stake in the New York Yankees for $ 500 , 000 Retirement in Ireland . As a child , Burke had lived with his grandparents in Ireland . In 1960 he purchased a farm in Aughrim near Galway . Burke retired there in 1981 . On a visit to the United States a woman once asked him if he were a gentleman farmer . He laughed and said " Well , I ' m a gentleman " . Quotes . " My five years in England taught me that manners are more important than laws and that civility is the very stuff of a decent society " References . Burke , Michael " Outrageous Good Fortune " 1984 Little , Brown