Pete Rozelle Alvin Ray " Pete " Rozelle ( ; March 1 , 1926 – December 6 , 1996 ) was the commissioner of the National Football League ( NFL ) 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 . Early life . Rozelle was born in South Gate , California and grew up in neighboring Lynwood , California during the Great Depression . He graduated from Compton High School in 1944 , with Duke Snider , lettering in baseball and basketball . He was drafted into the Navy in 1944 and served 18 months in the Pacific on an oil tanker . Rozelle began his career at the University of San Francisco , working as a student publicist for the school ' s football team . He had already worked in public relations for the Los Angeles Rams front office and while in the athletic office at USF he marketed the Dons ' National Invitation Tournament championship basketball season of 1949 into a national media event . He graduated from USF in 1950 . He held a series of public relations jobs in Southern California , marketing the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne , Australia for a Los Angeles based company . He joined the Los Angeles Rams as its public relations specialist . By 1957 , Rozelle was offered the GM job with the Rams . He turned a disorganized , unprofitable team , lost in the growing L . A . market , into a business success . One of his underlings with the Rams was Tex Maule , who went on to become the biased Pro Football columnist for " Sports Illustrated " . When his former boss became NFL commissioner , Maule was , for all intents and purposes , Rozelle ' s and the NFL ' s PR man on " SI " , where he lionized even mediocre NFL teams and players , while demeaning the American Football League . Commissioner . 1960s . After Bert Bell ' s death in 1959 , Rozelle was the surprise choice for his replacement as NFL commissioner . According to Howard Cosell in his book " I Never Played the Game " , the owners took 23 ballots before settling on Rozelle as NFL Commissioner at a January 26 , 1960 meeting . When he took office there were twelve teams in the NFL playing a twelve game schedule to frequently half - empty stadiums , and only a few teams had television contracts . The NFL in 1960 was following a business model that had evolved from the 1930s . NFL sources credit Rozelle with bringing concepts such as gate and television profit - sharing , policies already in place in the rival American Football League , to the NFL . The revenue - sharing was a major factor in stabilizing the AFL and guaranteeing the success of its small - market teams . Rozelle recognized the value of such an arrangement , and following the lead of the rival AFL , Rozelle negotiated large television contracts to broadcast every NFL game played each season . In doing so , he not only deftly played one television network against the other , but also persuaded NFL team owners — most notably Carroll Rosenbloom of the Baltimore Colts and George Preston Marshall of the Washington Redskins — to agree to share revenues between teams . His business model , which emulated that of the AFL , was essentially a cartel that benefited all teams equally , from revenue sharing to the player draft . JFK assassination . On November 24 , 1963 the NFL played its full schedule of games ( untelevised due to uninterrupted coverage of the assassination ) , only two days after President Kennedy ' s assassination , while the rival American Football League ( AFL ) postponed its games out of respect for the fallen president . Rozelle soon came to regret his decision to have the NFL play , and frequently stated publicly that it had been his worst mistake . However , Rozelle and then - White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had been classmates at the University of San Francisco years before , and Rozelle had consulted with him . Salinger urged Rozelle to play the games . Rozelle felt that way , saying : " It has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy . Football was Mr . Kennedy ' s game . He thrived on competition . " After their win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia , players on the Washington Redskins asked Coach Bill McPeak to send the game ball to the White House , thanking Rozelle for allowing the games to be played that weekend , saying that they were " playing . . . for President Kennedy and in his memory . " Rozelle ' s " aptitude for conciliation " with the league ' s owners and his work in expanding the NFL however , led to his receiving " Sports Illustrated " magazine ' s 1963 " Sportsman of the Year " award . The AFL . By 1965 , the rival American Football League was firmly established , with a new NBC - TV contract , and a new superstar in Joe Namath . After an NFL team ( the Giants ) had signed an AFL player ( the Buffalo Bills ' Pete Gogolak ) in early 1966 , American Football League commissioner Al Davis had shaken the NFL . Davis had immediately started signing NFL stars such as Roman Gabriel , John Brodie and Mike Ditka to contracts with AFL teams . Fearful of their league ' s collapse , NFL owners , without the knowledge of Rozelle , approached AFL owners ( without the knowledge of Davis ) and requested merger talks . AFL and NFL executives including Lamar Hunt , founder of the AFL and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs , completed a plan . Rozelle is erroneously credited with forging the merger . In October 1966 , he did testify to Congress to convince them to allow the merger , promising that if they permitted it , " " Professional football operations will be preserved in the 23 cities and 25 stadiums where such operations are presently being conducted . " " ; and " " Every franchise of both leagues will remain in its present location . " " The merger was allowed , but despite Rozelle ' s promises , numerous NFL teams have since moved , or used the threat of moving to have cities build or improve stadiums . Following the urging of American Football League commissioner Al Davis , Rozelle also agreed to the creation of the Super Bowl and later supported the concept of " Monday Night Football " . NFL sources have since aggrandized Rozelle ' s part in both the merger and Monday Night Football . Although Al Davis opposed the merger ( and ultimately resigned over it ) , there can be no doubt that the NFL ' s seeking of a merger was a direct result of Davis ' bold moves while he was Commissioner of the AFL . Ironically , Pete Rozelle is erroneously given credit for the merger , even though he consistently refused to have a game between NFL and AFL champions , and the fact that Rozelle was " out of the loop " when the AFL and NFL owners negotiated the merger . Rozelle is also erroneously credited with introducing the concept of shared television revenues to Professional Football . He did advocate it for the merged NFL ; however he was simply embracing the concept which had been implemented by Harry Wismer and the AFL ten years before the merger . In any event , the terms of the merger stipulated that Rozelle would be retained as Commissioner of the post - merger National Football League , and following Davis ' resignation Rozelle was recognized by the ownership of both leagues as the " de facto " chief executive of professional American football . As such , from 1966 until 1970 Rozelle was often referred to as the " football commissioner " in the media , even though ( unlike the Commissioner of Baseball ) the NFL commissioner was never formally invested with that sort of title . 1970s . The 1970s saw Rozelle at the peak of his powers as a sports league commissioner . He presided over a decade of league expansion . " Monday Night Football " became a staple of American television viewing , and the Super Bowl became the single most watched televised event of the year . During this decade , the upstart World Football League organized , pushing player salaries higher even as it ended up in bankruptcy . Towards the end of the decade , labor unrest and litigation over issues such as the NFL Players Association and team movement to new markets foreshadowed Rozelle ' s decline as commissioner . 1980s . The 1980s saw drug scandals and further struggle with powerful owners over team movement . Rozelle , again according to " Monday Night Football " commentator Howard Cosell , pushed the NFL into an internecine struggle with Al Davis concerning the movement of the Oakland Raiders franchise to Los Angeles . Other owners , such as Leonard Tose of the Philadelphia Eagles , sought to move their franchises elsewhere . Ultimately , the NFL lost its court case with Davis , and the Oakland franchise moved to Los Angeles . The sports world was very aware of the men ' s dislike for one another . In 1981 , the Oakland Raiders won the Super Bowl . As commissioner , Rozelle handed the Super Bowl Trophy over to Al Davis . Additionally , the United States Football League formed , pushing player salaries higher , and ultimately embroiled the league in further legal troubles . Personal life , retirement and death . Rozelle married his first wife , an artist named Jane Coupe , in 1949 . The couple had one child , Anne , born in 1958 : however , Jane ' s problems with alcohol meant that Rozelle ( along with his lifelong secretary , Thelma Elkjer ) was his daughter ' s primary caretaker , unheard of in that era . It was not uncommon to see Anne at owner ' s meetings ( some joked that her love of Joe Namath was a reason behind the AFL - NFL merger ) or for Rozelle to take off early to help her with schoolwork or to take her out on the town . Rozelle and Coupe divorced in 1967 ( with Rozelle awarded full custody of Anne ) , and he remarried in 1974 to Carrie Cooke , daughter - in - law of sports impresario Jack Kent Cooke , who owned the Washington Redskins . This time , the two stayed together until his death on December 6 , 1996 in Rancho Santa Fe , California . Under Rozelle the NFL thrived and had become an American icon , despite two players ' strike s and two different upstart leagues . He retired as commissioner on November 5 , 1989 . By the time of his resignation , the number of teams in the league had grown to 28 , and team owners presided over sizable revenues from U . S . broadcasting networks . Rozelle died of brain cancer at the age of 70 on December 6 , 1996 in Rancho Santa Fe . The following month the NFL honored his legacy by wearing a decal on the back of the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots helmets during Super Bowl XXXI that had the NFL shield with Pete in cursive on it . Pete Rozelle is interred at El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego , California . Honors . While still serving as commissioner , Rozelle was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 . The institution ' s annual Pete Rozelle Radio - Television Award was established in 1989 . On January 27 , 1991 , at Super Bowl XXV , the league first awarded the Pete Rozelle Trophy to the Super Bowl MVP . For his contribution to sports in Los Angeles , he was honored with a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum " Court of Honor " plaque by the Coliseum commissioners .