Rozelle was born in
South Gate, California and grew up in suburban
Lynwood, California during the Great Depression. He graduated from
Compton High School in
1944 , 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 LA Rams front office and while in the athletic office at USF he marketed the Don's national championship basketball season of
1949 into a national media event. He graduated from USF that year.
He held a series of public relations jobs in
Southern California , marketing the
1956 Olympics in
Melbourne , Australia for an
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 LA market, into a business success.
After
Bert Bell 's death in
1959 , Rozelle was the surprise choice for his replacement as NFL commissioner. When he took office in
1960 , there were ten teams in the NFL playing a twelve game schedule to frequently half empty stadiums and were seldom on TV; by the time he resigned, the number of teams had grown to twenty-eight. The NFL in 1960 was following a business model that had evolved from the
1930s . Following the lead of the rival
American Football League , he negotiated large television contracts to broadcast every NFL game played each season. He got NFL team owners to agree to share revenues between teams, as the
American Football League had done since its inception. His business model was essentially a cartel that benefited all teams equally, from revenue sharing to the player draft.
In , following the
Terrorist Attacks On The United States in
2001 , ordered all games cancelled the weekend afterward. However, he didn't cite Rozelle's decision, he cited that the events were so deadly and security concerns.) Rozelles's "aptitude for conciliation" with the league's owners, however, led to his receiving ''
Sports Illustrated '' magazine's
1963 "
Sportsman Of The Year " award.
With
American Football League Commissioner
Al Davis and other AFL and NFL executives, he negotiated the
Merger between the
American Football League and the NFL. In
October 1966 , he testified 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 regardless of the 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 ''.
The
1970s were a decade of league expansion and litigation over issues such as the NFL Players Association and team movement to new markets. The
1980s saw drug scandals and further struggle with powerful owners over team movement. Monday Night Football was a staple of American television viewing, and the Super Bowl was the single most watched event of the year.
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 in
1989 and died at the age of 70 in
1996 in
Rancho Santa Fe, California .
