Wellington Mara, NFL's senior owner, dies from cancer at 89

NEW YORK -- Every NFL fan owes a huge debt to Wellington Mara, who died Tuesday at 89.\nSo does every owner, executive and player.\nMara, who joined the New York Giants as a ballboy the day his father purchased the team 80 years ago and became co-owner as a teenager, was the face of his team for more than a half century.\nBut he also was the patriarch of the NFL, a man who was willing for more than 40 years to split the millions in television revenues he could have made in the nation's largest market with the Green Bays and Pittsburghs of the league.\nIt put the NFL at the top of America's sports hierarchy.\n"He shaped nearly every rule and philosophy we have in our league today," said Ernie Accorsi, the Giants general manager. "Most of all, he was the moral conscience of the National Football League. He now joins the pantheon of incredible men who made this league what it has become."\nThe last of the NFL's founding generation, Mara, elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997, died of cancer at his home in Rye, N.Y., the team said.\nOne of Mara's greatest contributions came in the early 1960s when he and brother Jack agreed to share television revenue on a league wide basis soon after Pete Rozelle became commissioner. That deal allowed the NFL to thrive and remains in place today.\nMara became a Giants' ballboy at age 9 on Oct. 18, 1925 after his father, Timothy J. Mara, bought the team. He stayed fully involved in New York's operation for almost 80 years, except for the three years he served in the Navy during World War II. Until he became ill last spring, he attended most practices and every game.\nIn 1930, at 14, his father made him co-owner with older brother Jack.\nHe ran the club until several years ago, when his son John took over day-to-day operations. But from 1979 on, while the team was run by general managers George Young and Ernie Accorsi, Mara had final say on football decisions. He was the one who decided to fire Jim Fassel after the 2003 season and replace him with Tom Coughlin.\nBefore last Sunday's game against Denver, Coughlin told his players of Mara's condition. The Giants won on a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer with 5 seconds left. In the locker room after the game, the players chanted "Duke, Duke, Duke," Mara's nickname.\nManning later said he had been told by one of Mara's grandsons that the owner awakened in time to see the winning play, then smiled and went back to sleep.\nTwo other Giants stars, Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey, went to Mara's home on Monday. "We were able to say a prayer and say goodbye, and that meant a lot to me," Barber said.\nMara always repaid his players -- once a Giant, you were a Giant for life.\nWhen former players became ill, Mara would find them doctors, pay their medical expenses and arrange help for their families. Many old-timers were on the payroll as scouts or advisers. Even in this era of sophisticated scouting, it wasn't unusual for Young or Accorsi to get a call from a former player recommending the Giants look at some prospect.\nThe team was almost always well aware of the prospect, but Mara never dropped any of those old "scouts" from the payroll.\nMara always considered himself a football man first, running the on-field operations through the 1950s until 1979 while Jack and then Jack's son Tim ran the business end. The team was successful during the '50s and early '60s with such stars as Frank Gifford, Y.A. Tittle, Sam Huff and Roosevelt Brown and a coaching staff that included Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi as assistants.\nThe Giants won Super Bowls in 1986 and 1990 with Bill Parcells coaching a team that starred Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms and stout defenses. The 1990 team featured one of the best coaching staffs assembled: future head coaches Coughlin, Bill Belichick, Al Groh, Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel and Ray Handley.\nParcells left after that season and the Giants slipped into the middle of the pack.\nThey made the Super Bowl again after the 2000 season, losing to the Baltimore Ravens, owned by Art Modell, Mara's close friend and longtime partner in league matters. \nIn 1991, Tim Mara and his family sold their share of the team to Robert Tisch. Tisch and Wellington Mara were officially co-owners and Tisch ran much of the business affairs. But it was always clear this was Wellington's team.\nStill, he was never an authoritarian. He would greet players after every game -- win or lose -- flashing a shy smile at stars and scrubs alike.