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B ert Bell spent much of his time in the early days of January 1957 working the phones, discussing the ramifications of the new Players Association with club owners and some of the players who had been selected to represent their teams. One of his conversations was with Norm Van Brocklin. He agreed to meet “informally” with the Rams quarterback along with Kyle Rote of the New York Giants and attorney Creighton Miller in Philadelphia before the league’s annual meeting. Bell emphasized to Van Brocklin, however, that he did not “have the right to represent the teams” because the club owners “must represent themselves.” After hearing details of the commissioner’s conversation with Van Brocklin, Miller, the players’ legal counsel, reiterated that the association was not a union and that its main objective was “to improve the relationship between the players and owners peacefully without disrupting the game or creating animosities.” Meanwhile, on January 19, Bell received some good news. After learning that a Canadian court had upheld an NFL player’s contract for the first time, the commissioner declared, in effect, the end to nearly six years of legal skirmishing that he and league owners had waged with the Canadian professional football teams. Bell was obviously relieved when he learned that the Ontario Court of Appeals in Toronto ruled in favor of the Detroit Lions, who had brought a breach-of-contract action against quarterback Tom Dublinski. The Lions were awarded $6,950 in damages. Dublinski, a backup to Bobby Layne, had joined the Toronto Argonauts in 1955. “I don’t want it to appear that I’m gloating over the decision,” Bell told reporters. “It’s a great thing for Canadian football, too. This raiding business has by no means been one-sided. Our clubs have done it, too. The 34. “You Can’t Quit Now, Pete Rozelle” “You Can’t Quit Now, Pete Rozelle” • 251 last year has been an amicable one between us. There has been no raiding and everything seems peaceful now.” As promised, the commissioner met with Rote, Van Brocklin, and Miller on January 30 to discuss the proposed new Players Association. Afterward, the participants appeared together at a press conference. Bell, who earlier appeared rather cool to the Players Association, said that he would send a list of “proposals” to the club owners when their annual meeting opened the following day at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. They included recognition of the players’ group by the owners and a minimum annual salary of $5,000. Bell pledged to request a decision by the owners before the end of the meeting. The group then presented a formal statement adding that “in the event the owners take no immediate action on these proposals, Commissioner Bell assured the players’ group of a meeting with the owners within the next few weeks.” Although Bell felt confident that the owners would accept the Players Association, the proposal never had a chance. A poll by sportswriter Russ Green taken before the meeting showed six owners in favor with only George Preston Marshall of the Washington Redskins outwardly opposed. But when George Halas of the Chicago Bears—the only team without representation on the association—turned against the proposal during discussions , he was reportedly joined by Green Bay and San Francisco. John Steadman, who was working for the Baltimore Colts at the time, recalls that the owners went into executive session to discuss the issue. They met from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. without resolving anything. “I can remember vividly that Arthur Rooney, Carroll Rosenbloom, and Edwin Anderson were strong proponents,” Steadman said years later in an interview with NFL Films.“They said,‘We’ll be better off with it.’ Rooney said,‘I’m from a union town and it’ll work fine.’ Others had apprehension. They were antiunion. “Finally, Joe Labrum said, ‘Bert, the newspaper guys have early deadlines tonight. You are going to have to go down the hall and talk to them.’ Bell replied, ‘Well, what do you want me to tell them? There hasn’t been anything happening.’ So the owners took a recess, Bert put his teeth back in, and went down the hall.” Steadman then had another chance to witness the commissioner at his always accessible but double-talking best. “He had a little bit of Casey Stengel in him,” Steadman explained. “There were two real tough wire service reporters in Philadelphia—Russ Green with United Press, and...

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