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O n January 17, 1941, the NFL owners took the first step in establishing the new position of commissioner to govern their rapidly growing sport. Meeting in Chicago, they rewrote part of the league’s constitution by inserting a clause legalizing the establishment of this new post in the event that the league members decided to authorize such a position at their regular April meeting. Chicago Bears president George Halas told the Associated Press that should a commissioner be chosen, the office of president still would be continued . “We are paving the way for employment of a commissioner in case we want one,”he explained.“In case we pick a commissioner, he would have more power than the president, but the latter office would be retained.” After considering such people as American Olympic Committee Chairman Avery Brundage, the club owners quickly narrowed the field of candidates . The finalists apparently were Notre Dame football coach and athletic director Elmer Layden and former Olympic gold medal–winning oarsman John B. Kelly, a lifelong friend of Bert Bell dating back to their hell-raising days in France during World War I. Halas and Bell were sent to interview the two men—Layden first, then Kelly—and neither candidate knew that the other was being interviewed. On Tuesday, February 4, the Associated Press reported that the committee told league owners the previous Saturday (February 1) that they had reached an agreement with Layden but the announcement would be delayed to give him time to inform Notre Dame officials. Not so, said Bell. He and two other club owners charged that Layden was “railroaded” into office, not only over Kelly, a Philadelphia contractor who had become a nationally prominent Democratic Party leader, but also over another newly identified candidate, Frank McCormick, the athletic director at the University of Minnesota. “Dissension broke out in the National Football League today,” said the Associated Press in a story from Chicago on February 6 as Bell and 14. Bert Bell Ends Up in Pittsburgh 86 • Chapter 14 his colleagues—Alexis Thompson, of Pittsburgh, and Dan Topping, of Brooklyn—traded charges with Halas, Washington’s George Preston Marshall, and the other five owners. Declaring that the entire league was entitled to vote on Layden’s selection , Bell, Thompson, and Topping asserted that the appointment was illegal and could not be official until action could be taken to amend the constitution at the annual league meetings in April. “Every voting member knew in advance of publication that Layden was to be appointed,” Halas retorted. “Every step we took was legal. A majority is sufficient to elect a new officer and we have a substantial majority in favor of Layden. Bell knows that his partner Art Rooney cast his half-vote for Layden. It is true that we were unable to inform Bell of the official vote, but that was because he was traveling en-route to Florida.” According to The Pro Football Chronicle, Halas pulled a power play while Bell was traveling to Florida, with Bert thinking that a decision wouldn’t be made until they had talked to McCormick. Halas “hastily conferred in Chicago with Detroit’s Fred Mandel and the Cardinals’ Charles Bidwell.At the same time, Eagles’ co-owner Art Rooney lobbied New York’s Tim Mara, Washington’s George Preston Marshall, Green Bay’s Curly Lambeau , and Cleveland’s Edward P. Bruch over the telephone and got all of them to agree to hire Layden.” Speaking in Philadelphia, Bell insisted that he had been delegated with Halas to interview three candidates and that the first he knew of Layden’s appointment was when he read it in the newspapers.“We interviewed two men without reaching a decision,” Bell told the AP.“I was waiting to interview the third when I learned that Layden had accepted. I do not know who made the announcement but it came from Chicago and that’s where Halas lives.” “Well, that’s one thing Bell got right,” replied Halas. “I do live in Chicago . He knew all about the progress of negotiations. We interviewed Layden together in Pittsburgh last week. Then we talked to Thompson and Topping by phone. Layden’s appointment was strictly legal. No announcement was made until Layden had been handed an official binding agreement containing the signatures of a majority of our club owners.” From New York, Thompson told the Associated Press that Halas and Bell were appointed to interview Layden, Kelly, and McCormick but that McCormick never...

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