174: Steagles - NFL

Matthew, I've maintained that Elmer Layden, his tenure as commissioner, the guy gets a bum rap.

I mean, he was the commissioner of the NFL during a very rocky period, World War II.

Where does he fit into this picture as NFL commissioner? And, and why do you think his tenure is looked upon as not so great?

Elmer Layden had the very difficult assi- assignment of working with some very, very big personalities, some strong personalities.

You're talking about, uh, uh, George Halas, um, in, uh, uh, the, the Redskins owner, George, uh, was it George Preston Marshall?

George Preston Marshall.

Yeah.

Um, not to mention Lex Thompson and Bert Bell and Rooney.

As weak as the NFL was at that time as a, as a business, I would say, the owners were some pretty strong person- They were some big personalities.

Uh, the Maras were in New York already.

And so I think Elmer gets a bad rap because he was overshadowed, right? And his job, in a way, was managing these big personalities.

And in that regard, I think he did a fantastic job.

I mean, it's interesting, I went to Canton and was able to go through the minutes of the s- of the, uh, NFL owners meetings, uh, in, in '43 and '44, and, uh, they could be pretty contentious.

I mean, this whole, how, uh, could you imagine, and of course, it's, it's on a different scale, but Roger Goodell convincing two of the owners to merge their teams for a year, [chuckles] uh, you know, other- utterly inconceivable.

And so the fact that he was able to keep the league alive and, and, and s- put it in a position to, to really prosper, I think he does get a bit of a bum rap.

I think you're right.

I think he just gets overshadowed.

These guys were just amazing characters, right? And, uh, they were in the papers all the time.

And, uh, I think Elmer really just saw his job as kind of, you know, shepherding these guys in the direction he wanted them to go, and sometimes they would, you know, run away, and he'd have to go bring them back into the fold.

And I think he did a good job of that.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Matthew, I've maintained that Elmer Layden, his tenure as commissioner, the guy gets a bum rap.

I mean, he was the commissioner of the NFL during a very rocky period, World War II.

Where does he fit into this picture as NFL commissioner? And, and why do you think his tenure is looked upon as not so great?

Elmer Layden had the very difficult assi- assignment of working with some very, very big personalities, some strong personalities.

You're talking about, uh, uh, George Halas, um, in, uh, uh, the, the Redskins owner, George, uh, was it George Preston Marshall?

George Preston Marshall.

Yeah.

Um, not to mention Lex Thompson and Bert Bell and Rooney.

As weak as the NFL was at that time as a, as a business, I would say, the owners were some pretty strong person- They were some big personalities.

Uh, the Maras were in New York already.

And so I think Elmer gets a bad rap because he was overshadowed, right? And his job, in a way, was managing these big personalities.

And in that regard, I think he did a fantastic job.

I mean, it's interesting, I went to Canton and was able to go through the minutes of the s- of the, uh, NFL owners meetings, uh, in, in '43 and '44, and, uh, they could be pretty contentious.

I mean, this whole, how, uh, could you imagine, and of course, it's, it's on a different scale, but Roger Goodell convincing two of the owners to merge their teams for a year, [chuckles] uh, you know, other- utterly inconceivable.

And so the fact that he was able to keep the league alive and, and, and s- put it in a position to, to really prosper, I think he does get a bit of a bum rap.

I think you're right.

I think he just gets overshadowed.

These guys were just amazing characters, right? And, uh, they were in the papers all the time.

And, uh, I think Elmer really just saw his job as kind of, you know, shepherding these guys in the direction he wanted them to go, and sometimes they would, you know, run away, and he'd have to go bring them back into the fold.

And I think he did a good job of that.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.