Carroll Rosenbloom, NFL Conspiracy Options

[William Kelly]

ROSENBLOOM, CARROLL.

The owners of there NFL football teams - the Dallas Cowboys, the New Orleans Saints and the Baltimore Colts, became entwined in the drama that revolved around the assassinaton of President Kennedy.

Of course the Cowobys, with the Hunts, Merchesons and Wynnes are mentioned prominently in the JFK assassination lore, though John Mecom, Jr. of the Saints, is less so. George DeMohrenschildt, the accused assassin's mentor, traveled to Yougslavica on oil business for John Mecom, Sr., and his son, besides owning the Saints, was said to be in the banking business with Leon Trujaque, a New Orleans Import-Export merchent who employed the accused assassin at the same time DeMohresnchildt was in Yougslacvica.

Then there's Carroll Rosenbloom, owner of the Baltimore Colts, who was unfortunate enough to buy, from Meyer Lansky, major interest in the Hotel Nacional in Havana, shortly before Fidel Castro took over. Rosenbloom also bankrolled other mobsters who became entwined in the CIA/Mafia plots to kill Castro and let LBJ stay at his beach house during the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City.

While the owners of the Cowboys and the Saints are closer tied to the people present at Dealey Plaza when JFK was killed, I am already familiar with Rosenbloom as a character in my book "Birth of the Birdie - The First 100 Years of Golf at Atlantic City Country Club."

In reviewing sports history there's a lot of ink spilt on the players and the games, but very little about the team and club owners, who were in many ways, major players in much bigger games. .

While I know very little about the Hunts or Mecoms, other than their appearance as characters in the Kennedy assassination, I do know quite a bit about Carroll Rosenbloom.

I know, for instance, how to spell his name, with two rs, two ls, and two oos, and that he lived at the Jersey Shore, in a beach house at Margate, and was a well respected and prominent member of the Atlantic City Country Club.

Rosenbloom, a wealthy industrialist who owned the Baltimore Colts, also lent Leo Fraser the money to purchase the club from Leo's brother Sonny Fraser, who was forced to sell the club in order to open the Atlantic City Race Track, along with his partners H. "Hap" Farley and Jack Kelly (Grace's dad). There were illegal slot machines in the Tap Room of the country club, and Sen. Smathers of Florida, who didn't want the race track competition, was making an issue it, so instead of getting rid of the slot machines, Sonny sold the country club to his brother Leo, just back from the war.

Leo Fraser borrowed the six figures to buy the club from his golfing pal, Carroll Rosenbloom, and paid him back every penny.

Rosenbloom was a legend in the men's locker room at the Atlantic City Country Club. where Al Capone allegedly hid out for a week during the 1929 organized crime convention.

Then there was the greatest football game ever played. Legend has it that Rosenbloom called in the final scoring play from the Atlantic City locker room, having them run the ball for a touchdown instead of a field goal, which wouldn't have covered the spread. I know that's not true because Rosenbloom would have been at the game and not in the locker room. But some say the bet and the play were true.

A serious gambler, Rosenbloom was suspected of being the "anonymous" member of the Atlantic City Country Club who promised to increase the purse of the US Women's Open if Babe Zaharius could break 300 for the tournament. When she came in at 301, she said it was okay not getting the bonus as it would put her in a different tax bracket.

Rosenbloom had a Cuban connection, and took the Atlantic City Country Club golf pro down to Havana to play the golf pro at the Havana Country Club, for major stakes. One of Rossenbloom's golfing pals was Al Bessellink, a Merchantville Country Club pro who became a notorious golfer on the pro tour. Another one of Rossenbloom's foursome, Mike McLaney, convinced him to buy major interest in the Hotel Nacional from Meyer Lansky, shortly before Castro came to power. Good deal, bad timing.

Then in the summer of 1964, Rosenbloom served as unofficial host to President Lyndon Johnson during the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City. Johnson had a hotel room, and was officially listed as staying there, but he thought Bobby Kennedy had the room bugged and was trying to take over the convention, so he moved into Carroll Rosenbloom's beach house in nearby Margate.

It was no secret after awhile, and people who gathered outside the house were sometimes pleased to be greeted by Lady Bird, who is remembered as a real lady.

LBJ on the other hand, was a real Son of a Bitch. It's a shame he didn't play golf, he may have been a better person.

Rosenbloom then became the international man of mystery when he was found floating dead in the waters off his Florida home, having drowned suspiciously. His ball team, having traded the Colts for the Rams even up (to avoid capitol gains) was taken over by his wife, and the rest is history.

Although the gambling angle is well documented, primarily by Dan Moldea, the Cuban angle is only referenced by Gus Russo (Live by the Sword), and there's really very little on LBJ's stay at Rossenbloom's Margate White House.

Moldea's investigation into NFL gambling even led to gruesome autopsy photos of Rosenbloom being published and broadcast on TV, while Russo alleges a golfing connection between old man Joe Kennedy, President Kennedy and Mike McLaney, their Palm Beach neighbor.

If you read all the quotes below, you eventually get to Bert Bell, Jr., for whom the NFL Bert Bell Award is named, and a Philadelphia football personage, whose son, Bert Bell III, took the photo that is my avatar on the Education Forum.

http://xml.dailypress.com/bal-colts1224,0,...y

I met Carroll Rossenbloom's son in the Tap Room of the Atlantic City Country Club, where he told me he enjoyed reading my book "Birth of the Birdie – 100 Years of Golf," except I spelled his father's name wrong – it's two arrrr's and two ellll's.

http://xml.dailypress.com/bal-colts1224,0,2712621.story

David Kaiser, in his new book (The Road to Dallas, p. 194) say, "Mike McLaney claimed numerous famous acquaintances in the world of sports, including Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom, who in 1958 put up more than a quarter of McLaney's $800,000 interest in the Hotel Nacional and apparently took a financial bath himself when Castro shut the casinos down…"

Then there's Al Besselink on Rossenbloom's $1 bet:

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/golf/story/912681.html

"He also claims a role in what has to be one of the most colorful NFL betting tales, relating to the 1958 ''Greatest Game'' ColtsGiants championship. "Miami businessman Mike McLaney, Besselink said, cut him in on a $1 million bet on the Colts - laying 3 ½ to 5 ½ points in various wagers. Also involved: Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom."

JFK on Rosenbloom:

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:q50IafFhe5gJ:www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php%3Fpid%3D8610+carroll+rosenbloom+Lyndon+Johnson&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Rosenbloom

Carroll Rosenbloom: Man of Mystery By John Eisenberg

http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=3089

…Time has dimmed the renown of the owner who came before them all: Carroll Rosenbloom, a local boy-made-good who owned the Baltimore Colts from 1953 to 1972. But he was as shrewd and strong-willed as any of them and, in his own way, set standards of outrageousness and originality that none of the others has matched.
"There was never a dull moment," said his son, Steve, who worked for his father in pro football and now lives in Louisiana. "If things ever got too quiet, he would throw a couple of paper clips into the machinery just to watch people scramble."

Bert Bell Jr., who worked for Rosenbloom in the 1960s as the Colts' business manager, said succinctly, "You knew he was robbing you, but you liked him anyway."

Dan Moldea:

http://www.moldea.com/Five-3.html

and Lew Chesler, Mike McLaney and Rossenbloom:

http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg28042.html

For instance, Bubba Smith, a defensive lineman for the Baltimore Colts, had told Playboy that the 1969 Super Bowl, featuring the heroics of New York Jets' quarterback Joe Namath, had been fixed; that Carroll Rosenbloom, then the owner of the Colts, had bet against his own team.

Not true, according to my own investigation, which included a statement from the bookmaker who had actually handled Rosenbloom's bet--which was placed on his own team.

William Taafee on the PSS Frontline NFL gambling expose:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1120470/index.htm

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2008/1218/1229523050771.html

Since Baltimore owner Carroll Rosenbloom was an inveterate gambler, it has been assumed over the years that behind the Colts' decision to forego the conventional wisdom of kicking a perfunctory field goal was that Rosenbloom needed a touchdown to cover the 4-point spread.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idNO2nanPCneKwTUv7ozyvMCUTKAD951VUTO0

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...0

Legend has it that Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom had bet thousands of dollars on his team, which was favored by anywhere from 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 points. But the players insisted that because Myhra was unreliable, they went for the TD.

So Unitas passed to Mutscheller to the 1 and Ameche ran it in as fans swarmed the field.

http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSTRE4BL01N20081222]


By Larry Fine

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifty years ago the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts took the NFL title game to sudden death and launched pro football on a ride to the top of U.S. sports with what came to be known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

The golden anniversary of that 23-17 upset win on December 28, 1958 by a Colts team led by young quarterback Johnny Unitas has inspired a passel of books this holiday season, a television retrospective and musings on how far football has come.

"A crowning moment at the right time," Pro Football Hall of Fame spokesman Joe Horrigan told Reuters about the 1958 title contest in a telephone interview from Canton, Ohio. "It lifted the game to new heights."

Television networks saw football's potential as entertainment on the small screen, entrepreneurs figured there was room for expansion and the game went on a dizzying growth spurt that matured into a business with $7 billion in revenues last year.

"That was the game that definitely put professional football on the map," Super Bowl champion coach Tom Coughlin of the Giants said in an ESPN show in which modern-day Giants and Colts reflected on the game with men who played in it.

That contest showcased 15 future Hall of Famers, including Baltimore's Unitas, wide receiver Raymond Berry and running back/receiver Lenny Moore, and New York halfback Frank Gifford, linebacker Sam Huff and defensive end Andy Robustelli.

Baltimore coach Weeb Ewbank, who later led the underdog New York Jets to a 1969 Super Bowl triumph over the Colts, also ended up in the Hall, as did the Giants' offensive and defensive coordinators Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.

The see-saw struggle at Yankee Stadium produced the first "fifth quarter" in pro football, which ended with fullback Alan Amache's one-yard plunge into the end zone, and coincided with the blossoming of television.

Network rights to broadcast the 1958 game fetched $100,000. The NFL now gets some $3.7 billion a year from TV contracts.

Despite a slew of fumbles, the game had drama, controversy and a unique ending, grabbing attention at a time when baseball ruled and pro football was secondary to the college game.

"Sometimes things just align," Horrigan said. "It just brought everything into alignment."

NEWSPAPER STRIKE

The NFL brought Moore, Berry, Gifford and New York placekicker team mate Pat Summerall together to reminisce about the game in a conference call.

"More TV sets turned on to see a football game played in the fifth quarter," Gifford said. "All the New York newspapers were on strike that week so it got more attention nationally. More national papers sent reporters."

Unitas drove the Colts 86 yards in the closing minutes, throwing repeatedly to Berry to set up a 20-yard field goal with seven seconds left that tied the game 17-17.

"It was kind of like the advent of what teams call the two-minute drill that Johnny U perfected," Moore said. "The way he kind of took over for us to get that tying score."

Baltimore staged that drive after stopping Gifford short of a first down on a controversial play.

Gifford felt he had made the first down but was denied an accurate spotting of the ball when Baltimore's huge defensive lineman Big Daddy Lipscomb dived into the pile and fell on team mate Gino Marchetti, who howled in pain from a broken leg.

"The referee came over, took the ball from me and went and helped Marchetti up," recounted Gifford. "Then he came back and spotted the ball."

The ball was placed short of the first down and New York punted back to Baltimore. "That just increased the aura around this game," Gifford said.

Gifford and Summerall both enjoyed long careers in sports broadcasting after their playing careers.

Summerall said the '58 game underlined the NFL's appeal.

"A game that was almost designed for TV, with timeouts, a halftime and huddles that allowed for people to talk about the strategy for the next play. It was made for television."

BUILT FRANCHISE

Gifford noted that the NFL had 12 teams with 35-man rosters compared to 32 franchises with 53-man rosters today, and said the game inspired others to want to get involved.

"Lamar Hunt at age 27 went to the NFL wanting an expansion franchise. When he couldn't get a franchise he went out and built one. He knew there were plenty of players."

Hunt helped to form the American Football League that began play in 1960.

"Lamar was a team mate of mine at SMU (Southern Methodist University)," recalled Berry. "I had no idea his father was a rich oil man."

Bidding wars for players led the leagues in 1966 to agree to merge by 1970 and stage a title game at the end of the 1966 season that became known as the Super Bowl.

By then, the NFL had already begun its current 43-year run as the most popular sport in the U.S., according to the Harris Poll.

Berry remembered an indelible moment after the '58 game.

"I think back to Bert Bell after the game," the great possession receiver said. "He had tears in his eyes.

"I had been in the league for four years and I was looking at the commissioner of the NFL and wondered what chord had been struck. I think he had understood what a tremendous thing had happened to the league he had run for so long."

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This post has been edited by William Kelly: Apr 3 2009, 12:37 AM