Word: werblin
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Some people collect rare stamps or coins. Sonny Werblin, president of the American Football League's New York Jets, collects quarterbacks. He had three last season, and they cost him $48,000. Now he has six. He picked up Virginia Tech's Bob Schweickert for a song, but he had to shell out $200,000 for Notre Dame's Heisman Trophy winner, John Huarte. And to land Alabama's Joe Namath, he went all the way to $400,000-the highest price ever paid for a rookie in the history of pro football...
Imagine, if you will, Howard Cosell intoning in his inimitable manner: "The locales--Detroit's Cobo Hall, home of the hapless Pistons, and Madison Square Garden in New York, home of Sonny Werblin (the man who signed Joe Willie Namath thereby altering forever the face of football) and his corporate-athletic empire. The promoters--the national organizations some call 'the parties.' The contestants...
...owners around the league doubt that she will be able to offset her disadvantage in size and strength. N.B.A. basketball is a man's game, a very rough man's game. The territory beneath the backboards is one of the most violent in sport. Said Sonny Werblin, president of Madison Square Garden, which owns the New York Knicks, on hearing of the signing: "It's disgraceful, a travesty." Others accused the faltering Pacers of signing Meyers solely for publicity. Said Seattle SuperSonics Owner Sam Schulman: "It's a stunt, like Bill Veeck signing a midget when...
...their private bog--they had in mind a couple of factories, maybe a sewage plant, or something. But a few years back, then-Jersey-governor William Cahill and a bunch of guys he assembled into an outfit known as the "New Jersey Sports and Exposition Commission" headed by Sonny Werblin, came along, and were so taken by the idea of bringing professional football to the financially troubled state that they decided they would spare no expense, make no compromise...
...full-length portrait of America. The operative word is see. Like politics and pornography, football tends to yield a reflection of the onlooker who finds what he seeks. And there are more seekers all the time. This week, as the season picks up velocity, the words of Sonny Werblin, former owner of the Jets, take on a special autumnal tang. In the '60s, Werblin found his night flight stacked up over a large city. Gazing down at the twinkling lights he said hopefully: "Every light is a potential customer." Five years ago, that would have sounded like a half...