Wellington Mara
Co-owner, the New York Giants
Born: August 14, 1916, in Rochester, New York
Died: October 25, 2005, in Rye, New York
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2012: Sports
A rarity among owners of professional sports franchises, Wellington Mara was beloved by players and fans alike – and for good reason. Through hands-on leadership, Mara was a force in recruiting top football talent and turning the New York Giants into a winning team.
Mara was born and raised in upstate New York. His father, Tim Mara, founded the Giants in 1925 and put the younger Mara to work as a ball boy. In the ensuing years, Mara helped out at practices, shined shoes, and ran errands for the players, as reported in The New York Times. Mara was 14 when his father made him a part-owner of the team, along with his older brother, Jack.
After receiving a degree from Fordham University, Mara started working fulltime for the Giants, initially as team treasurer and assistant to his father. Mara served as a naval officer during World War II, then returned to the Giants. He rose through the ranks and became president of the organization after the death of his brother in 1965. (Their father died in 1958.)
Long before he assumed the team presidency, Mara had overseen personnel decisions, scouting players and supervising draft selections. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he drafted the likes of Frank Gifford, Kyle Rote, Roosevelt Grier, Roosevelt Brown, and Sam Huff, and traded for Y.A. Tittle, Del Shofner, Andy Robustelli, and others. These legendary players became the core of the era’s powerhouse Giants.
As an influential owner in the early 1960s, Mara established the concept of revenue-sharing, which contributed greatly to the growth and health of the NFL. “I don’t know that the NFL would be what it is today without Wellington Mara,” said Giants great Michael Strahan at Mara’s New Jersey Hall of Fame induction in 2012. “It wouldn’t be as exciting. It wouldn’t be as competitive.”
Mara also left his mark with the controversial move of the Giants to New Jersey in 1976. He faced harsh criticism from New York officials, but the decision to take the team from Yankee Stadium to the Meadowlands turned out to be a stroke of genius.
The Giants fell on hard times in the 1970s, but turned things around in the 1980s when George Young and Bill Parcells were brought in as general manager and head coach, respectively. The team went to the Super Bowl three times from 1987 to 2001, winning twice. In all, Mara’s Giants won 13 division championships, nine conference championships, and six NFL titles.
Mara was unique in that he was a visible presence around the team, coming to work in New Jersey every day and showing up at practices. This earned him the admiration and respect of his players and the fans.
“After games, you’d walk into the locker room and he’d be standing right there to shake your hand, win or lose,” star running back Tiki Barber told The New York Times.
Added Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff in The Times: “He was always there. When we were on the field, he was always standing on the side. Our football team wanted to see him there. A lot of football teams don’t want to see the owner around. But the Giants did. He was the man.”