Georgia Frontiere, RIP

[GA Russell]

Georgia Frontiere died today. I remember after she took over the Rams she wrote a poem with some sorry-ass sexual inuendo which she read on the air during the CBS pre-game show. Irv Cross had a look on his face I still remember when they went from her to him. It was kind of like "Yecchh" times twelve!

Here's her AP Obituary:

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home

Rams owner Frontiere dies

Associated Press

January 18, 2008 at 8:28 PM EST

LOS ANGELES — Georgia Frontiere, the St. Louis native who became a hometown hero when she brought the NFL's Rams from Los Angeles in 1995, died Friday. She was 80.

Frontiere had been hospitalized for breast cancer for several months, the Rams said in a statement posted on their website.

"Our mom was dedicated to being more than the owner of a football team," daughter Lucia Rodriguez and son Chip Rosenbloom said in the statement.

"She loved the Rams' players, coaches, and staff. The warmth and generosity she exuded will never be forgotten."

The one-time nightclub singer was married seven times, starting at age 15. Her sixth husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, owned the Los Angeles Rams at the time of his drowning death in 1979.

The Rams moved twice under Frontiere's leadership, first relocating from the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1980 to Anaheim, 55 kilometres away.

St. Louis' original NFL franchise, the Cardinals, had left for Arizona in 1988. After the city failed to land an expansion team, civic leaders built a US$260 million, taxpayer-financed domed stadium anyway, in hopes of luring another team.

Frontiere, born in St. Louis, agreed in January 1995 to move, causing her to be demonized in Southern California but heralded in her hometown. At a downtown rally soon after the move was announced, thousands chanted "Georgia! Georgia!"

"You take my breath away," Frontiere told the crowd. "It's so good to be back in St. Louis, my hometown."

The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2000.

John Shaw, president of the Rams, said Frontiere was a "loyal, generous, and supportive owner who was totally committed" to the team.

"This is an enormous loss for me and for the Rams' organization. All of our prayers and sympathy go out to her family," Shaw said.

The Rams were the first major sports team to arrive in California when then they moved from Cleveland in 1946. They became the first football or baseball team to leave the state with the move to St. Louis.

Frontiere was a fixture at Rams games during the heyday of the "Greatest Show on Turf" teams that made the playoffs five out of six seasons from 1999 through 2004. Led by quarterback Kurt Warner, running back Marshall Faulk and receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, the Rams won the 2000 Super Bowl 23-16 and lost the Super Bowl two seasons later on a last-second field goal.

Frontiere was born Georgia Irwin on Nov. 21, 1927, and attended Soldan High School before moving to California at age 15. She wed that year, though the marriage was eventually annulled, according to published reports.

Her second husband was killed when hit by a bus. She left her third husband to try to make it as a showgirl in Las Vegas. Her fourth marriage — to a stage manager of the Sacramento Music Circus — ended in divorce after three years. Husband No. 5 was a Miami television producer.

She married Rosenbloom in 1966, shortly after he took over the Baltimore Colts. He eventually swapped that franchise for the Rams, which his wife took control of after he drowned.

Frontiere remarried again after Rosenbloom's death. Her seventh husband, Dominic Frontiere, was an award-winning composer. They divorced in 1988 upon his release from prison after serving time on tax charges related to the scalping of more than 2,500 tickets to the 1980 Super Bowl in Pasadena.

Frontiere left day-to-day operation of her team to Shaw, both when the franchise was in Southern California and after the move to St. Louis.

Shaw continues to run the team from Los Angeles.

The team has missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons.

Frontiere became involved in several philanthropic efforts in St. Louis after moving the team, including the creation in 1997 of the St. Louis Rams Foundation. According to the team's website, the Rams and the foundation have contributed more than $5 million to charities in the St. Louis area.

Frontiere also committed $1 million to the Fulfillment Fund, an organization that helps needy high school students pay for college.

She has served as a member of several boards, including the United Way of Greater St. Louis, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, Saint Louis Symphony, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

In addition to her two children, she is survived by six grandchildren, and Earle Weatherwax, her companion of 19 years.

[Van Basten II]

Probably not worth a thread but worth mentionning former Montreal Expos president John McHale passed away

John McHale, first president of the Montreal Expos, dead at 86

1 day ago

John McHale was a key figure in bringing major league baseball to Canada.

The Detroit native, who died Thursday at the age of 86, helped Montreal secure an expansion franchise while working in the baseball commissioner's office in 1968, and then served as the Expos president - later adding the duties of general manager - until 1986.

McHale had recently suffered a stroke. He died Thursday morning in a hospice unit near his home in Palm City.

A modest ballplayer, McHale batted .193 in only 64 games for the Detroit Tigers in the 1940s, McHale made his name in management, serving in the Detroit, Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and Expos organizations, as well as working for Major League Baseball.

Most recently, he was on baseball's veterans committee and served on the board of directors for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

"He was a really bright guy," said Jim Fanning, a longtime friend who worked with McHale in the Braves and Expos organizations. "He played for the Tigers, became a farm director, a scouting director and a GM.

"His background was incredible. It was easy to learn from him."

Commissioner Bid Selig called McHale "one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known.

"He was a long time mentor of mine and I had the pleasure of serving with him on the board of directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball has lost one of its most respected figures."

McHale was an aide to former commissioner William Eckert in the 1960s when the National League was looking to expand by two teams - San Diego and either Montreal or Buffalo.

He was deeply involved as National League president Warren Giles helped sort out Montreal's fractured ownership group, settling on majority ownership by Charles Bronfman, which saved the Montreal bid, Fanning said.

McHale then turned down an offer to replace Eckert as commissioner to join the new franchise as its first president.

"He was a baseball guy," said Fanning, who joined McHale as GM of the new team.

Fanning, who now works in community relations for the Toronto Blue Jays, said McHale got experience in bringing baseball to new markets when the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in the mid-1960s.

He handed management of the team to Fanning for the 1965 season while he moved to Atlanta to help sell the game in the southeastern U.S. market.

"What we learned from that experience is part of what we brought to Montreal," Fanning added.

The Expos were a hit when they began play at Jarry Park in 1969, but despite having talent-packed lineups in the early 1980s and 1990s, never won a championship. The team moved to Washington after the 2004 season.

From 1978 to 1984, McHale added the GM's job to his duties to deal with rising salaries and the increasing presence of agents in baseball.

With Fanning as manager, he took the Expos to their only playoff appearance in 1981, when he was named The Sporting News executive of the year. He was replaced as president in 1986 by Claude Brochu.

"He had a presence that was almost regal," Fanning recalled. "He was tall, bright, well-spoken - a really fantastic person."

As a player, McHale was a left-hand hitting first baseman with three career home runs for the Tigers. He went 0-3 in the 1945 World Series, won by Detroit in seven games over the Chicago Cubs.

McHale's son John Jr. is a vice-president of Major League Baseball.

[Van Basten II]

Considering the few responses it got, guess that Geogia was not on anybody's mind

[Larry Kart]

I believe that Georgia could really play the organ.

[Tom 1960]

I used to be a big L.A. Ram fan for years. IMO, she ran that team into the ground before making the move to St. Louis then blaming lack of fan support in Anaheim. When she decided to move the team, that was it for me. I'm a San Diego Charger fan now. No regrets.

[Ron S]

Whenever I hear about Georgia Frontiere, what immediately comes to mind is:

Some well-entrenched childhood TV memories.

[Edward]

I used to be a big L.A. Ram fan for years. IMO, she ran that team into the ground before making the move to St. Louis then blaming lack of fan support in Anaheim. When she decided to move the team, that was it for me. I'm a San Diego Charger fan now. No regrets.

I'm with you, Tom. She should have relinquished control of the team when she inherited it - she did not know a damn thing about football. That she did not is testimony to her arrogance and greed.

I was a diehard Rams fan until the end. Georgia did everything that she could to lower team attendance in order to justify a move to St. Louis. When the franchise left southern California, my allegiance went with it. The Rams had been in southern California for almost 50 years when she whisked it away.

Only six teams voted against the Rams move - the Bills, the Jets, the Steelers, the Giants, the Redskins, and (amusingly) the Cardinals. This was a terrible mistake by the NFL that appears unlikely to be corrected in the foreseeable future.

I won't say that I'm happy that she's dead, but ...