Alexis Thompson
American football owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers
Alexis Thompson (May 20, 1911 – December 20, 1954) was the owner of the National Football League (NFL)'s Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Steagles. Before his executive career, he was a field hockey player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics for the United States team, which was eliminated in the group stage of the Olympic tournament. He played one match as a forward.
Thompson was born in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of Yale University, he was the grandson of the founder of Republic Iron and Steel, also named Alexis Thompson, and the son of David Thompson. When David died in March 1929, the younger Alexis inherited $6 million. A U.S. Army corporal, Thompson was an entrepreneur who made millions more selling eye care products.
In December 1940, Steelers owner Art Rooney sold the Steelers franchise (including the players) to 28-year-old Thompson for $160,000, and then used half of that to buy a half-interest in the Eagles franchise from his friend Bert Bell. Thompson changed the team's name to the Iron Men. After having second thoughts, the owners traded their cities back to each other before the start of the 1941 season, so that the Steelers franchise moved to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Eagles franchise moved to Pittsburgh and became the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Alexis Thompson” enters the record as american football owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alexis, Thompson and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexis Thompson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.