Jack Espey was an American sports executive who served as general manager of the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

Miami Seahawks The Miami Seahawks were a professional American football team based in Miami, Florida. They played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in the league's inaugural season, 1946, before the team was relocated to Baltimore. They are notable ...

, and

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

. He won two

NFL championships Throughout its history, the National Football league (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national ...

with the Redskins in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

and

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

Early career

Espey was a sportswriter for several

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

newspapers, including ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. He was the press agent for the Washington Palace Five of the American Basketball League, but returned to the ''Post'' when the team folded.

George Washington University

In 1932 he became the publicity director for

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

. He turned the Colonials football team into the "Capital's most colorful fall spectacle" by expanding the in-game attractions to include

card stunt Card stunts are a planned, coordinated sequence of actions performed by an audience, whose members raise cards that, in the aggregate, create a recognizable image. The images they create can range widely and, through careful planning, the same ...

drum majors A drum major or field commander is the leader of a marching band, drum and bugle corps, or pipe band, usually positioned at the head of the band or corps. The drum major is often dressed in more ornate clothing than the rest of the band or cor ...

halftime show A halftime show is a performance given during the brief period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sports with an irregular or indeterminate number of di ...

s, and a cannon. In 1936 he led a campaign to have

Tuffy Leemans Alphonse Emil "Tuffy" Leemans (November 12, 1912 – January 19, 1979) was an American professional football player who was a fullback and halfback who played on both offense and defense for the New York Giants of the National Football League ...

elected to the College All-Star team.

Washington Redskins

In 1937, Espey became general manager of the Washington Redskins. He was with the team when they won the

and

National Football League championships. He left the club on April 1, 1943, to become the general manager of the

Uline Arena The Uline Arena, later renamed the Washington Coliseum, was an indoor arena in Washington, D.C. located at 1132, 1140, and 1146 3rd Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C. It was the site of one of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's inaugural balls i ...

. He resigned five months later to return to the newspaper business as the promotion manager of ''

Washington Times-Herald The ''Washington Times-Herald'' (1939–1954) was an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It was created by Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson of the Medill–McCormick–Patterson family (long-time owners of the ''Chicago Tribune'' ...

''.

Miami Seahawks

In 1946, Espey became the general manager of the Miami Seahawks of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a major professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many ...

. In order to attract fans, Espey brought in high school bands and drums and bugle corps, spent $1,500 on a fireworks show that was hampered by rain, and brought in clown Felix Adler to perform at halftime. However, poor weather (it rained during six of the Seahawks seven home games and the home opener was postponed due to a hurricane) and an uncompetitive team led the Seahawks to draw about 7,000 fans per game. The Seahawks final home game saw about 2,500 fans turn up to the 35,000-seat

Burdine Stadium The Miami Orange Bowl was an outdoor athletic stadium in Miami, Florida, from 1937 until 2008. The stadium was located in the Little Havana neighborhood west of Greater Downtown Miami, downtown Miami. The venue was considered a landmark and ser ...

Baltimore Colts

The Seahawks folded after the season and Espey joined its successor in the AAFC, the Baltimore Colts. In June 1947 he asked a friend, Jo Lombardi, to compose a theme song for the team. Lombardi wrote the song with Benjamin Klasmer and Espey added a strain from

Maryland, My Maryland "Maryland, My Maryland" was the state song of the U.S. state of Maryland from 1939 until 2021. The lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by James Ryder Randall in 1861 and sung to an old German folk melody, "Lauriger Horatius" — the same ...

near the end. The song was used by the first and second incarnations of the Colts and was adapted by John Ziemann and Todd Clontz for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

. Epsey was fired after the 1947 season.

Later life

In 1948, Espey was a finalist to become manager of the

D.C. Armory The D.C. Armory is an Armory (military), armory and a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Washington, D.C. Managed by the Washington Convention and Sports Authority, the Armory was constructed Dutch Bergman Arthur J. "Dutch" Bergman (February 23, 1895 – August 18, 1972) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, now New Mexico State University, from 19 ...

. He served as a press agent for the Armory's annual sportsmen's and outdoors show and was on the publicity staff for the Presidential Cup. He eventually moved to

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...

, where he worked in newspaper advertising and was vice president of the Paulin Publishing Company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espey, Jack American publicists Baltimore Colts (1947–1950) executives George Washington University people Miami Seahawks The Washington Post journalists Washington Redskins executives Sportswriters from Washington, D.C. Sports venue managers