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The Giants owner passed away this morning at age 89. He was fighting skin cancer which has spread to his lymphatic system. Mara was the team's water boy and equipment assistant when his father started the franchise in 1925. He has been with it ever since. He became co-owner, with his brother, at age 15.
I got to meet Mr. Mara at a fundraising event about 12 or so years ago. We discussed mostly the NFL's advent of true free agency that year. He was concerned that some teams would fall by the wayside because they could not outspend teams like the Giants or the 49ers. I later found out that he had led the initial movement to have the league share 100% of TV revenue equally between the clubs, even though his NY market team lost the most money in this deal.
I'm glad he got to see that last win on Sunday, which was a great game. His grandson told Manning that Mara was awake at the end of the game and saw the winning touchdown. His grandson sad he smiled after the game, pleased with teh win, and went back to sleep. Wellington Mara, a great football man.
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