John W. Mecom Jr. (born 1940) is the chairman of the John W. Mecom company and former owner of the New Orleans Saints

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

football team. Mecom is the son of Texas oilman

John W. Mecom Sr. John Whitfield Mecom Sr. (January 13, 1911 – October 12, 1981), was an American independent oilman. Mecom acquired abandoned oil wells and made them profitable. He developed new fields from Louisiana to Saudi Arabia. He was once ranked ...

and his wife Mary Elizabeth. He was a student at the University of Oklahoma. He is the owner and chairman of the John W. Mecom company, which was started by his father. The company is primarily involved in real estate and the oil and gas industry. John, Jr. followed with his own achievements in the oil and gas industry, and in various real estate ventures. He also branched out into professional sports with a special interest in motorsport and football. In the early 1960s he formed his own racing team, Mecom Racing that successfully competed throughout the U.S. and had such drivers as Roger Penske, Pedro Rodriguez,

AJ Foyt Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars. He ...

and Jackie Stewart.

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...

raced his car to victory at the

1966 Indianapolis 500 The 50th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Monday, May 30, 1966. The official program cover for the race celebrated both the 50th running of the race, and 150th anniversary of In ...

. In 1967, Mecom purchased the newly enfranchised New Orleans Saints for $8.5 million from the NFL and became the youngest owner of an NFL franchise. He owned the Saints until 1985, when he sold the team for $64 million to New Orleans-native businessman Tom Benson.

References

1940 births 20th-century American businesspeople Living people American businesspeople in the oil industry People from Houston University of Oklahoma alumni New Orleans Saints owners {{US-business-bio-1940s-stub