Marshall Edmund Leahy (October 10, 1910 – January 3, 1983) was an American attorney who was the chief legal counsel for the

National Football League 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 ...

Early life

Leahy was born on October 10, 1910, in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. He was an All-Pacific Coast guard for the

Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball The Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball team represents Santa Clara University in NCAA Division I basketball competition. The team plays home games at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, California and have been members of the West Coast Conferen ...

team and pitched for the school's baseball team. During his senior year he was the captain of the basketball team and president of the student congress. He earned a

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; la, Baccalaureus Philosophiae or ) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's d ...

from Santa Clara University in 1931 and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

from the

Hastings College of the Law The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a public law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the first law school of the University of California ...

in 1934.

Legal career

Leahy was admitted to the bar in 1934. From 1943 to 1945, Leahy worked in the

San Francisco District Attorney's Office The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is the legal agency charged with prosecuting crimes in the City and County of San Francisco, California. The current district attorney is Brooke Jenkins. Occupants of this office have gone on to high ...

as the assistant district attorney in charge of Grand Jury. In 1946 he formed a partnership with John F. O'Dea. That same year, Leahy helped found the Farmers' Rice Cooperative. He served for many years as the organization's vice president and legal counsel. He also served as general counsel of the

San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 1 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

National Football League

Leahy became legal counsel for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

when the team was founded in 1946. When the 49ers joined the National Football League in 1950 he began representing the league as well. He represented the NFL before the Supreme Court of the United States in ''

Radovich v. National Football League ''Radovich v. National Football League'' (NFL), 352 U.S. 445 (1957), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that professional football, unlike professional baseball, was subject to antitrust laws. It was the third of three such cases heard by th ...

''. Following

National Football League Commissioner The National Football League Commissioner is the chief executive officer of the National Football League (NFL). The position was created in 1941. The current commissioner is Roger Goodell, who assumed office on September 1, 2006. Until 1941, the ...

Bert Bell De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was the National Football League (NFL) commissioner from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he introduced competitive parity into the NFL to improve the league's comme ...

's death in 1959, Leahy and acting commissioner

Austin Gunsel Austin H. Gunsel (April 2, 1909 - June 17, 1974) was the National Football League's interim commissioner from 1959 to 1960, following the death of Bert Bell on October 11, 1959. Education Gunsel was born in Irvington, New Jersey and is a gradu ...

were seen as the front-runners for the job. Before voting began, Leahy stated that he would not leave San Francisco if elected commissioner, which resulted in strong opposition from four owners (

Carroll Rosenbloom Dale Carroll Rosenbloom (March 5, 1907 – April 2, 1979) was an American businessman. He was the owner of two National Football League franchises; he was the first owner of the Baltimore Colts, and later switched teams, taking ownership of the ...

Art Rooney Arthur Joseph Rooney Sr. (January 27, 1901 – August 25, 1988), often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football franchise in the National Football League (NFL), from 1933 until his death ...

George Preston Marshall George Preston Marshall (October 11, 1896 – August 9, 1969) was an American businessman best known for founding the Washington Commanders, an American football franchise belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He founded the team as ...

, and Frank L. McNamee), who did not want the league office moved to the west coast. At the January 20, 1960 owners meeting, Leahy received 7 votes to Gunsel's 5, which was short of the two-thirds needed to be elected commissioner. After an eight-day deadlock, Leahy's supporters finally gave in and Los Angeles Rams general manager

Pete Rozelle Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was an American businessman and executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retirement i ...

was elected as a compromise candidate. After the election, Rozelle appointed Leahy general counsel of the National Football League. He assisted Rozelle with the league's 1964 television contract and represented the NFL in

Joe Kapp Joseph Robert Kapp (born March 19, 1938) is an American former football player, coach, and executive. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of California, Berkeley. Kapp played professionally in the Canadian Football Lea ...

's antitrust suit against the league.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leahy, Marshall 1910 births 1983 deaths Lawyers from San Francisco National Football League executives Santa Clara Broncos baseball players Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball players Santa Clara University alumni University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni