Peter Hadhazy ( hu, Hadházy Péter; February 9, 1944 – April 3, 2006), was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

executive, who served as the

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

from 1976 to 1981 and also as an executive 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 ...

(NFL), the short-lived

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL) and the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

(WLAF). Born in

Debrecen, Hungary Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and it ...

, Hadhazy moved to the US with his parents during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. He joined the NFL as a part-time employee in high school, and attended

Iona College Iona University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Roman Catholic university with a main campus in New Rochelle, New York. It was founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and occupies a campus of in New Rochell ...

on a tennis scholarship. He was hired by the league office after graduation and became its Director of Player Personnel in 1969. In July 1971, Hadhazy became Administrative Assistant to

Upton Bell Upton P. Bell (born 1937) is an American former National Football League (NFL) executive, talk show host, and sports commentator. He is the son of former NFL commissioner Bert Bell and Broadway theatre actress Frances Upton. Football executive B ...

, general manager of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. He was later promoted to Assistant General Manager. The Browns hired him as Executive Vice President before the start of the 1976 season and added the title of General Manager in 1977. Hadhazy left the Browns to return to the NFL office after the 1980 season ended. He joined the

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

in 1982 and served as its Director of Operations until the league folded in 1986. After the USFL folded, Hadhazy returned to the NFL, where he served in numerous capacities. He served as a general manager of the

Ohio Glory The Ohio Glory were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. They played one season (1992) in the World League of American Football, which later became NFL Europe. Columbus, Ohio was awarded the WLAF franchise after the Raleigh-Dur ...

in the World League from 1991–92, as the labor operations director for the league's Management Council and, at the time of his death, the NFL's director of game operations.

Death

Hadhazy died in New York City after a brief illness at the age of 62. He was survived by his wife, Rita, two daughters, Andrea and Deana, and a son, James.

References

External links

Boston.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadhazy, Pete 1944 births 2006 deaths Cleveland Browns executives New England Patriots executives National Football League general managers United States Football League executives World Football League executives Hungarian emigrants to the United States People from Debrecen