Ellis E. "Woody" Erdman (April 16, 1926,

Ashland, Pennsylvania Ashland is a borough in Schuylkill County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, northwest of Pottsville. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. A small part of the borough also lies in Columbia County, although all of the population resided i ...

– February 10, 1997,

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

) was an American sportscaster, television producer, and businessman who served as chairman of Trans-National Communications, International Trade & Commerce Corporation and

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

. Ellis Erdman was a combat veteran of World War II, having served with the US Army Air Corps from 1944 to the V-J Day. He was a crew member on several B-29s based on the island of Tinian, and received the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He remained in the Air Force Reserve until after the birth of his third child, and received an Honorable Discharge at the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Erdman's career in broadcasting began while he was a student at Penn State University in the late 1940s, and worked at several radio stations in central Pennsylvania, where he met his future wife, Phebe Mae Weeks, and they were married in 1948. In 1952 they moved to Elmira, NY where Erdman worked for WELM, a Gannett radio station. In 1956, he co-founded WTKO radio in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

with Thomas Cassell and a group of investors, and the family moved to Ithaca. On February 1, 1960 Erdman purchased the

Rural Radio Network The Rural Radio Network (RRN) was an interconnected group of six commercial FM radio stations spread across upstate New York and operated from Ithaca, New York -- the first all-radio, no-wireline network in the world. It began operation in 1948 ...

, an interconnected group of six commercial FM radio stations spread across upstate New York. In addition to owning radio stations, Erdman was also a radio play-by-play announcer for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

football team. Erdman was also involved in the ownership of sports teams. Erdman's Trans-National Communications were the majority owners of the

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 S ...

from 1969–71 and the

Oakland Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

during the 1969-70 NHL season. Erdman was also the owner of the Carolina Cardinals of the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

. A 1996 investigation of Ellis Erdman and his International Trade & Commerce Corporation by the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

accused Erdman of being a "confidence man." As chairman of ITC, Erdman was believed to have "orchestrated a classic "

pump and dump Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price. Once the operat ...

" scheme," but died in 1997 before ever tried in court. Erdman was married to Phebe Weeks Erdman from 1949 until their divorce in 1985. The couple was reunited in 1992 and were together until his death. They had three children. The Erdmans were residents of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erdman, Woody 1926 births 1997 deaths American media executives American sports announcers Television producers from Pennsylvania American white-collar criminals Boston Celtics executives Boston Celtics owners National Basketball Association owners National Football League announcers National Hockey League owners New York Giants announcers People from Ashland, Pennsylvania 20th-century American businesspeople