Paul Tagliabue Took Great Pride in What NFL Players Did Off the Field

Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue died Sunday at the age of 84. Tagliabue, who took over for Pete Rozelle as commissioner in 1989, retired in 2006 when he was succeeded by current commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Throughout his decades-long leadership on behalf of the NFL, first as outside counsel and then during a powerful 17-year tenure as commissioner, Paul served with integrity, passion and an unwavering conviction to do what was best for the league,” Goodell said in a league-issued statement Sunday.

“I am forever grateful and proud to have Paul as my friend and mentor. I cherished the innumerable hours we spent together where he helped shape me as an executive but also as a man, husband and father.”

As a former NFL employee, I had the privilege of calling Tagliabue my boss for seven years. But it wasn’t until several years after we had both left the league that I had my most significant interaction with him.

When I was working on my book, NFL 100: The Greatest Moments of the NFL’s Century, Tagliabue initially accepted my request to write the foreword. Eventually, he opted to pass; Tagliabue was worried readers might think he had something to do with ranking the “greatest moments,” and wasn’t comfortable with that.

Tagliabue was very apologetic, and it worked out fine (Troy Aikman ended up writing an excellent foreword). And even though we didn’t use Tagliabue’s foreword, I do still have the draft.

Tagliabue and I spoke several times as he worked on it, and I gained a greater appreciation for the man and what he stood for. Tagliabue presided over a great stretch of growth and prosperity for the NFL, but the moments he was most proud of had nothing to do with growth or prosperity.

Tagliabue played a key role in keeping the New Orleans Saints in the Crescent City when it seemed inevitable they were going to leave. He also played a key role not just in how the NFL reacted to 9/11, but how all the major sports leagues reacted.

And while Tagliabue certainly clashed with players at times, and his legacy includes controversy with how he handled concussions, he was always proud of how NFL players were largely a force for good. He lauded the role that players had in effecting civil rights change in the ‘60s, and he appreciated the effort players today make to promote charitable causes.

After his first draft for the unused foreword, Tagliabue asked to make an addition. He wanted to include part of a letter he received from President Ronald Reagan in 1990, shortly after he became commissioner:

"There is something wonderful about sports that I've always thought should be a guiding principle in our lives. And that is when athletes put on their uniforms and take their place on the playing field, it doesn't matter whether they are rich or poor, black or white, Jew or Christian. It just matters that they do their best. And in the stands, the fans cheer and jeer with each other without paying any attention at all to socio-economic station. Wouldn't it be something if that spirit of togetherness and sportsmanship could stay with us when the games are over?"

Tagliabue told me the letter from Reagan meant a great deal to him.

 He ended his foreword thusly:

As the NFL continues to create lasting moments on the field, it carries on this tradition of being systematically engaged in the societal issues that the public expects them to be engaged with.

It has been this way for 100 years. Of that, there is no debate.