'Boss' George Steinbrenner (1930 - 2010)
The greatest owner in sports history
I always like Charlie Finley.
Steinbrenner had the money to be successful. Look at the teams that compete today and you will see that money is a major factor. That withstanding, Steinbrenner did come through with more than his share of Championships.
Steinbrenner
7 World Series Championships
1 American Basketball League Championship (Cleveland Pipers 1960)
Also Steinbrenner served as a graduate assistant coach to legendary Buckeye football coach Woody Hayes. The Buckeyes were undefeated national champions during that time.
George Halas
6 NFL Championships
Wrong. The Bears won
eight NFL titles during Halas's tenure as owner: 1921, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, and 1963. He was also the head coach for six of those eight titles, 1932 and 1943 excepted. As if that wasn't enough, he also played wide receiver and defensive end as player/coach/owner of the 1921 NFL champions. He even sold tickets that year as the team's ticket manager.
Halas also played outfield for the New York Yankees in 1919 and played football and basketball for the University of Illinois. He was, by all accounts, a very good football player; he was named MVP of the 1919 Rose Bowl, and during his playing days with the Bears he once returned a fumble 98 yards (after stripping the ball from Jim Thorpe!) for a touchdown, an NFL record that would stand for 49 years.
Papa Bear was the only person that ESPN named to the top ten in
two of its Sports Century lists: Top 100 Most Influential People in 20th Century Sports (Branch Rickey was #1, incidentally; Steinbrenner didn't make the top ten) and Top 100 Greatest Coaches of the 20th Century. Halas was named ninth and seventh, respectively.
To the best of my knowledge, Papa Bear is the only owner in the history of American professional sports whose name is permanently commemorated as part of the uniform of his team. The jerseys of the Bears have his initials, GSH, on the left sleeve.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio is located on George Halas Drive. You can be damned sure that nobody in Cooperstown, New York is ever going to name a street after George Steinbrenner.
George Halas1 professional sports league founded
George Steinbrenner0 professional sports leagues founded
Sorry, Crash, but George S. Halas is the greatest owner in the history of American professional sports.
"There's only one man that I call 'Coach': George Halas."
--Vince Lombardi