Edwin J. Anderson
{{Short description|American football executive (1920–1987)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name = Edwin J. Anderson
| image = Anderson-Edwin-J-early1960s.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Anderson in the early 1960s
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|8|3}}{{cite book |title=Who was who in America - Volume 9 |date=1989 |publisher=Marquis-Who's Who |page=9}}
| birth_place = Rockford, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|2|5|1902|8|3}}
| death_place = Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, U.S.
| college = Beloit College
| pastadmin =
- Detroit Lions ({{NFL Year|1948}}–{{NFL Year|1949}})
Vice president - Detroit Lions ({{NFL Year|1949}}–{{NFL Year|1960}})
President - Detroit Lions ({{NFL Year|1958}}–{{NFL Year|1966}})
General manager - Detroit Lions ({{NFL Year|1967}}–{{NFL Year|1987}})
Vice president
| highlights =
}}
Edwin John Anderson (1902 – 1987) was an American businessman and sports executive who held various positions with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly 40 years. Anderson is best remembered as the team's president from 1949 to 1960 and general manager from 1958 to 1966.
During Anderson's tenure as a top team executive the Lions won three World Championships — 1952, 1953, and 1957.
Biography
=Early years=
Edwin J. Anderson was born August 3, 1902, in Rockford, Illinois.
He attended Beloit College, from which he graduated in 1927, and where he met his future wife, the former Isabel Bort.[https://digitalpublications.beloit.edu/?a=d&d=ROT19280421-01.1.3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- "Former Beloit Students are Married,"] The Round Table [Beloit, WI], vol. 3, no. 48 (April 21, 1928), p. 3. The pair were married at the end of March 1928 and initially made their home in Vincennes, Indiana, where Anderson worked as advertising manager of a newspaper.
=Business career=
The Andersons moved to Peoria, Illinois, in 1931 after Anderson became an advertising manager for Altorfer Bros. Company.{{cite journal |title=Class Notes |journal=The Beloit Alumnus |date=June 30, 1931 |page=30 |url=https://cdm17193.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/magazine/id/10012/rec/5 |access-date=28 February 2023}} In 1937, Anderson became the general sales manager for James Barclay and Company.{{cite journal |title=Alumni News Items and New Addresses |journal=The Beloit College Bulletin - Alumni Issue |date=April 27, 1937 |page=37 |url=https://cdm17193.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/magazine/id/10735/rec/7/5 |access-date=28 February 2023}}
The following year he joined the Goebel Brewing Company as vice president and general sales manager.{{cite news |title=Financial Notes |work=The New York Times |date=January 19, 1938}} He was promoted to president of Goebel Brewing in 1941, still only 38 years old, and remained in that role until 1958 when he resigned to focus on his duties with the Lions.{{cite news |title=Anderson Heads Goebel Brewery |work=The New York Times |date=March 20, 1941}}
Active in volunteer work, Anderson was the chairman of the 1945 Detroit Community Fund and president of the Children's Hospital of Detroit for three years.Detroit Lions Fact Book 1962: Press, Radio, TV, p. 7. He was also a member of the board of directors of Lumberman's Mutual Casualty Company and the American Motorist Insurance Company.
=Detroit Lions=
Anderson was a member of the Detroit Football Company – a group of more than 140 Detroit business leaders led by D. Lyle Fife that purchased the money-losing Lions[https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-halas-invests-bear-profits/138274957/ "Halas Invests Bear Profits in Other Fields,"] Minneapolis Morning Tribune, Jan. 31, 1952; p. 16. from Fred L. Mandel Jr. on January 16, 1948.{{cite news |last1=Sheehan |first1=Joseph M. |title=Syndicate of Business Men Acquires Detroit Lions Football Club |work=The New York Times |date=January 16, 1948}} Fife resigned as president during the 1949 season and Anderson was chosen to succeed him. Under Anderson's leadership, the Lions' financial fortunes were turned around, with the team making money for the first time in 1951.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-detroit-lions-turn-three/138276343/ "Lions Promote Kerbawy; Quit Red Ink Class,"] Chicago Tribune, Feb. 6, 1952, pt. 4, p 4. The team would go on to win three NFL championships and four division titles before falling off after the 1957 season.{{cite news |last1=Maule |first1=Tex |title=New Masters in the Den of Lions |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1961/02/06/new-masters-in-the-den-of-lions |access-date=28 February 2023 |work=Sports Illustrated |date=February 6, 1961}}
In 1958, Anderson assumed the role of general manager after Nick Kerbawy left to take the same job with the Detroit Pistons of National Basketball Association.{{cite news |title=Anderson Quits Post |work=The New York Times |date=June 24, 1958}}
In 1960, Anderson lobbied to become Commissioner of the National Football League, but Detroit's representative at the owner's meeting, D. Lyle Fife, refused to vote for him.{{cite news |title=Anderson Wins Grid Battle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISg_AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA30&dq |access-date=25 April 2024 |work=The Windsor Star |date=February 26, 1960}} In 1961, Anderson resigned as president after a group of Football Company stockholders, led by Fife, attempted to remove him. William Clay Ford Sr., an Anderson supporter, was selected to take the wheel as president, with Anderson allowed to remain as general manager.{{cite news |title=Pro Lions Name Auto Executive |work=The New York Times |date=January 24, 1961}} This internal struggle ended in 1963 when Ford purchased the team from the other shareholders.{{cite news |title=Lions' Directors Vote to Sell Club |work=The New York Times |date=October 26, 1963}}
In 1964, Russ Thomas took over football operations for the Lions, with Anderson remaining with the team as a vice president.{{cite news |title=Lions' Owner Picks Thomas To Head Player Personnel |work=The New York Times |date=January 22, 1964}}
Although effectively out of power with the Lions after 1972, Anderson was a leading force advocating for the team's move from Tiger Stadium to the Pontiac Silverdome in 1975.George Puskas, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-edwin-anderson-played/138277112/ "Edwin Anderson Played with Pain, Never Winced,"] Detroit Free Press, Feb. 5, 1987, p. D1.
=Death and legacy=
Anderson remained with the Lions until his death on February 5, 1987.{{cite news |title=Former Lion executive dies |work=The Windsor Star |date=February 8, 1987}}
After his death, Anderson was eulogized in print by Detroit sportswriter George Puskas, who recalled: "Good ol' Andy — few really understood him; fewer still bothered to try. At one and the same time, he was the most successful and most criticized sports boss Detroit has produced. He seemed to invite it. He had an aristocratic bearing in a blue-collar town and it was his lot — his job — to be blamed for everything and credited for little, even as his team won three world championships in six years, in 1952, '53, and '57. Fans loved to hate him. So did some of his players."
References
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{{Detroit Lions general manager navbox}}
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Category:American advertising people
Category:American drink industry businesspeople
Category:Beloit Buccaneers football players
Category:Beloit Buccaneers men's basketball players
Category:Beloit College alumni
Category:Detroit Lions executives
Category:Players of American football from Rockford, Illinois