Jack Espey

Espey was a sportswriter for several Washington, D.C. newspapers, including The Washington Post. He was the press agent for the Washington Palace Five of the American Basketball League, but returned to the Post when the team folded.^[1]

In 1932 he became the publicity director for George Washington University. He turned the Colonials football team into the "Capital's most colorful fall spectacle" by expanding the in-game attractions to include card stunts, drum majors, halftime shows, and a cannon.^[1] In 1936 he led a campaign to have Tuffy Leemans elected to the College All-Star team.^[1]

In 1937, Espey became general manager of the Washington Redskins.^[1] He was with the team when they won the 1937 and 1942 National Football League championships.^[2] He left the club on April 1, 1943, to become the general manager of the Uline Arena.^[3] He resigned five months later to return to the newspaper business as the promotion manager of Washington Times-Herald.^[4]

In 1946, Espey became the general manager of the Miami Seahawks of the All-America Football Conference. In order to attract fans, Espey brought in high school bands and drums and bugle corps, spent $1,500 on a fireworks show that was hampered by rain, and brought in clown Felix Adler to perform at halftime. However, poor weather (it rained during six of the Seahawks seven home games and the home opener was postponed due to a hurricane) and an uncompetitive team led the Seahawks to draw about 7,000 fans per game. The Seahawks final home game saw about 2,500 fans turn up to the 35,000-seat Burdine Stadium.^[5]