Georgia Frontiere
Encyclopedia
Georgia Frontiere was the majority owner and chairman of the St. Louis Rams
football team and the most prominent female
owner in a league historically dominated by males.
During her nearly three decades in charge (1979–2008), the Rams made the playoffs 14 seasons, played in 25 postseason games, won 13 postseason games, reached the Super Bowl
three times and won the championship game once in 2000. Her commitment to the team earned her the nickname “Madame Ram."
Also a philanthropist
, Frontiere created the St. Louis Rams Foundation, sat on the board of the local United Way chapter, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and the American Foundation for AIDS Research and made numerous charitable contributions both to the arts and to other organizations in St. Louis and elsewhere.
to Lucia Pamela Irwin
, Miss St. Louis of 1926, KMOX radio’s ‘gal about town’, and the leader of America’s first all-girl orchestra (Lucia Pamela and her band of musical pirates), and Reginald Irwin, an insurance
salesman and businessman.
Frontiere had early aspirations to work as an opera
singer eventually travelling to Milan
to train with the Milan Opera. By ten years old, she performed along with her mother and brother in the singing group, the Pamela Trio. The group traveled the state and entertained at ballrooms and state fairs.
Frontiere attended Soldan High School in St. Louis.
At fifteen, Frontiere’s parents divorced and she married a young U.S. marine who was heading to Europe
during World War II
, but the union was quickly annulled. A few years later, the family moved to Fresno, California, where Frontiere performed at dinner theatres alongside her mother in a duo, the Pamela Sisters. During this time, she married her second husband, who was killed in a car accident
near San Francisco shortly after the couple had wed.
Garrick Little Theatre (where she met her third husband). The couple divorced a short time later. She later married her fourth husband, a stage manager at the Sacramento
Music Circus, but the couple split after five years.
In the late 1950s, Frontiere moved to Miami and had her own TV interview show. During this time, Frontiere met her fifth husband, a Miami television producer. They were married for a short time. Later, she made appearances as part of NBC’s “Today” show cast. She also performed as a nightclub singer in Miami.
While living in Miami, Frontiere was introduced to the then Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom
(who was separated from his first wife) at a party hosted by Joseph Kennedy
at his Palm Beach estate in 1957. Kennedy was a fan of Georgia after seeing her on her morning show. Rosenbloom and Georgia were engaged in 1960, but it took Rosenbloom ten years to divorce his first wife (in a widely reported divorce negotiation). Rosenbloom and Frontiere married in 1966, though they had been together for eight years and had two children by this point.
In 1972, Rosenbloom traded ownership of the Baltimore Colts for ownership of the Los Angeles Rams. During this time, the couple resided in Bel Air, California
, and Frontiere became a part of the Los Angeles social scene, hosting numerous parties and philanthropic events. Frontiere was also known to entertain guests in a section near the owner's box at the Los Angeles Coliseum dubbed Georgia's Grandstand.
In April 1979, Carroll Rosenbloom drowned while swimming off a Florida beach from an apparent heart attack. Some suspected foul play, although medical examiners found no evidence that his death was not due to natural causes.
Often dubbed the first female owner of an NFL franchise, the League reported that Frontiere was actually the second female majority owner. Violet Bidwill Wolfner
inherited the Chicago Cardinals
after her husband’s death in 1947 and owned the franchise until she died in 1962. However, during Frontiere’s tenure, she was the only active female majority owner in the NFL.
During her years as owner, Frontiere moved the Rams twice, first relocating from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
in 1980 to Anaheim (a deal Carroll made in 1978), then to St. Louis in 1995.
Her inheritance came as a surprise to many fans (though not to close friends and family) who thought Steve Rosenbloom, the former owner’s son from a previous marriage and the Rams’ vice-president, would take a leadership role in the team’s management. However, Frontiere couldn’t navigate the conflicts between General Manager Don Klosterman
and Steve and fired Steve after four months.
During the 1970s, the Rams were a perennial contender, but a championship or a Super Bowl appearance eluded them.
Yet, without Carroll, the team lacked organizational direction, which Frontiere sought to establish. During preseason, Frontiere drafted a position paper where she asserted her role as the team’s boss. Believing that a lack of direction was responsible for the Rams' inability to win a championship (despite fielding talented teams), she told Sports Illustrated, “Right now, we don't have much leadership. Oh, they played well—they're trying to earn their positions—and I'm not talking about the coaching. We have good coaching. I'm talking about the top. There are some things that have to be ironed out."
That next season, the Rams finally reached Super Bowl XIV
but lost to the three-time champion Pittsburgh Steelers
31-19 After the Super Bowl, Frontiere increased her national profile appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated and in an American Express
commercial with the Rams players.
By the mid-1980s, Frontiere had passed much of the Rams’ daily financial and football
management responsibilities on to key executives. According to ESPN, “When it came to football matters, Mrs. Frontiere delegated to longtime team president John Shaw, to whom she granted considerable autonomy.” As the decade began, the '70s Rams players gradually retired, but the team still reached the playoffs eight times between 1980 and 1989. In 1981, the team moved out of the Los Angeles Coliseum (a severely outdated facility that was too big to sell out for most games and resulted in frequent blackouts) into the Angels' Anaheim Stadium. In the early 1990s, the Rams franchise suffered from poor attendance. Average attendance had fallen to 45,000 fans per game, well below a peak of 62,000. Because of this, the Rams’ finances suffered as well. In 1994, the Rams claimed to have lost $6 million, and made only $7.6 million during the previous four seasons.
As well, Frontiere attracted some negative publicity. In 1986, Frontiere’s seventh and final husband, composer Dominic Frontiere, stirred controversy after being arrested and jailed for ten months for lying to a government agent as part of a federal investigation that came from allegedly scalping
1,000 Super Bowl tickets. (Frontiere was not implicated and though the event brought unfavorable media attention, she stood by Dominic Frontiere during his trial and incarceration
). The pair divorced in 1987.
As the 1990s began, the Rams' fortunes had sunk very low. Most home games were blacked out, and the team hardly figured into the Los Angeles sports scene at all. Frontiere attempted to have a new stadium built in Los Angeles to improve ticket sales but local government officials were not interested due to unfavorable economic conditions (the end of the Cold War resulted in large-scale layoffs by defense contractors in Southern California). This and the extreme lack of fan support prompted her to move the team to her hometown of St. Louis.
Though fans in Southern California felt scorned, the city of St. Louis welcomed her after losing the Cardinals franchise
to Phoenix, Arizona
in 1988. After the announced move, the city hosted a rally downtown and thousands of fans chanted “Georgia, Georgia!” Later Frontiere said, “St. Louis is my home, and I brought my team here to start a new dynasty."
The Rams struggled for the first few years in their new home, but in the 1999 season
, the team led by coach Dick Vermeil, offensive coordinator Mike Martz and an undrafted ex-Arena Football League
quarterback, Kurt Warner
, defeated the Tennessee Titans
to win Super Bowl XXXIV
. The team was dubbed “the Greatest Show on Turf” because of its high scoring offense. The victory served as vindication for Frontiere in the face of criticism from fellow NFL owners and bitter Los Angeles fans.
On the night of the victory, Frontiere expressed her desire to succeed, “From the time my late husband died, it has been a constant effort to do what he expected me to be able to do. He said: ‘If anybody can, you can. You always stick to your ideas. And nobody pushes you around.’”
Two years after the Super Bowl XXXIV win, the Rams made it to the championship game again. In 2002
, the Rams competed against the New England Patriots
in Super Bowl XXXVI
but lost a close game 20-17.
The Rams made the playoffs again in 2003 and '04, but after Kurt Warner and other key players departed, the team again lapsed into stagnation.
Upon her death in 2008, Frontiere’s son Dale “Chip” Rosenbloom and daughter Lucia Rodriquez inherited the 60% ownership stake in the team. In May 2010, the owners expressed that they hoped the team would be sold to longtime minority owner Stan Kroenke. Then on August 25, 2010, Kroenke received unanimous approval from league owners as the new owner of Rams. Kroenke immediately bought 30 percent of the 60 percent share of the team held by Frontiere’s children and will purchase the remaining 30 percent at a later date at a reported valuation of $750 million.
said, “Her philanthropic work was legendary and wide ranging.
In 1991, Frontiere made a $1 million donation to the Fulfillment Fund, which provides support systems to help underprivileged students pursue higher education. This help often includes mentoring, college/career counseling centers, paying for Scholastic Aptitude tests and support groups on college campuses.
Frontiere was also an outspoken supporter of the NFL Alumni Association. She rallied for the "Pre-'59ers," the 1,000-plus NFL players who retired prior to 1959 and didn't qualify for the league's pension plan. She also started a "Dire Need Fund" for the Los Angeles chapter of the NFL Alumni Association, which spawned the league-led NFL Alumni Dire Need Fund for players.
In 1997, Frontiere spearheaded the formation of the St. Louis Rams Foundation, which has contributed more than $7 million to charities in the St. Louis area.
Always a patron of the arts, in 2000, Frontiere donated $1 million to help build a 5500-seat amphitheater, the Frontiere Performing Arts Pavilion, located in the Sedona Cultural Park in Arizona. As well, she produced the Tony-nominated August Wilson play "Radio Golf" and Richard Dresser’s “Below the Belt.”
Frontiere also sat on the boards of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, Saint Louis Symphony, and the American Foundation for AIDS
Research.
Also in 2008, the Rams partnered with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
to host "Georgia's Drive Fore the Kids," a golf tournament to honor Frontiere and benefit the charity.
Sixth Street, between Convention Plaza and Washington, outside of the Edward Jones Dome
, is now known as “Georgia’s Way” to memorialize Frontiere.
Frontiere was awarded an honorary doctor of philanthropy
from Pepperdine University
.
in 2007, Frontiere spent the rest of the year undergoing treatment, but her condition rapidly deteriorated and she died in UCLA Medical Center on January 18, 2008. She was 80 years old. A statement put out by her children read, “Our mom was dedicated to being more than the owner of a football team. She loved the Rams' players, coaches and staff. The warmth and generosity she exuded will never be forgotten.”
She is survived by two children, six grandchildren and her companion of 19 years, Earle Weatherwax.
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
football team and the most prominent female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
owner in a league historically dominated by males.
During her nearly three decades in charge (1979–2008), the Rams made the playoffs 14 seasons, played in 25 postseason games, won 13 postseason games, reached the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
three times and won the championship game once in 2000. Her commitment to the team earned her the nickname “Madame Ram."
Also a philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, Frontiere created the St. Louis Rams Foundation, sat on the board of the local United Way chapter, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and the American Foundation for AIDS Research and made numerous charitable contributions both to the arts and to other organizations in St. Louis and elsewhere.
Early life and education
Frontiere was born in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
to Lucia Pamela Irwin
Lucia Pamela
Lucia Pamela was an American musician, bandleader, and eccentric. She is remembered today largely for an album and coloring book concerning an imaginary trip to the moon....
, Miss St. Louis of 1926, KMOX radio’s ‘gal about town’, and the leader of America’s first all-girl orchestra (Lucia Pamela and her band of musical pirates), and Reginald Irwin, an insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
salesman and businessman.
Frontiere had early aspirations to work as an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer eventually travelling to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
to train with the Milan Opera. By ten years old, she performed along with her mother and brother in the singing group, the Pamela Trio. The group traveled the state and entertained at ballrooms and state fairs.
Frontiere attended Soldan High School in St. Louis.
At fifteen, Frontiere’s parents divorced and she married a young U.S. marine who was heading to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but the union was quickly annulled. A few years later, the family moved to Fresno, California, where Frontiere performed at dinner theatres alongside her mother in a duo, the Pamela Sisters. During this time, she married her second husband, who was killed in a car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
near San Francisco shortly after the couple had wed.
Early career
In the early 1950s, Frontiere worked as a urologist’s secretary while acting in Fresno’sFresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
Garrick Little Theatre (where she met her third husband). The couple divorced a short time later. She later married her fourth husband, a stage manager at the Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
Music Circus, but the couple split after five years.
In the late 1950s, Frontiere moved to Miami and had her own TV interview show. During this time, Frontiere met her fifth husband, a Miami television producer. They were married for a short time. Later, she made appearances as part of NBC’s “Today” show cast. She also performed as a nightclub singer in Miami.
While living in Miami, Frontiere was introduced to the then Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom
Carroll Rosenbloom
Carroll Rosenbloom was an American entrepreneur and former owner of two professional football teams, the Baltimore Colts and the Los Angeles Rams....
(who was separated from his first wife) at a party hosted by Joseph Kennedy
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
at his Palm Beach estate in 1957. Kennedy was a fan of Georgia after seeing her on her morning show. Rosenbloom and Georgia were engaged in 1960, but it took Rosenbloom ten years to divorce his first wife (in a widely reported divorce negotiation). Rosenbloom and Frontiere married in 1966, though they had been together for eight years and had two children by this point.
In 1972, Rosenbloom traded ownership of the Baltimore Colts for ownership of the Los Angeles Rams. During this time, the couple resided in Bel Air, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and Frontiere became a part of the Los Angeles social scene, hosting numerous parties and philanthropic events. Frontiere was also known to entertain guests in a section near the owner's box at the Los Angeles Coliseum dubbed Georgia's Grandstand.
In April 1979, Carroll Rosenbloom drowned while swimming off a Florida beach from an apparent heart attack. Some suspected foul play, although medical examiners found no evidence that his death was not due to natural causes.
National Football League
Upon her husband’s passing, Frontiere inherited a 70% ownership stake in the Los Angeles Rams. Carroll’s five children inherited the other 30%.Often dubbed the first female owner of an NFL franchise, the League reported that Frontiere was actually the second female majority owner. Violet Bidwill Wolfner
Violet Bidwill Wolfner
Violet Bidwill Wolfner was owner of the Chicago/St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League from 1947 to 1962. She inherited the team when her husband, longtime Cardinals owner Charles Bidwill, died before the 1947 season...
inherited the Chicago Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
after her husband’s death in 1947 and owned the franchise until she died in 1962. However, during Frontiere’s tenure, she was the only active female majority owner in the NFL.
During her years as owner, Frontiere moved the Rams twice, first relocating from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
in 1980 to Anaheim (a deal Carroll made in 1978), then to St. Louis in 1995.
Los Angeles Rams
Initially criticized and harassed for being a woman in a league dominated by men and for not being capable of running a football team, Frontiere quickly asserted control of the Rams and addressed her detractors during her first press conference saying, “There are some who feel there are two different kinds of people — human beings and women.”Her inheritance came as a surprise to many fans (though not to close friends and family) who thought Steve Rosenbloom, the former owner’s son from a previous marriage and the Rams’ vice-president, would take a leadership role in the team’s management. However, Frontiere couldn’t navigate the conflicts between General Manager Don Klosterman
Don Klosterman
Donald Clement Klosterman was one of professional football's most accomplished executives, building teams in three different leagues after a serious accident ended his playing career as a quarterback and left his legs partially paralyzed...
and Steve and fired Steve after four months.
During the 1970s, the Rams were a perennial contender, but a championship or a Super Bowl appearance eluded them.
Yet, without Carroll, the team lacked organizational direction, which Frontiere sought to establish. During preseason, Frontiere drafted a position paper where she asserted her role as the team’s boss. Believing that a lack of direction was responsible for the Rams' inability to win a championship (despite fielding talented teams), she told Sports Illustrated, “Right now, we don't have much leadership. Oh, they played well—they're trying to earn their positions—and I'm not talking about the coaching. We have good coaching. I'm talking about the top. There are some things that have to be ironed out."
That next season, the Rams finally reached Super Bowl XIV
Super Bowl XIV
Super Bowl XIV was an American football game played on January 20, 1980 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1979 regular season...
but lost to the three-time champion Pittsburgh Steelers
1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season
The 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season saw the Steelers successfully defend their Super Bowl Championship from the previous year as they achieved a 12–4 record and went on to defeat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV.-Roster:-Schedule:...
31-19 After the Super Bowl, Frontiere increased her national profile appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated and in an American Express
American Express
American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...
commercial with the Rams players.
By the mid-1980s, Frontiere had passed much of the Rams’ daily financial and football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
management responsibilities on to key executives. According to ESPN, “When it came to football matters, Mrs. Frontiere delegated to longtime team president John Shaw, to whom she granted considerable autonomy.” As the decade began, the '70s Rams players gradually retired, but the team still reached the playoffs eight times between 1980 and 1989. In 1981, the team moved out of the Los Angeles Coliseum (a severely outdated facility that was too big to sell out for most games and resulted in frequent blackouts) into the Angels' Anaheim Stadium. In the early 1990s, the Rams franchise suffered from poor attendance. Average attendance had fallen to 45,000 fans per game, well below a peak of 62,000. Because of this, the Rams’ finances suffered as well. In 1994, the Rams claimed to have lost $6 million, and made only $7.6 million during the previous four seasons.
As well, Frontiere attracted some negative publicity. In 1986, Frontiere’s seventh and final husband, composer Dominic Frontiere, stirred controversy after being arrested and jailed for ten months for lying to a government agent as part of a federal investigation that came from allegedly scalping
Ticket resale
Ticket resale is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and are then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of the tickets. Tickets sold through secondary sources may be sold for less or more than their face...
1,000 Super Bowl tickets. (Frontiere was not implicated and though the event brought unfavorable media attention, she stood by Dominic Frontiere during his trial and incarceration
Incarceration
Incarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
). The pair divorced in 1987.
As the 1990s began, the Rams' fortunes had sunk very low. Most home games were blacked out, and the team hardly figured into the Los Angeles sports scene at all. Frontiere attempted to have a new stadium built in Los Angeles to improve ticket sales but local government officials were not interested due to unfavorable economic conditions (the end of the Cold War resulted in large-scale layoffs by defense contractors in Southern California). This and the extreme lack of fan support prompted her to move the team to her hometown of St. Louis.
St. Louis Rams
Lured by incentives like $20 million in annual profits from guaranteed season-ticket sales, personal seat licenses and a favorable lease at a $280-million domed stadium that was already in the process of being built, Frontiere transplanted the team to St. Louis in 1995. During the deal, Frontiere also agreed to give up 40% of her ownership to Stan Kroenke, who became a minority owner in the team. (She had bought the 30% of the team she didn’t own from Carroll’s children in 1980).The move to St. Louis resulted in a legal battle with the NFL, which had decided that the city was unsuitable as a football market and attempted to block the Rams' move there. Frontiere sued the league under antitrust laws and won.Though fans in Southern California felt scorned, the city of St. Louis welcomed her after losing the Cardinals franchise
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
to Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
in 1988. After the announced move, the city hosted a rally downtown and thousands of fans chanted “Georgia, Georgia!” Later Frontiere said, “St. Louis is my home, and I brought my team here to start a new dynasty."
The Rams struggled for the first few years in their new home, but in the 1999 season
1999 St. Louis Rams season
The 1999 St. Louis Rams season was the team's 62nd year with the National Football League and the fifth season in St. Louis, Missouri. The Rams finished the regular-season with a record of 13-3, and the NFC West Championship. The Rams were undefeated at home for the first time since 1973. On the...
, the team led by coach Dick Vermeil, offensive coordinator Mike Martz and an undrafted ex-Arena Football League
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League is the highest level of professional indoor American football in the United States. It is currently the second longest running professional football league in the United States, after the National Football League. It was founded in 1987 by Jim Foster...
quarterback, Kurt Warner
Kurt Warner
Kurtis Eugene "Kurt" Warner is a retired American football player. He played quarterback for three National Football League teams: the St. Louis Rams, the New York Giants, and the Arizona Cardinals. He was originally signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 1994 after playing...
, defeated the Tennessee Titans
1999 Tennessee Titans season
The 1999 Tennessee Titans season was the Titans' 40th season and their 30th in the National Football League. It was the first season for the club under the moniker "Titans," while the nickname "Oilers" was retired by the NFL...
to win Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV featured the National Football Conference champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference champion Tennessee Titans in an American football game to decide the National Football League champion for the 1999 regular season...
. The team was dubbed “the Greatest Show on Turf” because of its high scoring offense. The victory served as vindication for Frontiere in the face of criticism from fellow NFL owners and bitter Los Angeles fans.
On the night of the victory, Frontiere expressed her desire to succeed, “From the time my late husband died, it has been a constant effort to do what he expected me to be able to do. He said: ‘If anybody can, you can. You always stick to your ideas. And nobody pushes you around.’”
Two years after the Super Bowl XXXIV win, the Rams made it to the championship game again. In 2002
2001 St. Louis Rams season
The 2001 St. Louis Rams season was the 64th season for the team in the National Football League and seventh season in St. Louis. The Rams set a franchise record for wins in a season , while also going a perfect 8-0 on the road. Quarterback Kurt Warner would go on to win his second league M.V.P....
, the Rams competed against the New England Patriots
2001 New England Patriots season
The 2001 New England Patriots season was the 32nd season for the team in the National Football League and 42nd season overall. They finished with an 11–5 record and a division title before advancing to and winning Super Bowl XXXVI....
in Super Bowl XXXVI
Super Bowl XXXVI
Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game played on February 3, 2002 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 2001 regular season. The American Football Conference champion New England Patriots won their first Super...
but lost a close game 20-17.
The Rams made the playoffs again in 2003 and '04, but after Kurt Warner and other key players departed, the team again lapsed into stagnation.
Upon her death in 2008, Frontiere’s son Dale “Chip” Rosenbloom and daughter Lucia Rodriquez inherited the 60% ownership stake in the team. In May 2010, the owners expressed that they hoped the team would be sold to longtime minority owner Stan Kroenke. Then on August 25, 2010, Kroenke received unanimous approval from league owners as the new owner of Rams. Kroenke immediately bought 30 percent of the 60 percent share of the team held by Frontiere’s children and will purchase the remaining 30 percent at a later date at a reported valuation of $750 million.
Philanthropy
Throughout her career, Frontiere was devoted to a range of philanthropic causes. Speaking of Frontiere’s endeavors, NFL commissioner Roger GoodellRoger Goodell
Roger S. Goodell is the Commissioner of the National Football League , having been chosen to succeed the retiring Paul Tagliabue on August 8, 2006. He was chosen over four finalists for the position, winning a close vote on the fifth ballot before being unanimously approved by acclamation of the...
said, “Her philanthropic work was legendary and wide ranging.
In 1991, Frontiere made a $1 million donation to the Fulfillment Fund, which provides support systems to help underprivileged students pursue higher education. This help often includes mentoring, college/career counseling centers, paying for Scholastic Aptitude tests and support groups on college campuses.
Frontiere was also an outspoken supporter of the NFL Alumni Association. She rallied for the "Pre-'59ers," the 1,000-plus NFL players who retired prior to 1959 and didn't qualify for the league's pension plan. She also started a "Dire Need Fund" for the Los Angeles chapter of the NFL Alumni Association, which spawned the league-led NFL Alumni Dire Need Fund for players.
In 1997, Frontiere spearheaded the formation of the St. Louis Rams Foundation, which has contributed more than $7 million to charities in the St. Louis area.
Always a patron of the arts, in 2000, Frontiere donated $1 million to help build a 5500-seat amphitheater, the Frontiere Performing Arts Pavilion, located in the Sedona Cultural Park in Arizona. As well, she produced the Tony-nominated August Wilson play "Radio Golf" and Richard Dresser’s “Below the Belt.”
Frontiere also sat on the boards of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, Saint Louis Symphony, and the American Foundation for AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
Research.
Awards & Recognition
After Frontiere’s passing in 2008, the Rams renamed the Community Quarterback Awards the Georgia Frontiere Community Quarterback Awards. The program awards $20,000 to local non-profits in recognition of outstanding volunteer service. Since its inception, the Rams have donated more than $170,000 to community groups.Also in 2008, the Rams partnered with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded in 1962, is a leading pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases. It is located in Memphis, Tennessee. It is a nonprofit medical corporation chartered as a 501 tax-exempt organization under IRS regulations.In...
to host "Georgia's Drive Fore the Kids," a golf tournament to honor Frontiere and benefit the charity.
Sixth Street, between Convention Plaza and Washington, outside of the Edward Jones Dome
Edward Jones Dome
The Edward Jones Dome The Edward Jones Dome The Edward Jones Dome (more formally known as the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center, and previously known as The Trans World Dome (from 1995–2001) is a multi-purpose stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, and home of the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. It was...
, is now known as “Georgia’s Way” to memorialize Frontiere.
Frontiere was awarded an honorary doctor of philanthropy
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
from Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...
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Death
Diagnosed with breast cancerBreast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
in 2007, Frontiere spent the rest of the year undergoing treatment, but her condition rapidly deteriorated and she died in UCLA Medical Center on January 18, 2008. She was 80 years old. A statement put out by her children read, “Our mom was dedicated to being more than the owner of a football team. She loved the Rams' players, coaches and staff. The warmth and generosity she exuded will never be forgotten.”
She is survived by two children, six grandchildren and her companion of 19 years, Earle Weatherwax.