Harry Wismer
Encyclopedia
Harry Wismer was a sports broadcaster
and charter owner of the New York Titans
franchise in the American Football League
.
, Wismer displayed great interest and prowess in sports at an early age, earning letters in football
, basketball
, and baseball
at St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin
. He later played college football
at both the University of Florida
and Michigan State University
, his playing career ending at the latter school when he damaged a knee severely during a game against the University of Michigan
. He then began broadcasting Michigan State sports on MSU's radio
station WKAR
in a position arranged for him by his coach, Charlie Bachman
. In 1934 he was hired as the public-address announcer for the Detroit Lions
, who were then owned by the same man, George A. "Dick" Richards, who owned Detroit
radio station WJR. Wismer soon began doing a ten-minute daily radio show covering the Lions in addition to his PA duties, while continuing as a student at Michigan State.
"Blue" network, the predecessor to ABC
. However, a subsequent management change at ABC led to a new regime that was hostile to sports, and Wismer became a free-lancer, selling his service to the highest bidder. Wismer became known for an enormous ego and developed a reputation as a "namedropper", preferring to announce the names of celebrities of his acquaintance who were in the audience to the actual game action, and was alleged at times to include them in the crowd of games which he announced when they were in fact elsewhere.
In the late 1940s he provided the voice talent to numerous 16 mm college football films. Wismer often added the sound commentary long after the games were over, and added a radio style commentary with sound effects such as referee whistles to recreate an authentic sound. He was owner of HarFilms, a short-lived New Orleans based sportsfilm production company.
Wismer achieved the height of his fame as the voice of the Washington Redskins
. His first game for the Redskins was a most inauspicious one, their 73-0 loss to the Chicago Bears
' great "Monsters of the Midway
" team in the 1940 NFL Championship Game. At one point Wismer was a 25% owner of the club as well, with the majority of the stock being retained by founding owner George Preston Marshall
. However, the relationship between the two had greatly degenerated by the mid-1950s over several issues, not the least of which was Marshall's steadfast refusal to sign any black
players. The relationship dissolved in claims, counterclaims, and litigation, and Marshall then set out to destroy Wismer's future as a broadcaster, with some success. Wismer was also involved for a time in the broadcasting of Notre Dame
football.
In 1953, he was involved in an early attempt to expand football into prime time
network television
, when ABC, now with a renewed interest in sports, broadcast an edited replay on Sunday nights of the previous day's Notre Dame games, which were cut down to 75 minutes in length by removing the time between plays, halftime, and even some of the more uneventful plays. (While this format was not successful in prime time, a similar presentation of Notre Dame football later became a staple of Sunday mornings for many years on CBS
with Lindsey Nelson
as the announcer.) Also that season was the first attempt at prime time coverage of pro football, with Wismer at the microphone on the old DuMont Network
. Unlike ABC's Notre Dame coverage, DuMont's NFL game was presented live on Saturday nights, but interest was not adequate to save the DuMont Network, which had by this point already entered what would be a terminal decline (although it did mount a subsequent 1954 season of NFL telecasts, minus Wismer, which proved to be one of its last regular programs).
and the Washington Redskins
(Buffalo's Ralph Wilson was also a part owner of the Lions). His New York franchise was nickname
d the "Titans". Wismer devised a plan in which the proceeds from the broadcast rights to league games (initially with ABC) would be shared equally by all teams, very innovative at the time but setting the standard for all future professional football television broadcasting contracts. As Wismer owned what would seem to have been the most potentially lucrative franchise, especially with regard to broadcasting rights, in the nation's largest media
market, the act seemed at first blush most generous for a self-described "hustler". However, Wismer realized that the fledgling league needed for all of the eight franchises to be successful in order to survive long-term. Unfortunately for Wismer, his own team, despite being located in the nation's largest city, was probably the most problematic in the league in its initial years. For one thing, the team was relegated to playing its home games in the rotting remains of the old Polo Grounds
, which had been abandoned three years before by the New York Giants
baseball team for San Francisco
and was never a particularly satisfactory football venue. In contrast, the NFL football Giants
played in prestigious Yankee Stadium
. Additionally, the New York media for the most part was derisive and dismissive of the Titans, when it deigned to mention them at all. For most New York sports reporters of the era professional football in New York City began and ended with the Giants. Wismer's volatile personality was of little help in this area; he resented not only other media figures but also Dallas Texans
owner Lamar Hunt
, whom Wismer saw as a rich boy whose father had bought him a football team as a toy. Wismer also had an ongoing feud with the first AFL commissioner, Joe Foss
, and had at times a far-less-than-warm relationship with the Titan's first coach, the legendary former Redskins quarterback
Sammy Baugh
. (In fact, Baugh had been the losing tailback in the 73-0 debacle back in 1940 that had marked Wismer's debut with the Redskins as noted above.) Wismer also lacked the truly "deep pockets" of some of the other early AFL owners, particularly Hunt, possessed. For the most part their wealth had come from sources outside the field of sports, which, although already quite popular in the U.S., was not the major industry it was shortly to become. Wismer's wealth, such as it was, had come entirely from his sports involvement.
The Titans drew just 114,682 total paid admissions for the league's entire initial season in 1960; by 1962 this number had dwindled to a mere 36,161 and Wismer was broke. Supposedly it was loans from other AFL owners, including Wilson and Houston Oilers
owner Bud Adams
, which kept Wismer and the Titans (as well as several other teams including the Oakland Raiders
and Boston Patriots
) afloat. This was a necessity for the league to remain viable, as U.S. broadcasters have traditionally had a very limited level of interest in team sports leagues without a viable New York franchise, due to the size of that market area. Wismer, who had long tended to live "hard-and-fast", began to drink even more heavily, and eventually ruined his relationships with all of the other AFL owners, even Adams. They arranged the 1963 sale of the team to the more financially-stable Sonny Werblin
, who proceeded to change the name of the team to the "Jets" and move it the next year into the now-completed Shea Stadium
, where it was to play for almost two decades. When Werblin signed University of Alabama
star quarterback Joe Namath
after the 1964 season for a then-unheard of annual salary of $430,000, the Jets, and the AFL, were made; the Namath signing, and his subsequent stardom, along with a new, more lucrative television contract with NBC, led more than any other single factor to the AFL-NFL merger. Wismer was left embittered and with debts totalling approximately $2,500,000, which he eventually struggled to settle for 78 cents on the dollar.
and explanation of his philosophy
of life. Sales were not particularly brisk. He got involved in the Michigan Speedway
project, which, to his great chagrin, was very slow to get under way. Wismer's health, far from brisk, broke completely from depression
and alcoholism
on top of his other problems after a trip overseas. In 1967 he sought treatment at the Mayo Clinic
for cancer
before returning to his hometown of Port Huron, where he underwent more treatments, including the replacement of his cancerous hip. Largely given up on, he rallied, and soon fulfilled his desire to return to New York City. Once there, he found that he was no longer a celebrity or even much noticed, and of those who did notice, more held him in contempt than liked him. His drinking problem returned with a vengeance, and on December 2 he suffered a fall at a restaurant
while drunk, falling down a flight of stairs. Still weakened from his earlier health problems, he died the next day. An autopsy
gave a skull fracture as being the immediate cause of death. Today Wismer is remembered, when he is remembered at all, primarily as something of an eccentric rather than as a crucial founder of the American Football League and one of the creators of professional football's modern era through shared broadcast revenues.
, Simon Helberg
mentions his character Moist's fear of stairs, commenting "That's how Harry Wismer died."
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
and charter owner of the New York Titans
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
franchise in the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
.
Early years
A native of Port Huron, MichiganPort Huron, Michigan
Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administratively autonomous. It is joined by the Blue Water Bridge over the St. Clair River to Sarnia,...
, Wismer displayed great interest and prowess in sports at an early age, earning letters in 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...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
at St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin
Delafield, Wisconsin
Delafield is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, along the Bark River, and a suburb of Milwaukee. The population was 6,472 at the 2000 census....
. He later played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
at both the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
and Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
, his playing career ending at the latter school when he damaged a knee severely during a game against the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He then began broadcasting Michigan State sports on MSU's radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station WKAR
WKAR (AM)
WKAR is a National Public Radio member station in East Lansing, Michigan; broadcasting at 870 kHz. It is owned by Michigan State University, and carries news and talk shows from NPR. It is part of MSU's Broadcasting Services Division, and is a sister station to the FM radio and television...
in a position arranged for him by his coach, Charlie Bachman
Charlie Bachman
Charles William "Charlie" Bachman, Jr. was an American college football player and head coach. Bachman was an Illinois native and an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, where he played college football...
. In 1934 he was hired as the public-address announcer for the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
, who were then owned by the same man, George A. "Dick" Richards, who owned Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
radio station WJR. Wismer soon began doing a ten-minute daily radio show covering the Lions in addition to his PA duties, while continuing as a student at Michigan State.
Broadcaster
After the 1936 season, Wismer was encouraged by Richards to abandon his studies and come to work for WJR on a full-time basis as the station's sports director. Among Wismer's WJR duties was serving as play-by-play announcer for the station's Lions broadcasts. He stayed until 1941 when he was hired by the NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
"Blue" network, the predecessor to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. However, a subsequent management change at ABC led to a new regime that was hostile to sports, and Wismer became a free-lancer, selling his service to the highest bidder. Wismer became known for an enormous ego and developed a reputation as a "namedropper", preferring to announce the names of celebrities of his acquaintance who were in the audience to the actual game action, and was alleged at times to include them in the crowd of games which he announced when they were in fact elsewhere.
In the late 1940s he provided the voice talent to numerous 16 mm college football films. Wismer often added the sound commentary long after the games were over, and added a radio style commentary with sound effects such as referee whistles to recreate an authentic sound. He was owner of HarFilms, a short-lived New Orleans based sportsfilm production company.
Wismer achieved the height of his fame as the voice of the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
. His first game for the Redskins was a most inauspicious one, their 73-0 loss to the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
' great "Monsters of the Midway
Monsters of the Midway
The "Monsters of the Midway" is most widely known as the nickname for the National Football League's Chicago Bears—particularly the dominant teams of 1940 and 1941...
" team in the 1940 NFL Championship Game. At one point Wismer was a 25% owner of the club as well, with the majority of the stock being retained by founding owner George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall was the owner and president of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League from 1932 until his death in 1969.-Contributions:...
. However, the relationship between the two had greatly degenerated by the mid-1950s over several issues, not the least of which was Marshall's steadfast refusal to sign any black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
players. The relationship dissolved in claims, counterclaims, and litigation, and Marshall then set out to destroy Wismer's future as a broadcaster, with some success. Wismer was also involved for a time in the broadcasting of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
football.
In 1953, he was involved in an early attempt to expand football into prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
network television
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
, when ABC, now with a renewed interest in sports, broadcast an edited replay on Sunday nights of the previous day's Notre Dame games, which were cut down to 75 minutes in length by removing the time between plays, halftime, and even some of the more uneventful plays. (While this format was not successful in prime time, a similar presentation of Notre Dame football later became a staple of Sunday mornings for many years on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
with Lindsey Nelson
Lindsey Nelson
Lindsey Nelson was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of college football and New York Mets baseball.-Early life and career:...
as the announcer.) Also that season was the first attempt at prime time coverage of pro football, with Wismer at the microphone on the old DuMont Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
. Unlike ABC's Notre Dame coverage, DuMont's NFL game was presented live on Saturday nights, but interest was not adequate to save the DuMont Network, which had by this point already entered what would be a terminal decline (although it did mount a subsequent 1954 season of NFL telecasts, minus Wismer, which proved to be one of its last regular programs).
AFL owner
Wismer was a charter owner in the AFL, which was announced in 1959 and began actual play in 1960. He was one of two owners with experience in sports team ownership and in broadcasting. He had previously been a part owner of the Detroit LionsDetroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
and the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
(Buffalo's Ralph Wilson was also a part owner of the Lions). His New York franchise was nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
d the "Titans". Wismer devised a plan in which the proceeds from the broadcast rights to league games (initially with ABC) would be shared equally by all teams, very innovative at the time but setting the standard for all future professional football television broadcasting contracts. As Wismer owned what would seem to have been the most potentially lucrative franchise, especially with regard to broadcasting rights, in the nation's largest media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
market, the act seemed at first blush most generous for a self-described "hustler". However, Wismer realized that the fledgling league needed for all of the eight franchises to be successful in order to survive long-term. Unfortunately for Wismer, his own team, despite being located in the nation's largest city, was probably the most problematic in the league in its initial years. For one thing, the team was relegated to playing its home games in the rotting remains of the old Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
, which had been abandoned three years before by the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
baseball team for San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and was never a particularly satisfactory football venue. In contrast, the NFL football Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
played in prestigious Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
. Additionally, the New York media for the most part was derisive and dismissive of the Titans, when it deigned to mention them at all. For most New York sports reporters of the era professional football in New York City began and ended with the Giants. Wismer's volatile personality was of little help in this area; he resented not only other media figures but also Dallas Texans
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
owner Lamar Hunt
Lamar Hunt
Lamar Hunt was an American sportsman and promoter of American football, soccer, basketball, and ice hockey in the United States and an inductee into three sports' halls of fame. He was one of the founders of the American Football League and Major League Soccer , as well as MLS predecessor the...
, whom Wismer saw as a rich boy whose father had bought him a football team as a toy. Wismer also had an ongoing feud with the first AFL commissioner, Joe Foss
Joe Foss
Joseph Jacob "Joe" Foss was the leading fighter ace of the United States Marine Corps during World War II and a 1943 recipient of the Medal of Honor, recognizing his role in the air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign...
, and had at times a far-less-than-warm relationship with the Titan's first coach, the legendary former Redskins quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Sammy Baugh
Sammy Baugh
Samuel Adrian "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian University, where he was a two-time All-American. He then played in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 1952...
. (In fact, Baugh had been the losing tailback in the 73-0 debacle back in 1940 that had marked Wismer's debut with the Redskins as noted above.) Wismer also lacked the truly "deep pockets" of some of the other early AFL owners, particularly Hunt, possessed. For the most part their wealth had come from sources outside the field of sports, which, although already quite popular in the U.S., was not the major industry it was shortly to become. Wismer's wealth, such as it was, had come entirely from his sports involvement.
The Titans drew just 114,682 total paid admissions for the league's entire initial season in 1960; by 1962 this number had dwindled to a mere 36,161 and Wismer was broke. Supposedly it was loans from other AFL owners, including Wilson and Houston Oilers
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
owner Bud Adams
Bud Adams
Kenneth Stanley "Bud" Adams, Jr. is the owner of the Tennessee Titans' National Football League franchise. He was instrumental in the founding and establishment of the former American Football League. Adams became a charter AFL owner with the establishment of the Titans franchise, which was...
, which kept Wismer and the Titans (as well as several other teams including the Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and Boston Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
) afloat. This was a necessity for the league to remain viable, as U.S. broadcasters have traditionally had a very limited level of interest in team sports leagues without a viable New York franchise, due to the size of that market area. Wismer, who had long tended to live "hard-and-fast", began to drink even more heavily, and eventually ruined his relationships with all of the other AFL owners, even Adams. They arranged the 1963 sale of the team to the more financially-stable Sonny Werblin
Sonny Werblin
David Abraham "Sonny" Werblin was a prominent entertainment industry executive and sports impresario who was an owner of the New York Jets, Chairman of Madison Square Gardens, and who built and managed the Meadowlands Sports Complex.A graduate of Rutgers University, Werblin went to work for Music...
, who proceeded to change the name of the team to the "Jets" and move it the next year into the now-completed Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
, where it was to play for almost two decades. When Werblin signed University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
star quarterback Joe Namath
Joe Namath
Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...
after the 1964 season for a then-unheard of annual salary of $430,000, the Jets, and the AFL, were made; the Namath signing, and his subsequent stardom, along with a new, more lucrative television contract with NBC, led more than any other single factor to the AFL-NFL merger. Wismer was left embittered and with debts totalling approximately $2,500,000, which he eventually struggled to settle for 78 cents on the dollar.
Final years
Wismer wrote a book, The Public Calls It Sport, which was something of a combination autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
and explanation of his philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
of life. Sales were not particularly brisk. He got involved in the Michigan Speedway
Michigan International Speedway
Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile moderate-banked D-shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than in Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is sometimes known as a "sister track" to Texas...
project, which, to his great chagrin, was very slow to get under way. Wismer's health, far from brisk, broke completely from depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
and alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
on top of his other problems after a trip overseas. In 1967 he sought treatment at the Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
for cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
before returning to his hometown of Port Huron, where he underwent more treatments, including the replacement of his cancerous hip. Largely given up on, he rallied, and soon fulfilled his desire to return to New York City. Once there, he found that he was no longer a celebrity or even much noticed, and of those who did notice, more held him in contempt than liked him. His drinking problem returned with a vengeance, and on December 2 he suffered a fall at a restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
while drunk, falling down a flight of stairs. Still weakened from his earlier health problems, he died the next day. An autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
gave a skull fracture as being the immediate cause of death. Today Wismer is remembered, when he is remembered at all, primarily as something of an eccentric rather than as a crucial founder of the American Football League and one of the creators of professional football's modern era through shared broadcast revenues.
Quote
"...no matter how good you think you are, how shrewd you are, there is always someone down the block, across the street, in the next town, who is a little better, shrewder, more ruthless." From The Public Calls It SportIn popular culture
In a song on Commentary! The Musical, a bonus feature on the DVD of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along BlogDr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 2008 musical tragicomedy miniseries in three acts, produced exclusively for Internet distribution. Filmed and set in Los Angeles, the show tells the story of Dr...
, Simon Helberg
Simon Helberg
Simon Maxwell Helberg is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. In its fourth season, he also appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv for five episodes...
mentions his character Moist's fear of stairs, commenting "That's how Harry Wismer died."
External links
- The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present, Eighth Edition, by Jim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
- The Golden Voices of Football, by Ted Patterson, ISBN 1-58261-744-9.