Bowie Kuhn
Bowie Kent Kuhn (/ˈbuːi ˈkjuːn/; October 28, 1926 – March 15, 2007) was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969, to September 30, 1984. He served as legal counsel for Major League Baseball owners for almost 20 years prior to his election as commissioner.
Bowie Kuhn
March 15, 2007 (aged 80)
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Luisa
2 children
2 step-children
10 grandchildren
83.3%
Veterans Committee
Kuhn was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Early life and career[edit]
Kuhn was born in Takoma Park, Maryland, the son of Alice Waring (Roberts) and Louis Charles Kuhn, a fuel company executive. His father was a Bavarian (German) immigrant, and his mother had deep roots in Maryland.[1] Kuhn grew up in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School. He then attended Franklin and Marshall College in the V-12 Navy College Training Program before going to Princeton University in 1945. Kuhn graduated from Princeton with honors in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He then received his J.D. degree in 1950 from the University of Virginia School of Law where he served on the editorial board of the law review.[2][3]
Following his graduation from law school, Kuhn worked at the New York City law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher because the firm represented the National League.[4] While working in baseball's legal affairs, Kuhn served as a counselor for the NL in a lawsuit brought against it by the City of Milwaukee when the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta following the 1965 season.[5]
After the owners forced out William Eckert in 1968, Kuhn seemed like a logical replacement for the job of commissioner. He, unlike Eckert, was very aware of the inner workings of Major League Baseball before taking office. Kuhn's closest challengers for the commissionership were Mike Burke, president of the New York Yankees; and San Francisco Giants head of baseball operations Chub Feeney, who instead became president of the National League.[6] At 42, Kuhn remains the youngest commissioner in history.[7]
Life after baseball[edit]
Following baseball, Kuhn returned to the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher and assumed presidency of the Kent Group, a business, sports and financial consulting firm. Kuhn left Willkie, Farr & Gallagher in 1987 to join with Harvey D. Myerson, a former senior partner in the firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey, to form the firm of Myerson & Kuhn.[32] He also became an adviser and board member for Domino's Pizza and the Ave Maria Foundation.
Kuhn had been a longtime resident of Ridgewood, New Jersey.[33] According to an AP wire story,[34] he partnered in a law firm with Harvey Myerson which subsequently went bankrupt and then sold his New Jersey home and moved to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, because his home and other assets were shielded from the bankruptcy.
Kuhn became the Chairman of the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds upon the inception of their first mutual fund, Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund, in May 2001. Bowie was a member of the Catholic organization for presidents and CEOs, Legatus, and was influential in chartering the Legatus chapter in Jacksonville, FL. Legatus later memorialized him for his dedication and service to the organization by establishing the "Bowie Kuhn Award for Evangelization".
In July 2001, Kuhn appeared on an hour-long episode of The Journey Home,[35] in which he explained the role that his Catholic faith had played in his life and career.
During a telecast of the 2004 World Series, broadcaster Joe Buck announced that just prior to his 78th birthday, Kuhn was scheduled to undergo open-heart surgery.[36] He died on March 15, 2007, at St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, after being hospitalized for several weeks with pneumonia.[33]
Kuhn was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008, after having been elected by the Veterans Committee nine months after his death.[37]