[Deathwatch] Georgia Frontiere, NFL Rams owner, 80

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Georgia Frontiere, Rams owner who moved team to St. Louis, dies
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3203573

LOS ANGELES -- Georgia Frontiere, the St. Louis native who became a
hometown hero when she brought the NFL's Rams from Los Angeles in 1995,
died Friday. She was 80.

Frontiere had been hospitalized for breast cancer for several months,
the Rams said in a statement posted on their Web site.

"Georgia Frontiere was the first lady of sports in her native St.
Louis," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement that also
praised her philanthropy and concern for retired NFL players.

"Our mom was dedicated to being more than the owner of a football
team," daughter Lucia Rodriguez and son Chip Rosenbloom said in the
statement.

"She loved the Rams' players, coaches, and staff. The warmth and
generosity she exuded will never be forgotten."

 The one-time nightclub singer was married seven times, starting at age
15. Her sixth husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, owned the Los Angeles Rams
at the time of his drowning death in 1979.

The Rams moved twice under Frontiere's leadership, first relocating
from the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1980 to Anaheim, 35
miles away.

St. Louis' original NFL franchise, the Cardinals, had left for Arizona
in 1988. After the city failed to land an expansion team, civic leaders
built a $260 million, taxpayer-financed domed stadium anyway, in hopes
of luring another team.

Frontiere, born in St. Louis, agreed in January 1995 to move, causing
her to be demonized in Southern California but heralded in her
hometown. At a downtown rally soon after the move was announced,
thousands chanted "Georgia! Georgia!"

"You take my breath away," Frontiere told the crowd. "It's so good to
be back in St. Louis, my hometown."

The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2000.

John Shaw, president of the Rams, said Frontiere was a "loyal,
generous, and supportive owner who was totally committed" to the team.

"This is an enormous loss for me and for the Rams' organization. All of
our prayers and sympathy go out to her family," Shaw said.

The Rams were the first major sports team to arrive in California when
then they moved from Cleveland in 1946. They became the first football
or baseball team to leave the state with the move to St. Louis.

Frontiere was a fixture at Rams games during the heyday of the
"Greatest Show on Turf" teams that made the playoffs five out of six
seasons from 1999 through 2004. Led by quarterback Kurt Warner, running
back Marshall Faulk and receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, the Rams
won the 2000 Super Bowl 23-16 and lost the Super Bowl two seasons later
on a last-second field goal.

Frontiere was born Georgia Irwin on Nov. 21, 1927, and attended Soldan
High School before moving to California at age 15. She wed that year,
though the marriage was eventually annulled, according to published
reports.

Her second husband was killed when hit by a bus. She left her third
husband to try to make it as a showgirl in Las Vegas. Her fourth
marriage -- to a stage manager of the Sacramento Music Circus -- ended
in divorce after three years. Husband No. 5 was a Miami television
producer.

She married Rosenbloom in 1966, shortly after he took over the
Baltimore Colts. He eventually swapped that franchise for the Rams,
which his wife took control of after he drowned.

Frontiere remarried again after Rosenbloom's death. Her seventh
husband, Dominic Frontiere, was an award-winning composer. They
divorced in 1988 upon his release from prison after serving time on tax
charges related to the scalping of more than 2,500 tickets to the 1980
Super Bowl in Pasadena.

Frontiere left day-to-day operation of her team to Shaw, both when the
franchise was in Southern California and after the move to St. Louis.

Shaw continues to run the team from Los Angeles.

The team has missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons.

Frontiere became involved in several philanthropic efforts in St. Louis
after moving the team, including the creation in 1997 of the St. Louis
Rams Foundation. According to the team's Web site, the Rams and the
foundation have contributed more than $5 million to charities in the
St. Louis area.

Frontiere also committed $1 million to the Fulfillment Fund, an
organization that helps needy high school students pay for college.

She has served as a member of several boards, including the United Way
of Greater St. Louis, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club, Saint Louis
Symphony, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and the American
Foundation for AIDS Research.

In addition to her two children, she is survived by six grandchildren,
and Earle Weatherwax, her companion of 19 years.

Many thanks to TheLenGuy for posting this obituary