Alexis Thompson

Alexis Thompson (May 20, 1911 – December 20, 1954) was an owner of the National Football League (NFL)'s Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Steagles.[2] A U.S. Army corporal, Thompson was an entrepreneur who made millions more selling eye care products.[4] After having second thoughts, the owners traded their cities back to each other before the start of the 1941 season — so that the Steelers franchise moved to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia Eagles and the Eagles franchise moved to Pittsburgh and became the Pittsburgh Steelers.[3] In late 1941, Thompson organized a professional head-to-head tennis tour of North America with a troupe of players including Don Budge, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs and Frank Kovacs, which lasted for 71 stops until it was disbanded in April 1942.[5] In the hospital for appendicitis while the Eagles won their first NFL title in a snowstorm in 1948,[6] Thompson sold the franchise a few weeks later to a group of investors known as the "Happy Hundred" for $250,000 on January 15, 1949.
Thompson, circa 1942
Lexi ThompsonNational Football LeaguePhiladelphia EaglesPittsburgh SteelersSteaglesfield hockey1936 Summer OlympicsUnited States teamOlympic tournamentChicago, IllinoisYale UniversityRepublic Iron and SteelU.S. ArmyArt RooneyBert BellPennsylvania Polkaprofessional head-to-head tennis tourDon BudgeFred PerryBobby RiggsFrank KovacsappendicitisHappy HundredEnglewood, New Jerseyheart attackChicago Daily TribuneOlympediaMallon, BillSports Reference LLCPhiladelphia Eagles ownersLud WrayJerry WolmanLeonard ToseNorman BramanJeffrey Lurie