Hugh Culverhouse

Hugh Franklin Culverhouse, Sr. (February 20, 1919 – August 25, 1994) was an American businessman, attorney, and sports franchise owner.

Culverhouse is best known for having been the longtime owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL).

He was a successful tax lawyer, and his real estate investments made him wealthy.

His work brought him into contact with National Football League team owners, and his failed purchase of the Los Angeles Rams placed him in line to become the owner of the fledgling Buccaneer franchise.

He owned the team from its inception until his death.

Culverhouse became one of the most influential team owners in the NFL.

Although his teams were rarely competitive on the field, he was credited with modernizing the league.

He oversaw the league's course of direction through two player strikes, and the modern league's financial stability is in great part due to his leadership.

He held influence for over a decade, before stepping back due to criticism of what other owners saw as his overly-secretive ways.

Culverhouse was initially lauded for bringing professional football to the Tampa Bay area, but eventually came to be blamed for the team's struggles.

He graduated in 1941.

After serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II, he earned a law degree from his alma mater in 1947.

He immediately took a job as an assistant state attorney general, serving there for two years.

After serving in the Korean War, he became legal counsel for the Internal Revenue Service, where he prosecuted many of the cases resulting from the organized crime investigations of Senator Estes Kefauver.

He resigned from the IRS in 1962 after a decade of service, and moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he entered private practice, specializing in tax law.

Although he was considered to be one of the nation's top tax lawyers, one whose cases were sometimes cited by the Supreme Court of the United States, his fortune was built on real estate investments.

Listed by Forbes magazine as one of the 250 wealthiest people in the United States, he eventually had investments in 37 companies and was worth over $380 million at his death.

In 1972, Culverhouse had a handshake deal to buy the Los Angeles Rams from owner Dan Reeves for $17 million, only to learn that Reeves later sold the team to Robert Irsay for $19 million.

When Irsay then traded teams with Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom, Culverhouse sued, claiming that the others had conspired to prevent his purchase of the team.

An out-of-court settlement guaranteed Rosenbloom's aid in getting an expansion franchise for Culverhouse.

The opportunity came two years later, when the league expanded to Seattle and Tampa.

Culverhouse was offered the Seattle expansion franchise, but declined it due to his residence in Jacksonville.

Philadelphia construction company owner Thomas McCloskey was originally awarded the Tampa franchise, but soon found the business arrangement to be different than what he had expected, and backed out of the deal.

Culverhouse was then awarded the franchise by the Art Rooney-chaired NFL Expansion Committee, ahead of Fort Lauderdale furniture chain (and future Boston Celtics) owner Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. The name "Tampa Bay Buccaneers" was chosen as a nod to the team representing not only the city of Tampa, but the entire Florida Suncoast area; and to the pirates who once inhabited the area.

Culverhouse quickly became one of the most influential NFL owners; he served as a member of the Player Club Relations Committee that handled player grievances, and of the NFL Congressional Committee.

He served as a personal representative of President Gerald Ford, bearing the title of U.S. Ambassador, at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

The University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration is named for him.

Culverhouse's investments included several banks, Provincetown-Boston Airlines, the Palmer Ranch real estate development near Sarasota, Florida, and movie productions including A Chorus Line and The Emerald Forest.

He was criticized over a planned extension of Interstate 75 into South Florida, as its route went directly past land owned by numerous powerful investors, including Culverhouse, Governor Bob Graham, State Attorney General Jim Smith, and the Arvida Corporation.

His refusal to pay Doug Williams at a salary level comparable to that of the league's top quarterbacks stirred resentment among fans, and marked the beginning of the team's decline during the 1980s.

It further led to the belief that Culverhouse was more concerned with fielding a profitable team than a winning one.

The Buccaneers' NFL-record streak of 14 consecutive losing seasons contributed to this perception, although Culverhouse did make several notable attempts to improve the team.

He was a member of the Executive Committee that handled negotiations during the 1982 NFL strike, an experience that earned him great praise from NFL negotiator Jack Donlan.

Donlan praised Culverhouse's logic, analytical, and problem-solving skills, and his effectiveness "at getting his way".

Culverhouse was credited with having a big hand in the owners' course of direction during the strike, and was responsible for recruiting Donlan as negotiator.

Culverhouse was diagnosed with cancer in 1992, and died in 1994.

His apparent attempt to exclude his wife from his inheritance led to posthumous revelations of extramarital affairs.

Ensuing lawsuits caused an ownership crisis that almost required the team to relocate to another city, before the Glazer family stepped forward with a purchase offer.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Culverhouse attended the University of Alabama, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Psi chapter).

On the University of Alabama boxing team, he competed together with future governor George Wallace, an experience to which he attributed his confidence in later life.