Joe Browne, the longest-tenured employee in NFL history, reflected on the merger between the NFL and AFL 60 years ago Monday in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. Browne wrote that day at the Warwick Hotel in N.Y. might be the “most significant day in American sports history.” On that day in 1966, he was a college intern at the NFL’s office at One Rockefeller Center. Browne recalled being handed a manila envelope that “contained the news release the sports world was anticipating” and was told to take it to United Press International Sports. At the time, no formal agreement “had been signed, so the release had great import.” Since the announcement of the merger, pro football has “become America’s favorite sport by a wide margin.” Browne: “It’s been a heckuva 60 years” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/7).
