Professional Sports
After a successful college career as an educator and coach, Breen went in to the professional ranks with the Chicago Cardinals as director of player personnel in 1957. He was later the first person hired by the Houston Oilers in 1960 as director of player personnel and was named General Manager in 1971 and he held that position until his retirement in 1973.
Breen was instrumental in the building of the Oilers and the American Football League itself by being in charge of the league's first draft of players. He is credited with recruiting veteran players George Blanda, John Carson, and Willard Dewveall along with first-year players Billy Cannon, Dan Lanphear, and Charley Hennigan. He recognized that the competing NFL teams would cut good quality players and would recruit them to play at Houston.
After his retirement from professional football management, Breen worked as a sports broadcaster for radio station KTRH in Houston, Texas.
Read more about this topic: John W. Breen
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or sports:
“Never be intimidated when you deal with men. Curse, don’t cry.”
—Anonymous, U.S. professional woman. As quoted in Aspirations and Mentoring in an Academic Environment, ch. 4, by Mary Niles Maack and Joanne Passet (1994)
“Reading about ethics is about as likely to improve one’s behavior as reading about sports is to make one into an athlete.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)