Ol' Ricky's Redskins Tales - E.B.W + Kerrigan's Future

Ol’ Ricky only watched Edward Bennett Williams as a youngster, but the late team president was the most overlooked and interesting person ever to run the Redskins. Indeed, give me one hour to have dinner with anyone past or president, then after God I’m asking for Abraham Lincoln and a few other people, but eventually getting to Williams.

Some would say Williams was the key figure in the Redskins revival of the late 1960s. The renowned lawyer, who was rumored to be Deep Throat because of his extensive political connections, gained control of the team as a five percent owner in 1965 after majority owner George Preston Marshall’s health deteriorated.

It was Williams who hired Vince Lombardi, George Allen and Bobby Beathard before surrendering control in 1980 and selling his shares in 1985 when falling out with Jack Kent Cooke.

Williams also owned the Orioles, paying $12 million in 1979. Suddenly, everyone in Baltimore feared the team was moving south like the Baltimore Bullets did. But, Williams even signed a long-term lease that led to Camden Yards. Williams never saw the new venue, dying in 1988.

Where did Williams get all this money? He was the main lawyer/lobbyist in Washington. Started the law firm of Williams & Connelly that still operates in Washington. If you wanted anything done in town, you went to Williams. Think of him as a spinoff of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Williams was a great trial lawyer, which is worth some money in this town. The Georgetown law grad represented the Teamster Union, organized crime boss Frank Costello, Al Capone’s wheelman Sam Giancana, commodity trader Marc Rich, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, John Hinckley Jr. after shooting president Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra and Hugh Hefner. Williams even gained an acquittal of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa on bribery charges.

Williams owned the Jefferson Hotel near the White House that’s still one of the premier properties downtown.

Maybe he was the forgotten architect of the Redskins, but Williams was certainly the most successful of the four men who have owned team. A great book on him is “The Man to See.”

Ol’ Ricky is off over the weekend. See ya Monday. Lots of stories in my book and these are the types of tales I’ll tell on my “Pizza and Pigskins Tours” later this summer.

Rick Snider is an award-winning sports writer who has covered Washington sports since 1978. He first wrote about the Redskins in 1983 before becoming a beat writer in 1993. Snider currently writes for several national and international publications and is a Washington tour guide. Follow Rick on Twitter at @Snide_Remarks.