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Alex Spanos, the son of Greek immigrants

in Introduce Yourself As A Pony! Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:07 am
by chenyan94 • 37 Posts

STOCKTON Womens Joe Barksdale Jersey , Calif. (AP) — Alex Spanos, the son of Greek immigrants who used a self-made fortune from construction and real estate to buy the Chargers in 1984, died Tuesday. He was 95.The Chargers announced Spanos’ death. Faye Spanos, his wife, died in August at 92.After building a nationwide construction empire based in Stockton, his Northern California hometown, Spanos realized a lifelong dream of owning an NFL franchise when he bought controlling interest in the San Diego Chargers from Gene Klein in 1984 for about $50 million. He eventually bought all but 3 percent of the team.NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hailed Spanos as “an American success story, driven by a tireless work ethic inspired by his humble beginnings.”“Alex became one of the country’s most successful businessmen, but he never forgot his roots and the call to help others,” Goodell added in a statement. “Along with Faye, his beloved wife of nearly 70 years, Alex’s philanthropic and civic contributions touched many lives throughout California and around the country. He was a marvelous friend and partner whose impact on the NFL will never be forgotten. We all benefited from Alex’s compassion, character and zest for football and life.”Spanos hadn’t been in charge of day-to-day management of the Chargers since 1994, when he turned over the responsibilities to Dean Spanos, his oldest son. Dean Spanos decided to move the Chargers from San Diego to Los Angeles last year.The team announced in 2008 that Alex Spanos was suffering from dementia, and he eventually stopped attending games.“Laura and I send our condolences to the Spanos family on the death of their beloved patriarch, Alex Spanos Casey Hayward Jersey ,” former President George W. Bush said in a statement. “Alex was one of a kind. … He was a wonderful citizen and friend, and the Bush family will miss him.”Born in Stockton on Sept. 28, 1923, Spanos took an unlikely road to NFL ownership. After working in his father’s bakery and serving in the Air Force during World War II, Spanos borrowed $800 from a banker to buy a truck from which he sold sandwiches to migrant farm workers in the San Joaquin Valley. He began investing in real estate and started a construction company that mostly built apartment buildings, eventually expanding its footprint across the Sunbelt and Midwest.Spanos and his wife were generous philanthropists, giving to many causes related to hospitals, universities and youth programs. He gave extensively to the University of the Pacific, his alma mater in Stockton, where the Alex G. Spanos Center houses the Tigers’ basketball and volleyball teams.He was an avid golfer and counted among his friends Bob Hope, Gerald Ford and many prominent politicians. Hope sometimes attended Chargers home games, sitting in Spanos’ box.“Alex Spanos lived the American Dream,” former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Twitter. “His incredible story should inspire each and every one of us. As a son of immigrants, he rose from working in his father’s bakery to become a titan of real estate and business. But more importantly, he used his money and platform to give back to the world. He was a dear friend and I’ll miss him dearly.”During his third season of Chargers ownership, Spanos fired legendary coach Don Coryell after the Chargers started 1-7 in 1986. It took nine seasons for the Chargers to make their first playoff appearance under Spanos’ ownership, in 1992.After then-general manager Bobby Beathard nearly resigned following the 1993 season due to a feud over signing bonuses for free agents http://www.thechargerslockerroom.com/authentic-melvin-ingram-jersey , Alex Spanos put Dean in charge of day-to-day operations of the team. With Beathard remaining, the Chargers made their only Super Bowl appearance, a 49-26 loss to San Francisco in January 1995.It was Alex Spanos who first raised the topic of a new stadium in 2000, just three years after the city expanded Qualcomm by 10,000 seats for the Chargers, touting it as being Super Bowl-quality. The stadium hosted Super Bowls in 1998 and 2003, but the city fell behind on maintenance and it fell out of the Super Bowl rotation.Alex Spanos wasn’t held in warm regard by many San Diego fans and was booed during a halftime ceremony to retire Hall of Famer Dan Fouts’ No. 14 in 1988. After that, Alex Spanos didn’t participate in similar ceremonies.The Chargers last year left San Diego, their home of 56 years, and moved north after years of fruitless attempts to secure funding for a new arena to replace aging Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers are currently in the midst of their second of three seasons playing at StubHub Center in suburban Carson, but they will share a multibillion dollar stadium complex in Inglewood with the Los Angeles Rams upon its completion in 2020.Spanos is survived by four children, 15 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. The聽Los Angeles Chargers聽had every reason to be susceptible to a trap game against Cincinnati.The Chargers were coming off an emotional, come-from-behind victory against Pittsburgh last Sunday and a key AFC West showdown at Kansas City was fast approaching.Sunday’s 26-21 victory over the聽Bengals聽was not one of Los Angeles’ best-played games of the season, but it does improve the record to 10-3 going into Thursday night’s game against the 11-2 Chiefs for the division lead.“Everyone wanted to talk about Pittsburgh and if it wasn’t Pittsburgh then it was Kansas City. This team was dangerous and we got out of there with a win,” Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said.The Chargers scored touchdowns on their first two drives and then got four field goals from聽Michael Badgley聽鈥?including a team-record 59-yarder 鈥?to deal the Bengals (5-8) their fifth straight loss.“We did enough to win. Shoot, they all count the same. We found a way to win, in a different way Womens Junior Seau Jersey ,” said聽Philip Rivers, who was 19 of 29 for 220 yards and a touchdown.The Chargers had 160 yards of offense on their first two drives 鈥?which ended in a聽Keenan Allen聽14-yard TD catch and 5-yard score by聽Austin Ekeler聽鈥?but had 128 the remainder of the game. Three of the last eight drives started at or inside the Chargers 7.Ekeler rushed for 66 yards on 15 carries with聽Melvin Gordon聽missing his second straight game due to a knee injury. Allen had five receptions for 78 yards and has a touchdown in five straight games.“Sometimes you just have to play complementary football. Defensively we stopped them when we needed to,” Lynn said. “Offensively we started out, but then slowed down and kicked field goals the rest of the day.”Cincinnati had good field position for most of the day with an average drive start of its 35.聽Joe Mixon聽had 111 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown.聽Jeff Driskel, who was making his second straight start since聽Andy Dalton‘s聽season-ending thumb injury, was 18 of 27 for 170 yards and a touchdown.“The decisions I made today didn’t work out. We didn’t get to make the break. This or that decision put us in situations, whether it’s fourth down and we’ve got to make the stop, the 2-point (conversion) and so forth, those things today, we didn’t get to make the breaks,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.Cincinnati got within two points at 14-12 late in the first half on a pair of field goal by Bullock 鈥?one came after an apparent TD run by Driskel was overturned by replay 鈥?and Driskel’s 5-yard TD pass to聽John Ross聽(the 2-point attempt was no good). The Chargers, though, would take a 17-12 lead when Badgley made his 59-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.The Chargers led 23-15 late in the fourth quarter when Mixon scored from a yard out. The 2-point attempt, which would have tied the game, failed when Driskel was sacked by聽Darius Philon.BIG OVERTURNDriskel appeared to score a touchdown with about five minutes remaining in the second quarter on a 1-yard scramble that would have brought the Bengals within four, but replay overturned it saying he was short of the goal line.In the past, quarterbacks were safe to go head-first and not be considered to be giving himself up Doug Flutie Jersey , but that was changed this season.“He dove forward to the goal line and as soon as his knee hit the ground, he was ruled to have given himself up. The ball was short of the goal line,” referee John Hussey said after the game.The overturn meant the ball was spotted inches short of the goal line and brought up fourth-and-goal. Bengals guard聽Alex Redmond聽was then called for a false start and Cincinnati had to settle for a Bullock 23-yard field goal that cut the Chargers’ margin to 14-6.BIG LEG BADGLEYBadgley, who had the winning field goal last Sunday at Pittsburgh, now has the longest field goal in Chargers history.The Chargers attempted a Hail Mary with a second remaining, which resulted in Rivers being sacked, but Bengals defensive end聽Jordan Willis聽was called for a false start, which brought out Badgley, who said he was very confident about making it.“You got to go out there with that kind of confidence. If you’re going out there thinking you’re going to miss it you probably shouldn’t be kicking it,” said Badgley, who is 14 of 15 on field goals since joining the Chargers last month. “But going out there, it was a way for us to steal momentum from them at the end of the half, go into the second half with more points. It was definitely good for us to get those points at the end of the half.”The former team record was a 57-yarder by Nate Kaeding at Tampa Bay on Dec. 21, 2008.UP NEXTBengals: Host Oakland next Sunday before concluding the season with two straight road games.Chargers: Travel to Kansas City on Thursday night in a matchup of two of the top teams in the AFC.

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