Carl Pohlad

Carl R. Pohlad (born August 23, 1915, in West Des Moines, Iowa) has been the owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise since 1984 (succeeding Calvin Griffith).

Biography

Early life

Pohlad grew up in Valley Junction, Iowa (now known as West Des Moines, Iowa). In 1934, he graduated from Valley High School. He attended and played football for Compton Junior College in Southern California for a short time. Bing Crosby saw him play football and recruited him to play for his alma mater Gonzaga University in Washington. Pohlad attended Gonzaga but dropped out after the football season of his senior year.

He was drafted to serve in WWII, and served from 1943-1946. Pohlad fought in Europe and spent time in France, Germany, and Austria. He was wounded in battle, and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal.

After the war he returned to Iowa, married Eloise O'Rourke Pohlad and later moved to Edina, MN.

Career

Pohlad got his start in the banking business by foreclosing farms during the Great Depression. After the Depression, he began getting into investing. Over several decades, he built a banking empire, finally selling Marquette Bank to U.S. Bancorp in theOver several decades, he built a banking empire, finally selling Marquette Bank to First Bank Systems (later formed into U.S. Bancorp) in 1992. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3799/is_199806/ai_n8785814 After six-year absence Marquette Bank returns to Edina | Northwestern Financial Review | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] Forbes ranks him tied for the 107th richest person in the United States, with a net worth of 2.6 billion dollars. [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/54/biz_06rich400_Carl-Pohlad_75UU.html #107 Carl Pohlad - Forbes.com ] ]

Pohlad is also the Vice President of Pohlad Companies, which owns several companies both large and small, including Marquette Financial Companies, United Properties, River Road Entertainment, Stanton Group Holdings [http://www.marquette.com/companies/otherinterests/] , Inetium, Arcadia Solutions, KTTB FM (B-96) Radio Station (through Northern Lights Broadcasting, a holding company [http://www.kxmc.com/t/minnesota/133420.asp] ), and JB Hudson's Jewelers [http://wcco.com/local/J.B.2.367092.html] in the Twin Cities, as well as a controlling interest in PepsiAmericas, the second largest bottling group in the United States.

Minnesota sports

He has been widely criticised for both a seeming eagerness to allow the team to be eliminated in league contraction and a failure to spend enough of his immense wealth on improving the team. In 1997, Pohlad almost sold the Twins to North Carolina businessman Don Beaver, who would have moved the team to the Piedmont Triad area of the state. [Is North Carolina Ready by Minnesota Public Radio 10-3-97 [http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199710/03_kastem_ncready/] ] The defeat of a referendum for a stadium in that area and a lack of interest in a move to Charlotte killed the deal.

Pohlad owned a part of the Minnesota Vikings from the mid-1980s to 1991.

Personal life

Pohlad's wife, Eloise died in 2003. They had three sons during their 56-year marriage: James, Robert, and William.

References

sequence
list = Owner of the
Minnesota Twins
1984–present
prev = Calvin Griffith
1956–1984
next = Current

["Is North Carolina Ready" by Minnesota Public Radio 10-3-97]