Washington Football Team: A history of the franchise’s owners

Perhaps, in hindsight, it would have been wise for the current Washington Football Team owner to have used three names.

Were he known as Daniel Marc Snyder, he would be following in the tradition of the three men who ran the show for the Washington Football Team prior to his arrival: George Preston Marshall, Edward Bennett Williams, and Jack Kent Cooke. All had mercurial personalities and massive egos. All had prominent embarrassments. But, to date, all had greater success than two-named Dan Snyder.

Alas, three-name owners – at least the male variety – are out of favor in the today’s NFL. There are your Virginia Halas McCaskeys and your Denise DeBartolo Yorks – married women who took their husbands’ names while keeping their own surnames as well – but there is only one male owner who currently goes by three names. I would tell you who it is, but I feel that I am getting off on a major tangent here, and probably should get to my point.

That point is – four men have essentially run what is now known as the Washington Football Team throughout its 90-year history. Here is a brief biography of each.