{{short description|American businessman and sports executive}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} '''John W. Mecom Jr.''' (born 1940<ref>{{cite web|title=Bloomberg Executive Profile| website=[[Bloomberg News]] |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=630194&privcapId=302617|accessdate=2 March 2018}}</ref>) is the chairman of the John W. Mecom company and founder of the [[New Orleans Saints]] [[NFL]] football team.
==Early life== Mecom is the son of [[Texas]] oilman [[John W. Mecom Sr.]] and his wife Mary Elizabeth. He was a student at the [[University of Oklahoma]].<ref>{{cite web|title=John W. Mecom Jr. An Inventory of His Papers|url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ttusw/00193/tsw-00193.html|website=Texas Archival Resources Online|accessdate=3 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Minetree |first1=Harry |title=John Mecom Jr. Prepares to Battle the U.s. to Keep Exotic Animals on His Texas Ranch |url=https://people.com/archive/john-mecom-jr-prepares-to-battle-the-u-s-to-keep-exotic-animals-on-his-texas-ranch-vol-3-no-24/ |accessdate=15 August 2018 |publisher=People |date=June 23, 1975}}</ref>
He is the owner and chairman of the John W. Mecom company, which was started by his father. The company is primarily involved in real estate and the oil and gas industry.
John, Jr. followed with his own achievements in the oil and gas industry, and in various real estate ventures. He also branched out into professional sports with a special interest in motorsport and football. In the early 1960s he formed his own racing team, [[Mecom Racing Team|Mecom Racing]] that successfully competed throughout the U.S. and had such drivers as [[Roger Penske]], [[Pedro Rodríguez (racing driver)|Pedro Rodriguez]], [[A. J. Foyt|AJ Foyt]] and [[Jackie Stewart]]. [[Graham Hill]] raced his car to victory at the [[1966 Indianapolis 500]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Road Racing Drivers Club, John Mecom|url=http://www.rrdc.org/member/john-mecom-jr/|accessdate=18 September 2018}}</ref>
==Sports ownership== On November 1, 1966, the [[National Football League]] awarded a team to the city of [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], as spearheaded by businessmen such as [[David Dixon (businessman)|David Dixon]] and politicians such as Congressmen [[Hale Boggs]] and Governor [[John McKeithen]], which would play in the [[1967 New Orleans Saints season|1967 season]]. [[William G. Helis Jr.]], [[Herman Lay]], [[Louis J. Roussel Jr.]], [[Jack Sanders (American football)|Jack Sanders]], [[Edgar B. Stern Jr.]], and John W. Mecom Jr. were the six bidders for the franchise.<ref>{{cite news |title=NFL Screening Group Interviews Hopefuls |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42615126/the_times/ |newspaper=[[The Shreveport Times]] |via=Newspapers.com |date=December 9, 1966 |access-date=January 19, 2020}}</ref> On December 15, 1966, Mecom was the winning bid, purchasing the team for $8.5 million from the NFL and became the youngest owner of an NFL franchise.<ref>{{cite web|title=John W. Mecom Jr. An Inventory of His Papers|url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ttusw/00193/tsw-00193.html|website=Texas Archival Resources Online|accessdate=3 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Timeline of Saints' history in New Orleans: John Mecom Jr., the Bensons, San Antonio and beyond {{!}} Saints {{!}} nola.com | url=https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/timeline-of-saints-history-in-new-orleans-john-mecom-jr-the-bensons-san-antonio-and/article_711d98da-218a-11ec-9b92-0331a8985887.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129084923/https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/timeline-of-saints-history-in-new-orleans-john-mecom-jr-the-bensons-san-antonio-and/article_711d98da-218a-11ec-9b92-0331a8985887.html | access-date=2025-07-03 | archive-date=2024-01-29}}</ref> Soon christened as the [[New Orleans Saints]], Mecom spearheaded the black and gold color scheme that the Saints would wear (Dixon had pushed for [[Mardi Gras]] colors), which came after testing at [[Tulane Stadium]]. (The shade of gold used was made darker as to distinguish themselves from the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], who use a ligher shade of gold that more closely resembled [[yellow]].) Tulane Stadium would serve as the first home of the Saints until the Superdome was built, which did not end up being completed until 1975, three years late and $120 million over budget.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Oral History - Marching In - John Mecom, Jr. - Saints Uniform | url=https://www.hnoc.org/interactive/crescent-city-sport/oral-histories/marching-in-uniform.html | access-date=2025-07-03 | website=www.hnoc.org}}</ref>
In eighteen seasons as owner, the Saints went 78–176–5, with only 1979 and 1983 seeing the team win more than seven games.<ref>{{Cite web | title=John Mecom Jr. Football Executive Record {{!}} Pro-Football-Reference.com | url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/executives/MecoJo0.htm | access-date=2025-07-03 | website=www.pro-football-reference.com}}</ref> Owing to his inexperience, Mecom attempted to remedy the team's perpetual troubles with the advice from anyone he could ask, such as the league or the media, which only made things worse. The 1980 team lost fourteen games to start the year, and fans started to wear paper bags over their heads with "Aints" on it before one idea to respond to the team "laying an egg" saw the team building and Mecom's apartment bombarded with eggs for a week.<ref>{{Cite web | title=WWLTV - YouTube | url=https://www.wwltv.com/article/sports/nfl/saints/saints-first-owner-reflects-on-50-years-of-football/289-315286957 | access-date=2025-07-03 | website=www.wwltv.com}}</ref>
In late 1984, he announced that the team was up for sale. Mecom stated that talks about potentially leaving New Orleans only happened when state Governor [[Edwin Edwards]] did not want to negotiate a new lease with the team. Cities included in the rumor mill were [[Indianapolis, Indiana]] (which was quickly ruled out once the [[Baltimore Colts]] [[Baltimore Colts relocation to Indianapolis|moved there themselves on March 29, 1984]]), [[Phoenix, Arizona]] (which received the Cardinals from St. Louis in 1988) and [[Jacksonville, Florida]]. Jacksonville (where the expansion Jaguars began play in 1995) made an offer to buy 49% for over $110 million, but Mecom did not wish to be the man known for moving the Saints out of New Orleans (which lost the NBA's Jazz, who also played in the Superdome, to Salt Lake City. in 1979). [[Abram Nicholas Pritzker]] was considered as a potential buyer but attempts to bring in a partner in George Gillette Jr (who had tried to buy the team with Potter Palmer in 1973 with bitter results) led to the talks breaking off. On May 31, 1985, he sold the team for $64 million to New Orleans-native businessman [[Tom Benson]] (as encouraged by Edwards).<ref>{{cite news|title=SPORTS PEOPLE; Deal Made for Saints|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/13/sports/sports-people-deal-made-for-saints.html|accessdate=3 March 2018|work=New York Times|date=13 March 1985 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Saints: Edwin Edwards 'championed the interest' of Tom Benson to buy the team {{!}} Saints {{!}} nola.com | url=https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/saints-edwin-edwards-championed-the-interest-of-tom-benson-to-buy-the-team/article_bfad4f1c-e35b-11eb-abb1-1ba34ac76929.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129101415/https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/saints-edwin-edwards-championed-the-interest-of-tom-benson-to-buy-the-team/article_bfad4f1c-e35b-11eb-abb1-1ba34ac76929.html | access-date=2025-07-03 | archive-date=2024-01-29}}</ref> Known for not having a winning record their first 20 years, the Saints on-field performance improved almost overnight in the years following Mecom's sale to Benson.
Mecom dealt with a bout of cancer in 2007 that lasted a number of years while living in Houston. When interviewed for the Saints Super Bowl run almost 25 years since his sale of the team (where Mecom attended the NFC Championship Game in the [[Caesars Superdome|Superdome]]), Mecom expressed that ownership "wasn't a place for a romantic" while saying he had fun and learned life lessons as owner.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Houstonian still a fan years after selling Saints - Houston Chronicle | url=https://www.chron.com/sports/texans/article/Houstonian-still-a-fan-years-after-selling-Saints-1708417.php | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930231735/http://www.chron.com/sports/texans/article/Houstonian-still-a-fan-years-after-selling-Saints-1708417.php | access-date=2025-07-03 | archive-date=2013-09-30}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{s-new|First}} {{s-ttl|title=[[New Orleans Saints]] owner|years=1966–1985}} {{s-aft|after=[[Tom Benson]]}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mecom, John W.}} [[Category:1940 births]] [[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American businesspeople in the oil industry]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Houston]] [[Category:University of Oklahoma alumni]] [[Category:New Orleans Saints owners]]