Professional Football Team Owner. From 1963 to 1969, he was the proprietor of the Philadelphia Eagles. Additionally, he was a key figure responsible for the Philadelphia Flyers' entry into the National Hockey League. The son of a produce distributor, he worked for his father at an early age and when the elder Wolman became ill, Jerry left high school a year prior to graduation to help run the business. After marrying and settling in Washington DC, he went onto amass his fortune in the construction industry. A fan of the Philadelphia Eagles during his youth, he purchased the franchise in 1963 for the sum of $5.5 million dollars. At that time, he was the youngest team owner in the National Football League. Among one of his first decisions as owner was to hire Joe Kuharich, to serve as both head coach and general manager and made the controversial move to sign Kuharich to a 15 year contract extension after the team improved to a 9-5 record in 1966. However, this led to inner-turmoil with Kuharich and operations director Ed Snider, resulting in Snider's departure. In spite of this, Wolman and Snider paired up to attract the National Hockey League's interest in awarding a professional team to Philadelphia. The result would be the birth of the Philadelphia Flyers. On the condition that a new arena be build, Wolman oversaw construction of the Philadelphia Spectrum which became home to the Flyers and 76ers. During this period, it was revealed that Wolman had been experiencing financial difficulties in part to his overseeing of the construction of the Sears Tower in Chicago, which led to extreme expenditures. In the end, he was forced to sell the Eagles to trucking magnate Leonard Tose. Wolman did go onto revive his financial stature and was even at one point considering his purchase of the Washington Redskins but Daniel Snyder would be the one to buy the franchise.