Arch Burdette Ward was born in Irwin, Ill. , the son of Thomas Stephan and Nora Gertrude O'Conner Ward. His father, a brakeman for the Illinois Central Railroad, died in a railway accident when Arch was four years old. Shortly thereafter he and his mother moved to Iowa to live with relatives. In 1914 Gertrude Ward arranged for the president of St. Joseph's College and Academy - later Loras College - in Dubuque to become Arch's legal guardian.
Ward took odd jobs, including menial assignments with a Dubuque newspaper, in order to complete high school and two years of college at St. Joseph's. He then left school to write for the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald. In 1919 Ward enrolled at the University of Notre Dame. He worked as campus correspondent for the South Bend Tribune and filed stories with other newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune. At the behest of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame's football coach, Ward also acted as the university's first athletic publicity director. He idolized Rockne, referring to him as "a benevolent despot in a powerful masculine democracy. " Rockne, he later wrote, "never became abusive, " but he "never failed to belittle the tailor's model, the tea hound, the poser and the men who can't take it. " Ward left Notre Dame in 1921 to become sports editor of the Rockford Morning Star. Although he attended the university again for a brief period in 1931, he never earned a degree.
In 1925 Ward joined the Chicago Tribune as a copy editor, and within five years he had risen to sports editor. On June 14, 1937, he began to write "In the Wake of the News"; originated in 1905, it is the oldest continuous sports column in American journalism. Throughout his career Ward was more interested in promotion than in writing. "Whenever he got around to writing, Arch could do a good story or column, " a colleague remembered. "But . Arch didn't put too much of a premium on writing. " He covered only the biggest events and permitted staffers to ghos-twrite about one-third of his columns. His three books on the history of athletic teams are more akin to promotional literature than to serious history. Still, under Ward the Tribune developed the largest sports staff of any American newspaper of the era. "He was so intense and worked so hard he kept everybody else hard at it, too, " one of his writers recalled. As a promoter Ward started or assisted the organization of the Silver Skates and Golden Gloves competition, as well as sundry golf, bowling, swimming, and horse-racing events. Each promotion raised funds for charity. In 1933 he was asked to devise a sports event to coincide with the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition. Seizing upon the idea of an all-star baseball game, he overrode the objections of skeptical owners who doubted that the game would attract a sufficient crowd to pay expenses. The contest drew 47, 000 spectators at Comiskey Park and became an annual event. The following year Ward conceived the idea of an all-star football game to be played for the benefit of charity. He arranged for the professional champion Chicago Bears to compete against a team of college all-stars. The game was held at Chicago's Soldier Field in August 1934, before nearly 80, 000 fans - the largest crowd that had seen a professional football team play. It, too, became an annual event. In 1939 and 1940 Ward refused offers to become commissioner of the National Football League, but early in 1941 he persuaded the owners to elect Elmer Layden, the Notre Dame coach, as commissioner. As the popularity of professional football increased, several cities sought admission to the NFL. Ward assisted a group of Los Angeles investors in their attempts to negotiate with the league, but the NFL disdained expansion. Several parties then sought to establish rival leagues. A Trans-America League and a United States League were formed, although both swiftly collapsed. Ward himself also laid plans for a new league. He met with representatives from ten cities in St. Louis in June 1944 and founded the All-America Football Conference. Although Ward invested no money, he generously furnished the Tribune's rich publicity resources, as well as his own boundless promotional energies. In 1946 the eight-team league commenced play. The league was never financially stable, and within four years most of the clubs disbanded. The NFL, however, which was eager to end the bidding war for players' services, assimilated the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts, and the San Francisco 49ers. In the 1950's Ward took on a local television program and a national radio broadcast in addition to his Tribune duties. Success caused him, in the estimation of some colleagues, to grow haughty and aloof. Ward died in Chicago.
Quotes from others about the person
He wanted to be "a big shot, " one writer reflected. "He dressed and acted the part" and affected "a little bit Hollywood, " but "he still seemed the small town guy who had been caught up in this thing. " To his colleagues Ward remained "basically a country boy from Dubuque. "
In 1921 Ward married Helen Carey of Chicago; they had two children.
