In this issue Steve Hannagan’s meets the Big Four journalists of the popular media. Early on while at Russel Seeds, Steve was assigned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to work with Pop Myers, General Manager of the Speedway. At the Speedway, Steve met four major figures in the popular press: Roy Howard, President and General Manager […]
Baseball Centennial In 1939, Major League Baseball (MLB) owners set aside $100,000 ($1.6 million in current dollars) to celebrate the game’s 100th anniversary (It was debatable at the time and is accepted now that 1939 was not the centennial of the game.The game did not start with Abner Doubleday but evolved over time with rules […]
Gar Wood Gar Wood was America’s, and possibly the worlds, most famous speed-boat racer in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Wood (adjacent picture[1]) was an inventive speed-boat designer, who raced boats of his own design. In 1921, In 1925, he raced the Twentieth Century Limited train up the Hudson River between Albany and […]
Tex Richard Fight Promoter1 In 1929, the nationally known fight promoter, Tex Richard, promoted a heavyweight championship bout between Young Stribling and Jack Sharkey in Miami Beach. Steve Hannagan was thrilled knowing that the fight would attract huge crowds of fans to Miami Beach. Shortly before the Stribling-Sharkey match, Tex Richard died.[2] Bill Carey, […]
By the late 1920s, Steve Hannagan’s became the “go-to guy” for athletes, sports teams, and sporting events. They sought him out for advice about building an athlete’s reputation, promoting a sporting venues, and publicizing sports equipment. Here are several highlights that illustrate the breadth of Hannagan’s experience with sports are cited below. Bowling and Billiards […]
Steve Hannagan and His Chief Associates (Steve Hannagan seated, Joe Copps standing to left and Larry Smits to the right[1]) Steve Hannagan contributed several important principles to public relations in general and to sports publicity in particular. His principles can be divined from his work with motor racing (land and water), boxing, individual athletes, […]
In the mid-1930s, Averell Harriman, President of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) sought a location for a ski resort in the mountainous west to spur passenger traffic. Harriman found a location for a resort outside of Ketchum, Idaho and hired Steve Hannagan to do for Sun Valley what he had done for Miami Beach – […]
As Steve Hannagan’s passed through Ketchum after his trip to the future Sun Valley, he realized that Averell Harriman could not depend on a run-down mountain town to entertain his guests. [1] Hannagan told Harriman that he should build a resort with world class amenities to serve the celebrities and monied crowd that he […]
As the Sun Valley Lodge neared completion, Averell Harriman and Steve Hannagan planned a gala grand opening to introduce the resort to the press. They wanted newspaper coverage to show that Sun Valley was the most elegant ski resort outside of Austria and Switzerland. Harriman scheduled the grand opening for December 21, 1936 and Hannagan […]
Hollywood and Hannagan’s Publicity Machine Steve Hannagan plugged Sun Valley by convincing Hollywood producers to use Sun Valley as a setting for their movies. It was product placement writ large. His first success was Wesley Ruggles’ movie “I Met Him in Paris” with Sun Valley as a substitute for the Alps. Although Sun Valley is […]