Carl Pohlad

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Carl R. Pohlad (born August 23, 1915, in West Des Moines, Iowa) has been the owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise since 1984 (succeeding Calvin Griffith).

In 1997, Pohlad almost sold the Twins to North Carolina businessman Don Beaver, who would have moved the team to the Piedmont Triad (Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point) area of the state.^{[citation needed]} The defeat of a referendum for a stadium in that area and a lack of interest in a move to Charlotte killed the deal. (Beaver is currently a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.)^{[citation needed]}

Pohlad is also the Vice President of Pohlad Companies, which owns several companies both large and small, including Marquette Financial Companies, United Properties, River Road Entertainment, Stanton Group Holdings[1], Inetium, Arcadia Solutions, KTTB FM (B-96) Radio Station (through Northern Lights Broadcasting, a holding company[2]), and JB Hudson's Jewelers[3] in the Twin Cities, as well as a controlling interest in PepsiAmericas, the second largest bottling group in the United States.

Pohlad grew up in Valley Junction, Iowa (now known as West Des Moines, Iowa). In 1934, he graduated from Valley High School. He attended and played football for Compton Junior College in Southern California for a short time. Bing Crosby saw him play football and recruited him to play for his alma mater Gonzaga University in Washington. Pohlad attended Gonzaga but dropped out after the football season of his senior year. He was drafted to serve in WWII, and served from 1943-1946. Pohlad fought in Europe and spent time in France, Germany, and Austria. He was wounded in battle, and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal. After the war he returned to Iowa, married Eloise O'Rourke Pohlad and later moved to Edina, MN. Over several decades, he built a banking empire, finally selling Marquette Bank to First Bank Systems (later formed into U.S. Bancorp) in 1992.^[1] Forbes ranks him tied for the 107th richest person in the United States, with a net worth of 2.6 billion dollars.^[2] Pohlad owned a part of the Minnesota Vikings from the mid 1980's to 1991.

Pohlad's wife, Eloise died in 2003. They had three sons during their 56-year marriage: James, Robert, and William.