“The city fathers should take down the statue of Robert E. Lee at Lee Circle in New Orleans and put up a statue of Paul Tagliabue.”

— Louisiana native James Carville, political advisor to President Bill Clinton.

Paul Tagliabue, former NFL commissioner, died Sunday following a heart attack. His tenure spanned 17 years. Joe Browne, a retired NFL executive and close friend of Tagliabue, summed up the former commissioner’s run like this:

“When Paul was named commissioner after that seven-month search in 1989, that’s when the league got back on track,” said Browne, who spent 50 years as an NFL executive and was a confidant of both ex-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle and Tagliabue.

“Paul had insisted during his negotiations for the position that final control over matters such as labor and all

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