J. I. Albrecht

J. I. Albrecht (February 15, 1931 – March 11, 2008) worked in college and professional sports for 53 years. He worked in the CFL, NFL and NCAA, and NASL.

His father was wealthy New York Businessman Herman Albrecht. Born in St. James, New York, Albrecht grew up in Long Island and Brooklyn and attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. He went on to attend Georgia Military College where he lost his eye in an accident. Because of the loss of his eye he decided to pursue the closest thing to war and to him at the time was football.

He has claimed over the years that his initials have stood for nothing. However, in an interview with the Ottawa Sun he revealed that they stand for Just Incredible. When he was born, he said, there were complications which led the delivering doctor to fear that he or his mother would die at his birth, and asked his father who he wanted to live, the baby or the mother. His father said "both." Both mother and son survived, and in commemoration the parents selected the unusual name. However, they were not allowed to use it on his birth certificate, and thus he went by his initials all his life.

He then went on to work under General Robert Neyland whom he named his second son, Hunter Joseph Neyland after. At Tennessee he won his first national championship. He then went on to recruit for several other NCAA teams and served for one season as the General Manager of the Harlem Globetrotters. Albrecht then worked for Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and the New England Patriots of the NFL. In Canada he worked for the Montreal Alouettes as the General Manager where he won his first Grey Cup. He was fired by Sam Berger in Montreal and went to work for the New England Patriots of the NFL. After a few years with the Patriots during the Grogan - Plunkett years he was hired by Bill Hodgson, owner of the Old Mill in Toronto and the Toronto Argonauts to serve as the team's General Manager. After the Argos he went on to be the General Manager of the Toronto Metros Croatia where he developed a true love and respect for the game of soccer and the Croatian people.