John Fetzer

John Earl Fetzer (March 25, 1901 - February 20, 1991) was a radio and television executive who was best known as the owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961 through the early 1980s.

Biography

Born in 1901 in Decatur, Indiana, Fetzer moved with his mother to Lafayette, Indiana, after his father died when Fetzer was 2 years old. There his brother-in-law, a telegraph operator for the Wabash Railroad, introduced young John to the early workings of wireless communication. Via telegraph reports they would track the baseball games of the Detroit Tigers, which he would later own.

Radio was still in its infancy, but Fetzer took it seriously and built his first transmitter-receiver in 1917 and began communicating from his home in Indiana with a man in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1923, he came to Michigan to build a radio station for Emmanuel Missionary College, now known as Andrews University, in Berrien Springs. He built and operated the station, and also met Rhea Yeager. They would stay married until his death, for 65 years.

John Fetzer (politician)

John Fetzer (July 8, 1840 – after 1895) was an American politician. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing Wisconsin's 1st Senate District. Previously, he held a position in the State Assembly. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Fetzer was born in Pigelheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. He moved to Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1850, and then to Forestville in 1867 after serving in the Civil War.

In September 1861, he enlisted in Company B, of the 9th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He served until December 1864. He was engaged in all of the battles in which his regiment participated, and was wounded at the Battle of Saline Bottoms on April 30, 1864.

He was the chairman of the Forrestville town board for many years, before becoming a member of the State Assembly, and later the State Senate.

References