title: Leo Frank

text: On May 29, Conley was interviewed for four hours. His new affidavit said that Frank told him, "he had picked up a girl back there and let her fall and that her head hit against something." Conley said he and Frank took the body to the basement via the elevator, then returned to Frank's office where the murder notes were dictated. Conley then hid in the wardrobe after the two had returned to the office. He said Frank gave him $200, but took it back, saying, "Let me have that and I will make it all right with you Monday if I live and nothing happens." Conley's affidavit concluded, "The reason I have not told this before is I thought Mr. Frank would get out and help me out and I decided to tell the whole truth about this matter." At trial, Conley changed his story concerning the $200. He said Frank decided to withhold the money until Conley had burned Phagan's body in the basement furnace.


title: Leo Frank

text: The "Georgian" hired William Manning Smith to represent Conley for $40. Smith was known for specializing in representing black clients, and had successfully defended a black man against an accusation of rape by a white woman. He had also taken an elderly black woman's civil case as far as the Georgia Supreme Court. Although Smith believed Conley had told the truth in his final affidavit, he became concerned that Conley was giving long jailhouse interviews with crowds of reporters. Smith was also anxious about reporters from the Hearst papers, who had taken Frank's side. He arranged for Conley to be moved to a different jail, and severed his own relationship with the "Georgian".


title: Leo Frank

text: On February 24, 1914, Conley was sentenced to a year in jail for being an accomplice after the fact to the murder of Mary Phagan.


title: Leo Frank

text: "The Atlanta Constitution" broke the story of the murder and was soon in competition with "The Atlanta Journal" and "The Atlanta Georgian". Forty extra editions came out the day Phagan's murder was reported. "The Atlanta Georgian" published a doctored morgue photo of Phagan, in which her head was shown spliced onto the body of another girl, and ran headlines "Says Women Overheard Conley Confess" and "Says Women Heard Conley Confess" on July 12. The papers offered a total of $1,800 in reward money for information leading to the apprehension of the murderer. Soon after the murder, Atlanta's mayor criticized the police for their steady release of information to the public. The governor, noting the reaction of the public to press sensationalism soon after Lee's and Frank's arrests, organized ten militia companies in case they were needed to repulse mob action against the prisoners. Coverage of the case in the local press continued nearly unabated throughout the investigation, trial, and subsequent appeal process.


title: Leo Frank

text: Newspaper reports throughout the period combined real evidence, unsubstantiated rumors, and journalistic speculation. Dinnerstein wrote, "Characterized by innuendo, misrepresentation, and distortion, the yellow journalism account of Mary Phagan's death aroused an anxious city, and within a few days, a shocked state." Different segments of the population focused on different aspects. Atlanta's working class saw Frank as "a defiler of young girls", while the German-Jewish community saw him as "an exemplary man and loyal husband." Albert Lindemann, author of "The Jew Accused", opined that "ordinary people" may have had difficulty evaluating the often unreliable information and in "suspend[ing] judgment over a long period of time" while the case developed. As the press shaped public opinion, much of the public's attention was directed at the police and the prosecution, whom they expected to bring Phagan's killer to justice. The prosecutor, Hugh Dorsey, had recently lost two high-profile murder cases; one state newspaper wrote that "another defeat, and in a case where the feeling was so intense, would have been, in all likelihood, the end of Mr. Dorsey, as solicitor."


title: Leo Frank

text: On May 23, 1913, a grand jury convened to hear evidence for an indictment against Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan. The prosecutor, Hugh Dorsey, presented only enough information to obtain the indictment, assuring the jury that additional information would be provided during the trial. The next day, May 24, the jury voted for an indictment. Meanwhile, Frank's legal team suggested to the media that Jim Conley was the actual killer, and put pressure on another grand jury to indict him. The jury foreman, on his own authority, convened the jury on July 21; on Dorsey's advice, they decided not to indict Conley.


title: Leo Frank

text: On July 28, the trial began at the Fulton County Superior Court (old city hall building). The judge, Leonard S. Roan, had been serving as a judge in Georgia since 1900. The prosecution team was led by Dorsey and included William Smith (Conley's attorney and Dorsey's jury consultant). Frank was represented by a team of eight lawyersincluding jury selection specialistsled by Luther Rosser, Reuben Arnold, and Herbert Haas. In addition to the hundreds of spectators inside, a large crowd gathered outside to watch the trial through the windows. The defense, in their legal appeals, would later cite the crowds as factors in intimidation of the witnesses and jury.


title: Leo Frank

text: Both legal teams, in planning their trial strategy, considered the implications of trying a white man based on the testimony of a black man in front of an early 1900s Georgia jury. Jeffrey Melnick, author of "Black-Jewish Relations on Trial: Leo Frank and Jim Conley in the New South", writes that the defense tried to picture Conley as "a new kind of African Americananarchic, degraded, and dangerous." Dorsey, however, pictured Conley as "a familiar type" of "old negro", like a minstrel or plantation worker. Dorsey's strategy played on prejudices of the white 1900s Georgia observers, i.e., that a black man could not have been intelligent enough to make up a complicated story. The prosecution argued that Conley's statement explaining the immediate aftermath of the murder was true, that Frank was the murderer, and that Frank had dictated the murder notes to Conley in an effort to pin the crime on Newt Lee, the night watchman.


title: Leo Frank

text: The prosecution presented witnesses who testified to bloodstains and strands of hair found on the lathe, to support their theory that the murder occurred on the factory's second floor in the machine room near Frank's office. The defense denied that the murder occurred on the second floor. Both sides contested the significance of physical evidence that suggested the place of the murder. Material found around Phagan's neck was shown to be present throughout the factory. The prosecution interpreted the scene in the basement to support Conley's storythat the body was carried there by elevatorwhile the defense suggested that the drag marks on the floor indicated that Conley carried the body down a ladder and then dragged it across the floor. The defense argued that Conley was the murderer and that Newt Lee helped Conley write the two murder notes. The defense brought many witnesses to support Frank's account of his movements, which indicated he did not have enough time to commit the crime.


title: Leo Frank

text: The defense, to support their theory that Conley murdered Phagan in a robbery, focused on Phagan's missing purse. Conley claimed in court that he saw Frank place the purse in his office safe, although he denied having seen the purse before the trial. Another witness testified that, on the Monday after the murder, the safe was open and there was no purse in it. The significance of Phagan's torn pay envelope was disputed by both sides.


title: Leo Frank

text: The prosecution focused on Frank's alleged sexual behavior. They alleged that Frank, with Conley's assistance, regularly met with women in his office for sexual relations. On the day of the murder, Conley said he saw Phagan go upstairs, from where he heard a scream coming shortly after. He then said he dozed off; when he woke up, Frank called him upstairs and showed him Phagan's body, admitting that he had hurt her. Conley repeated statements from his affidavits that he and Frank took Phagan's body to the basement via the elevator, before returning in the elevator to the office where Frank dictated the murder notes.


title: Leo Frank

text: Conley was cross-examined by the defense for 16 hours over three days, but the defense failed to break his story. The defense then moved to have Conley's entire testimony concerning the alleged rendezvous stricken from the record. Judge Roan noted that an early objection might have been upheld, but since the jury could not forget what it had heard, he allowed the evidence to stand. The prosecution, to support Frank's alleged expectation of a visit from Phagan, produced Helen Ferguson, a factory worker who first informed Phagan's parents of her death. Ferguson testified that she had tried to get Phagan's pay on Friday from Frank, but was told that Phagan would have to come in person. Both the person behind the pay window and the woman behind Ferguson in the pay line disputed this version of events, testifying that in accordance with his normal practice, Frank did not disburse pay that day.


title: Leo Frank

text: The defense called a number of factory girls, who testified that they had never seen Frank flirting with or touching the girls, and that they considered him to be of good character. In the prosecution's rebuttal, Dorsey called "a steady parade of former factory workers" to ask them the question, "Do you know Mr. Frank's character for lasciviousness?" The answers were usually "bad".


title: Leo Frank

text: The prosecution realized early on that issues relating to time would be an essential part of its case. At trial, each side presented witnesses to support their version of the timeline for the hours before and after the murder. The starting point was the time of death; the prosecution, relying on the analysis of stomach contents by their expert witness, argued that Phagan died between 12:00 and 12:15 p.m.


title: Leo Frank

text: A prosecution witness, Monteen Stover, said she had gone into the office to get her paycheck, waiting there from 12:05 to 12:10, and did not see Frank in his office. The prosecution's theory was that Stover did not see Frank because he was at that time murdering Phagan in the metal room. Stover's account did not match Frank's initial account that he had not left the office between noon and 12:30. Other testimony indicated that Phagan exited the trolley (or tram) between 12:07 and 12:10. From the stop it was a two- to four-minute walk, suggesting that Stover arrived first, making her testimony and its implications irrelevant: Frank could not be killing Phagan because at the time she had not yet arrived.


title: Leo Frank

text: Lemmie Quinn, foreman of the metal room, testified that he spoke briefly with Frank in his office at 12:20. Frank had not mentioned Quinn when the police first interviewed him about his whereabouts at noontime on April 26. Frank had said at the coroner's inquest that Quinn arrived less than ten minutes after Phagan had left his office, and during the murder trial said Quinn arrived hardly five minutes after Phagan left. According to Conley and several experts called by the defense, it would have taken at least thirty minutes to murder Phagan, take the body to the basement, return to the office, and write the murder notes. By the defense's calculations, Frank's time was fully accounted for from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., except for eighteen minutes between 12:02 and 12:20. Hattie Hall, a stenographer, said at trial that Frank had specifically requested that she come in that Saturday and that Frank had been working in his office from 11:00 to nearly noon. The prosecution labeled Quinn's testimony as "a fraud" and reminded the jury that early in the police investigation Frank had not mentioned Quinn.


title: Leo Frank

text: Newt Lee, the night watchman, arrived at work shortly before 4:00 and Frank, who was normally calm, came bustling out of his office. Frank told Lee that he had not yet finished his own work and asked Lee to return at 6:00. Newt Lee noticed that Frank was very agitated and asked if he could sleep in the packing room, but Frank was insistent that Lee leave the building and told Lee to go out and have a good time in town before coming back.


title: Leo Frank

text: When Lee returned at 6:00, James Gantt had also arrived. Lee told police that Gantt, a former employee who had been fired by Frank after $2 was found missing from the cash box, wanted to look for two pairs of shoes he had left at the factory. Frank allowed Gantt in, although Lee said that Frank appeared to be upset by Gantt's appearance. Frank arrived home at 6:25; at 7:00, he called Lee to determine if everything had gone all right with Gantt.


title: Leo Frank

text: During the trial, the prosecution alleged bribery and witness tampering attempts by the Frank legal team. Meanwhile, the defense requested a mistrial because it believed the jurors had been intimidated by the people inside and outside the courtroom, but the motion was denied. Fearing for the safety of Frank and his lawyers in case of an acquittal, Roan and the defense agreed that neither Frank nor his defense attorneys would be present when the verdict was read. On August 25, 1913, after less than four hours of deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous guilty verdict convicting Frank of murder.


title: Leo Frank

text: The "Constitution" described the scene as Dorsey emerged from the steps of city hall: "...three muscular men swung Mr. Dorsey, (the prosecuting attorney,) on their shoulders and passed him over the heads of the crowd across the street to his office. With hat raised and tears coursing down his cheeks, the victor in Georgia’s most noted criminal battle was tumbled over a shrieking throng that wildly proclaimed its admiration."


title: Leo Frank

text: On August 26, the day after the guilty verdict was reached by the jury, Judge Roan brought counsel into private chambers and sentenced Leo Frank to death by hanging with the date set to October 10. The defense team issued a public protest, alleging that public opinion unconsciously influenced the jury to the prejudice of Frank. This argument was carried forward throughout the appeal process.


title: Leo Frank

text: Under Georgia law at the time, appeals of death penalty cases had to be based on errors of law, not a re-evaluation of the evidence presented at trial. The appeals process began with a reconsideration by the original trial judge. The defense presented a written appeal alleging 115 procedural problems. These included claims of jury prejudice, intimidation of the jury by the crowds outside the courthouse, the admission of Conley's testimony concerning Frank's alleged sexual perversions and activities, and the return of a verdict based on an improper weighing of the evidence. Both sides called forth witnesses involving the charges of prejudice and intimidation; while the defense relied on non-involved witness testimony, the prosecution found support from the testimony of the jurors themselves. On October 31, 1913, Judge Roan denied the motion, adding, "I have thought about this case more than any other I have ever tried. With all the thought I have put on this case, I am not thoroughly convinced that Frank is guilty or innocent. But I do not have to be convinced. The jury was convinced. There is no room to doubt that."


title: Leo Frank

text: The next step, a hearing before the Georgia Supreme Court, was held on December 15. In addition to presenting the existing written record, each side was granted two hours for oral arguments. In addition to the old arguments, the defense focused on the reservations expressed by Judge Roan at the reconsideration hearing, citing six cases where new trials had been granted after the trial judge expressed misgivings about the jury verdict. The prosecution countered with arguments that the evidence convicting Frank was substantial and that listing Judge Roan's doubts in the defense's bill of exceptions was not the proper vehicle for "carry[ing] the views of the judge." On February 17, 1914, in a 142-page decision, the court denied Frank a new trial by a 4–2 vote. The majority dismissed the allegations of bias by the jurors, saying the power of determining this rested strictly with the trial judge except when an "abuse of discretion" was proved. It also ruled that spectator influence could only be the basis of a new trial if ruled so by the trial judge. Conley's testimony on Frank's alleged sexual conduct was found to be admissible because, even though it suggested Frank had committed other crimes for which he was not charged, it made Conley's statements more credible and helped to explain Frank's motivation for committing the crime according to the majority. On Judge Roan's stated reservations, the court ruled that these did not trump his legal decision to deny a motion for a new trial. The dissenting justices restricted their opinion to Conley's testimony, which they declared should not have been allowed to stand: "It is perfectly clear to us that evidence of prior bad acts of lasciviousness committed by the defendant ... did not tend to prove a preexisting design, system, plan, or scheme, directed toward making an assault upon the deceased or killing her to prevent its disclosure." They concluded that the evidence prejudiced Frank in the jurors' eyes and denied him a fair trial.


title: Leo Frank

text: The last hearing exhausted Frank's ordinary state appeal rights. On March 7, 1914, Frank's execution was set for April 17 of that year. The defense continued to investigate the case and filed an extraordinary motion before the Georgia Supreme Court. This appeal, which would be held before a single justice, Ben Hill, was restricted to raising facts not available at the original trial. The application for appeal resulted in a stay of execution and the hearing opened on April 23, 1914. The defense successfully obtained a number of affidavits from witnesses repudiating their testimony. A state biologist said in a newspaper interview that his microscopic examination of the hair on the lathe shortly after the murder did not match Phagan's. At the same time that the various repudiations were leaked to the newspapers, the state was busy seeking repudiations of the new affidavits. An analysis of the murder notes, which had only been addressed in any detail in the closing arguments, suggested Conley composed them in the basement rather than writing what Frank told him to write in his office. Prison letters written by Conley to Annie Maude Carter were discovered; the defense then argued that these, along with Carter's testimony, implicated Conley was the actual murderer.


title: Leo Frank

text: The defense also raised a federal constitutional issue on whether Frank's absence from the court when the verdict was announced "constituted deprivation of the due process of law". Different attorneys were brought in to argue this point since Rosser and Arnold had acquiesced in Frank's absence. There was a debate between Rosser and Arnold on whether it should be raised at this time since its significance might be lost with all of the other evidence being presented. Louis Marshall, President of the American Jewish Committee and constitutional lawyer, urged them to raise the point, and the decision was made that it should be made clear that if the extraordinary motion was rejected they intended to appeal through the federal court system and there would be an impression of injustice in the trial. For almost every issue presented by the defense, the state had a response: most of the repudiations were either retracted or disavowed by the witnesses; the question of whether outdated order pads used to write the murder notes had been in the basement before the murder was disputed; the integrity of the defense's investigators were questioned and intimidation and bribery were charged; and the significance of Conley's letters to Annie Carter was disputed. The defense, in its rebuttal, tried to bolster the testimony relating to the murder notes and the Carter letters. (These issues were reexamined later when the governor considered commuting Frank's sentence.) During the defense's closing argument, the issue of the repudiations was put to rest by Judge Hill's ruling that the court could only consider the revocation of testimony if the subject were tried and found guilty of perjury. The judge denied Frank a new trial and the full court upheld the decision on November 14, 1914. The full court also said that the due process issue should have been raised earlier, characterizing what it considered a belated effort as "trifling with the court".


title: Leo Frank

text: The next step for the Frank team was to appeal the issue through the federal system. The original request for a writ of error on the absence of Frank from the jury's announcement of the verdict was first denied by Justice Joseph Rucker Lamar and then Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Both denied the request because they agreed with the Georgia court that the issue was raised too late. The full Supreme Court then heard arguments, but denied the motion without issuing a written decision. However, Holmes said, "I very seriously doubt if the petitioner ... has had due process of law ... because of the trial taking place in the presence of a hostile demonstration and seemingly dangerous crowd, thought by the presiding Judge to be ready for violence unless a verdict of guilty was rendered." Holmes's statement, as well as public indignation over this latest rejection by the courts, encouraged Frank's team to attempt a "habeas corpus" motion, arguing that the threat of crowd violence had forced Frank to be absent from the verdict hearing and constituted a violation of due process. Justice Lamar heard the motion and agreed that the full Supreme Court should hear the appeal.


title: Leo Frank

text: On April 19, 1915, the Supreme Court denied the appeal by a 7–2 vote in the case "Frank v. Mangum". Part of the decision repeated the message of the last decision: that Frank failed "to raise the objection in due season when fully cognizant of the fact." Holmes and Charles Evans Hughes dissented, with Holmes writing, "It is our duty to declare lynch law as little valid when practiced by a regularly drawn jury as when administered by one elected by a mob intent on death."


title: Leo Frank

text: On April 22, 1915, an application for a commutation of Frank's death sentence was submitted to a three-person Prison Commission in Georgia; it was rejected on June 9 by a vote of 2–1. The dissenter indicated that he felt it was wrong to execute a man "on the testimony of an accomplice, when the circumstances of the crime tend to fix the guilt upon the accomplice." The application then passed to Governor John Slaton. Slaton had been elected in 1912 and his term would end four days after Frank's scheduled execution. In 1913, before Phagan's murder, Slaton agreed to merge his law firm with that of Luther Rosser, who became Frank's lead attorney (Slaton was not directly involved in the original trial). After the commutation, popular Georgia politician Tom Watson attacked Slaton, often focusing on his partnership with Rosser as a conflict of interest.


title: Leo Frank

text: Slaton opened hearings on June 12. In addition to receiving presentations from both sides with new arguments and evidence, Slaton visited the crime scene and reviewed over 10,000 pages of documents. This included various letters, including one written by Judge Roan shortly before he died asking Slaton to correct his mistake. Slaton also received more than 1,000 death threats. During the hearing, former Governor Joseph Brown warned Slaton, "In all frankness, if Your Excellency wishes to invoke lynch law in Georgia and destroy trial by jury, the way to do it is by retrying this case and reversing all the courts." According to Tom Watson's biographer, C. Vann Woodward, "While the hearings of the petition to commute were in progress Watson sent a friend to the governor with the promise that if Slaton allowed Frank to hang, Watson would be his 'friend', which would result in his 'becoming United States senator and the master of Georgia politics for twenty years to come.'"


title: Leo Frank

text: Slaton produced a 29-page report. In the first part, he criticized outsiders who were unfamiliar with the evidence, especially the press in the North. He defended the trial court's decision, which he felt was sufficient for a guilty verdict. He summarized points of the state's case against Frank that "any reasonable person" would accept and said of Conley that "It is hard to conceive that any man's power of fabrication of minute details could reach that which Conley showed, unless it be the truth." After having made these points, Slaton's narrative changed course and asked the rhetorical question, "Did Conley speak the truth?" Leonard Dinnerstein wrote, "Slaton based his opinions primarily upon the inconsistencies he had discovered in the narrative of Jim Conley." Two factors stood out to Slaton: the transporting of the body to the basement and the murder notes.


title: Leo Frank

text: During the initial investigation, police had noted undisturbed human excrement in the elevator shaft, which Conley said he had left there before the murder. Use of the elevator on the Monday after the murder crushed the excrement, which Slaton concluded was an indication that the elevator could not have been used as described by Conley, casting doubt on his testimony.


title: Leo Frank

text: During the commutation hearing, Slaton asked Dorsey to address this issue. Dorsey said that the elevator did not always go all the way to the bottom and could be stopped anywhere. Frank's attorney rebutted this by quoting Conley, who said that the elevator stops when it hits the bottom. Slaton interviewed others and conducted his own tests on his visit to the factory, concluding that every time the elevator made the trip to the basement it touched the bottom. Slaton said, "If the elevator was not used by Conley and Frank in taking the body to the basement, then the explanation of Conley cannot be accepted."


title: Leo Frank

text: The murder notes had been analyzed before at the extraordinary motion hearing. Handwriting expert Albert S. Osborn reviewed the previous evidence at the commutation hearing and commented, for the first time, that the notes were written in the third person rather than the first person. He said that the first person would have been more logical since they were intended to be the final statements of a dying Phagan. He argued this was the type of error that Conley would have made, rather than Frank, as Conley was a sweeper and not a Cornell-educated manager like Frank.


title: Leo Frank

text: Conley's former attorney, William Smith, had become convinced that his client had committed the murder. Smith produced a 100-page analysis of the notes for the defense. He analyzed "speech and writing patterns" and "spelling, grammar, repetition of adjectives, [and] favorite verb forms". He concluded, "In this article I show clearly that Conley did not tell the truth about those notes." Slaton compared the murder notes, Conley's letters to Annie Maude Carter, and his trial testimony. Throughout these documents, he found similar use of the words "like", "play", "lay", "love", and "hisself". He also found double adjectives such as "long tall negro", "tall, slim build heavy man", and "good long wide piece of cord in his hands".


title: Leo Frank

text: Slaton was also convinced that the murder notes were written in the basement, not in Frank's office. Slaton accepted the defense's argument that the notes were written on dated order pads signed by a former employee that were only kept in the basement. Slaton wrote that the employee signed an affidavit stating that, when he left the company in 1912, "he personally packed up all of the duplicate orders ... and sent them down to the basement to be burned. This evidence was never passed upon by the jury and developed since the trial."


title: Leo Frank

text: Slaton's narrative touched on other aspects of the evidence and testimony that suggested reasonable doubt. For example, he accepted the defense's argument that charges by Conley of perversion were based on someone coaching him that Jews were circumcised. He accepted the defense's interpretation of the timeline; citing the evidence produced at trialincluding the possibility that Stover did not see Frank because she did not proceed further than the outer officehe wrote: "Therefore, Monteen Stover must have arrived before Mary Phagan, and while Monteen Stover was in the room it hardly seems possible under the evidence, that Mary Phagan was at that time being murdered." Slaton also said that Phagan's head wound must have bled profusely, yet there was no blood found on the lathe, the ground nearby, in the elevator, or the steps leading downstairs. He also said that Phagan's nostrils and mouth were filled with dirt and sawdust which could only have come from the basement.


title: Leo Frank

text: Slaton also commented on Conley's story (that Conley was watching out for the arrival of a lady for Frank on the day of the murder):


title: Leo Frank

text: On Monday, June 21, 1915, Slaton released the order to commute Frank's murder conviction to life imprisonment. Slaton's legal rationale was that there was sufficient new evidence not available at the original trial to justify Frank's actions. He wrote:


title: Leo Frank

text: The commutation was headline news. Atlanta Mayor Jimmy Woodward remarked that "The larger part of the population believes Frank guilty and that the commutation was a mistake." In response, Slaton invited the press to his home that afternoon, telling them:


title: Leo Frank

text: He also told reporters that he was certain that Conley was the actual murderer. Slaton privately told friends that he would have issued a full pardon, if not for his belief that Frank would soon be able to prove his own innocence.


title: Leo Frank

text: The public was outraged. A mob threatened to attack the governor at his home. A detachment of the Georgia National Guard, along with county policemen and a group of Slaton's friends who were sworn in as deputies, dispersed the mob. Slaton had been a popular governor, but he and his wife left Georgia immediately thereafter.


title: Leo Frank

text: For Frank's protection, he was taken to the Milledgeville State Penitentiary in the middle of the night before the commutation was announced. The penitentiary was "strongly garrisoned and newly bristling with arms" and separated from Marietta by of mostly unpaved road. However, on July 17, "The New York Times" reported that fellow inmate William Creen tried to kill Frank by slashing his throat with a butcher knife, severing his jugular vein. The attacker told the authorities he "wanted to keep the other inmates safe from mob violence, Frank's presence was a disgrace to the prison, and he was sure he would be pardoned if he killed Frank."


title: Leo Frank

text: The sensationalism in the press started before the trial and continued throughout the trial, the appeals process, the commutation decision, and beyond. At the time, local papers were the dominant source of information, but they were not entirely anti-Frank. The "Constitution" alone assumed Frank's guilt, while both the "Georgian" and the "Journal" would later comment about the public hysteria in Atlanta during the trial, each suggesting the need to reexamine the evidence against the defendant. On March 14, 1914, while the extraordinary motion hearing was pending, the "Journal" called for a new trial, saying that to execute Frank based on the atmosphere both within and outside the courtroom would "amount to judicial murder." Other newspapers in the state followed suit and many ministers spoke from the pulpit supporting a new trial. L. O. Bricker, the pastor of the church attended by Phagan's family, said that based on "the awful tension of public feeling, it was next to impossible for a jury of our fellow human beings to have granted him a fair, fearless and impartial trial."


title: Leo Frank

text: On October 12, 1913, the "New York Sun" became the first major Northern paper to give a detailed account of the Frank trial. In discussing the charges of antisemitism in the trial, it described Atlanta as more liberal on the subject than any other Southern cities. It went on to say that antisemitism did arise during the trial as Atlantans reacted to statements attributed to Frank's Jewish supporters, who dismissed Phagan as "nothing but a factory girl". The paper said, "The anti-Semitic feeling was the natural result of the belief that the Jews had banded to free Frank, innocent or guilty. The supposed solidarity of the Jews for Frank, even if he was guilty, caused a Gentile solidarity against him." On November 8, 1913, the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee, headed by Louis Marshall, addressed the Frank case. They did so following Judge Roan's reconsideration motion and motivated by the issues raised in the "Sun". They chose not to take a public stance as a committee, instead deciding to raise funds individually to influence public opinion in favor of Frank.


title: Leo Frank

text: Albert Lasker, a wealthy advertising magnate, responded to these calls to help Frank. Lasker contributed personal funds and arranged a public relations effort in support of Frank. In Atlanta, during the time of the extraordinary motion, Lasker coordinated Frank's meetings with the press and coined the slogan "The Truth Is on the March" to characterize the efforts of Frank's defense team. He persuaded prominent figures such as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Jane Addams to make statements supporting Frank. During the commutation hearing, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall weighed in, as did many leading magazine and newspaper editors, including Herbert Croly, editor of the "New Republic"; C.P.J. Mooney, editor of the "Chicago Tribune"; Mark Sullivan, editor of "Collier's"; R. E. Stafford, editor of the "Daily Oklahoman"; and D. D. Moore, editor of the "New Orleans Times-Picayune". Adolph Ochs, publisher of "The New York Times", became involved about the same time as Lasker, organizing a prolonged campaign advocating for a new trial for Frank. Lindemann argues that the publicity campaign had a wide national reach:Outside of Georgia, as the case gained national visibility, widespread sympathy for Frank was expressed. He received at final count close to a hundred thousand letters of sympathy in jail, and prominent figures throughout the country, including governors of other states, U.S. senators, clergymen, university presidents, and labor leaders, spoke up in his defense. Thousands of petitions in his favor, containing over a million signatures, flowed in.


title: Leo Frank

text: Both Ochs and Lasker attempted to heed Louis Marshall's warnings about antagonizing the "sensitiveness of the southern people and engender the feeling that the north is criticizing the courts and the people of Georgia." Dinnerstein writes that these attempts failed, "because many Georgians interpreted every item favorable to Frank as a hostile act."


title: Leo Frank

text: Tom Watson, editor of the "Jeffersonian", had remained publicly silent during Frank's trial. Among Watson's political enemies was Senator Hoke Smith, former owner of "The Atlanta Journal", which was still considered to be Smith's political instrument. When the "Journal" called for a reevaluation of the evidence against Frank, Watson, in the March 19, 1914 edition of his magazine, attacked Smith for trying "to bring the courts into disrepute, drag down the judges to the level of criminals, and destroy the confidence of the people in the orderly process of the law." Watson also questioned whether Frank expected "extraordinary favors and immunities because of his race" and questioned the wisdom of Jews to "risk the good name ... of the whole race" to save "the decadent offshoot of a great people." Subsequent articles concentrated on the Frank case and became more and more impassioned in their attacks. C. Vann Woodward writes that Watson "pulled all the stops: Southern chivalry, sectional animus, race prejudice, class consciousness, agrarian resentment, state pride."


title: Leo Frank

text: When describing the public reaction to Frank, historians mention the class and ethnic tensions in play while acknowledging the complexity of the case and the difficulty in gauging the importance of his Jewishness, class, and northern background. Historian John Higham writes that "economic resentment, frustrated progressivism, and race consciousness combined to produce a classic case of lynch law. ... Hatred of organized wealth reaching into Georgia from outside became a hatred of Jewish wealth." Historian Nancy MacLean writes that some historians have argued that this was an American Dreyfus affair, which she said "[could] be explained only in light of the social tensions unleashed by the growth of industry and cities in the turn-of-the-century South. These circumstances made a Jewish employer a more fitting scapegoat for disgruntled whites than the other leading suspect in the case, a black worker." Albert Lindemann said that Frank on trial found himself "in a position of much latent tension and symbolism." Stating that it is impossible to determine the extent to which antisemitism affected his image, he concluded that "[Frank was seen as] a representative of Yankee capitalism in a southern city, with row upon row of southern women, often the daughters and wives of ruined farmers, 'at his mercy'a rich, punctilious, northern Jew lording it over vulnerable and impoverished working women."


title: Leo Frank

text: The June 21, 1915 commutation provoked Tom Watson into advocating Frank's lynching. He wrote in "The Jeffersonian" and "Watson's Magazine": "This country has nothing to fear from its rural communities. Lynch law is a good sign; it shows that a sense of justice lives among the people." A group of prominent men organized themselves into the "Vigilance Committee" and openly planned to kidnap Frank from prison. They consisted of 28 men with various skills: an electrician was to cut the prison wires, car mechanics were to keep the cars running, and there was a locksmith, a telephone man, a medic, a hangman, and a lay preacher. The ringleaders were well known locally but were not named publicly until June 2000, when a local librarian posted a list on the Web based on information compiled by Mary Phagan's great-niece, Mary Phagan Kean (b. 1953). The list included Joseph Mackey Brown, former governor of Georgia; Eugene Herbert Clay, former mayor of Marietta and later president of the Georgia Senate; E. P. Dobbs, mayor of Marietta at the time; Moultrie McKinney Sessions, lawyer and banker; part of the Marietta delegation at Governor Slaton's clemency hearing; several current and former Cobb County sheriffs; and other individuals of various professions.


title: Leo Frank

text: On the afternoon of August 16, the eight cars of the lynch mob left Marietta separately for Milledgeville. They arrived at the prison at around 10:00 p.m., and the electrician cut the telephone wires, members of the group drained the gas from the prison's automobiles, handcuffed the warden, seized Frank, and drove away. The trip took about seven hours at a top speed of through small towns on back roads. Lookouts in the towns telephoned ahead to the next town as soon as they saw the line of cars pass by. A site at Frey's Gin, two miles (3 km) east of Marietta, had been prepared, complete with a rope and table supplied by former Sheriff William Frey. "The New York Times" reported Frank was handcuffed, his legs tied at the ankles, and that he was hanged from a branch of a tree at around 7:00 a.m., facing the direction of the house where Phagan had lived.


title: Leo Frank

text: "The Atlanta Journal" wrote that a crowd of men, women, and children arrived on foot, in cars, and on horses, and that souvenir hunters cut away parts of his shirt sleeves. According to "The New York Times", one of the onlookers, Robert E. Lee Howellrelated to Clark Howell, editor of "The Atlanta Constitution"wanted to have the body cut into pieces and burned, and began to run around, screaming, whipping up the mob. Judge Newt Morris tried to restore order, and asked for a vote on whether the body should be returned to the parents intact; only Howell disagreed. When the body was cut down, Howell started stamping on Frank's face and chest; Morris quickly placed the body in a basket, and he and his driver John Stephens Wood drove it out of Marietta.


title: Leo Frank

text: In Atlanta, thousands besieged the undertaker's parlor, demanding to see the body; after they began throwing bricks, they were allowed to file past the corpse. Frank's body was then transported by rail on Southern Railway's train No. 36 from Atlanta to New York and buried in the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Glendale, Queens, New York on August 20, 1915. (When Lucille Frank died, she was not buried with Leo; she was cremated, and eventually buried next to her parents' graves.) "The New York Times" wrote that the vast majority of Cobb County believed he had received his "just deserts", and that the lynch mob had simply stepped in to uphold the law after Governor Slaton arbitrarily set it aside. A Cobb County grand jury was convened to indict the lynchers; although they were well known locally, none were identified, and some of the lynchers may have served on the very same grand jury that was investigating them. Nat Harris, the newly elected governor who succeeded Slaton, promised to punish the mob, issuing a $1,500 state reward for information. Despite this, Charles Willis Thompson of "The New York Times" said that the citizens of Marietta "would die rather than reveal their knowledge or even their suspicion [of the identities of the lynchers]", and the local "Macon Telegraph" said, "Doubtless they can be apprehendeddoubtful they will."


title: Leo Frank

text: Several photographs were taken of the lynching, which were published and sold as postcards in local stores for 25 cents each; also sold were pieces of the rope, Frank's nightshirt, and branches from the tree. According to Elaine Marie Alphin, author of "An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank", they were selling so fast that the police announced that sellers would require a city license. In the postcards, members of the lynch mob or crowd can be seen posing in front of the body, one of them holding a portable camera. Historian Amy Louise Wood writes that local newspapers did not publish the photographs because it would have been too controversial, given that the lynch mob can be clearly seen and that the lynching was being condemned around the country. The "Columbia State", which opposed the lynching, wrote: "The heroic Marietta lynchers are too modest to give their photographs to the newspapers." Wood also writes that a news film of the lynching that included the photographs was released, although it focused on the crowds without showing Frank's body; its showing was prevented by censorship boards around the U.S., though Wood says there is no evidence that it was stopped in Atlanta.


title: Leo Frank

text: Leo Frank's case was mentioned by Adolf Kraus when he announced the creation of the Anti-Defamation League in October 1913. After Frank's lynching, around half of Georgia's 3,000 Jews left the state. According to author Steve Oney, "What it did to Southern Jews can't be discounted ... It drove them into a state of denial about their Judaism. They became even more assimilated, anti-Israel, Episcopalian. The Temple did away with chupahs at weddingsanything that would draw attention." Many American Jews saw Frank as an American Alfred Dreyfus, like Frank, a victim of antisemitic persecution.


title: Leo Frank

text: Two weeks after the lynching, in the September 2, 1915 issue of "The Jeffersonian", Watson wrote, "the voice of the people is the voice of God", capitalizing on his sensational coverage of the controversial trial. In 1914, when Watson began reporting his anti-Frank message, "The Jeffersonian's" circulation had been 25,000; by September 2, 1915, its circulation was 87,000.


title: Leo Frank

text: The consensus of researchers on the subject is that Frank was wrongly convicted. "The Atlanta Constitution" stated it was investigating the case again in the 1940s. A reporter who visited Frank's widow (she never remarried), Lucille, stated that she started crying when he discussed the case with her.


title: Leo Frank

text: Jeffrey Melnick wrote, "There is near unanimity around the idea that Frank was most certainly innocent of the crime of murdering Mary Phagan." Other historians and journalists have written that the trial was "a miscarriage of justice" and "a gross injustice", "a mockery of justice", that "there can be no doubt, of course, that ... [Frank was] innocent", that "Leo Frank ... was unjustly and wrongly convicted of murder", that he "was falsely convicted", and that "the evidence against Frank was shaky, to say the least". C. Vann Woodward, like many other authors, believed that Conley was the actual murderer and was "implicated by evidence overwhelmingly more incriminating than any produced against Frank."


title: Leo Frank

text: Critics cite a number of problems with the conviction. Local newspaper coverage, even before Frank was officially charged, was deemed to be inaccurate and prejudicial. Some claimed that the prosecutor Hugh Dorsey was under pressure for a quick conviction because of recent unsolved murders and made a premature decision that Frank was guilty, a decision that his personal ambition would not allow him to reconsider. Later analysis of evidence, primarily by Governor Slaton and Conley's attorney William Smith, seemed to exculpate Frank while implicating Conley.


title: Leo Frank

text: Websites supporting the view that Frank was guilty of murdering Phagan emerged around the centennial of the Phagan murder in 2013. The Anti-Defamation League issued a press release condemning what it called "misleading websites" from "anti-Semites ... to promote anti-Jewish views".


title: Leo Frank

text: In 1982, Alonzo Mann, who had been Frank's office boy at the time of Phagan's murder, told "The Tennessean" that he had seen Jim Conley alone shortly after noon carrying Phagan's body through the lobby toward the ladder descending into the basement. Though Mann's testimony was not sufficient to settle the issue, it was the basis of an attempt by Charles Wittenstein, Southern counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, and Dale Schwartz, an Atlanta lawyer, to obtain a posthumous pardon for Frank from the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. The board also reviewed the files from Slaton's commutation decision. It denied the pardon in 1983, hindered in its investigation by the lack of available records. It concluded that, "After exhaustive review and many hours of deliberation, it is impossible to decide conclusively the guilt or innocence of Leo M. Frank. For the board to grant a pardon, the innocence of the subject must be shown conclusively." At the time, the lead editorial in "The Atlanta Constitution" began, "Leo Frank has been lynched a second time."


title: Leo Frank

text: Frank supporters submitted a second application for pardon, asking the state only to recognize its culpability over his death. The board granted the pardon in 1986. It said:


title: Leo Frank

text: In response to the pardon, an editorial by Fred Grimm in the "Miami Herald" said, "A salve for one of the South's most hateful, festering memories, was finally applied."


title: Leo Frank

text: In 2008, a state historical marker was erected by the Georgia Historical Society, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, and Temple Kol Emeth, near the building at 1200 Roswell Road, Marietta where Frank was lynched. In 2015, the Georgia Historical Society, the Atlanta History Center, and the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation dedicated a Georgia Historical Society marker honoring Governor John M. Slaton at the Atlanta History Center.


title: Leo Frank

text: In 2018, The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, with support from the ADL, and Rabbi Steve Lebow of Temple Kol Emeth, placed the first national anti-lynching memorial at the Georgia Department of Transportation designated Leo Frank memorial site. The anti-lynching memorial was facilitated by a strong letter of support to the Georgia Department of Transportation by the late Congressman John Lewis when the Department turned down siting permission. The text of the anti-lynching memorial text reads, "In Respectful Memory of the Thousands Across America, Denied Justice by Lynching; Victims of Hatred, Prejudice and Ignorance. Between 1880-1946, ~570 Georgians Were Lynched."


title: Leo Frank

text: In 2019, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard founded an eight-member panel called the Conviction Integrity Unit to investigate the cases of Wayne Williams and Frank. The board will re-examine the cases and make recommendations to Howard on whether they should be re-adjudicated.


title: Leo Frank

text: During the trial, the Atlanta musician and millworker Fiddlin' John Carson wrote and performed a murder ballad entitled "Little Mary Phagan". During the mill strikes of 1914, Carson sang "Little Mary Phagan" to crowds from the Fulton County courthouse steps. His daughter, Moonshine Kate, later recorded the song. An unrecorded Carson song, "Dear Old Oak in Georgia", sentimentalizes the tree from which Leo Frank was hanged.


title: Leo Frank

text: The Frank case has been the subject of several media adaptations. In 1921, African-American director Oscar Micheaux directed a silent race film entitled "The Gunsaulus Mystery", followed by "Murder in Harlem" in 1935. In 1937, Mervyn LeRoy directed "They Won't Forget", based on the Ward Greene novel "Death in The Deep South", which was in turn inspired by the Frank case. An episode of the 1964 TV series "Profiles in Courage" dramatized Governor John M. Slaton's decision to commute Frank's sentence. The episode starred Walter Matthau as Governor Slaton and Michael Constantine as Tom Watson. The 1988 TV miniseries "The Murder of Mary Phagan" was broadcast on NBC, starring Jack Lemmon as Gov. John Slaton and also featuring Kevin Spacey. The 1998 Broadway musical "Parade", based on the case, won two Tony Awards. In 2009, Ben Loeterman directed the documentary film "The People v. Leo Frank".


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Rick Yutaka Fowler (born December 13, 1988) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He was the number one ranked amateur golfer in the world for 36 weeks in 2007 and 2008. On January 24, 2016 he reached a career high fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking following his victory in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler was born and raised in Murrieta, California, He attended Murrieta Valley High School. For years, he played only on a driving range and is almost entirely self-taught. In his senior year in high school, Fowler won the SW League Final with a total score of 64-69=133 and led his team to the state final in 2007.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: After high school, Fowler attended Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. He posted his first collegiate victory at the Fighting Illini Invitational hosted by the University of Illinois on October 1, 2007, by shooting a 203 (70-63-70) to win the tournament by one stroke.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In the summer of 2005, Fowler won the Western Junior and competed in the U.S. Amateur, where he was defeated by the eventual champion Richie Ramsay.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In 2006, Fowler shot a 137 for two rounds at the U.S. Junior Amateur and was knocked out in the second round of match play. The championship was won by Philip Francis.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler represented the United States in its victory at the 2007 Walker Cup. His record was 2–0 in foursomes and 1–1 in singles making his overall record 3–1. Billy Horschel was his partner for both of their foursome victories. That year Fowler won the Sunnehanna Amateur in June and the Players Amateur in July.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In 2008, Fowler repeated as Sunnehanna Amateur champion. In the first round of the U.S. Open, Fowler shot a −1 (70) and was in a tie for 7th place. He was one of three amateurs to make the cut, along with Derek Fathauer and Michael Thompson. He ended the tournament tied for 60th. In October 2008 Fowler played on the Eisenhower Trophy team that finished second. He was the leading individual player.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In 2009, Fowler made his second and last appearance in the Walker Cup. He won all four matches in which he played as the U.S. won by a seven-point margin. His partner in both foursomes matches was Bud Cauley. He also finished third in the Sunnehanna Amateur in 2009.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In 2009, Fowler had the first runner-up finish of his career on the Nationwide Tour in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational losing in a playoff to Derek Lamely.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: After the Walker Cup, Fowler turned professional and played the Albertsons Boise Open on the Nationwide Tour for his pro debut.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In September 2009, it was announced that Fowler signed a multi-year equipment deal with Titleist. He has since signed a deal with Rolex.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler's first PGA Tour event as a professional was the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open where he finished tied for seventh. His second PGA Tour event was at the Frys.com Open played at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. He finished tied for second after losing to Troy Matteson in a three-way playoff that included Jamie Lovemark. Fowler's score of 18-under-par included a hole-in-one on the fifth hole in his final round. Fowler also notched an eagle in each of his four rounds.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In November, he finished T2 with D. A. Points, two shots behind the winner Mark Brooks in the Pebble Beach Invitational an unofficial money event on the PGA Tour.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In December 2009, Fowler successfully gained his PGA Tour card for 2010 through qualifying school, finishing T15.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In February 2010, Fowler finished second at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with a score of 15-under-par at the TPC of Scottsdale course. In June, Fowler notched his third PGA Tour runner-up finish at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Fowler entered the final round in the lead, but shot a 73 to finish behind Justin Rose, who recorded his first PGA Tour victory. This performance took Fowler into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In September, he signed a clothing deal with Puma. In the same month, he was also chosen as a captain's pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. At age 21 years and 9 months when the matches began, Fowler became the youngest U.S. Ryder Cup player of all time, and only European Sergio García was younger when he made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999. Fowler forfeited a hole during foursomes competition on the first match day because of a rules violation, by taking a permissible free drop from muddy conditions in an improper location, a mistake U.S. captain Corey Pavin attributed to Fowler's inexperience. On the final day of the competition in his singles match against Edoardo Molinari, Fowler birdied the last 4 holes to halve the match after having been 4 down after 12 holes.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler won the Rookie of the Year award, controversially claiming the award over Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In July 2011, Fowler tied the 54-hole lead at the AT&T National, but an early double bogey on Sunday derailed his opportunity for his first PGA Tour win. Two weeks later Fowler finished tied for 5th in The Open Championship at Royal St George's. In August, Fowler finished in a tie for second at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational behind winner Adam Scott, lifting him to 28 in the world rankings.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: At the PGA Championship, Fowler carded 74-69-75-68 to finish with a six-over par total of 286, in a tie for 51st place. Early on the third day Fowler rocketed up the leaderboard with three birdies in the first five holes only to falter later in the round with two triple bogeys, effectively ending his hopes of a first major championship and PGA Tour win.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: At the first FedEx Cup playoff event, Fowler finished T52 at The Barclays in the last week in August. The following week he again finished T52 at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second FedEx Cup playoff event, after carding a disappointing six-over par final round 77. At that point Fowler was positioned 37 in the FedEx Cup points standings and required a strong performance at the BMW Championship to qualify in the top thirty for The Tour Championship; a performance which eluded him, finishing in 48th place. In finishing 43rd in the FedEx Cup, Fowler earned a $132,000 bonus.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In October, Fowler enjoyed his first professional win with victory in the OneAsia Tour's Kolon Korea Open, securing a six-shot victory over Rory McIlroy.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In September, Fowler, along with Graeme McDowell, was part of the PGA Tour's "These Guys are Good" campaign.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In May 2012, Fowler won the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte on the first extra hole of a sudden-death playoff. Replaying the 18th hole, he defeated Rory McIlroy and D. A. Points with a birdie to gain his first PGA Tour win. Fowler shot a 69 (−3) in the final round to finish in a three-way tie after 72 holes at Quail Hollow Club. This win enabled Fowler to break the top-25 in the world, placing him at number 24. The following week at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Fowler played the final hole at −11 under par and had a birdie opportunity to bring him within one of leader and eventual winner Matt Kuchar. Fowler, however, pushed his putt to the right and finished in a tie for second, the fifth second-place finish of his career.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In 2013 Fowler finished runner-up in the Australian PGA Championship, four shots behind the tournament winner Adam Scott.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: After a tie for fifth at the Masters in April, Fowler had his best finish of 2014 at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina. Fowler was runner-up with Erik Compton at −1, best finishes for both at a major, but they were eight strokes behind champion Martin Kaymer. Fowler had another second-place finish, at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England. He began the final round six strokes behind Rory McIlroy and finished the day tied for second with Sergio García at −15, two strokes behind McIlroy. At the next major in August, the PGA Championship, Fowler, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, and McIlroy battled for the title on a rain-soaked Valhalla Golf Club, near Louisville. Despite holding the lead for a good portion of the day, Fowler tied for third. He was only the third player, along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, to have finished in the top 5 in all four majors in one calendar year, but the first not to win (Jordan Spieth became the fourth player in 2015). Fowler had 10 top-10 finishes during the 2013–14 season. His 8th-place finish at The Tour Championship moved him to 10th in the world golf rankings.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: After a T-12 finish at the Masters, Fowler earned his first win in over three years with a playoff victory at The Players Championship in May. Trailing Sergio García midway through the final round by five shots, Fowler played the final six holes in 6-under par, including an eagle at the par-5 16th. After a birdie at the famous 17th hole, Fowler's final birdie of the round on 18 left him at 12-under par. Both García and Kevin Kisner had birdie attempts to win at the 18th in regulation, but both missed and the three men went to a three-hole aggregate playoff to decide a winner on holes 16–18. Fowler and Kisner went par-birdie-par to tie at −1 while García's three pars left him at even and he was eliminated. Thus Fowler and Kisner went to sudden death starting at the 17th, where Kisner's tee shot landed within about of the cup. Fowler answered with a shot inside of five feet, and when Kisner's birdie attempt slid by, Fowler responded by making his short birdie to claim the championship. Fowler played his final 10 holes in 8-under par. On July 12, he won the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on the European Tour, shooting a 12-under-par 268. On September 7, he won the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second FedEx Cup Playoffs event, by one stroke over Henrik Stenson, for his third victory on the PGA Tour.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: After finishing fifth in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, Fowler claimed his first victory of 2016 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on the European Tour. He shot a final round of 69 to finish one clear of Belgium's Thomas Pieters. Two weeks later, Fowler was in contention to win again but lost out to Japan's Hideki Matsuyama in a playoff at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. On March 7, Fowler sparked fantastic scenes after sinking a hole-in-one with fellow tour pro Luke Donald's pitching wedge to win $1 million for Ernie Els' charity, Els for Autism.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In June, Fowler announced that he would not defend his Scottish Open title at Castle Stuart, citing the tight schedule due to golf's return to the Olympic Games as the main reason. At the 2016 Olympics, he came in 37th place.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: At the first FedEx Cup playoff event of the season, The Barclays, Fowler went into the final round leading the event by one stroke. He endured a difficult final round, shooting a two-over-par 74. His challenge was ended with a double-bogey at the 16th hole that put him four strokes behind playing partner Patrick Reed. He went on to finish T7, three strokes behind the winner Reed. As a result of this, Fowler also failed to secure his automatic Ryder Cup spot, which he would have done with a top-three finish. Fowler moved up from 28th to 16th in the FedEx Cup standings with this result.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: On February 26, Fowler won The Honda Classic for his fourth PGA Tour win. For the first time in his career, Fowler preserved his 54-hole lead to win. The title saw Fowler move back up into the top 10 of the world rankings.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: On June 16, Fowler carded a round of 65 at Erin Hills to take the first round lead at the 2017 U.S. Open. Fowler equaled the lowest first round score at the U.S. Open and led by one stroke from Paul Casey and Xander Schauffele. He followed this up with a one over par 73 in the second round to fall out of the lead by one stroke, held by four other players. He shot 68–72 over the weekend to finish in a tie for fifth place. This gave Fowler his sixth top-5 finish in a major, but he is still yet to win. Fowler started the PGA Championship with a 2-under 69 which was two strokes behind the leaders. After rounds of 70–73, he closed out the year's last major with a 4-under 67, including a run of four consecutive birdies on holes 12 through 15. Despite his solid finish, Fowler ended up tied for fifth and was 3 strokes behind the winner, and friend, Justin Thomas. It was his seventh top-5 major finish, meaning he's had multiple top-5 finishes at every major.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: On November 12, 2017, Fowler started his 2018 season at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba where he shot rounds of 65-67-67-67 for an 18-under-par total, one stroke shy of winner, Patton Kizzire. It was his 12th tour runner-up finish and he became just the 27th golfer in PGA Tour history to win $30,000,000 in Tour earnings.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: On December 3, 2017, Fowler recorded a 61, 11-under-par, in the fourth round to win the Hero World Challenge. He came from 7 strokes behind the 54-hole leader, Charley Hoffman and claimed a four-stroke victory. The round of 61 was a course and tournament record, as well as being a personal best round for Fowler as a professional.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: At the 2018 Waste Management Phoenix Open, Fowler birdied his final three holes during the third round to take the 54-hole lead by a stroke. This was his 6th 54-hole lead/co-lead of his career but had only converted once in the previous five attempts. In the final round, Fowler shot a 72 (+2) to finish T11.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: At the 2018 Masters Tournament, Fowler shot a 72-hole score of −14 (274) to finish in 2nd place to champion Patrick Reed by 1 stroke. It was his eighth top-5 major finish, giving him multiple top-5 finishes at every major, however, he still has yet to win one.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In September 2018, Fowler qualified for the U.S. team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. Europe defeated the U.S. team 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. He went 1-3-0. He lost his singles match against Sergio García.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In January, Fowler signed a multi-year deal to use TaylorMade golf balls and gloves. On February 3, Fowler won the Waste Management Phoenix Open after having a four-stroke lead in the final round, losing the lead, then regaining the lead for a two-stroke victory.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In December 2019, Fowler played on the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. Fowler went 1–0–3 and halved his Sunday singles match against Marc Leishman.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: At the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Fowler finished T5th. The following week at The American Express, Fowler finished T10th. This would be Fowler's last top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour for a while as he started to struggle.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: The 2019–20 PGA Tour season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the season resumed, Fowler's struggles continued with up and down results. Fowler's best results after the restart included T12th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and a T15th at the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. However, Fowler struggled at times to make the cut at many tournaments and missed 6 cuts out of 14 tournaments Fowler played in the period of January to August. His season ended on two disappointing notes. Fowler missed the cut at the 2020 PGA Championship. For the FedEx Cup playoffs, Fowler finished T49th at The Northern Trust and failed to qualify for the BMW Championship. After a month of rest, Fowler returned to compete in the 2020 U.S. Open. Fowler finished T49th. At the 2020 Masters Tournament, Fowler would finish T29th.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: As Fowler continued to struggle with a missed cut at the 2021 Players Championship and a T65th at the Honda Classic, he was at risk of missing the 2021 Masters Tournament heading into the Valero Texas Open. Fowler finished T17th, and therefore missed the Masters. This was the first major Fowler missed since not qualifying for the 2010 U.S. Open.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler missed cuts at the Wells Fargo Championship and the AT&T Byron Nelson. At the 2021 PGA Championship, he finished T8th, his first top-10 finish in an event since the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler's struggles continued into 2022, missing his first three cuts until a T55th finish at the Genesis Invitational. He only played one major, the PGA Championship, where he tied for 23rd. Fowler barely retained his Tour card, finishing 125th in the FedEx Cup, claiming the last spot. In the off-season, Fowler parted ways with long-time caddie Joe Skovron, who spent 13 years on the bag for Fowler, replacing him with Ricky Romano. Fowler also fired swing coach John Tillery, bringing back his old swing coach, Butch Harmon. These changes produced quick results, as Fowler finished tied for 6th in the season opening Fortinet Championship. After a missed cut at the Shriners Children's Open, Fowler tied for second at the Zozo Championship, one shot behind winner Keegan Bradley. This was Fowler's best finish on Tour since the 2019 Honda Classic, where he also tied for second.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler resides in Jupiter, Florida, relocating from Las Vegas following the 2010 season. Fowler's middle name, Yutaka, comes from his maternal grandfather, who is Japanese. His maternal grandmother is Navajo Native American. On the final day of a golf tournament Fowler wears orange in honor of Oklahoma State University.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler is one of four golfers in the "Golf Boys" group along with fellow PGA Tour players Ben Crane, Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan. The Golf Boys released a YouTube video of the song "Oh Oh Oh" on the eve of the 2011 U.S. Open. Farmers Insurance donating $1,000 for every 100,000 views of the video. The charitable proceeds went to support both Farmers and Ben Crane charitable initiatives.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In 2012, Fowler filmed a commercial for Crowne Plaza Hotels entitled "It's Good to be Rickie" with golf commentator Ian Baker Finch. He was featured in an ESPN "This is SportsCenter" commercial with sportscaster John Anderson in 2013. On November 28, 2015, Fowler was the guest picker on ESPN's "College GameDay" (his picks went 7–4).


title: Rickie Fowler

text: In 2015, Fowler was announced as an official ambassador for PGA Junior League Golf, a program owned and operated by the PGA of America.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler has at least six tattoos. One is a block "G" near his left elbow in honor of Georgia Veach, the daughter of a Seattle pastor and friend. Georgia was diagnosed with lissencephaly. Fowler got the tattoo just before the 2015 Presidents Cup. The second is from January 2016 and contains the name Yutaka Tanaka (Rickie's grandfather) in Japanese script on his left biceps. The third tattoo came just weeks after playing at the 2016 Summer Olympics and is of the Olympic symbols. Rickie also has smaller tattoos, including a capital F at the base of his right wrist, a cross on his left index finger, and a phrase at the base of his right left wrist.


title: Rickie Fowler

text: Fowler started dating track and field amateur athlete Allison Stokke in 2017. They became engaged in June 2018. They married in October 2019. The couple has a daughter.


title: Lumen Field

text: Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Originally called Seahawks Stadium, it was renamed Qwest Field in June 2004 when telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights. The stadium became known as CenturyLink Field following Qwest's June 2011 acquisition by CenturyLink and was nicknamed "The Clink" as a result; it received its current name in November 2020 with CenturyLink's rebrand to Lumen Technologies. It is a modern facility with views of the Downtown Seattle skyline and a seating capacity of 68,740 spectators for NFL games and 37,722 for most MLS matches. The complex also includes the Event Center which is home to the Washington Music Theater (WaMu Theater), a parking garage, and a public plaza. The venue hosts concerts, trade shows, and consumer shows along with sporting events. Located within a mile (1.6 km) of Downtown Seattle, the stadium is accessible by multiple freeways and forms of mass transit.


title: Lumen Field

text: The stadium was built between 2000 and 2002 on the site of the Kingdome after voters approved funding for the construction in a statewide election held in June 1997. This vote created the Washington State Public Stadium Authority to oversee public ownership of the venue. The owner of the Seahawks, Paul Allen, formed First & Goal Inc. to develop and operate the new facilities. Allen was closely involved in the design process and emphasized the importance of an open-air venue with an intimate atmosphere.


title: Lumen Field

text: Seahawks fans at Lumen Field have twice claimed the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium, first at 136.6 decibels in 2013, followed by a measurement of 137.6 decibels in 2014. The crowd's notorious noise has also contributed to the team's home field advantage with an increase in false start (movement by an offensive player prior to the play) and delay of game (failure of the offense to snap the ball prior to the play clock expiring) penalties against visiting teams. The stadium was the first in the NFL to install a FieldTurf artificial surface. Numerous college and high school football games have also been played at the stadium, including the 2011 Apple Cup and all Washington Huskies home games during the renovation of Husky Stadium in 2012. The XFL's Seattle Dragons began playing at Lumen Field in 2020 and are scheduled to return in 2023 as the Sea Dragons.


title: Lumen Field

text: Lumen Field is also designed for soccer. The first sporting event held included a United Soccer Leagues (USL) Seattle Sounders match. The USL team began using the stadium regularly for home games in 2003. The MLS expansion team, Seattle Sounders FC, began its inaugural season in 2009 at the stadium. Lumen Field was the site of the MLS Cup in 2009 and 2019. The venue also hosted the 2010 and 2011 tournament finals for the U.S. Open Cup as well as the second leg of the 2022 tournament final for the CONCACAF Champions League; the Sounders won all three finals, with new tournament attendance records set for each final (or leg) hosted at Lumen Field. In August 2013, the Sounders broke a new home field attendance record when 67,385 fans turned out to watch them play the Portland Timbers. The stadium hosted several CONCACAF Gold Cup matches across multiple editions, and the Copa América Centenario in 2016. It will also host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which was awarded to the United States, Canada, and Mexico.


title: Lumen Field

text: The Seahawks played their home games at the Kingdome from their 1976 inaugural season until 1999, sharing the stadium with Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and the National Basketball Association's Seattle SuperSonics. In 1995 a proposal was made to issue county bonds to fund a remodeling project of the facility. The proposal failed, and as a result, Seahawks' owner Ken Behring threatened to sell or move the team (likely to Los Angeles). In 1997 local billionaire Paul Allen pledged to acquire the team if a new stadium could be built and said that the team could not be profitable until they left the Kingdome. He asked the state legislature to hold a special statewide referendum on a proposal to finance a new stadium. Allen also agreed to cover any cost overruns. With Allen agreeing to pay the $4 million cost, the legislature agreed. The vote was scheduled to be held in June 1997 but in May a Seattle resident filed a lawsuit that claimed the legislature did not have authority to call for such a vote, since it would be paid for by a private party who could gain from the result. The case was delayed until after the vote. The proposal was pitched to voters as providing both a new home for the Seahawks and a venue for top-level soccer. It passed on June 17, 1997, with 820,364 (51.1%) in favor and 783,584 against. The vote was close in Seattle, but it received 60% approval in Seattle's northern and eastern suburbs. The public funding was unpopular farther away in the eastern portion of the state. In October, a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled that the legislature acted properly and in the public's interest, and he dismissed the pending lawsuit. The Washington Supreme Court upheld the decision that December.


title: Lumen Field

text: Voter approval of the referendum created a public–private partnership. The Washington State Public Stadium Authority was created to oversee public ownership of the stadium, exhibition center, and parking garage complex. Allen purchased the Seahawks and formed First & Goal Inc. to build and operate the facility. The budget for the project was $430 million. Of this cost, $44 million was allotted to build the Event Center, $26 million for the parking garage, and $360 million for the stadium. First & Goal was to cover cost overruns and pay up to $130 million of the project while the contribution from the public was capped at $300 million. The public funding package included new sports-related state lottery games, taxes on the facility's admissions and parking, sales tax credits and deferrals, and an eight-year extension of the 2% tax on hotel rooms in King County. The taxes on admissions and parking were set below the authorized 10% to preserve the tax-exempt status of the project's bonds, but the percentage was increased to the full amount when the bonds were completely paid in 2021. Since then, they have served as dedicated funding sources for maintenance and modernization of the facilities.


title: Lumen Field

text: In September 1998, First & Goal signed a 30-year stadium lease that includes options to extend for another 20. Per the agreement, the Public Stadium Authority receives $850,000 a year from First and Goal (adjusted for inflation), and First & Goal keeps all revenue from the stadium and parking garage. The company receives 80% of the revenue from the exhibition center while the other 20 percent is allotted to a state education fund. First & Goal is responsible for all operating and maintenance costs, expected to be $6 million a year, and must keep the facility in "first-class" condition. Other details of the lease include the availability of affordable seats, a coordinated effort with neighboring T-Mobile Park (the Mariners' current ballpark) to prevent gridlock, a provision for naming rights, the investment in public art at the stadium, and the giveaway of a luxury suite to a fan each Seahawks' game.


title: Lumen Field

text: The architectural firm Ellerbe Becket, in association with Loschky Marquardt & Nesholm Architects of Seattle, designed the project. Allen was closely involved during the design process. While growing up he attended games at the University of Washington's outdoor Husky Stadium. His goal was to create a similar experience and atmosphere at the new venue. The exhibition center portion of the project was designed over a period of 14 months by Loschky Marquardt & Nesholm Architects while First & Goal managed the construction. Town meetings were held to discuss the impact on the public, and the company created a $6 million mitigation fund for nearby neighborhoods. In accordance with a program established by the building team, contracts totaling $81 million were awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses. Union apprentices made up 19% of the workforce through another program with local trade unions.


title: Lumen Field

text: Construction of the new exhibition center and parking garage was set to commence on September 19, 1998, but prolonged lease discussions between First & Goal and the Public Stadium Authority delayed the official groundbreaking to September 28. The exhibition center opened on October 30, 1999, and subsequently hosted its first event on November 4. On March 26, 2000, to make way for the stadium, the Kingdome was demolished in the world's largest implosion of a single concrete structure. Almost all of the Kingdome rubble was recycled with roughly half used for the new stadium. The designers were challenged by the soft soil at the site since it was a tidal marsh until public works projects in the early 20th century adjusted the waterline of nearby Elliott Bay. The top layer is a soft fill taken from the grading projects that had leveled portions of Seattle's hills. To account for the soft soil, the complex sits on over 2,200 pilings driven below the ground to form what is essentially a pier for the foundation. Eight individually connected sections were built to account for the soil concerns, temperature effects, and the potential for earthquakes. The adjoining exhibition center and parking garage are separate structures and are not part of the eight-section stadium.


title: Lumen Field

text: The site of Lumen Field is the smallest of those developed for new NFL stadiums, at . The upper levels were cantilevered over the lower sections to fit within the limited space. Along with the angle of seats and the placement of the lower sections closer to the field, this provided a better view of the field than typically seen throughout the country and allowed for a 67,000-seat capacity. Space is available to increase the total capacity to 72,000 for special events. Included in the capacity are 111 suites and over 7,000 club seats. The stadium has 1,400 seats for those with disabilities and their companions located in various sections. In 2009, Qwest Field ranked 21st out of the 31 stadiums in the NFL for total seating capacity.


title: Lumen Field

text: The configuration of Lumen Field is a U-shape with an open north end to provide views of downtown Seattle and the large north plaza. The large retractable roof of T-Mobile Park along with Mount Rainier to the southeast can be seen from the partially open south end. The stadium's concourses were built to be wide, and they provide additional views of the surrounding area. A 13-story tower was erected at the north end of the stadium that visually complements the Seattle skyline. The tower features a vertically oriented scoreboard which is the first of its kind in the NFL. At the base is bleacher seating for 3,000 called the "Hawks' Nest". Another addition not previously seen in the NFL are field-level luxury suites located directly behind the north end zone.


title: Lumen Field

text: Allen rejected plans for a retractable roof during the early stages of the stadium's design. The lack of a retractable roof made it open to the elements, provided better views, and reduced the total cost of the project. The roof, at 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m), covers 70% of the seats but leaves the field open. The roof spans between concrete pylon supports at the north and south ends of the stadium. Its two expansive sections are held from below by trusses. From above, two arches with additional supports rise over the field. Post-tensioned cables were used to achieve its final shape and positioning. To minimize damage in the event of an earthquake, the roof has a friction pendulum damper system. This disconnects the roof from the support pylons so that it can move independently of the structure. The technology had never been applied to a large-scale roof before Lumen Field. A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Seattle area during construction. The structure responded as expected by the designers, and there was minimal damage. The project was completed on budget and a month ahead of schedule.


title: Lumen Field

text: The roof was originally painted white to aesthetically distinguish it from both T-Mobile Park and the nearby industrial area. The east side of the stadium has a large glass curtain wall that faces the nearby International District. The exterior of the stadium also consists of salmon-colored concrete, and the west side of the structure is partially clad with red brick. The coloring and facade were designed so the stadium would blend with the older buildings in neighboring Pioneer Square. To reduce costs, the exterior was not completed with brick or ornate steel work. Following the 2020 renaming of the stadium, the roof was repainted blue with white letters that are lit with of light-emitting diodes.


title: Lumen Field

text: In 2015, the stadium was expanded with the addition of the Toyota Fan Deck including a new 12 Flag raising platform. This expansion was privately funded by the Seahawks and the 1,000 additional seats were made available to purchase by current season ticket holders the Blue Pride waiting list for season tickets. The additional seating pushed the capacity of the stadium to 68,740. The stadium also has additional seats that can be deployed for special events, bringing the maximum capacity to 72,000.


title: Lumen Field

text: The 1997 state referendum stated that the stadium would feature a natural grass surface, but FieldTurf was not an option when the stadium was originally presented to voters according to the Public Stadium Authority. Seahawks management reconsidered the playing surface after the Seahawks played on FieldTurf at Husky Stadium during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Artificial turf was installed because it was easier to maintain than natural grass. The potential damage to a natural grass field caused by Seattle's frequent rain also made the surface an appealing option. In order to keep a grass surface robust under heavy football use during late fall and early winter rains, a $1.8 million irrigation and heating system would have been required. The coach of the Seahawks at the time, Mike Holmgren, said that FieldTurf installation was the right decision and stated that "the players love it, and I think this surface will offer a better product on the field for the fans." Local soccer fans were concerned that the lack of a natural grass field would hinder Seattle's chances of receiving an MLS expansion franchise. They asserted that voters had approved the facility with the understanding that the new stadium was intended for soccer as well as football. In a compromise, First & Goal agreed to pay for grass to be installed for special events when needed.


title: Lumen Field

text: In 2002, Seahawks Stadium became the first stadium in the NFL to install a FieldTurf artificial field. The surface is made of plastic fibers rooted in a mixture of ground rubber and sand. The field was replaced in early 2008 after tests showed that compression of sand and rubber increased the risk of player injuries. For the second installation, FieldTurf won the bid over Polytan. For the replacement surface, a one-inch (two and one-half centimeters) poured rubber foundation was added to prevent the compression from reoccurring. Under the naming rights agreement, Qwest paid $500,000 for the installation and First & Goal paid the remaining amount, which was undisclosed. By 2010 the FieldTurf's quality had decreased with the blades becoming matted down. It also failed FIFA's quality testing to be ranked 2 Star. A new FieldTurf surface was laid down in 2012 and it met the requirements of a 2 Star field after testing. A new turf field, using the FieldTurf Revolution 360, was installed in February 2016 ahead of the 2016 Sounders season.


title: Lumen Field

text: There have been various opinions regarding both the artificial surface and temporary grass surfaces used for soccer matches. After the Brazilian national team defeated Canada's side 3–2 in 2008, Brazil's coach commented that one reason for his team's unexpectedly poor performance was the loosely installed grass field. The Grenada national team struggled to cope with the artificial surface during their loss at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. In July 2009, the U.S. Soccer Federation chose D.C. United's RFK Stadium over Qwest Field for the U.S. Open Cup. The general manager of D.C. United speculated that RFK's grass field was one of the reasons his team had a stronger bid. The general manager of the Sounders, Adrian Hanauer, told "The Seattle Times" in 2010 that replacement of the surface was a continuing conversation between the Sounders and Allen's Vulcan Inc. When the Los Angeles Galaxy traveled to Seattle in May 2012, the FieldTurf was noted as one of the reasons David Beckham and Robbie Keane were left out of the line-up. In 2014, the field was criticized during an ESPN broadcast after an Amazon corporate event involving a game of Quidditch damaged the pitch before a Sounders match. Zach Scott expressed concerns over the same installation of the field and its effects on his body. The 10-year lease extension between Sounders FC and First & Goal announced in 2015 mandates new turf every four years or sooner; the first such new installation was in 2016.


title: Lumen Field

text: Between August and November, both the Seahawks and Sounders FC host games at Lumen Field. Each team has emphasized the importance of playing their games without the other team's painted lines on the field. Around 2003, at the Seahawks' request, local company EcoChemical developed for the field a new kind of paint that is "designed to fail". The new paint is relatively easy to remove with a power washer and a special chemical solution, a process that the company describes as environmentally friendly. With the new paint, converting the field between American football and soccer takes 14 hours in dry weather, though painting logos and other colors takes additional time. Despite various preparations, some Sounders matches—particularly in the playoffs—have had Seahawks logos and American football lines painted on the turf.


title: Lumen Field

text: Prior to the stadium opening in 2002, Allen and Bob Whitsitt said that they hoped the new stadium would help turn the Seahawks into a Super Bowl contender and that Seattle would be considered to host the championship game. The seating is expandable to 72,000 for the purpose of holding the game, but the NFL typically does not consider cities with outdoor stadiums where the average temperature in February is below . The number of season tickets available at Qwest was capped at 61,000 following the Super Bowl appearance. The ensuing waiting list was the first for the Seahawks since the early 1990s.


title: Lumen Field

text: The team's first season at their new home was in 2002 (also their first season in the NFC since their inaugural season in 1976, between 1977 and 2001, they were members of the AFC). Their first game at the new facility was a 28–10 preseason loss to the Indianapolis Colts on August 11, 2002. They went on to end their first season at the new field with a 7–9 record. In the 2003 season, the team went undefeated at home and reached the playoffs. It was the first time the franchise had won 10 games in a single season in 17 years. The Seahawks again reached the postseason during the 2004 season and played their first playoff game at Qwest Field on January 8, 2005. In that game, they lost to the St. Louis Rams who had already defeated them twice that season. The following season, the Seahawks went undefeated at home for the second time in three years and won their first-ever NFC Championship, but lost in Super Bowl XL. Between 2002 and 2005, the Seahawks won 24 of their 32 regular season games at the stadium.


title: Lumen Field

text: In 2006, the Seahawks had a 9–7 record and hosted the Dallas Cowboys in the wild card round of the playoffs. The Seahawks trailed 20–13 with less than 7 minutes remaining but came back to win 21–20. In 2007, the team won seven of their eight home games and clinched their fourth consecutive division title. Qwest Field was again the site for their wild card game, and they defeated the Washington Redskins 35–14. In 2008, the Seahawks went 4–12 and had only two home wins. Holmgren left the organization after the season. When he was interviewed about memorable moments and the fans, he said that Qwest Field was "a remarkable place to compete in and to play professional football". He called a game at the stadium "an experience".


title: Lumen Field

text: In 2010, the Seahawks were the first NFL team with a losing record ever to win a division title in a season not shortened by a strike. Seattle earned its fifth consecutive home playoff victory with a 41–36 win over the New Orleans Saints. "God bless the voters," defensive tackle Craig Terrill said after the game in reference to the stadium's importance to the franchise.


title: Lumen Field

text: Under Pete Carroll, the Seahawks were undefeated at home during the 2012 season. Season tickets for 2013 sold-out with a franchise-record 98% renewal rate.


title: Lumen Field

text: Lumen Field often sells out for Seahawks games. Although the team struggled in 2008 and 2009, the team maintained its base of season ticket holders. Before the 2008 season, the 14,000 single game tickets not already allotted sold out less than 15 minutes after they became available. By the end of the 2009 season, the Seahawks had sold out 60 consecutive games. After going 9–23 over two seasons in 2008 and 2009, the number of available season tickets was increased to 62,000. The largest crowd to attend a Seahawks game at Lumen Field was 69,190, against the Philadelphia Eagles on November 20, 2016.


title: Lumen Field

text: Lumen Field has earned a reputation as one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL. It was, at one point in time, in the Guinness World Record books for being the loudest stadium in the world. The seating decks and partial roof, both trap and amplify exceptional amounts of noise and reflect it back onto the field. This noise possibly contributes to increased false start penalties since opposing offenses can miss audibles and the snap count, as well as delay of game penalties due to the reduced efficiency of communicating plays to the offense. From 2002 through 2012, there have been 143 false-start penalties on visiting teams in Seattle, second only to the Minnesota Vikings. During that same time period, the Seahawks have accumulated a home win record of 59–29, with a simultaneous road record of 33–55.


title: Lumen Field

text: When Tod Leiweke was hired as the Seahawks' new CEO in 2003, he had a large flagpole installed in the south end to fly the 12th Man Flag as a tribute to the team's 12th man. The organization had retired the number in 1984 to honor the 12th man. A local celebrity, sometimes a former Seahawk, raises the flag during the network television pre-game events.


title: Lumen Field

text: In 2005, the stadium gained national attention when the visiting New York Giants committed 11 false start penalties. Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren attributed the penalties to the enthusiasm and noise from the crowd. He dedicated the ball used to make the game-winning field goal to the fans, and it is now displayed at the stadium. The Giants' general manager, Ernie Accorsi, asked an NFL senior vice president whether the Seahawks had broadcast artificial crowd noise over the public address system during this game. The NFL sent a memorandum early in the 2006 season about such complaints and sent officials to monitor two games. Holmgren denied the allegations, and the crowd responded by being even louder than usual when the Giants returned to Qwest Field. Since 2005 the Seahawks have tracked the number of false starts committed by visiting teams and display the statistic on a scoreboard to motivate the crowd. As of 2013, the stadium has had a league-high number of false starts since. In preparation for the 2005 NFC Championship Game at Qwest Field, the Carolina Panthers practiced with the recorded sounds of jet engines in the background to prepare for the volume of the crowd.


title: Lumen Field

text: Kickers experience further disadvantages when attempting field goals at Lumen Field. Both the stadium's proximity to Puget Sound and the open north end create winds that are challenging to gauge. Former Seahawks kicker Josh Brown adjusted to the winds, and he believed the moisture in the air caused trouble for others.


title: Lumen Field

text: On September 15, 2013, Seattle Seahawks fans successfully broke the Guinness World Records for the loudest stadium in the world. The 131.9-decibel record occurred during the sack of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the first quarter. Fans then broke their new record during the third quarter of the same game when a level of 136.6 decibels was achieved during a goal line stand by the Seahawks defense. The record was broken by the crowd at Arrowhead Stadium on October 13, 2013, with a sound pressure level of 137.57 decibels. The record was later regained by the Seahawks fans on December 2, 2013 with 137.6 decibels against the New Orleans Saints, but lost once again to Arrowhead Stadium in a Monday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots on September 29, 2014, setting the record that still stands at 142.2 decibels.


title: Lumen Field

text: The Seattle Dragons (now the Sea Dragons) of the XFL played their only two home games at CenturyLink Field during the short-lived league's 2020 season. The team was among seven in the XFL to share its stadium with NFL teams and drew a league-record 29,172 fans at the home opener on February 15, 2020. The second game had 22,060 in attendance and the team was among the highest-drawing in the XFL before the league suspended operations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The renamed Sea Dragons will resume play in 2023 at Lumen Field.


title: Lumen Field

text: Lumen Field has hosted several college football games. The hometown Washington Huskies played their 2005 season opener against the Air Force Falcons at the stadium in Tyrone Willingham's first game as head coach. In November 2011, the University of Washington began its $250 million renovation of Husky Stadium, so the Huskies and the Washington State Cougars played the Apple Cup at CenturyLink Field; the Huskies played their entire 2012 home schedule there.


title: Lumen Field

text: From 2002 through 2014, the stadium hosted a Washington State Cougars' non-conference home game each season (except for 2010). This included the 86th "Battle of the Palouse" against the Idaho Vandals in 2003. The attendance for the dozen Cougar games ranged from 30,927 to 63,588. CenturyLink Field is approximately from WSU, but closer to many alumni in the Seattle metro area. The university's athletic director said that an attendance of 50,000 was needed to make it worth moving the game from Martin Stadium in Pullman. The Cougars went 6–6 in their annual Seattle home game, which generated additional revenue that was invested in facilities for the football program while also increasing exposure to the western side of the state.


title: Lumen Field

text: In April 2009, it was proposed that the annual Apple Cup between the Seattle-based Huskies and the Pullman-based Cougars be hosted at CenturyLink Field for six years beginning in 2010. The two programs could not reach an agreement on how to divide tickets. Pullman's business community had expressed concerns that playing the game away from the Palouse would be detrimental to the local economy.