VIRGINIA BEACH, Va, -- - Blake Cullen, an executive for the Chicago Cubs and the National League who went on to own minor league hockey, baseball and soccer teams, has died. He was 85.
Cullen died Monday at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, Chicago Blackhawks senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, a former player and assistant coach of Cullen's Hampton Admirals hockey team, said Wednesday.
A graduate of Cornell with a degree in hotel management, Cullen worked for a Chicago hotel after college and was the Cubs' traveling secretary from 1965-75.
He moved to New York and became the National League's administrator under league president Chub Feeney, serving as a key aide during rising labor turmoil that included a 50-day midseason strike in 1981.