Ernie Accorsi was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania -- Chocolate Town, U.S.A. But his football career was sweet.
Ernest William Accorsi Jr. was born on October 29, 1941. He graduated from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He served in the U.S. Army, then wrote for The Charlotte News, The Baltimore Sun and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He later served as Assistant Sports Publicity Director for Penn State University.
In 1970, the NFL's Baltimore Colts hired him as their director of public relations, earning a Super Bowl ring at the end of the season. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle was impressed enough with his work to hire him for his staff in 1975. In 1977, the Colts hired him back, as assistant general manager, then as full GM in 1982.
He wasn't so good in the job. In that strike-shortened season, the Colts went 0-8-1. And when he used the accompanying top pick in the 1983 NFL Draft on Stanford quarterback John Elway, Elway refused to play for the Colts, having already played for the Yankees' Class A team in Oneonta, New York.
Accorsi thought he had the upper hand: I covered minor-league baseball when I was a sportswriter. Elway wasn't going to give up a chance at the Hall of Fame to play in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is exactly where he would have been sent. If we'd been patient, we could have signed him. Instead, team owner Bob Irsay overruled Accorsi, and traded Elway's rights to the Denver Broncos. Then, after a 7-9 season, Irsay moved the Colts to Indianapolis. Accorsi saw the writing on the wall, and quit.
He then served as GM of the Cleveland Browns from 1985 to 1991, building a team that got to 3 AFC Championship Games in 4 years, but lost them all. In 1994, he was named assistant to Giants GM George Young, and succeeded him in 1998. He built the team that won the 2000 NFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl XXXV -- ironically, to the team that not only had been the Browns, but had replaced the Colts in Baltimore, the Ravens.
At the 2004 NFL Draft, Accorsi was on the other side of the Elway issue: He drafted North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers, then saw that University of Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning didn't want to play for the team that drafted him, the San Diego Chargers. So Accorsi swung the trade: Manning helped the Giants win 2 Super Bowls, while Rivers built an All-Pro career in San Diego.
Accorsi retired after the 2006 season, but for building the team that won Super Bowl XLII, the Giants gave him a Super Bowl ring. So he received 2 rings, at the ages of 29 and 66.
In the 2012, '13 and '14 seasons, he was a consultant for the Carolina Panthers; in 2015, for the Chicago Bears; in 2016 and '17, for the Detroit Lions; in 2018, back with the Giants; and in 2019, with the Arizona Cardinals. In 2016, the Giants named him to their Ring of Honor.
Accorsi died on September 19, 2026. He was 84 years old. He was survived by his son Michael, his daughter Sherly, his son Patrick, and a granddaughter. He was married to Judy Nangle from 1967 to 1983, and she passed away in 2021.
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