WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump was known in New York by 1984 as a flashy newcomer to Manhattan real estate. But football, not business, was what drew 60 young women to the Trump Tower in early January of that year.
The women had come to audition for the Brig-A-Dears, the cheerleading squad of the New Jersey Generals, part of the upstart United States Football League. Trump had recently bought the team.
Judged by a panel that included Andy Warhol, gossip columnist Cindy Adams and other celebrities, the event was a splashy media affair. But organizer Emily Magrish grew worried when some women who had been cut from consideration in earlier rounds showed up to picket outside.
“I was convinced Trump was going to fire me on the spot,” Magrish said of the protest. “Instead, I got a bonus. He thought I’d done it on purpose.”
The Generals have been largely forgotten, but Trump’s ownership of the USFL team was formative in his evolution as a public figure and peerless self-publicist. With money and swagger, he led a shaky spring football league into an all-or-nothing showdown with the NFL, building an outsized reputation in the process.