When Jack Kent Cooke, the Redskins' flamboyant owner with three Super Bowl championships, died of heart failure in April 1997 at 84, his son, John Kent Cooke, was left to engage in an acrimonious auction that ended with Daniel M. Snyder, then a 34-year-old businessman, emerging with the Redskins.

A transcript follows.

John Kent Cooke: My father could not leave the Redskins to me and the family for two reasons: he wanted the foundation to be significant and the size of his estate at that time was not as large as it was previously, and subject to estate taxes. When my father realized this he changed his will that had previously allowed him to pass the Redskins to my family and Elmendorf Racing Stables to my brother's family.

Taxes: How much inheritance tax would John Cooke have been liable for? Couldn't he have taken a loan out with the NFL to pay that off and keep the team in the Cooke family? Thank you. John Kent Cooke: 55% in 1999 - another thing that should be changed to keep family businesses.