Paddy Harmon

Patrick 'Paddy' Thomas Harmon (May 25, 1876 - July 22, 1930) was an Irish American businessman and sports promoter based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is noted for the building of Chicago Stadium arena in 1929, then the world's largest indoor arena. Born in poverty to immigrant parents, he became an entrepreneur, owning dance halls and promoting cycling races and boxing matches. He succeeded in getting the Stadium built, even helping to fight a fire on its roof, but was ousted within a year of its opening. He died due to injuries sustained in a car crash less than a year later. He poured his entire fortune into the Stadium, leaving only his Stadium shares, and the $2.50 in his pockets to his family. His funeral was held in the Stadium, paid for by friends. The Stadium itself went bankrupt in the Depression, leaving his shares worthless.