ORONO – National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue is a man whose life revolves around making decisions.

Late Friday afternoon, the commissioner spoke to a gathering of local United Way donors at Penobscot Valley Country Club about one of the toughest decisions he has had to make – his decision to postpone NFL games on the Sunday following terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Tagliabue said the most difficult part of the process was getting through the first day of the attacks.

“By the middle of the day, two spouses of two of our employees were missing. We still didn’t know if other spouses or family members were unidentified or missing. Our offices are in Manhattan. We had a number of employees with children in schools in that area,” Tagliabue said. “[Football] was virtually irrelevant to us at least until the second day.”

Once the commissioner’s office returned to football matters, he said he received plenty of advice. And there was historical perspective to fall back on. There was NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle’s decision to play football the Sunday following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

“[Rozelle’s decision] is often discussed, but it was never really understood,” Tagliabue said.

The commissioner told the gathering that Rozelle had sought the council of Pierre Salinger, Kennedy’s press secretary, who recommended playing the games.

“So that became a controversial decision,” Tagliabue said. “The one lesson I brought from it was that you have to make your own decisions and don’t talk to people in the government.”

The comment brought laughter, but Tagliabue explained that he received advice to play from people on President George W. Bush’s staff.

“They said that we couldn’t be cowed by terrorism. We had to, maybe not be defiant, but we had to carry on. With the support of our players and our owners, I concluded the only way you can send a clear message and the right message was don’t play,” Tagliabue said.

Tagliabue has vacationed in Maine for 30 years. He has a cottage on Squirrel Island, off the coast of Boothbay Harbor where he is a neighbor to Bangor city councilor and businessman Frank Farrington. Farrington invited Tagliabue to speak to the local United Way group.

The Untied Way is a familiar subject to the commissioner. He has been on the national United Way board since 1992.

Tagliabue pointed out that people such as Microsoft chairman Bill Gates have donated millions of dollars to the United Way and, more locally, Harold Alfond was a cornerstone for the Maine United Way effort.

He lauded local businessman Charles “Chip” Hutchins’ efforts to bring more youthful leadership into the organization. Hutchins has made a $100,000 challenge grant to donors in the United Way’s Leaders’ Circle.

“For me to hear Chip talking about the younger generation getting involved in leadership goals of the United Way and have a challenge grant out there at that level is phenomenal. It picks up where people like Harold Alfond started. Between Harold Alfond and Bill Gates you’re in good company,” he said, before presenting Hutchins with a signed football.

Hutchins, joking that the commissioner might find it useful in dealing the referees, unions, and owners, presented Tagliabue with a “Bangor, Maine, 3 1/2-pound Snow and Nealley ax” and garden tools.