On some nights, he won big, stuffing athletic bags with hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the end, he lost it all, by his estimate more than $20 million at Resorts International and $14 million at the Sands.

''I don't even know the total number for sure,'' he said. ''I had serious blackouts. There were times when I would get up in the morning and nobody ever wanted to tell me what I lost. I didn't know whether I lost $50,000 or $500,000. Stupid!''

In 1991, the Sands sued him for $1.23 million in gambling debts. He countersued, contending that the casino got him too drunk to know what he was doing. Eventually, the casino won.

Leonard Hyman Tose was born March 6, 1915, in Bridgeport, Pa. His father, who came to the United States from Russia, settled outside Philadelphia and was a peddler with a pack on his back. He eventually owned 10 trucks, the beginning of the family business.

Eventually, Tose Inc. owned more than 700 trucks and grossed $20 million a year.

Mr. Tose went to Notre Dame, played end on the freshman football team but never on the varsity and graduated in 1937. In the late 1940's, he owned 1 percent of the Eagles. In 1969, when the team's principal owner, Jerry Wolman, went bankrupt, Mr. Tose and several others bought the team for $16,155,000. In 1977, after Mr. Tose had almost lost the team to a bank, he borrowed $5.3 million from another bank and soon bought out his partners.

He and the team became active in Philadelphia charities. He raised $2 million to fight leukemia, gave $79,000 to save high school sports programs and helped found the Ronald McDonald houses, where families could stay with their sick children.

His Eagles reached the 1981 Super Bowl but lost to the Oakland Raiders, 27-10.

He provided Super Bowl transportation, room and board for 762 friends and employees.