BOSTON (AP) – Woolf Associates, once a Boston powerhouse in sports marketing and representation, has closed.

The agency was founded by the late agent Bob Woolf, who represented several big-name athletes, including Larry Bird, Doug Flutie and Tom Glavine.

Woolf died in 1993.

The agency closed last week, putting 10 employees out of work, the Boston Herald reported.

A spokeswoman for the agency’s owner, Ed Eskandarian, blamed a three-year economic downturn and the Sept. 30, 2002, bankruptcy and sale of its client, Top-Flite Golf, the newspaper said.

Eskandarian did not immediately return a call for comment on Tuesday.

Eskandarian, owner of Boston ad agency Arnold Worldwide, bought the agency in 1996 along with former Bruins great Bobby Orr and Larry Moulter, who developed and ran the FleetCenter. They expanded the sports marketing end of the business.

The agency created a successful Ryder Cup program for Boston in 1999 and represented John Hancock Financial Services Inc. in its sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball.

But internal strife in the agency’s baseball division led to some executive departures and in 2000 it sold the baseball business. Moulter left in 2000 to join an Internet company and was replaced as chief executive by Kevin Murphy, a senior executive at Ocean Spray. He was succeeded last year by Jack Birch. Orr left last year to focus on a hockey representation.

The client list dwindled and the company shut down.

AP-ES-07-08-03 1716EDT