Bud Adams, the Texas oilman who co-founded the American Football League in 1959 (the league began play in 1960, forced a merger with the NFL in 1966 [which was completed in 1970]) and who was from the beginning, the owner of the Houston Oilers, who moved to Memphis in 1997 and became the Tennessee Oilers, then to Nashville in 1998 before changing the club's name to the Tennessee Titans in 1999, passed away on Monday at his Houston home from natural causes at age 90.
The Houston Oilers, with George Blanda at quarterback and Billy Cannon at halfback, won the first two AFL titles in 1960 and 1961 (in both years against the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers) before losing the 1962 title game in double overtime to the Dallas Texans, who moved to Kansas City the following year and became the Chiefs (they were owned by AFL founder----and fellow Texan Lamar Hunt).
During the mid-to-late 1970s, Mr. Adams' Oilers (by now in the National Football League) became perenial winners again, this time under (recently-deceased) head coach Bum Phillips. In 1978 and 1979, the Oilers, who featured Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell, lost the American Football Conference championship game to the Pittsburgh Steelers (who went on to win Super Bowls XIII and XIV).
The Oilers, with Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon at the helm, and coached by Jack Pardee, made the playoffs several times in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In 1997, after an unsuccessul attempt to get a new stadium built in Houston to replace the Astrodome, Bud moved the Oilers to Memphis, which was to be used as a temporary home until their new stadium in Nashville was completed. Poor attendance at the Liberty Bowl Stadium forced the Tennessee Oilers to move to Music City one year earlier than planned, using Vanderbilt Stadium as their home until Adelphia Coliseum (now LP Field). The Oilers were renamed the Titans in 1999.
It was during that season that the Titans, under head coach Jeff Fisher, made their magical run to what is still their only Super Bowl appearance, losing that contest in Atlanta in heartbreaking fashion to the St. Louis Rams.
With Bud's passing, Ralph Wilson, who has owned the Buffalo Bills from the beginning, is now the last remaining original AFL owner.
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