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{{short description|Owners of the original franchises of the American Football League}}{{More categories|date=April 2025}}{{No footnotes|date=September 2012}}
The '''Foolish Club''' were the owners of the eight original franchises of the [[American Football League]] (AFL).  When Texas oil heir and magnate [[Lamar Hunt]] and [[Bud Adams]] respectively were refused entry to the established [[National Football League]] (NFL) in 1959, they founded franchises in [[Dallas]] and [[Houston]], and recruited businessmen in six other U.S. markets to form an eight-team rival circuit, calling it the American Football League.  

Hunt owned the [[Dallas Texans (AFL)|Dallas Texans]] (now the [[Kansas City Chiefs]]), while the [[History of the Houston Oilers|Houston Oilers]] (now the [[Tennessee Titans]]) were Adams's franchise.  The other members of the ''"Original Eight"'' included [[Harry Wismer]] (Titans of New York, now the [[New York Jets]]), [[Bob Howsam]] ([[Denver Broncos]]), [[Barron Hilton]] ([[Los Angeles Chargers]]), [[Ralph Wilson|Ralph C. Wilson Jr.]] ([[Buffalo Bills]]), and [[Billy Sullivan (American football)|Billy Sullivan]] (Boston Patriots, now the [[New England Patriots]]). Though [[Max Winter]] had originally committed to fielding a [[Minneapolis]] AFL team, he reneged when lured away by the NFL; Winter's group instead joined the older circuit as the [[Minnesota Vikings]] in 1961. The Minneapolis AFL franchise only went as far as participating in the [[1960 American Football League draft]] and never fielded a team. It was replaced when a group of eight investors, led primarily by [[F. Wayne Valley]] and, briefly, [[Chet Soda]], formed the [[History of the Oakland Raiders|Oakland Raiders]], now the [[Las Vegas Raiders]].  

They called themselves the "Foolish Club" because of their seemingly foolhardy venture in taking on the entrenched NFL.

==Innovative start-up league==
{{Further information|American Football League}}
The AFL quickly became a viable competitor to the established league, in its first year signing half of the NFL's first-round draft choices, and introducing the first professional football gate and TV revenue-sharing plans, which made it financially stable.  It went on to develop its own stars, and added expansion franchises in the [[Miami Dolphins]] (1966) and [[Cincinnati Bengals]] (1968).

After forcing a merger with the NFL in 1966, the now ten-team AFL entered the NFL intact in 1970. It became the only major U.S. sports league ever to merge with another without losing any franchises. The merger was the ''raison d'être'' for the first "Professional Football World Championship Games" (later called the [[Super Bowl]]), and after losing the first two games of that series to the [[Green Bay Packers]] of the elder league, the AFL closed out its ten-year existence with victories over the NFL's best teams after the [[Super Bowl III|1968]] (with the Jets upsetting the then-[[Baltimore Colts]]) and [[Super Bowl IV|1969]] (the Chiefs defeating the Vikings) seasons.

==50th anniversary remembrance (2009)==
In the first exhibition game of the [[2009 NFL season]], the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame Game]] on August 9, both the Bills and Titans faced off, with both teams wearing their 1960s [[throwback uniform|throwback]] uniforms as the Titans wearing the colors of the Houston Oilers.  This contest kicked off what would have been the AFL's 50th season, featuring "AFL Legacy Weekends", in which teams of the "Original Eight" played one another wearing AFL period uniforms, game officials wore AFL "Chinese Red" striped uniforms and fields were designed in the innovative style used during the 1960s.  The first regular season games served as the [[Monday Night Football]] season opener on September 14 as the Bills visited the now-New England Patriots and the current San Diego Chargers visited the Oakland Raiders.

==Personal legacies==
The last surviving member of the Foolish Club, Barron Hilton, died in 2019; he had sold off the Chargers in 1966 to appease the board of directors of [[Hilton Hotels]]. With the AFL struggling in its early years, Howsam sold the Broncos after the first season, while Wismer sold the New York club in 1963. The Valley group eventually sold their shares of the Raiders in the 1970s after [[Al Davis]] took control over the club's team operations. After infamously bankrolling [[The Jackson Five]]'s [[Victory Tour (The Jacksons tour)|1984 Victory Tour]], financial difficulties forced Sullivan to sell his ownership stake in the Patriots in 1988 while [[Foxboro Stadium]] lapsed into bankruptcy; Sullivan remained team president until 1992 while [[Robert Kraft]] purchased the stadium out of bankruptcy to eventually use as leverage to buy the team in 1994.  Ralph Wilson died in 2014 as Bills owner, but the estate instead auctioned off the Bills to the highest bidder when he died (his two surviving daughters were not directly involved in the team's operations during his lifetime).

Heirs of two Foolish Club members continue to own their teams.  The Hunt family continues to own the Chiefs, with offspring equally splitting the team, with son Clark the owner of record since Lamar's death in 2006.  The Adams family continues to own the Titans, although the offspring initially changed from his two surviving daughters and the widow of his son in 2013 (daughter Susie Smith the owner of record until 2016, selling her stake in 2020), and since 2016 officially from the other surviving daughter Amy Strunk, along with Susan Lewis, the widow of their brother, Kenneth S. Adams III, who died in 1987.  Lewis's stake is evenly spit with her sons (the grandson of Bud Adams) Kenneth S. Adams IV and Barclay Adams.  Since {{nfly|2021}}, the structure is Strunk as the owner of record and owns 50% of the club, with 16.66% each by Lewis and the Adams brothers.

==Members==
{| width=95% class="wikitable"
!width = "10%" | Name
!width = "13%" | Image
!width = "13%" | Team
!width = "13%" | Birth
!width = "13%" | Death
!width = "8%" | Divested team
!width = "26%" | Notes
|-
|align="center"| [[Bud Adams]]
|align="center"| [[Image:Bud Adams 1964.JPG|110px]]
|align="center"| [[History of the Houston Oilers|Houston Oilers]]
|align="center"| January 3, 1923
|align="center"| October 21, 2013
|align="center"| Still controlled by heirs
|align="center"| One of two Foolish Club members whose family continues to control their team: the Oilers relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 1997 and were rebranded the [[Tennessee Titans]]. Daughter [[Amy Adams Strunk]] is primary owner, with the other half owned by Susan Lewis, the widow of her brother Kenneth S. Adams III, and their sons Kenneth S. Adams IV and Barclay Adams: Strunk's sister Susie Smith divested her stake of the team in 2017.  
|-
|align="center"| [[Barron Hilton]]
|align="center"| [[Image:Barron Hilton.JPEG|110px]]
|align="center"| [[Los Angeles Chargers]]
|align="center"| October 23, 1927
|align="center"| September 19, 2019
|align="center"| 1966
|align="center"| The last surviving member of the Club, dying in 2019. Played as the [[San Diego Chargers]] from 1961–2016. Sold team in 1966 to appease [[Hilton Hotels]] board of directors.
|-
|align="center"| [[Bob Howsam]]
|align="center"| 
|align="center"| [[Denver Broncos]]
|align="center"| February 28, 1918
|align="center"| February 19, 2008
|align="center"| 1961
|align="center"| Sold team to [[Gerald Phipps]] after one season.
|-
|align="center"| [[Lamar Hunt]]
|align="center"| [[Image:Lamar Hunt 1974.jpg|110px]]
|align="center"| [[Kansas City Chiefs|Dallas Texans]]
|align="center"| August 2, 1932
|align="center"| December 13, 2006
|align="center"| Still controlled by heirs
|align="center"| One of two Foolish Club members whose family continues to control their team: the Texans relocated to Kansas City and were rebranded as the [[Kansas City Chiefs|Chiefs]] in 1963.  Elected to the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] in 1972. As of {{nfly|2023}}, the team is equally owned by four children — [[Clark Hunt]], the legal owner of record upon his death, along with siblings [[Lamar_Hunt_Jr.|Lamar Jr.]], Daniel, and sister Sharron Munson. 
|-
|align="center"| [[Chet Soda]]
|align="center"| [[Image:Chet Soda 1960.jpg|110px]]
|align="center"| [[History of the Oakland Raiders|Oakland Raiders]]
|align="center"| March 15, 1908 
|align="center"| March 12, 1989
|align="center"| 1960
|align="center"| Part-owner with F. Wayne Valley and [[Donald Blessing]], replaced [[Minnesota Vikings|Minnesota-based group]] led by [[Max Winter]]. Was the presumed source of the team's original botched-Spanish name "Oakland Senors" [sic]; left before start of season.
|-
|align="center"| [[F. Wayne Valley]]
|align="center"| [[Image:F. Wayne Valley 1961.jpg|110px]]
|align="center"| [[History of the Oakland Raiders|Oakland Raiders]]
|align="center"| March 28, 1914
|align="center"| October 2, 1986
|align="center"| 1976
|align="center"| Ousted by [[Al Davis]]. Team played as [[Los Angeles Raiders]] from 1982–94 and became the [[Las Vegas Raiders]] in 2020.
|-
|align="center"| [[Billy Sullivan (American football)|Billy Sullivan]]
|align="center"| [[Image:Billy Sullivan (American football) 1985.jpg|110px]]
|align="center"| [[New England Patriots|Boston Patriots]]
|align="center"| September 13, 1915
|align="center"| February 23, 1998
|align="center"| 1988
|align="center"| Team was renamed [[New England Patriots]] in 1971. Remained president until 1992; financial mismanagement eventually led to a takeover by current owner [[Robert Kraft]].
|-
|align="center"| [[Ralph Wilson]]
|align="center"| 
|align="center"| [[Buffalo Bills]]
|align="center"| October 17, 1918
|align="center"| March 25, 2014
|align="center"| September 9, 2014
|align="center"| Elected to the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]] in 2009. The last member of the Foolish Club to be an active owner, ending with his death in 2014. [[Pegula Sports and Entertainment]] purchased the team in an estate sale.
|-
|align="center"| [[Harry Wismer]]
|align="center"| [[Image:Harry Wismer.JPG|110px]]
|align="center"| [[History of the New York Jets|Titans of New York]]
|align="center"| June 30, 1913
|align="center"| December 3, 1967
|align="center"| 1963
|align="center"| Declared bankrupt after 1962 season: team was purchased by [[Sonny Werblin|David "Sonny" Werblin]] and rebranded as the New York Jets.
|-
|}

==See also==
* [[List of American Football League players|Other American Football League officials, coaches and players]]
* [[List of NFL franchise owners|Current National Football League team owners]]

==External links==
* [http://www.remembertheafl.com/CelebrateTheAFL.htm#LegacyGames Schedule of American Football League Legacy Games]
* [https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=4141175 ESPN.com article on AFL Legacy Games]
* [https://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2009-afl-anniversary-series.htm ''USA TODAY'' series on the American Football League]

{{Foolish Club}}

[[Category:American Football League owners| ]]