During the fall of 1959, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. was searching to put together a new team to join Lamar Hunt’s new league, the American Football League.
He searched aimlessly before he found Buffalo — a small market — which ended up being his home as owner for the next 55 years.
Lamar Hunt then sent him a telegram saying “Count me in with Buffalo.” The team joined the AFL and would be a part of the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
Yes, I am a Bills fan, but this isn’t a sap story about my favorite owner. This is about much more; it is about one of the few influential people in the football business who helped shape and sustain the game to keep it where it is today.
Whether you’re a Browns, Bengals or Steelers fan, without the leadership and expertise of a figure such as Wilson, you might not even be watching your team on this stage today.
Wilson was one of the few owners to strongly vote against the Cleveland Browns relocation to Baltimore, and he was one of two owners (along with the Bengals’ Mike Brown) to oppose the league’s collective bargaining agreement set before the 2011 “lockout.”
Wilson was born in October of 1918—a long 95 years ago—and passed away Tuesday.
I had the opportunity to meet Wilson at the Bills Training Camp in Pittsford, N.Y., a couple times. He was a generous old man with a passion for the game of football.
Generosity like his was what helped keep the league alive.
To keep the prominent entities of the AFL alive, Wilson lent large sums of money to owners in financial trouble, including the $400,000 he provided to Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. No AFL franchise has ever folded in the history of the league, including the post-merger period we are in presently.
Wilson also donated $2.5 million to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the construction of a “Pro Football Research and Preservation Center.” The facility was then named in his honor two years ago.
In 2009, the AFL would have turned 50 years old if the merger had never happened. That year’s Hall of Fame induction class included Wilson, along with his former defensive end Bruce Smith. The NFL hosted the Bills and Tennessee Titans—formerly the Houston Oilers—for that year’s Hall of Fame game in Canton.
I’m not saying that you have to go become a Bills fan and praise Wilson because he has passed, but he was an iconic figure in what shaped the NFL to what it is today and people need to realize that.
The city of Buffalo and the entire NFL family across the world lost a great man Tuesday who will not be able to be replaced any time soon. The Bills organization may be in trouble in the future, as ownership stability will become tough.
@Alex_Busch91
ab109410@ohiou.edu
