Foolish Club

The Foolish Club was the self-imposed name taken by the owners of the eight original franchises of the American Football League (AFL). When Texas oil magnates Lamar Hunt and Bud Adams, Jr. were refused entry to the established NFL in 1959, they contacted other businessmen to form an eight-team professional football league, and called it the American Football League. Though Max Winter had originally committed to fielding a Minneapolis team, he reneged when lured away by the NFL; Winter's group instead joined the NFL 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 actually fielded a team). Hunt owned the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs), while the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) were Adams' franchise. The other six members of the "Original Eight" were Harry Wismer (New York Titans, now the New York Jets), Bob Howsam (Denver Broncos), Barron Hilton (Los Angeles Chargers), Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. (Buffalo Bills), Billy Sullivan (Boston Patriots, now the New England Patriots), and a group of eight investors led primarily by F. Wayne Valley and, briefly, Chet Soda (Oakland Raiders, who replaced the Vikings). They called themselves the "Foolish Club" because of their seemingly foolhardy venture in taking on the established NFL.