RIP Bud Adams

[Steak Snabler]

Titans/Oilers owner died today at 90:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/21/reports-titans-owner-bud-adams-dies-at-90/

That leaves Ralph Wilson as the last of the original AFL guys.

EDIT: Slight correction --- Original Chargers owner Barron Hilton is still alive, but he sold the team in 1966.

 

[SnoopyBoy]

Wow, dies 72 hours after Bum Phillips, his former head coach. Adams became public enemy No. 1 in Houston when he fired Bum, and then holding the Astros hostage and adding seats to the Astrodome didn't help. Of course, within 10 years, he bolted with the Oilers, making him a villain in Houston.

 

[wicked]

He pulled an Art Modell yet never got anywhere near as much scorn for it.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

He pulled an Art Modell yet never got anywhere near as much scorn for it.

And should have, considered Bud ruined the look of the Astrodome with those absurd football seats.

 

[Bubbler]

Earl Campbell and Warren Moon ... watch out for falling objects.

 

[exmediahack]

Dan Pastorini and Florian Kempf, too.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Earl Campbell and Warren Moon ... watch out for falling objects.

Warren's pretty fit, but Earl's seemingly been on his deathbed for 10 years. He also now endorses a line of sausage products, so that can't be good for his life expectancy.

 

[Mark2010]

Not to dance on anyone's grave, but Adams was rarely a figure who drew a great deal of sympathy.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Not to dance on anyone's grave, but Adams was rarely a figure who drew a great deal of sympathy.

No doubt, but it's notable when anyone who owned a pro football team for 53 years dies.

 

[Football_Bat]

Earl Campbell and Warren Moon ... watch out for falling objects.

Warren's pretty fit, but Earl's seemingly been on his deathbed for 10 years. He also now endorses a line of sausage products, so that can't be good for his life expectancy.

Earl is alive and well. His knees are wrecked, but just look at his highlights and you'll see why.

 

[wicked]

I thought Earl had some form of dementia?

 

[joe king]

So long to one of the last of "The Foolish Club."

That's Bud in front, on the left.

 

[Steak Snabler]

So long to one of the last of "The Foolish Club."

That's Bud in front, on the left.

Only two left are Ralph Wilson (back row, third from left) and Barron Hilton (back row, far right). Incidentally, Barron Hilton is Paris Hilton's grandfather.

 

[Football_Bat]

I thought Earl had some form of dementia?

Surprisingly no, considering all the badass collisions he initiated.

 

[YankeeFan]

And should have, considered Bud ruined the look of the Astrodome with those absurd football seats.

Two have you have referenced this, but I don't know the story. What's the deal?

 

[Mark2010]

The Astrodome, built in the mid 1960s was the first major indoor stadium for baseball and football. One of the unique features was a unique "exploding' scoreboard that flashed all sorts of fancy (for its day) graphics and stuff whenever the home team scored big (touchdowns, home runs, etc.) It covered the top three levels of the baseball outfield and football end zone.

In 1987, Adams, seeking more revenue, visited Jacksonville, Fla., several times and toured the Gator Bowl and made a very public noise about moving the team. Harris County, which managed the dome, got scared and tore out the great scoreboard and added seats in those top three tiers to encircle the entire stadium and increase the football seating capacity from around 50,000 to about 65,000. This obviously provided more revenue for football, but the seats were rarely used for other events.

Less than a decade later, Adams was back whining to the county leaders about needing a new stadium and bolting the Astrodome altogether. When county leaders balked this time, Adams moved the Oilers to Nashville.

My feeling is if Adams had been a little more quiet and politically-savvy about things, he would have gotten the new stadium (which was eventually built for the Houston Texans) anyway. But by making such a public issue of the whole thing, he put the elected officials in a tough spot. If they went along with him, they were seen as giving in to the blackmail of an owner who wasn't real popular to begin with. So they called his bluff and he left. The Texans came just six years later and it turned out everyone was better off.

https://www.google.com/search?q=astrodome+scoreboard&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_w5mUqiGFo_o8gT-s4GYCA&sqi=2&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=673

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCiYFvDJLZXhLCMc15as5pFU5FIAjGaHy7DaImOGVHqoNGXeeiF4vmC16L

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Like many of the stadiums of the 60s and early 70s, the Astrodome did not age well. I covered a game there (NFL) in 1987, and it was a Shea Stadium-like dump even then.

 

[Liut]

Sorry the man died, but will never forgive him for moving the Oilers.

 

[cyclingwriter]

One the best stories I ever heard was Adams getting in a fight with a Houston sports writer after the press conference to announce Al Davis as the AFL's commissioner. Not a verbal yelling thing, but the two of them rolling around the floor punching each other.

 

[Mark2010]

Superdome is pushing 40 years and still deemed good enough to host a Super Bowl. Major renovations, I realize. But that shows it can be done and you don't have to build another stadium every 20 years.