RIP William Clay Ford Sr.

[Hank_Scorpio]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/09/lions-owner-william-clay-ford-sr-dies-at-88/

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Matt Millen, Joey Harrington, Charles Rodgers and Mike Williams will serve as pallbearers.

RIP

 

[DanOregon]

50 years and one playoff win to speak of? That takes effort.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

To properly honor his owner, Matthew Stafford is going to donate $1,000 for each interception he throws this season to a charity in Ford's name.

Maybe Ford thought death was the only way he could stop having to sign checks to failed coaches and GMs.

 

[Starman]

To properly honor his owner, Matthew Stafford is going to donate $1,000 for each interception he throws this season to a charity in Ford's name.

Awesome, put the charities in position of hoping Stafford screws up, and Stafford in the position, if he plays well, of screwing the charities out of money.

Here's a better idea: Either donate the money or don't.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I should have added a smiley face, because that was a joke...

 

[Starman]

I should have added a smiley face, because that was a joke...

Don't laugh -- people do sometimes set up those kinds of ass-backwards donation deals where fans of the teams have to root against cancer research, etc etc.

 

[Boom_70]

I should have added a smiley face, because that was a joke...

Don't laugh -- people do sometimes set up those kinds of ass-backwards donation deals where fans of the teams have to root against cancer research, etc etc.

So funny when starman gets worked up about something. He can't see the forest from the trees.

 

[Starman]

Anything to entertain you, trollboy.

 

[Bob Cook]

So do the Lions have a Smart(er) Son lined up, like Rocky Wirtz or Jim Irsay?

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Clay Ford Jr. has been in the wings for many years.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's a good franchise that has made horrific GM and coaching hires for the last 20 years.

The Lions biggest ****up was when they hired Mooch and then wouldn't let him get choose his own QB. They forced Harrington on him and Mooch hated Harrington. He thought he was soft and uncoachable.

You hire a QB guru and pay him what, at the time was huge money and then don't let him choose his QB is just one of the dumbest things ever.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

The thing about the Fords, and local reporters know this, is they don't talk to anyone.
So nobody ever knows WTF they are thinking.
That can be worse than a loose-lipped owner like Jones.
The coolness has not helped Sr.'s public perception.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The thing about the Fords, and local reporters know this, is they don't talk to anyone.
So nobody ever knows WTF they are thinking.
That can be worse than a loose-lipped owner like Jones.
The coolness has not helped Sr.'s public perception.

During the whole "Fire Millen" period, one of the beat writers said, and to be fair, he might have been joking... "Until the signs showed up at the games, I don't think ownership had any idea how much people hated him."

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I remember when they signed Scott Mitchell, Junior talked about "driving success throughout the organization."
He has been very fond of telling stories about how he was wrapped in swaddling clothes when his parents took him to Tiger Stadium for Lions games as a baby.
Always been interesting to me how the utter decrepitude of the Lions dovetailed with that of Ford Motor.

 

[Liut]

Always been interesting to me how the utter decrepitude of the Lions dovetailed with that of Ford Motor.

Perceptive take, 3OF. I've got a book on the Ford Motor Company and the family. Cannot remember the author's name but he's a Brit. Heck of a read.

Your opine above made me think if Henry Ford II had bought the Lions, the franchise's fortunes might have been a lot better ... or just as bad. Ford II was more ruthless than his youngest brother but it seems the 60s (other than the Mustang) and 70s were really rough times for the company under his watch. Of course, Iaccoca generally gets credited for the Mustang. But the aforementioned ruthlessness might have benefited the Lions in a positive way. But II was a much more erratic personality than Clay Sr.

Nevertheless, RIP to Mr. Ford. Overcame alcoholism and seemed to conduct himself with a fair amount of class.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Liut, I think he was a kind-hearted man who meant well.
Matt Millen said this on A Football Life- the Fords were unswervingly loyal.
They believed in their hires, and soundness of their decision-making.
If anything he gave his people too much rope, going back to Fontes.
Reflected again with Schwartz.
That is the organizational sickness.

 

[Liut]

I think he was a kind-hearted man who meant well.

Well stated, and I agree based largely on what I read in the book and have elsewhere. The book dealt very little with William Clay and his Lions. What I came away with was a just a healthy respect for the man, particularly in comparison to his oldest brother.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Liut, I think he was a kind-hearted man who meant well.
Matt Millen said this on A Football Life- the Fords were unswervingly loyal.
They believed in their hires, and soundness of their decision-making.
If anything he gave his people too much rope, going back to Fontes.
Reflected again with Schwartz.
That is the organizational sickness.

As insane as it sounds, I think that loyalty, even as misplaced as it has been at times, has kept the Lions from being seen as a trainwreck of a franchise the way others have. Detroit's overall record over the last 20 years is probably worst or second-worst in the NFL, but they're not looked at the way the Raiders, Browns and perhaps the Dolphins are...

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

We have discussed this before, but I am astounded at how quickly the Dolphins went from the picture of stability to a no-class organization, almost overnight.
They are a straight-up joke.
Clay Ford came from corporate royalty and might have not been a self-made man, but he had a gravitas many of his peers don't.
Not many owners have freighters named for them in their 30s.