From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bud Adams
Bud Adams
"Bud" Adams
Date of birth January 3, 1923 (1923-01-03)
Early life
Adams was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1923. He
Place of birth Bartlesville, Oklahoma
was the son of K.S. "Boots" Adams and Blanch Keeler
Position(s) Co-founder of the American Football Adams and became an enrolled member of the Cherokee
League (1960-69) Nation by virtue of his maternal line. Two of his great-
Founder/owner of Houston Oilers/ grandmothers were Cherokee women who married
Tennessee Oilers/Tennessee Titans
Founder/former owner of Nashville Kats European-American men: Nelson Carr and George B.
(Second Incarnation) Keeler, who played roles in trade and oil in early Okla-
Founder/former owner of Houston homa. Keeler drilled the first commercial oil well, near
Mavericks the Caney River.[1] Adams’ father succeeded the founder
College University of Kansas Frank Phillips as president of Phillips Petroleum Compa-
ny in 1939.[2] Adams’ uncle William Wayne Keeler, CEO
Championships 1960 American Football League of Phillips Petroleum Company for years, was appointed
won Championship
1961 American Football League
chief of the Cherokee Nation by President Harry S. Tru-
Championship man in 1949 and served through 1971, when the Chero-
1999 AFC Championship kee were able to hold their own elections. Keeler was de-
mocratically elected and served until 1975.[3] Adams’ an-
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
cestors include other prominent Cherokee leaders. [1]
1960-1969 AFL Houston Oilers Adams graduated from Culver Military Academy in
1970-present NFL Houston Oilers/Tennessee Oilers/ 1940 after lettering in three sports. After a brief stint at
Tennessee Titans
Menlo College, he transferred to the University of Kansas
Nashville Kats (Second Incarnation)
2005-2007 (Arena Football League) (KU), where he completed an engineering degree.
Houston Mavericks (ABA) During World War II, Adams served in the United
1967-1969 States Navy in the Pacific Theater of operations, attaining
the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. After the war, he re-
Kenneth Stanley "Bud" Adams, Jr. (born January 3, 1923) turned to KU for additional studies and became a mem-
is the owner of the Tennessee Titans’ National Football ber of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
League franchise. He was instrumental in the founding Shortly after his 1946 discharge, Adams was on a trip
and establishment of the former American Football in which his plane was fogbound in Houston, Texas. He
League. Adams became a charter AFL owner with the es- liked the area and decided to settle there.
tablishment of the Titans franchise, which was original- Soon afterward, Adams launched a wildcatting firm,
ly known as the Houston Oilers. He is the senior owner (by ADA Oil Company, that eventually grew into Adams Re-
time) with his team in the National Football League, a sources & Energy. The company’s basketball team was
few months ahead of Buffalo Bills’ owner Ralph Wilson. an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) powerhouse, finishing
Adams also was one of the owners of the Houston Maver- third nationally in 1956.
icks of the American Basketball Association and the for-
mer owner of the second Nashville Kats franchise of the
Arena Football League. He was elected to the Hall of Fame Sports career in Houston
of the American Football League.
Adams has many business interests in the Houston Early career in the American Football
area. An enrolled Cherokee who originally made his for- League
tune in the petroleum business, Adams is chairman and Adams soon became interested in owning an NFL team.
CEO of Adams Resources & Energy Inc., a wholesale sup- In 1959, Adams tried to buy the struggling Chicago Cardi-
plier of oil and natural gas. He also owns several Lincoln- nals and move them to Houston. When that effort failed,
Mercury automobile franchises. he tried to get an expansion team, only to be turned
down. A few days after returning to Houston, Adams got
a call from fellow Texas oilman Lamar Hunt proposing
an entirely new football league. They met several times
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bud Adams
that spring, and Hunt convinced Adams to field a team football sight lines left much to be desired. The seats near
in Houston. In Hunt’s view, a regional rivalry between the 50-yard line, usually the most desirable (and expen-
Hunt’s Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs) and a sive), were the farthest from the field of play, while those
Houston team would be critical to the league’s growth. nearest the action were otherwise-undesirable seats in
On August 3, Adams and Hunt held a press conference the end zone. Additionally, the Astrodome seated only
in Adams’ boardroom to announce formation of the new about 50,000 for football. By the early 1980s, it was the
league, which was formally named the American Football smallest venue in the NFL. Adams chafed at being the
League. Astrodome’s "secondary" tenant. He knew his position
Although less popularly associated with the forma- was unlikely to change as long as the Astros were playing
tion of the AFL than Hunt, Adams was likely nearly as 81 home games and his team was playing eight.
crucial to the league’s success. He and Hunt were both
more financially stable than some of the other early own- Houston vs. Adams
ers. Adams was initially a hero in Houston for making the city
Adams helped establish the league by fighting and a major-league town, but his popularity tailed off dur-
winning the battle with the NFL for LSU’s All-American ing the Oilers’ early NFL years. Some critics believed he
Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon. Particularly cru- had mishandled the team. His tendency to micromanage
cial to the league’s early years was Adams’ relationship the Oilers brought considerable scrutiny since he had no
with Harry Wismer, original owner of the league’s New background in the sport. For example, he required per-
York franchise, the Titans. For their first three years, the sonal approval of any expenditures of $200 or over.
Titans played in the deteriorating old Polo Grounds. The In the late 1970s the Oilers rose again to football
team was mostly derided or ignored by the New York me- prominence. Despite being in the same division as the
dia. Adams’ help was essential in keeping Wismer’s team Pittsburgh Steelers, they were very popular nationwide.
in business until it could be sold to more financially ca- Their coach, Adams’ fellow Texan O. A. "Bum" Phillips,
pable ownership and moved into Shea Stadium as the who dressed, spoke, and acted much like the popular
Jets. Unless a team sports league has a New York fran- image of a rancher, was well-known and popular. After
chise, U.S. television networks have limited interest in it, the Oilers lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions 3
as New York is by far the largest media market in the U.S. straight years, two consecutive AFC championship game
Adams’ team was the best of the new teams during losses to the Steelers, followed by a Wild Card loss to
the early period of the AFL. It won the first two champi- the Oakland Raiders, Adams fired Phillips. The team fell
onship games behind the quarterbacking and kicking of off and would not be a serious contender again until the
former Bears reject George Blanda. His team played in a late-1980s. Most of the Houston sporting public blamed
total of four AFL Championship games. Adams is a mem- Adams. This era of rotation between mediocrity and dis-
ber of the American Football League Hall of Fame. This aster was to last several years.
success was not to be duplicated by the team during the In 1987, Adams threatened to move the Oilers to Jack-
rest of its time in Texas. sonville, Florida (now the home to division rivals the
Jaguars) unless significant improvements were made to
Houston Mavericks the Astrodome. The county responded with a $67 million
Along with wealthy Houston businessman T. C. Morrow, renovation that added 10,000 more seats, a new Astroturf
Adams owned the Houston Mavericks, a franchise in the carpet and 65 luxury boxes. Adams promised that with
American Basketball Association, from 1967 through the new improvements, he would keep the team in Hous-
1969. The team was not successful in Houston, and its at- ton for 10 years. These improvements were funded by in-
tendance was among the lowest in the league. After the creases in property taxes and the doubling of the hotel
1968–1969 season, under new ownership, the Mavericks tax, as well as bonds to be paid over 30 years. That same
moved to Charlotte and became the Carolina Cougars. year, the Oilers seemed to right themselves on the field.
They made the AFC playoffs every year from then until
The Houston Oilers and the Astrodome 1993, but each time they fell short of making it to the Su-
per Bowl. After Adams made good on a threat to hold a
Adams and the other AFL owners received a tremendous
fire sale if the Oilers did not make the Super Bowl after
boost in credibility and net worth in 1969 with the merg-
the 1993 season, the Oilers finished with the worst record
er of the AFL with and into the NFL. It was effective with
in franchise history a year later. They were barely com-
the 1970 season. In 1968 Adams moved his team into the
petitive for the rest of their stay in Houston. (As of 2011,
Astrodome, which since 1965 had been the home of the
Harris County and its taxpayers are still paying off the
Houston Astros of baseball’s National League.
debt from the Astrodome renovations.)
While the Astrodome ameliorated the hot, humid cli-
By the mid-1990s, several NFL teams had new sta-
mate, it had several drawbacks as a venue for the Oilers.
diums built largely or entirely with public funding, and
Despite being almost completely round, the Astrodome’s
several more such deals had been agreed to. These new
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bud Adams
venues featured amenities such as "club seating" and um on the campus of Vanderbilt University, seated on-
other potential revenue streams that were not part of ly 41,000 and was considered inadequate even as a tem-
the NFL’s revenue-sharing arrangements. Adams began porary home for anything beyond preseason games. Fur-
to lobby Mayor Bob Lanier for a new stadium. Lanier told ther, the Oilers were concerned that Vanderbilt refused
him what the city did for him in 1987 was enough. to permit the sale of alcohol in the stadium, always a
Adams began to shop the team to other cities. He had source of considerable revenue. The University of Ten-
taken particular notice of the offer made by Nashville, nessee’s Neyland Stadium in Knoxville was only two
Tennessee to the New Jersey Devils of the National Hock- hours east of Nashville, but was deemed too large (at
ey League to become the primary tenant of a new arena 102,000 seats) for an NFL team. The league and the Oilers
then under construction in downtown Nashville. (It is decided to use Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Mem-
now called the Bridgestone Arena). While this deal was phis until the new stadium in Nashville could be complet-
never consummated (Nashville eventually received an ed. The team would be based in Nashville and commute
expansion team, the Nashville Predators), Adams won- to Memphis for games.
dered what sort of offer he might receive for a venue for The 1997 season in Memphis proved to be almost as
his NFL team. After Adams met several times with then- disastrous as the prior years in the Astrodome, largely
Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen, they announced a deal because the arrangement was very unpopular in both
to bring the Oilers to Nashville for the 1998 season to a Memphis and Nashville. Whether from disappointment
new 68,000-seat stadium (originally called Adelphia Coli- at their city’s numerous failures to get professional foot-
seum, now known as LP Field). It was to be built large- ball in its own right, their longtime rivalry with Nashville
ly with city and state funds, across the Cumberland River or general disgust at the prospect of a team that was only
from downtown Nashville. Nashville opponents of this there for a temporary stay, Memphians showed no in-
arrangement forced the issue to a referendum vote; it terest in the Oilers. Nashvillians balked at traveling 210
passed easily, with over 57% of those voting in favor. miles to see "their" team, especially since Interstate 40
Adams’ opponents in Houston were not idle. between the two cities was undergoing a major recon-
Then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, whose district in- struction near Memphis. As a result, the Oilers played be-
cluded portions of Houston and its suburbs, even intro- fore some of the smallest NFL crowds since the 1950s.
duced a bill in Congress banning the move, but it did For many games, there appeared to be more visiting fans
not pass. Other opponents filed lawsuits, but all were dis- than Oiler fans.
missed in a way favorable to Adams. The 1996 season Despite the problems, Adams initially intended to
in the Astrodome was a disaster after Adams announced stay in Memphis for two years. But, only one game, the
the move, to be one year earlier than the ten he had finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers, attracted a larger
promised to keep the team in Houston. Local support for crowd than could have been accommodated at Vander-
the Oilers all but vanished. At times the crowds were so bilt. Although 50,677 people showed up, the crowd ap-
sparse that some of the few in attendance (and watching peared to be composed of at least half, and as many as
on television or listening on radio) could hear all of the two-thirds, Steelers fans. Adams was so embarrassed that
action on the field, including play calling, collisions, and he scrapped plans to play the 1998 season at the Liberty
the players talking to one another, even the occasional Bowl, and instead opted to play at Vanderbilt after all.
profanity. In addition, the Oilers’ radio network, former- When only four of the eight regular-season home
ly statewide, was reduced to a single station in Houston games at Vanderbilt sold out for the 1998 season, it began
and a few new affiliates in Tennessee. Both Adams and to appear as if the team’s move was going to be a net loss
the league found this unacceptable. The city agreed to let for all concerned. In the interim, a major tornado had
the Oilers out of their lease to enable the move to Ten- hit downtown Nashville area, tearing directly through
nessee a year earlier than planned. the new stadium construction site and knocking down
two tower cranes. Timely completion of the new stadium
Sports career in Tennessee appeared to be in doubt. But the contractors managed
to compensate and the team had no need to play more
games at Vanderbilt. Oilers players’ participating in the
The Tennessee Oilers post-tornado cleanup proved to be a public-relations bo-
Adams’ immediate problem was finding a suitable place nanza for Adams and his team, as did Adams’ large chari-
to play prior to the completion of the new stadium in table contribution for relief for the storm’s victims. More
Nashville for the renamed Tennessee Oilers ("Tennessee" than a few fans, some of them quite seriously, suggested
was used instead of "Nashville" to appeal to the broader renaming the team the "Tennessee Twisters".
region). The stadium’s opening had been forced back a
year by the time necessary to get the appropriate en-
abling measure on the ballot in Nashville. The largest sta-
dium in the Nashville area at the time, Vanderbilt Stadi-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bud Adams
The Tennessee Titans managed to finish at .500. Adams was widely criticized
for his decision to return to the role of team president
During the following year, with the team at its new sta-
rather than renewing the contract of the existing one.
dium, was one of major changes. During the 1998 season,
Reportedly Adams has arranged his affairs in such a way
Adams announced that the team would change its name
as to ensure his family will retain ownership of the team
to one better suited for its new home. He also announced
after his death.
the addition of navy blue to the team’s color scheme.
Last, he said the team would be considered the continu-
ation of the former Oilers franchise, and would retain all
their team records. He announced he would open a Hall
of Fame at the new stadium to honor the greatest players
from both eras. In fact, Adams’ desire to ensure that no
NFL team in Houston would revive the Oilers name was
thought to be a major cause of the delay in announcing
a new name for the team. He wanted to avoid the expe-
rience of the "Cleveland Browns", which had been in the
same division as Adams’ team since 1970 (they have been
in separate divisions since 2002). A blue-ribbon commit- Adams was fined $250,000 by the NFL for this act of displaying
tee selected the nickname Titans. an obscene gesture at the Titans/Bills game on November 15,
The rechristened Titans proceeded to finish the 1999 2009.
regular season with a 13-3 record, but they only qualified
for the playoffs as a wild-card team. In their first-round On November 15, 2009, Adams was caught on video
playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, they won on a displaying an obscene gesture towards the Buffalo bench
wild, controversial last-minute kickoff return play which after the Titans routed the Bills 41-14. Commissioner
the media dubbed the "Music City Miracle". The kickoff, Roger Goodell, who happened to be attending the game,
caught by fullback Lorenzo Neal, was handed off to tight fined him $250,000. Afterwards, Adams remarked "Oh, I
end Frank Wycheck, who made a lateral pass to wide re- knew I was going to get in trouble for that. I was just so
ceiver Kevin Dyson. Dyson ran the ball 75 yards down the happy we won."[4]
sideline while Buffalo’s defense had converged on Wy- A promising start to 2010 quickly fell apart as the Ti-
check on the other side of the field. Many Bills’ fans con- tans tumbled to a 6-10 season and the bottom of the AFC
tended it was an illegal forward pass, though officials South. Multiple conflicts between Adams, Jeff Fisher, and
ruled it a lateral. Subsequent video analysis appeared to QB Vince Young led to the latter two being terminated in
indicate that it was a lateral. The team went on to win January 2011.
two subsequent playoff games and appeared in its first-
ever Super Bowl, in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. They lost The Nashville Kats (Arena Football)
23–16 to the St. Louis Rams, having come just one yard In 2001, Adams purchased the rights to operate an Arena
short of a touchdown on the game’s final play. It was one Football League expansion franchise in Nashville for a re-
of the most thrilling conclusions in Super Bowl history. ported $4,000,000. He found it impossible at first to ne-
1999 has thus far been the high water mark for the gotiate a favorable lease for the use of the Gaylord En-
Titans’ on-field success. The team won the former AFC tertainment Center (now called Bridgestone Arena) from
Central Division the next year but fell short of the Super that facility’s primary tenant and operator, the National
Bowl. They then won the AFC South Conference in the Hockey League’s Nashville Predators. A previous AFL
2002 season with an 11-5 record and made it as far as team (the original Nashville Kats owned by Mark Bloom)
the Conference Championship, falling to a high powered, had been forced by an unfavorable lease agreement to
hard hitting Oakland Raiders team at the McAfee Colise- leave Nashville and move to Atlanta (with this team thus
um. After the 2003 season the team advanced only to the becoming known as the Georgia Force). This lease agree-
AFC Divisional Playoffs, losing to the eventual Super Bowl ment resulted in sizable financial losses despite average
champion New England Patriots. 2005 was the team’s attendance of over 10,000 per home game for the original
worst season since its arrival in Tennessee, and it fin- Kats. Motivated by bitter memories of being a secondary
ished with an overall record of 4–12. They would not re- tenant at the Astrodome, Adams briefly considered ei-
turn to the playoffs again until 2007, when they sealed a ther financing the renovation of the Nashville Municipal
playoff berth on the last day of the season. 2008 would Auditorium for use as an indoor football venue, building
see the Titans climb to the top of the AFC with a 13-3 an entirely new facility with a seating capacity of 12,000
record, but they were soon knocked from the playoffs by or so (dropped when Adams was convinced that the po-
the Ravens. After a disastrous 0-6 start to 2009 (which tential $30,000,000 price tag for such a building he had
included being crushed by the Patriots 59-0), the team apparently initially been quoted was wildly optimistic),
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bud Adams
or expanding the Titans’ existing indoor practice facility [4] "Adams draws $250K fine from NFL", ESPN News
(at "Baptist Sports Park", named for a local hospital) for service, 16 Nov 2009, accessed 21 Nov 2009
use as an Arena venue. As negotiations with the Preda- [5] "Nancy Adams dies at 84". http://www.chron.com/
tors dragged on and contingency planning continued, disp/story.mpl/sports/6242496.html. Retrieved
the Arena Football League extended his option on the 2009-02-02.
new Nashville franchise at least twice. [6] "Son of Oilers’ owner Bud Adams Jr. dead from
By 2004, Adams and the Predators finally hammered gunshot wound in apparent suicide", Houston
out a mutually-acceptable lease agreement. Immediately Chronicle, 27 Jun 1987, accessed 3 Feb 2009
afterward, it was announced that the new Nashville Kats
franchise would begin play in the Arena Football League’s
2005 season. Late in 2004 it was announced that country
External links
singer Tim McGraw had bought into the Kats franchise as • Adams’ citation on the Remember the AFL
a minority owner. This second Kats franchise reclaimed • Adam’s Titans profile
the name, logo, and Nashville history of the earlier fran- Persondata
chise as its own (The original Kats franchise continued to Name Adams, Bud
operate as the Georgia Force until folding in 2008; Simi-
larly, that franchise was reincarnated in 2011 when the Alternative names
existing AFL team Alabama Vipers relocated to the Atlan- Short description American Football player
ta area and assumed the Georgia Force identity). Date of birth January 3, 1923
As a result of limited on-field success and the subse-
Place of birth Bartlesville, Oklahoma
quent drop in fan support and ticket sales, Bud Adams an-
nounced in October 2007 that the Kats would immediate- Date of death
ly cease operations. Place of death
Personal life
Adams is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma. He has served on the executive committee of
the Cherokee National Historical Society.[1]
He attends River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston. He
and his wife Nancy Neville Adams were married for 62
years, until her death in February 2009 at the age of 84.[5]
They had two daughters, Susan and Amy, and a son, Ken-
neth S. Adams III, each of whom (and their children) are
registered Cherokee. Their son died in June 1987 at the
age of 29 from apparent suicide.[6]
See also
• Other AFL Personalities
References
[1] ^ "History Museum receives generous gift",
Examiner-Enterprise, 20 Nov 2004, accessed 21 Nov
2009
[2] Phillips: The First 66 Years, Oklahoma: Phillips
Petroleum Company, 1983
[3] Denson, Andrew (2004). Demanding the Cherokee
Nation: Indian autonomy and American culture,
1830-1900. U of Nebraska Press. p. 249.
ISBN 0803217269, ISBN 9780803217263.
http://books.google.com/
books?id=O2y0z41aNYYC&pg=PA249&dq=W.+W.+Keeler#v=onepage&q=W.%20W.%20Keeler&f=false.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bud_Adams&oldid=462653653"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bud Adams
Categories:
• 1923 births
• Living people
• People from Bartlesville, Oklahoma
• University of Kansas alumni
• American Basketball Association executives
• American military personnel of World War II
• Houston Mavericks
• Houston Mavericks coaches
• National Football League owners
• People from Houston, Texas
• Cherokee people
• Tennessee Titans owners
• American Football League owners
• Members of the Foolish Club
• Houston Oilers owners
• American Football League Champions
• Arena Football League executives
• National Football League team presidents
• National Football League executives
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