You don't celebrate a birthday on the first day that a child goes to school right?  You celebrate when they're born.  Likewise, a football team's birthday wouldn't be the date of their first game.  It's the day they became a team.

Today is that day.  Happy Birthday to The Buffalo Bills who became a franchise on this date back in 1959.

According to BuffaloBills.com, this is the day that Ralph C. Wilson Jr. became the owner of The Bills.  It would be the 7th franchise in the AFL.  The owners of those teams would go on to be called "The Foolish Club."  It was named that mostly because who would take on the NFL?

Eight owners who were determined to start their own league would.

The original 8 owners of the AFL were:

  1. Ralph Wilson (The Bills)
  2. Lamar Hunt (The Dallas Texans - Now the Kansas City Chiefs)
  3. Bud Adams Jr. (The Houston Oilers - Now the Tennessee Titans)
  4. Harry Wismer (New York Titans, now the New York Jets)
  5. Bob Howsam (Denver Broncos),
  6. Barron Hilton (Los Angeles Chargers),
  7. Billy Sullivan (Boston Patriots, now the New England Patriots)
  8. And a group of eight investors led primarily by F. Wayne Valley and, briefly, Chet Soda (Oakland Raiders, now the Las Vegas Raiders, who replaced the Minneapolis team)

For those who don't know, the Bills were champs in the AFL.  They were able to secure two consecutive AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965.  Then in 1970, the AFL merged with the NFL.

Since then they have gone to the Superbowl 4 times, "won four consecutive AFC conference titles, named 30 to the team's Wall of Fame, retired two jersey numbers, sent 11 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and created countless memories."

People always ask why I watch The Bills.  There are so many bad memories with them.  "They always break your heart."

But I also have so many good memories of watching the Bills.  Really, it's the nostalgia for me. And mostly it's memories of watching the games with my dad.  Football has always been something we shared.  We would buy special snacks just for the game and scream at the TV and celebrate when they won.  I've been a Bills fan since I was a kid...and I'll probably be a Bills fan for years to come.

Happy Birthday to The Buffalo Bills.

 

 

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