Ralph Cookerly Wilson, Jr. was the founder and owner of the Buffalo Bills,
a team in America's National Football League. He was one of the founding
owners of the American Football League, the league with which the NFL merged in
1970, and was the last of the original AFL owners to own his team. At the time
of his death he was the oldest owner in the NFL, at age 95, and the
third-longest tenured owner in NFL history. He was inducted into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame in 2009. Early career
Wilson grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the son of salesman Ralph Wilson Sr. and his
wife, Edith Cole. He graduated from the University of
Virginia and attended the University of Michigan Law School. He was a 1936
graduate of Detroit University School, now University Liggett School. During
World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Atlantic and
Pacific Theaters. After the war ended, he took over his father's insurance
business and invested in Michigan area mines and factories. He eventually
purchased several manufacturing outlets, construction firms, television and radio
stations, and founded Ralph Wilson Industries.
A minority owner of the Detroit Lions, Wilson got wind of Lamar Hunt's plans
for a new league, the American Football League, to challenge the NFL. He tried
to put together a team in Miami, but was turned down. His next choice was
Buffalo. In September 1959, Wilson sent Hunt a telegram with the words, "Count
me in with Buffalo." He named his new team the Bills, after a previous team
that had played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949.
On October 28, 1959 the Buffalo Bills officially became the seventh AFL team.
Wilson made professional football a resounding success in a "small market",
signing such stars as Cookie Gilchrist, Jack Kemp, and Tom Sestak and Hall of
Famers Billy Shaw and O. J. Simpson. He was a guiding force in AFL policies
that ensured success, such as gate and television revenue sharing. As one of
only three AFL owners to be on relatively solid financial ground,
Wilson lent the financially troubled Oakland Raiders $400,000 and was also
willing to lend money to Billy Sullivan of the New England Patriots. Wilson
helped keep those franchises afloat, likely saving the entire league from
folding. In November 1963, Wilson along with then Raiders general manager Al
Davis lobbied successfully to have AFL games postponed the Sunday after
President John F. Kennedy's assassination; NFL games were played as
scheduled. In 1989, after league commissioner Pete
Rozelle announced his retirement, Wilson was on the six-member committee who was
tasked with nominating potential candidates for the open position.
Wilson's nominee, his former quarterback Jack Kemp, declined to pursue the post,
as he had already taken a position in the U.S. Cabinet.
After the original naming rights deal on the Bills' current stadium expired in
1998, the facility's name was changed from Rich Stadium to Ralph Wilson
Stadium. According to an article on msn.com, Wilson, described as
"stubborn", turned down numerous naming rights deals for the stadium.
Wilson was one of the league's most outspoken owners, even near the end of
his life. Wilson voted against the Cleveland Browns' relocation to
Baltimore in 1995. He publicly rebuked NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in an
open letter in 1998 over league policy, which disallowed criticism of referees,
after poor officiating had a direct impact on a Bills loss that season. He
was one of two owners to oppose the league's former collective bargaining
agreement. He also negotiated a deal to have his team play home games in Toronto
beginning in 2008. Wilson retired from the position of
president in 2001, giving operational control to General Manager Tom Donahoe;
Wilson retook control of the team's operations in 2006. Wilson again retired
as team president, this time surrendering all control of the team's
operations to Russ Brandon, on January 1, 2013. He continued to consult with
Brandon on team and league operations up until his death.
Personal life Wilson maintained a permanent residence
in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan with his wife, Mary McLean, whom he met in
1989. He had three daughters from previous marriages, two of whom became
involved in team business. Linda Bogdan, Pro Football's first female scout, was
the franchise's Corporate Vice President until her death. Another daughter,
Christy Wilson Hofmann, served as a consultant in the area of merchandising.
The third daughter, Edith "Dee Dee" Wilson Jr., was never involved with the
franchise. The highest ranking relative in the organization was Mary Owen,
Wilson's niece, who served as Vice President of Strategic Planning until
the team was sold. Beginning in the 1990s, Wilson
maintained a small, but very valuable, art collection, including works by
Claude Monet, Edouard Manet and Alfred Sisley; his collection was valued in the
tens of millions of dollars. Wilson was a 1992 inductee of the
Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. He was a 33rd degree Scottish Rite
Freemason. = Declining health and death =
Wilson broke his hip in a fall at his home in July 2011, causing him to miss
the Bills' home opener for the first time in franchise history. The injury
left him wheelchair-bound. He issued a statement saying that he was undergoing
physical therapy and hoped to attend at least one game during the season. Wilson
also stated that he was "very surprised" at the team's 41-7 victory over Kansas
City in Week 1. He was hospitalized in August and early September 2012 with an
unspecified infection and missed the entire 2012 season. In April 2013,
Wilson was reported as "doing really well," with a statement that he hoped to
make the 2013 home opener. Wilson died at his home on March 25,
2014, of natural causes at the age of 95. His estate held the franchise in
trust until its sale to Buffalo Sabres owner Terrence Pegula and his wife in
September 2014. The proceeds from the sale will be used to form an endowment
for the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, which will fund charitable causes in the
Buffalo and Detroit areas, in accordance with Wilson's instructions for the money
set forth prior to his death. The organization was overseen for a few
months by his niece Mary Owen. Terry Pegula eventually purchased the Buffalo
Bills and continues to run the franchise.
Pro Football Hall of Fame On January 31, 2009, Wilson was elected
to the Pro Football Hall of Fame along with former Buffalo Bills defensive end
Bruce Smith. The Hall of Fame game, played the day after the 2009
inductions, strayed from the usual AFC–NFC format and instead was contested
by two original American Football League teams: the Buffalo Bills and the
Tennessee Titans. This matchup was announced after Wilson was elected. Like
Wilson, Titans owner Bud Adams was the only owner his team has ever had, and
the two were the only living members of the "Foolish Club", the founders of the
original eight AFL teams. Wilson and Adams are two of only four men who have
owned a professional football franchise continuously for fifty years.
The Hall of Fame game on Sunday, August 9, was a kickoff to the 2009 season,
which would have been the 50th season of play for the AFL, if the NFL had not
merged with it. Wilson was officially inducted into the Pro Football Hall of
Fame on Saturday, August 8, 2009 with ESPN icon Chris Berman acting as his
"presenter". Wilson was scheduled to receive his Hall of Fame ring in a
halftime ceremony during the Bills game against the Cleveland Browns on October
11, 2009. However, Wilson cancelled the event at the last moment, without
notifying the press or fans, and no explanation was given. It was widely
speculated that Wilson cancelled the event out of fear of being booed by
Bills fans for the team's chronic poor performance on the field and a series of
highly unpopular managerial decisions. Wilson donated US$2.5 million to the
construction of a "Pro Football Research and Preservation Center" at the Hall of
Fame; the facility was named in Wilson's honor on August 13, 2012.
Thoroughbred racing Wilson was also involved for a number of
years in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing both as a breeder and as an owner
in France and the United States. He bred Santa Anita Derby winner Jim French, as
well as two-year-old European superstar Arazi, winner of the 1991 Breeders' Cup
Juvenile and European Horse of the Year. Another horse, Outta Here, raced in the
2003 Kentucky Derby and finished in seventh place.
Philanthropy The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. School of
Education, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York.
The Mary & Ralph Wilson, Jr. Hospice Inpatient Unit of Hospice Buffalo is
named after him. The Wilson Building, Cheektowaga, New
York. Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Athletic Field at
the NFL/Youth Education Town-Boys & Girls Club at the Dick & Sandy Dauch
Campus in Detroit, Michigan. Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation
See also List of American Football League players
KICU-TV WWTV
References