He was a proud member of the “Foolish Club.”

That’s what the co-founders of the American Football League called themselves — The Foolish Club. In 1959, after Lamar Hunt and Bud Adams were denied by the NFL, they decided to make a league of their own, and they designed it to be in direct competition with the NFL, a league that has existed since 1920. Ralph Wilson was one of these eight “fools” who started franchises; his was the Buffalo Bills. Of course, the AFL later merged with the NFL in 1966. The fools’ gamble payed off.