Bud Adams
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Stanley "Bud" Adams, Jr. (born January 3, 1923) is the owner of the Tennessee Titans
' National Football League
franchise. He was instrumental in the founding and establishment of the former American Football League
. Adams became a charter AFL owner with the establishment of the Titans franchise, which was originally known as the Houston Oilers. He is the senior owner (by time) with his team in the National Football League, a few months ahead of Buffalo Bills
' owner Ralph Wilson. Adams also was one of the owners of the Houston Mavericks
of the American Basketball Association
and the former owner of the second Nashville Kats
franchise of the Arena Football League. He was elected to the Hall of Fame of the American Football League.
Adams has many business interests in the Houston area. An enrolled Cherokee
who originally made his fortune in the petroleum
business, Adams is chairman and CEO of Adams Resources & Energy Inc., a wholesale supplier of oil and natural gas. He also owns several Lincoln-Mercury
automobile franchises.
in 1923. He was the son of K.S. "Boots" Adams and Blanch Keeler Adams and became an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation
by virtue of his maternal line. Two of his great-grandmothers were Cherokee women who married European-American men: Nelson Carr and George B. Keeler, who played roles in trade and oil in early Oklahoma. Keeler drilled the first commercial oil well, near the Caney River
.
Adams' father succeeded the founder Frank Phillips as president of Phillips Petroleum Company in 1939. Adams' uncle William Wayne Keeler
, CEO of Phillips Petroleum Company for years, was appointed chief
of the Cherokee Nation by President Harry S. Truman
in 1949 and served through 1971, when the Cherokee were able to hold their own elections. Keeler was democratically elected and served until 1975. Adams' ancestors include other prominent Cherokee leaders.
Adams graduated from Culver Military Academy in 1940 after lettering
in three sports. After a brief stint at Menlo College
, he transferred to the University of Kansas
(KU), where he completed an engineering degree.
During World War II
, Adams served in the United States Navy
in the Pacific Theater
of operations, attaining the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade
. After the war, he returned to KU for additional studies and became a member of the Sigma Chi
fraternity.
Shortly after his 1946 discharge, Adams was on a trip in which his plane was fog
bound in Houston, Texas
. He liked the area and decided to settle there.
Soon afterward, Adams launched a wildcatting
firm, ADA Oil Company, that eventually grew into Adams Resources & Energy. The company's basketball team was an Amateur Athletic Union
(AAU) powerhouse, finishing third nationally in 1956.
and move them to Houston. When that effort failed, 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 that spring, and Hunt convinced Adams to field a team in Houston. In Hunt's view, a regional rivalry between Hunt's Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs
) and a Houston team would be critical to the league's growth. On August 3, Adams and Hunt held a press conference in Adams' boardroom to announce formation of the new league, which was formally named the American Football League
.
Although less popularly associated with the formation of the AFL than Hunt, Adams was likely nearly as crucial to the league's success. He and Hunt were both more financially stable than some of the other early owners.
Adams helped establish the league by fighting and winning the battle with the NFL for LSU
's All-American Heisman Trophy
winner Billy Cannon
. Particularly crucial to the league's early years was Adams' relationship with Harry Wismer
, original owner of the league's New York franchise, the Titans. For their first three years, the Titans played in the deteriorating old Polo Grounds
. The team was mostly derided or ignored by the New York
media. Adams' help was essential in keeping Wismer's team in business until it could be sold to more financially capable ownership and moved into Shea Stadium
as the Jets
. Unless a team sports league has a New York franchise, U.S. television network
s have limited interest in it, as New York is by far the largest media market in the U.S.
Adams' team was the best of the new teams during the early period of the AFL. It won the first two championship games behind the quarterbacking and kicking of former Bears reject George Blanda
. His team played in a total of four AFL Championship games
. Adams is a member of the American Football League Hall of Fame. This success was not to be duplicated by the team during the rest of its time in Texas
.
, a franchise in the American Basketball Association
, from 1967 through 1969. The team was not successful in Houston, and its attendance was among the lowest in the league. After the 1968–1969 season, under new ownership, the Mavericks moved to Charlotte and became the Carolina Cougars
.
of baseball's National League
.
While the Astrodome ameliorated the hot, humid climate, it had several drawbacks as a venue for the Oilers. Despite being almost completely round, the Astrodome's football sight lines left much to be desired. The seats near the 50-yard line, usually the most desirable (and expensive), were the farthest from the field of play, while those nearest the action were otherwise-undesirable seats in the end zone. Additionally, the Astrodome seated only about 50,000 for football. By the early 1980s, it was the smallest venue in the NFL. Adams chafed at being the Astrodome's "secondary" tenant. He knew his position was unlikely to change as long as the Astros were playing 81 home games and his team was playing eight.
the Oilers brought considerable scrutiny since he had no background in the sport. For example, he required personal approval of any expenditures of $200 or over.
In the late 1970s the Oilers rose again to football prominence. Despite being in the same division as the Pittsburgh Steelers
, they were very popular nationwide. Their coach, Adams' fellow Texan O. A. "Bum" Phillips
, who dressed, spoke, and acted much like the popular image of a ranch
er, was well-known and popular. After the Oilers lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions 3 straight years, two consecutive AFC
championship game losses to the Steelers, followed by a Wild Card loss to the Oakland Raiders, Adams fired Phillips. The team fell off and would not be a serious contender again until the late-1980s. Most of the Houston sporting public blamed Adams. This era of rotation between mediocrity and disaster was to last several years.
In 1987, Adams threatened to move the Oilers to Jacksonville, Florida
(now the home to division rivals the Jaguars
) unless significant improvements were made to the Astrodome. The county responded with a $67 million renovation that added 10,000 more seats, a new Astroturf
carpet and 65 luxury boxes. Adams promised that with the new improvements, he would keep the team in Houston for 10 years. These improvements were funded by increases in property taxes and the doubling of the hotel tax, as well as bonds to be paid over 30 years. That same year, the Oilers seemed to right themselves on the field. They made the AFC playoffs every year from then until 1993, but each time they fell short of making it to the Super Bowl. After Adams made good on a threat to hold a fire sale if the Oilers did not make the Super Bowl
after the 1993 season
, the Oilers finished with the worst record in franchise history a year later
. They were barely competitive for the rest of their stay in Houston. (As of 2011, Harris County and its taxpayers are still paying off the debt from the Astrodome renovations.)
By the mid-1990s, several NFL teams had new stadiums built largely or entirely with public funding, and several more such deals had been agreed to. These new venues featured amenities such as "club seating" and other potential revenue streams that were not part of the NFL's revenue-sharing arrangements. Adams began to lobby Mayor Bob Lanier
for a new stadium. Lanier told him what the city did for him in 1987 was enough.
Adams began to shop the team to other cities. He had taken particular notice of the offer made by Nashville, Tennessee
to the New Jersey Devils
of the National Hockey League
to become the primary tenant of a new arena
then under construction in downtown Nashville. (It is now called the Bridgestone Arena). While this deal was never consummated (Nashville eventually received an expansion team, the Nashville Predators
), Adams wondered what sort of offer he might receive for a venue for his NFL team. After Adams met several times with then-Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen
, they announced a deal to bring the Oilers to Nashville for the 1998 season
to a new 68,000-seat stadium
(originally called Adelphia Coliseum, now known as LP Field
). It was to be built largely with city and state funds, across the Cumberland River
from downtown Nashville. Nashville opponents of this arrangement forced the issue to a referendum
vote; it passed easily, with over 57% of those voting in favor.
Adams' opponents in Houston were not idle. Then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay
, whose district included portions of Houston and its suburbs, even introduced a bill in Congress
banning the move, but it did not pass. Other opponents filed lawsuits, but all were dismissed in a way favorable to Adams. The 1996 season
in the Astrodome was a disaster after Adams announced the move, to be one year earlier than the ten he had promised to keep the team in Houston. Local support for the Oilers all but vanished. At times the crowds were so sparse that some of the few in attendance (and watching on television
or listening on radio
) could hear all of the action on the field, including play calling, collisions, and the players talking to one another, even the occasional profanity. In addition, the Oilers' radio network, formerly statewide, was reduced to a single station in Houston and a few new affiliates in Tennessee. Both Adams and the league found this unacceptable. The city agreed to let the Oilers out of their lease to enable the move to Tennessee a year earlier than planned.
on the campus of Vanderbilt University
, seated only 41,000 and was considered inadequate even as a temporary home for anything beyond preseason games. Further, the Oilers were concerned that Vanderbilt refused to permit the sale of alcohol in the stadium, always a source of considerable revenue. The University of Tennessee
's Neyland Stadium
in Knoxville was only two hours east of Nashville, but was deemed too large (at 102,000 seats) for an NFL team. The league and the Oilers decided to use Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
in Memphis
until the new stadium in Nashville could be completed. The team would be based in Nashville and commute to Memphis for games.
The 1997 season in Memphis proved to be almost as disastrous as the prior years in the Astrodome, largely because the arrangement was very unpopular in both Memphis and Nashville. Whether from disappointment at their city's numerous failures to get professional football in its own right, their longtime rivalry with Nashville or general disgust at the prospect of a team that was only there for a temporary stay, Memphians showed no interest in the Oilers. Nashvillians balked at traveling 210 miles to see "their" team, especially since Interstate 40
between the two cities was undergoing a major reconstruction near Memphis. As a result, the Oilers played before some of the smallest NFL crowds since the 1950s. For many games, there appeared to be more visiting fans than Oiler fans.
Despite the problems, Adams initially intended to stay in Memphis for two years. But, only one game, the finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers
, attracted a larger crowd than could have been accommodated at Vanderbilt. Although 50,677 people showed up, the crowd appeared to be composed of at least half, and as many as two-thirds, Steelers fans
. Adams was so embarrassed that he scrapped plans to play the 1998 season
at the Liberty Bowl, and instead opted to play at Vanderbilt after all.
When only four of the eight regular-season home games at Vanderbilt sold out for the 1998 season, it began to appear as if the team's move was going to be a net loss for all concerned. In the interim, a major tornado
had hit downtown Nashville area, tearing directly through the new stadium construction site and knocking down two tower cranes. Timely completion of the new stadium 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 post-tornado cleanup proved to be a public-relations bonanza for Adams and his team, as did Adams' large charitable contribution for relief for the storm's victims. More than a few fans, some of them quite seriously, suggested renaming the team the "Tennessee Twisters".
", which had been in the same division as Adams' team since 1970 (they have been in separate divisions since 2002). A blue-ribbon committee selected the nickname Titans
.
The rechristened Titans proceeded to finish the 1999 regular season with a 13-3 record, but they only qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team. In their first-round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills
, they won on a wild, controversial last-minute kickoff return play which the media dubbed the "Music City Miracle
". The kickoff, caught by fullback Lorenzo Neal
, was handed off to tight end Frank Wycheck
, who made a lateral pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson
. Dyson ran the ball 75 yards down the sideline while Buffalo's defense had converged on Wycheck on the other side of the field. Many Bills' fans contended it was an illegal forward pass, though officials ruled it a lateral. Subsequent video analysis appeared to indicate that it was a lateral. The team went on to win two subsequent playoff games and appeared in its first-ever Super Bowl
, in Atlanta's Georgia Dome
. They lost 23–16 to the St. Louis Rams
, having come just one yard short of a touchdown on the game's final play. It was one of the most thrilling conclusions in Super Bowl history.
1999 has thus far been the high water mark for the Titans' on-field success. The team won the former AFC Central Division the next year but fell short of the Super Bowl. They then won the AFC South Conference in the 2002 season with an 11-5 record and made it as far as the Conference Championship, falling to a high powered, hard hitting Oakland Raiders team at the McAfee Coliseum. After the 2003 season the team advanced only to the AFC Divisional Playoffs, losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots
. 2005 was the team's worst season since its arrival in Tennessee, and it finished with an overall record of 4–12. They would not return to the playoffs again until 2007, when they sealed a playoff berth on the last day of the season. 2008 would see the Titans climb to the top of the AFC with a 13-3 record, but they were soon knocked from the playoffs by the Ravens
. After a disastrous 0-6 start to 2009 (which included being crushed by the Patriots 59-0), the team managed to finish at .500. Adams was widely criticized for his decision to return to the role of team president rather than renewing the contract of the existing one. Reportedly Adams has arranged his affairs in such a way as to ensure his family will retain ownership of the team after his death.
On November 15, 2009, Adams was caught on video displaying an obscene gesture towards the Buffalo bench after the Titans routed the Bills 41-14. Commissioner Roger Goodell, who happened to be attending the game, fined him $250,000. Afterwards, Adams remarked "Oh, I knew I was going to get in trouble for that. I was just so happy we won."
A promising start to 2010 quickly fell apart as the Titans tumbled to a 6-10 season and the bottom of the AFC South. Multiple conflicts between Adams, Jeff Fisher, and QB Vince Young
led to the latter two being terminated in January 2011.
for the use of the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now called Bridgestone Arena) from that facility's primary tenant and operator, the National Hockey League
's Nashville Predators
. A previous AFL team (the original Nashville Kats owned by Mark Bloom
) had been forced by an unfavorable lease agreement to leave Nashville and move to Atlanta (with this team thus becoming known as the Georgia Force
). This lease agreement resulted in sizable financial losses despite average attendance of over 10,000 per home game for the original Kats. Motivated by bitter memories of being a secondary tenant at the Astrodome, Adams briefly considered either financing the renovation of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium
for use as an indoor football venue, building an entirely new facility with a seating capacity
of 12,000 or so (dropped when Adams was convinced that the potential $30,000,000 price tag for such a building he had apparently initially been quoted was wildly optimistic), or expanding the Titans' existing indoor practice facility (at "Baptist Sports Park", named for a local hospital
) for use as an Arena venue. As negotiations with the Predators dragged on and contingency planning continued, the Arena Football League extended his option on the new Nashville franchise at least twice.
By 2004, Adams and the Predators finally hammered out a mutually-acceptable lease agreement. Immediately 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
singer Tim McGraw
had bought into the Kats franchise as a minority owner. This second Kats franchise reclaimed the name, logo, and Nashville history of the earlier franchise as its own (The original Kats franchise continued to operate as the Georgia Force
until folding in 2008; Similarly, that franchise was reincarnated in 2011 when the existing AFL team Alabama Vipers relocated to the Atlanta area and assumed the Georgia Force identity).
As a result of limited on-field success and the subsequent drop in fan support and ticket sales, Bud Adams announced in October 2007 that the Kats would immediately cease operations.
. He has served on the executive committee of the Cherokee National Historical Society.
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. They had two daughters, Susan and Amy, and a son, Kenneth 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.
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
' National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
franchise. He was instrumental in the founding and establishment of the former American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
. Adams became a charter AFL owner with the establishment of the Titans franchise, which was originally known as the Houston Oilers. He is the senior owner (by time) with his team in the National Football League, a few months ahead of Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
' owner Ralph Wilson. Adams also was one of the owners of the Houston Mavericks
Houston Mavericks
The Houston Mavericks were a charter member of the American Basketball Association. They played in the upstart league's first two seasons, from 1967 to 1969. Their home arena was the Sam Houston Coliseum...
of the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
and the former owner of the second Nashville Kats
Nashville Kats
The Nashville Kats were an Arena Football League team, located in Nashville, Tennessee. They were last coached by Pat Sperduto, who coached the team's original incarnation to two ArenaBowl appearances prior to the original franchise's move to Atlanta in 2002...
franchise of the Arena Football League. He was elected to the Hall of Fame of the American Football League.
Adams has many business interests in the Houston area. An enrolled Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
who originally made his fortune in the petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
business, Adams is chairman and CEO of Adams Resources & Energy Inc., a wholesale supplier of oil and natural gas. He also owns several Lincoln-Mercury
Lincoln-Mercury
Lincoln–Mercury was a collective name for the Lincoln and Mercury divisions of the Ford Motor Company, whose vehicles were typically sold side-by-side in a single dealership....
automobile franchises.
Early life
Adams was born in Bartlesville, OklahomaBartlesville, Oklahoma
Bartlesville is a city in Osage and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 43,070 at the 2010 census. Bartlesville is located forty-seven miles north of Tulsa and very close to Oklahoma's northern border with Kansas. It is the county seat of Washington County, in...
in 1923. He was the son of K.S. "Boots" Adams and Blanch Keeler Adams and became an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
by virtue of his maternal line. Two of his great-grandmothers were Cherokee women who married European-American men: Nelson Carr and George B. Keeler, who played roles in trade and oil in early Oklahoma. Keeler drilled the first commercial oil well, near the Caney River
Caney River
The Caney River is a river in southern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. The river is a tributary of the Verdigris River, and is usually a flatwater stream....
.
Adams' father succeeded the founder Frank Phillips as president of Phillips Petroleum Company in 1939. Adams' uncle William Wayne Keeler
W. W. Keeler
William Wayne "Bill" Keeler was appointed principal chief of the Cherokee nation in 1949 by President Truman, and served as appointed chief until 1971, when the Cherokee regained their right to elect their own leaders in a congressional act passed by President Nixon...
, CEO of Phillips Petroleum Company for years, was appointed chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
of the Cherokee Nation by President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
in 1949 and served through 1971, when the Cherokee were able to hold their own elections. Keeler was democratically elected and served until 1975. Adams' ancestors include other prominent Cherokee leaders.
Adams graduated from Culver Military Academy in 1940 after lettering
Varsity letter
A varsity letter is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its winner was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.- Description :...
in three sports. After a brief stint at Menlo College
Menlo College
Menlo College, often referred to as Menlo, is a private, four-year baccalaureate college specializing in business located in the Silicon Valley town of Atherton, California.-Campus:...
, he transferred to the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
(KU), where he completed an engineering degree.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Adams served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
in the Pacific Theater
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....
of operations, attaining the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, United States Merchant Marine USMM, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade...
. After the war, he returned to KU for additional studies and became a member of the Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
fraternity.
Shortly after his 1946 discharge, Adams was on a trip in which his plane was fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
bound in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. He liked the area and decided to settle there.
Soon afterward, Adams launched a wildcatting
Wildcatter
A wildcatter is an American term for a person who drills wildcat wells, which are oil wells drilled in areas not known to be oil fields. A wildcatter notable for his success was Texan oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy....
firm, ADA Oil Company, that eventually grew into Adams Resources & Energy. The company's basketball team was an Amateur Athletic Union
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
(AAU) powerhouse, finishing third nationally in 1956.
Early career in the American Football League
Adams soon became interested in owning an NFL team. In 1959, Adams tried to buy the struggling Chicago CardinalsArizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and move them to Houston. When that effort failed, 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
Lamar Hunt
Lamar Hunt was an American sportsman and promoter of American football, soccer, basketball, and ice hockey in the United States and an inductee into three sports' halls of fame. He was one of the founders of the American Football League and Major League Soccer , as well as MLS predecessor the...
proposing an entirely new football league. They met several times that spring, and Hunt convinced Adams to field a team in Houston. In Hunt's view, a regional rivalry between Hunt's Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
) and a Houston team would be critical to the league's growth. On August 3, Adams and Hunt held a press conference in Adams' boardroom to announce formation of the new league, which was formally named the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
.
Although less popularly associated with the formation of the AFL than Hunt, Adams was likely nearly as crucial to the league's success. He and Hunt were both more financially stable than some of the other early owners.
Adams helped establish the league by fighting and winning the battle with the NFL for LSU
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
's All-American Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
winner Billy Cannon
Billy Cannon
William Abb "Billy" Cannon is an All-American, 1959 Heisman Trophy winner and 2008 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and one of the American Football League's most celebrated players.He was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi, and moved...
. Particularly crucial to the league's early years was Adams' relationship with Harry Wismer
Harry Wismer
Harry Wismer was a sports broadcaster and charter owner of the New York Titans franchise in the American Football League.-Early years:...
, original owner of the league's New York franchise, the Titans. For their first three years, the Titans played in the deteriorating old Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
. The team was mostly derided or ignored by the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
media. Adams' help was essential in keeping Wismer's team in business until it could be sold to more financially capable ownership and moved into Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
as the Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Unless a team sports league has a New York franchise, U.S. television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
s have limited interest in it, as New York is by far the largest media market in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Adams' team was the best of the new teams during the early period of the AFL. It won the first two championship games behind the quarterbacking and kicking of former Bears reject George Blanda
George Blanda
George Frederick Blanda was a collegiate and professional football quarterback and placekicker...
. His team played in a total of four AFL Championship games
Professional American football championship games
Below is a list of professional football championship games in the United States, involving:* the informal Pittsburgh circuit of professional football teams ;...
. Adams is a member of the American Football League Hall of Fame. This success was not to be duplicated by the team during the rest of its time in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
Houston Mavericks
Along with wealthy Houston businessman T. C. Morrow, Adams owned the Houston MavericksHouston Mavericks
The Houston Mavericks were a charter member of the American Basketball Association. They played in the upstart league's first two seasons, from 1967 to 1969. Their home arena was the Sam Houston Coliseum...
, a franchise in the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
, from 1967 through 1969. The team was not successful in Houston, and its attendance was among the lowest in the league. After the 1968–1969 season, under new ownership, the Mavericks moved to Charlotte and became the Carolina Cougars
Carolina Cougars
Carolina Cougars was a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association that existed from late 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Carolina in late 1969 after two unsuccessful...
.
The Houston Oilers and the Astrodome
Adams and the other AFL owners received a tremendous boost in credibility and net worth in 1969 with the merger of the AFL with and into the NFL. It was effective with the 1970 season. In 1968 Adams moved his team into the Astrodome, which since 1965 had been the home of the Houston AstrosHouston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
of baseball's National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
.
While the Astrodome ameliorated the hot, humid climate, it had several drawbacks as a venue for the Oilers. Despite being almost completely round, the Astrodome's football sight lines left much to be desired. The seats near the 50-yard line, usually the most desirable (and expensive), were the farthest from the field of play, while those nearest the action were otherwise-undesirable seats in the end zone. Additionally, the Astrodome seated only about 50,000 for football. By the early 1980s, it was the smallest venue in the NFL. Adams chafed at being the Astrodome's "secondary" tenant. He knew his position was unlikely to change as long as the Astros were playing 81 home games and his team was playing eight.
Houston vs. Adams
Adams was initially a hero in Houston for making the city a major-league town, but his popularity tailed off during the Oilers' early NFL years. Some critics believed he had mishandled the team. His tendency to micromanageMicromanagement
In business management, micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of her or his subordinates or employees...
the Oilers brought considerable scrutiny since he had no background in the sport. For example, he required personal approval of any expenditures of $200 or over.
In the late 1970s the Oilers rose again to football prominence. Despite being in the same division as the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
, they were very popular nationwide. Their coach, Adams' fellow Texan O. A. "Bum" Phillips
Bum Phillips
Oail Andrew "Bum" Phillips is a retired American football coach and the father of Wade Phillips, the Defensive Coordinator for the Houston Texans...
, who dressed, spoke, and acted much like the popular image of a ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
er, was well-known and popular. After the Oilers lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions 3 straight years, two consecutive AFC
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
championship game losses to the Steelers, followed by a Wild Card loss to the Oakland Raiders, Adams fired Phillips. The team fell off and would not be a serious contender again until the late-1980s. Most of the Houston sporting public blamed Adams. This era of rotation between mediocrity and disaster was to last several years.
In 1987, Adams threatened to move the Oilers to Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
(now the home to division rivals the Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
) unless significant improvements were made to the Astrodome. The county responded with a $67 million renovation that added 10,000 more seats, a new Astroturf
AstroTurf
AstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...
carpet and 65 luxury boxes. Adams promised that with the new improvements, he would keep the team in Houston for 10 years. These improvements were funded by increases in property taxes and the doubling of the hotel tax, as well as bonds to be paid over 30 years. That same year, the Oilers seemed to right themselves on the field. They made the AFC playoffs every year from then until 1993, but each time they fell short of making it to the Super Bowl. After Adams made good on a threat to hold a fire sale if the Oilers did not make the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
after the 1993 season
1993 NFL season
The 1993 NFL season was the 74th regular season of the National Football League. For the first time in league history, all NFL teams played their 16-game schedule over a span of 18 weeks. After the success of expanding the regular season to a period of 17 weeks in 1990, the league hoped this new...
, the Oilers finished with the worst record in franchise history a year later
1994 Houston Oilers season
The 1994 Houston Oilers season was the 35th season the team was with the league. The team failed to match their previous season's output of 12–4, instead winning only two games. Their 2–14 tied their 1983 season as their worst output in a sixteen game season. Seven of their losses came by three...
. They were barely competitive for the rest of their stay in Houston. (As of 2011, Harris County and its taxpayers are still paying off the debt from the Astrodome renovations.)
By the mid-1990s, several NFL teams had new stadiums built largely or entirely with public funding, and several more such deals had been agreed to. These new venues featured amenities such as "club seating" and other potential revenue streams that were not part of the NFL's revenue-sharing arrangements. Adams began to lobby Mayor Bob Lanier
Bob Lanier (politician)
Bob Lanier is a businessman in the real estate industry who served as mayor of the city of Houston, Texas from 1992 to 1998...
for a new stadium. Lanier told him what the city did for him in 1987 was enough.
Adams began to shop the team to other cities. He had taken particular notice of the offer made by Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
to the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
to become the primary tenant of a new arena
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
then under construction in downtown Nashville. (It is now called the Bridgestone Arena). While this deal was never consummated (Nashville eventually received an expansion team, the Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
), Adams wondered what sort of offer he might receive for a venue for his NFL team. After Adams met several times with then-Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen
Phil Bredesen
Philip Norman "Phil" Bredesen Jr. was the 48th Governor of Tennessee, serving from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected Governor in 2002, and was re-elected in 2006. He previously served as the fourth mayor of Nashville and Davidson County from 1991 to...
, they announced a deal to bring the Oilers to Nashville for the 1998 season
1998 NFL season
The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.The Tennessee Oilers moved their home games from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, still awaiting construction on a new stadium in Nashville.This was the first season that CBS...
to a new 68,000-seat stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
(originally called Adelphia Coliseum, now known as LP Field
LP Field
LP Field is a football stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County....
). It was to be built largely with city and state funds, across the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
from downtown Nashville. Nashville opponents of this arrangement forced the issue to a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
vote; it passed easily, with over 57% of those voting in favor.
Adams' opponents in Houston were not idle. Then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, whose district included portions of Houston and its suburbs, even introduced a bill in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
banning the move, but it did not pass. Other opponents filed lawsuits, but all were dismissed in a way favorable to Adams. The 1996 season
1996 NFL season
The 1996 NFL season was the 77th regular season of the National Football League and the season was marked by notable controversies from beginning to end...
in the Astrodome was a disaster after Adams announced the move, to be one year earlier than the ten he had promised to keep the team in Houston. Local support for the Oilers all but vanished. At times the crowds were so sparse that some of the few in attendance (and watching on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
or listening on radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
) could hear all of the action on the field, including play calling, collisions, and the players talking to one another, even the occasional profanity. In addition, the Oilers' radio network, formerly statewide, was reduced to a single station in Houston and a few new affiliates in Tennessee. Both Adams and the league found this unacceptable. The city agreed to let the Oilers out of their lease to enable the move to Tennessee a year earlier than planned.
The Tennessee Oilers
Adams' immediate problem was finding a suitable place to play prior to the completion of the new stadium in Nashville for the renamed Tennessee Oilers ("Tennessee" was used instead of "Nashville" to appeal to the broader region). The stadium's opening had been forced back a year by the time necessary to get the appropriate enabling measure on the ballot in Nashville. The largest stadium in the Nashville area at the time, Vanderbilt StadiumVanderbilt Stadium
Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vanderbilt University football team...
on the campus of Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
, seated only 41,000 and was considered inadequate even as a temporary home for anything beyond preseason games. Further, the Oilers were concerned that Vanderbilt refused to permit the sale of alcohol in the stadium, always a source of considerable revenue. The University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
's Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several NFL exhibition games. The stadium's official capacity is 102,455...
in Knoxville was only two hours east of Nashville, but was deemed too large (at 102,000 seats) for an NFL team. The league and the Oilers decided to use Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is a football stadium, located at the Mid-South Fairgrounds, in Midtown Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The stadium is the site of the annual AutoZone Liberty Bowl, and is the home field of the University of Memphis Tigers football team...
in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
until the new stadium in Nashville could be completed. The team would be based in Nashville and commute to Memphis for games.
The 1997 season in Memphis proved to be almost as disastrous as the prior years in the Astrodome, largely because the arrangement was very unpopular in both Memphis and Nashville. Whether from disappointment at their city's numerous failures to get professional football in its own right, their longtime rivalry with Nashville or general disgust at the prospect of a team that was only there for a temporary stay, Memphians showed no interest in the Oilers. Nashvillians balked at traveling 210 miles to see "their" team, especially since Interstate 40
Interstate 40
Interstate 40 is the third-longest major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90 and I-80. Its western end is at Interstate 15 in Barstow, California; its eastern end is at a concurrency of U.S. Route 117 and North Carolina Highway 132 in Wilmington, North Carolina...
between the two cities was undergoing a major reconstruction near Memphis. As a result, the Oilers played before some of the smallest NFL crowds since the 1950s. For many games, there appeared to be more visiting fans than Oiler fans.
Despite the problems, Adams initially intended to stay in Memphis for two years. But, only one game, the finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
, attracted a larger crowd than could have been accommodated at Vanderbilt. Although 50,677 people showed up, the crowd appeared to be composed of at least half, and as many as two-thirds, Steelers fans
Steeler Nation
Steeler Nation is the unofficial name of the fan base of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, coined by NFL Films narrator John Facenda in "Blueprint for Victory," the team's 1975 highlights film...
. Adams was so embarrassed that he scrapped plans to play the 1998 season
1998 NFL season
The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.The Tennessee Oilers moved their home games from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, still awaiting construction on a new stadium in Nashville.This was the first season that CBS...
at the Liberty Bowl, and instead opted to play at Vanderbilt after all.
When only four of the eight regular-season home games at Vanderbilt sold out for the 1998 season, it began to appear as if the team's move was going to be a net loss for all concerned. In the interim, a major tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
had hit downtown Nashville area, tearing directly through the new stadium construction site and knocking down two tower cranes. Timely completion of the new stadium 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 post-tornado cleanup proved to be a public-relations bonanza for Adams and his team, as did Adams' large charitable contribution for relief for the storm's victims. More than a few fans, some of them quite seriously, suggested renaming the team the "Tennessee Twisters".
The Tennessee Titans
During the following year, with the team at its new stadium, was one of major changes. During the 1998 season, Adams announced that the team would change its name to one better suited for its new home. He also announced the addition of navy blue to the team's color scheme. Last, he said the team would be considered the continuation 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 experience of the "Cleveland BrownsCleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
", which had been in the same division as Adams' team since 1970 (they have been in separate divisions since 2002). A blue-ribbon committee selected the nickname Titans
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
.
The rechristened Titans proceeded to finish the 1999 regular season with a 13-3 record, but they only qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team. In their first-round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, they won on a wild, controversial last-minute kickoff return play which the media dubbed the "Music City Miracle
Music City Miracle
The Music City Miracle is the name commonly given to a play that took place on January 8, 2000 during the National Football League's 1999–2000 playoffs...
". The kickoff, caught by fullback Lorenzo Neal
Lorenzo Neal
Lorenzo LaVonne Neal is an American football fullback who played in the NFL from 1993–2009. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round of the 1993 NFL Draft...
, was handed off to tight end Frank Wycheck
Frank Wycheck
Frank John Wycheck is a former American football tight end in the National Football League. Wycheck attended Archbishop Ryan High School in Northeast Philadelphia. Drafted in sixth round of the 1993 NFL Draft out of the University of Maryland by the Washington Redskins...
, who made a lateral pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson
Kevin Dyson
Kevin Tyree Dyson is a former American football wide receiver of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Tennessee Oilers 16th overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. He played college football at Utah....
. Dyson ran the ball 75 yards down the sideline while Buffalo's defense had converged on Wycheck on the other side of the field. Many Bills' fans contended it was an illegal forward pass, though officials ruled it a lateral. Subsequent video analysis appeared to indicate that it was a lateral. The team went on to win two subsequent playoff games and appeared in its first-ever Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, in Atlanta's Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Division I FCS Georgia State Panthers football team. It is owned and operated by the...
. They lost 23–16 to the St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
, having come just one yard short of a touchdown on the game's final play. It was one of the most thrilling conclusions in Super Bowl history.
1999 has thus far been the high water mark for the Titans' on-field success. The team won the former AFC Central Division the next year but fell short of the Super Bowl. They then won the AFC South Conference in the 2002 season with an 11-5 record and made it as far as the Conference Championship, falling to a high powered, hard hitting Oakland Raiders team at the McAfee Coliseum. After the 2003 season the team advanced only to the AFC Divisional Playoffs, losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
. 2005 was the team's worst season since its arrival in Tennessee, and it finished with an overall record of 4–12. They would not return to the playoffs again until 2007, when they sealed a playoff berth on the last day of the season. 2008 would see the Titans climb to the top of the AFC with a 13-3 record, but they were soon knocked from the playoffs by the Ravens
2008 Baltimore Ravens season
The 2008 Baltimore Ravens season was the 13th season for the team in the NFL. Despite having one of the toughest schedules in the NFL, the Ravens completed a major turnaround from the 2007 season, finishing the season with an 11–5 record and a playoff berth...
. After a disastrous 0-6 start to 2009 (which included being crushed by the Patriots 59-0), the team managed to finish at .500. Adams was widely criticized for his decision to return to the role of team president rather than renewing the contract of the existing one. Reportedly Adams has arranged his affairs in such a way as to ensure his family will retain ownership of the team after his death.
On November 15, 2009, Adams was caught on video displaying an obscene gesture towards the Buffalo bench after the Titans routed the Bills 41-14. Commissioner Roger Goodell, who happened to be attending the game, fined him $250,000. Afterwards, Adams remarked "Oh, I knew I was going to get in trouble for that. I was just so happy we won."
A promising start to 2010 quickly fell apart as the Titans tumbled to a 6-10 season and the bottom of the AFC South. Multiple conflicts between Adams, Jeff Fisher, and QB Vince Young
Vince Young
Vincent Paul Young, Jr. , nicknamed "VY", is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League . He spent the first five seasons of his career with the Tennessee Titans. Young was the third overall draft pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college...
led to the latter two being terminated in January 2011.
The Nashville Kats (Arena Football)
In 2001, Adams purchased the rights to operate an Arena Football League expansion franchise in Nashville for a reported $4,000,000. He found it impossible at first to negotiate a favorable leaseLease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
for the use of the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now called Bridgestone Arena) from that facility's primary tenant and operator, the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
's Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
. A previous AFL team (the original Nashville Kats owned by Mark Bloom
Mark Bloom
Mark Bloom is an American soccer player currently playing for Charlotte Eagles in the USL Professional Division.-Youth and Amateur:...
) had been forced by an unfavorable lease agreement to leave Nashville and move to Atlanta (with this team thus becoming known as the Georgia Force
Georgia Force
The Georgia Force are an Arena Football League team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States that plays in the South Division of the American Conference. The team is owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Jennings...
). This lease agreement resulted in sizable financial losses despite average attendance of over 10,000 per home game for the original Kats. Motivated by bitter memories of being a secondary tenant at the Astrodome, Adams briefly considered either financing the renovation of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium
Nashville Municipal Auditorium
The Nashville Municipal Auditorium is an indoor sports and concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee...
for use as an indoor football venue, building an entirely new facility with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 12,000 or so (dropped when Adams was convinced that the potential $30,000,000 price tag for such a building he had apparently initially been quoted was wildly optimistic), or expanding the Titans' existing indoor practice facility (at "Baptist Sports Park", named for a local hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
) for use as an Arena venue. As negotiations with the Predators dragged on and contingency planning continued, the Arena Football League extended his option on the new Nashville franchise at least twice.
By 2004, Adams and the Predators finally hammered out a mutually-acceptable lease agreement. Immediately afterward, it was announced that the new Nashville Kats
Nashville Kats
The Nashville Kats were an Arena Football League team, located in Nashville, Tennessee. They were last coached by Pat Sperduto, who coached the team's original incarnation to two ArenaBowl appearances prior to the original franchise's move to Atlanta in 2002...
franchise would begin play in the Arena Football League's 2005 season. Late in 2004 it was announced that country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
had bought into the Kats franchise as a minority owner. This second Kats franchise reclaimed the name, logo, and Nashville history of the earlier franchise as its own (The original Kats franchise continued to operate as the Georgia Force
Georgia Force
The Georgia Force are an Arena Football League team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States that plays in the South Division of the American Conference. The team is owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Jennings...
until folding in 2008; Similarly, that franchise was reincarnated in 2011 when the existing AFL team Alabama Vipers relocated to the Atlanta area and assumed the Georgia Force identity).
As a result of limited on-field success and the subsequent drop in fan support and ticket sales, Bud Adams announced in October 2007 that the Kats would immediately cease operations.
Personal life
Adams is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of OklahomaCherokee Nation of Oklahoma
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
. He has served on the executive committee of the Cherokee National Historical Society.
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. They had two daughters, Susan and Amy, and a son, Kenneth 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.