Foolish Club

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The Foolish Club were the owners of the eight original franchises of the American Football League (AFL). When Texas oil magnates Lamar Hunt and Bud Adams Jr. were refused entry to the established National Football League (NFL) in 1959, they founded franchises in Dallas and Houston, and recruited businessmen in six other U.S. markets to form an eight-team rival circuit, calling it the American Football League.

Hunt owned the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs), while the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) were Adams' franchise. The other members of the "Original Eight" included Harry Wismer (New York Titans, now the New York Jets), Bob Howsam (Denver Broncos), Barron Hilton (Los Angeles Chargers), Ralph C. Wilson Jr. (Buffalo Bills), and Billy Sullivan (Boston Patriots, now the New England Patriots). Though Max Winter had originally committed to fielding a Minneapolis AFL team, he reneged when lured away by the NFL; Winter's group instead joined the older circuit as the Minnesota Vikings in 1961. The Minneapolis AFL franchise only went as far as participating in the 1960 American Football League Draft and never fielded a team. It was replaced when a group of eight investors, led primarily by F. Wayne Valley and, briefly, Chet Soda, formed the Oakland Raiders, now the Las Vegas Raiders.

They called themselves the "Foolish Club" because of their seemingly foolhardy venture in taking on the entrenched NFL.