Bud Adams dies at 90

Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams, who helped found the American Football League and whose battles for players helped lead to the merger with the NFL, has died. He was 90. The team announced Adams’ death Monday, saying he “passed away peacefully from natural causes.” The son of a prominent oil executive, Adams built his own energy fortune and founded the Houston Oilers. He moved the team to Tennessee in 1997 when he couldn’t get the new stadium he wanted in Houston. The franchise, renamed the Titans, in 2000 reached the Super Bowl that Adams had spent more than three decades pursuing. In the photo at right, Adams celebrates the 1961 AFL championship with Oilers coach Wally Lemm. Adams is on the left. – Associated Press