Titans Founder Named Hall of Fame Semifinalist

The Tennessee Titans could have more representation in Canton.

Tennessee Titans owner K.S. “Bud Adams” addresses the media during a press conference from the Titans training facility in MetroCenter on Aug. 2, 2004, to announce that the Nashville Kats will return to Arena Football League. Adams has a deal with the Gaylord Entertainment Center to play the home games there. | George Walker IV / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Late Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams is smiling down after he has been honored posthmously.

Adams, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 90, was named one of nine semifinalists for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor.

Adams was named as a semifinalist alongside Canton Bulldogs owner Ralph Hay, New England Patriots owner, chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, former Patriots general manager Frank "Bucko" Kilroy, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell, Steelers vice president Art Rooney Jr., former Elias Sports Bureau president Seymour Siwoff, the first Black Super Bowl-winning quarterback Doug Williams and longtime scout John Wooten.

Adams is likely best known as the person deemed responsible for moving the Titans franchise from Houston to Tennessee back in the middle of the 1990's. But before that, he was also responsible for founding the AFL along with Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt.

Adams had a long-term goal of joining the Hall of Fame, and while he wasn't able to accomplish that achievement while he was alive, his legacy still lives on, and there's a chance that it could last forever in Canton.

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