Did You Know
The '''Tennessee Titans''' are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Previously known as the '''Houston Oilers''', the then-Houston, Texas, team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. The Oilers won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.
The team relocated from Houston to the state of Tennessee in 1997, first playing in Memphis for one season before moving to Nashville. For two seasons, the team was known as the '''Tennessee Oilers''' before changing its name to Titans in 1999.
Franchise history
Houston Oilers era (1960-96)
1960s
The Houston Oilers began in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. They were owned by Bud Adams, a Houston oilman, who had made several previous unsuccessful bids for an NFL expansion team in Houston. Adams is considered the second-most influential of the eight original AFL owners, since he and Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt were more financially stable than the others.
The Oilers appeared in the first three AFL championships. They scored an important victory over the NFL when they signed LSU's Heisman Trophy winner, All-America running back Billy Cannon. Cannon joined other Oiler offensive stars such as quarterback George Blanda, flanker Charlie Hennigan, running back Charlie Tolar, and guard Bob Talamini. After winning the first-ever AFL championship over the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960, they repeated over the same team (then in San Diego) in 1961. They lost to the Dallas Texans in the classic 1962 double-overtime AFL championship game, at the time the longest professional football championship game ever played. In 1962, the Oilers were the first AFL team to sign an active NFL player away from the other league, when wide receiver Willard Dewveall left the Bears to join the champion Oilers. Dewveall that year caught the longest pass reception for a touchdown in professional football history, , from Jacky Lee, against the San Diego Chargers. The Oilers won the AFL Eastern Division title again in 1967, then became the first professional football team to play in a domed stadium, when they moved into Houston's Astrodome for the 1968 season. Previously, the Oilers had played at Jeppesen Stadium at the University of Houston.
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