5 Sports Figures You Didn’t Know Were Michigan Alumni
By David Cuff
1. Ralph Wilson Jr.-
Wilson was an undergraduate at Virginia, but came to the University of Michigan for Law School. Wilson had grown up in Detroit, and ended up becoming a successful business man in the state of Michigan. At one point Wilson was a minority owner of the Detroit Lions, but moved on from that in 1959. That is when the AFL started up, and Wilson became owner of the Buffalo Bills. He remained the owner until his death in 2014, and is one of just four men to own the same NFL team for at least 50 straight years. One of the other four is former Lions owner, William Clay Ford. Ford and Wilson were neighbors in Grosse Pointe Shores, MI where Wilson had maintained a home. Wilson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Buffalo Bills stadium is named after him.