Throwback Thursday: William Clay Ford Buys the Lions, Dooms Detroit Fans

Editor's note: Each week VICE Sports will take a look back at an important sports event from this week in sports history. We are calling this regular feature Throwback Thursday, or #TBT for all you cool kids. You can read previous installments here.

November 22, 1963, is generally remembered as the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. For fans of the Detroit Lions–and I have always been one—that date has an additional meaning. On this day, the Lions' board of directors approved the sale of the team to William Clay Ford.

Who is William Clay Ford? He's the grandson of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. William Clay was named to the board of directors at Ford in the late 1940s, while he was still a student at Yale. Think about that for a moment. Most students wonder what they might do after graduation. William Clay not only knew what he was doing; he knew that he would be given an executive position at one of the leading companies in the American economy. And what did William Clay do to earn this position?

He was born.

Americans tend to think of capitalism as a system in which success is earned and failure is punished. William Clay learned very early on that success is granted. And failure? Well, it is hard to fail when you are given so much simply because of the success of your grandfather.

Of course, inheriting wealth is not entirely uncommon in American society, so the idea that life is not a meritocracy is understood by most. The world of sport, however, is supposed to be different. In sports, winners are rewarded, and losers are punished.

But life for the Lions, just like the life of William Clay Ford, has never been about punishing losers—unless you count the misery inflicted upon the team's fans. The Lions had won three NFL titles in the 1950s. Since 1964, when Ford took over, the Lions have been to the playoffs 11 times, and the Lions have won a single playoff game. One. Fifty-two years. One win in the playoffs.

So Lions fans are well acquainted with losing, but consequences for failure? Those have been harder to find. Consider the architects of these failures: the four general managers Ford hired. First, let's emphasize that number: fifty-plus years of failure and only four men have been calling the shots.

Next, let's talk about those four men. The first general manager Ford personally hired was Russ Thomas, a former Lions player himself and someone who ended in Ford's good graces. In other word, Thomas wasn't just chosen for his merit. He was chosen because he had a connection to Ford.

Thomas was hired in 1967, and over the next 22 seasons, the Lions won more games than they lost in exactly four of them. They never won a playoff game. Surprisingly, though, Ford never fired Thomas. Thomas ran the Lions poorly and then finally retired in 1989.

Who did Ford turn to next? Chuck Schmidt. Where was Schmidt before Ford hired him to run the Lions? Well, he was already employed by the Lions.

Under Schmidt, the Lions managed to do a bit better. Well, they managed to win that playoff game I mentioned before. Despite six playoff appearances in twelve years, however, the Lions were never quite able to contend consistently with the very best in the NFL.

The Schmidt era ended with what may have been the only impulsive move in Ford's ownership. In 2000, the Lions entered the final game of the season, against the 4-11 Chicago Bears, with a 9-6 record. A win would have put the Lions in the playoffs again, but Paul Edinger nailed a 54-yard field goal for Chicago, and then both time and the Lions season expired.

Ford's reaction to this loss was absurd. He fired Schmidt and hired Matt Millen. Millen had never worked in a front office in the NFL in his life. As a broadcaster, Millen had demonstrated a breadth of knowledge as long as he was not the person actually making any real decisions. As a general manager, he was a disaster; the Lions compiled eight straight losing seasons. The 2008 season was the worst, with the team managing to lose every single game.

Millen's time as general manager was characterized not just by losing but also by bizarre decision-making. From 2003 to 2005, the Lions used their first-round draft choice on wide receivers. After a brief respite in the 2006 draft, Millen selected yet another wide receiver with the first pick in 2007.

Unfortunately, a great football team requires more than just a collection of wide receivers.

When Millen departed in the midst of the disastrous 2008 season, Ford and the Lions turned to Martin Mayhew. And where did Ford find Mayhew? Well, Ford might have looked everywhere, but in the end he hired a person who was already with the Lions. Yes, Mayhew worked under Millen.

With Mayhew, the Lions had two winning seasons. This year, though, did not start so well. For the past 50 years, that generally did not mean much in the life of a Lions general manager. This year, though, was different. William Clay Ford died in March of 2014. Taking over as owner of the team was his wife, Martha Ford.

Martha appeared to have a very different idea about how to build a winning team. Although the Lions went 11-5 in 2014, Martha Ford fired Mayhew when the Lions went 1-7 to start the 2015 season. While previous general managers could lose for years before being fired, Martha Ford's patience ended after eight games. Under her, losing finally had consequences.

Does this approach mean the Lions will now be winners? The past week isn't reassuring. When Martha Ford fired Mayhew, she also fired team president Tom Lewand. She replaced him with Ron Wood, who was previously employed by, well, the Ford family.

In announcing Wood's hire, Martha Ford also said the new general manager will be chosen by her, Wood, and Ford's four children. For his part, Wood has already stated that he is not a "football" guy. The team is still being run as a family business, one in which your connections with the Ford family still seem key to getting and keeping your job.

This approach doesn't lead to many wins. In fact, the NFL season is often referred to by Lions fans as downtime between NFL drafts. Yet while losing hurts fans, it hasn't really hurt the Fords. William Clay Ford bought the Lions for $6 million in 1964. Forbes.com argues that the Lions are the least valuable NFL franchise today, but they also say the franchise is worth $1.44 billion. That's a pretty good investment!

You could make a case that the history of the Lions is compelling evidence for the adoption of a 100 percent federal inheritance tax, or other measures designed to prevent our society from becoming a plutocracy of inherited, oft-inept wealth. Of course, that might make you a Lions fan—and more than a little politically naïve. For now, however, the lessons William Clay learned as a young man at Yale remain as relevant as ever. Life is not a meritocracy, and failure doesn't really matter—at least, not when you're born owning the game.