E. William Boyer was an American businessman who was a founder of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

Bill Boyer Ford

Boyer was an investor in McDonald Gilfillan Motor Company, a

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

automobile dealership founded in 1927. In 1938, the company became a

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

franchise holder. In 1952 he became the sole owner of the dealership and renamed it Bill Boyer Ford. In 1958, Boyer began selling Ford heavy commercial trucks.

Minnesota Vikings

In 1959, Boyer,

Max Winter Max Winter (June 29, 1903 – July 26, 1996) was a Minneapolis businessman and sport executive who helped found the Minnesota Vikings. Biography Winter was born in Ostrava, Austria-Hungary (modern day Czechia). He emigrated with his family an ...

, and H. P. Skoglund were awarded the Minneapolis-St. Paul franchise in the new American Football League. In an effort to fight back against the new league, Chicago Bears owner George Halas proposed adding

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

to the NFL. However, the ownership group for the proposed Houston franchise backed out after they were unable to find a suitable stadium, which led Boyer's group to withdraw from the AFL and apply for an NFL franchise. On January 28, 1960, Minneapolis was awarded an expansion franchise that would begin playing in 1961. Boyer served as president of the Minnesota Vikings from 1960 to 1965, and a vice president until his death. He died at the age of 67 on February 19, 1973, at Palm Springs, California. Boyer helped start the National Football League's

Punt, Pass, and Kick Punt, pass and kick (PP&K) was a skills competition offered by the US National Football League for children aged 6 to 15. Overview PP&K began in 1961 and at one time, event highlights were shown by CBS Sports as part of its NFL coverage. The co ...

competition by presenting the idea, which was conceived by

National Football League Properties National Football League Properties, also known as NFL Properties (abbreviated NFLP), is the merchandising and licensing arm of the National Football League (NFL). The subsidiary of the league was founded in 1963 to maintain control of the brands of ...

employee Carl Schroeder, to the league and the Ford Motor Company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Bill 1973 deaths American automobile salespeople Businesspeople from Minneapolis Minnesota Vikings owners