Mar 9, 2014 4 min read

DETROIT – William Clay Ford, the last surviving grandchild of automotive pioneer Henry Ford and owner of the Detroit Lions, has died. He was 88.

Ford Motor Co. said in a statement Sunday that Ford died of pneumonia at his home in Grosse Pointe, Mich. Ford helped steer the family business for more than five decades. He bought one of his own, the NFL franchise in the Motor City, a half-century ago.

He served as an employee and board member of the automaker for more than half of its 100-year history.

“My father was a great business leader and humanitarian who dedicated his life to the company and the community,” William Clay Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Co. and Lions vice chairman, said in a statement. “He also was a wonderful family man, a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.”

To the masses in Detroit, Ford was simply the owner of the Lions who struggled to achieve success on the field despite showing his passion for winning by spending money on free agents, coaches, executives and facilities.

“In so many NFL locker rooms, if the owner is around, players put their heads down and hope not to get noticed,” former Lions, Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers receiver Johnnie Morton said Sunday in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. “In Detroit, I noticed right away that players would go up to him to say hello. One time, I hollered, ‘Big Willie is in the house,’ when he walked in the locker room. Some guys were looking at me like I was about to get cut, but then Mr. Ford later came over and cracked up about it.

“It became my pregame ritual to call him ‘Big Willie,’ and sometimes I’d tell him, ‘If we win today, the postgame was going to be at your house tonight.’ He was just a genuine, down-to-earth, cool dude – the epitome of people from Michigan – that just happened to own a car company and the Lions.”

Ford’s first full season leading the Lions was in 1964, seven years after the franchise won the NFL title. The lone playoff victory he enjoyed was in 1992. The Lions are the only team to go 0-16 in a season, hitting rock bottom in 2008 after he finally fired general manager Matt Millen, a Super Bowl-winning linebacker and TV analyst he hired to lead the franchise without any front-office experience.

After an 11-year drought, the Lions improved enough to make the playoffs in 2011 only to lose a combined 21 games over the next two seasons.

Ford moved the club from Tiger Stadium in Detroit to the Pontiac Silverdome in 1975 before bringing his team back downtown.

“No owner loved his team more than Mr. Ford loved the Lions,” Lions President Tom Lewand said in a statement released by the team. “Those of us who had the opportunity to work for Mr. Ford knew of his unyielding passion for his family, the Lions and the city of Detroit. His leadership, integrity, kindness, humility and good humor were matched only by his desire to bring a Super Bowl championship to the Lions and to our community.

“Each of us in the organization will continue to relentlessly pursue that goal in his honor.”

From Ford’s first season as team owner to his last, the Lions won 310 games, lost 441 and tied 13. His .441 winning percentage with the Lions was the NFL’s worst among teams that existed in 1964, according to STATS LLC.

Agent confirms Mendenhall retiring from NFL: Running back Rashard Mendenhall is retiring from the NFL at the age of 26.

Agent Mike McCartney confirmed via Twitter Sunday that Mendenhall had decided to end his playing career after six NFL seasons, all but one of them with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Mendenhall, the Steelers’ first-round draft pick and 23rd overall selection out of Illinois in 2008, gained 4,326 career yards, averaging 3.9 yards per carry.

After signing a free-agent contract with Arizona, he was hampered by a toe injury much of last season and was most effective down the stretch. Mendenhall finished with a team-high 687 yards in 217 carries.

Mendenhall had consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Steelers in 2009 and 2010. A knee injury limited him to six games with Pittsburgh in 2012.