Saturday, March 28, 2009

Ralph Wilson Is Not Dead


((HT: Buffalo News/WGRZ-TV))

Mark Gaughan of the News reports that a rumor buzzing about the Internet Friday night claimed Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. had passed away.

That was news to Ralph ((pictured, thanks WGRZ-TV)).

The Buffalo News got calls from people at the Sabres-Maple Leafs game in HSBC Arena, a local bar, a golf dome and from reporters as far away as the West Coast. Even Wilson's Wikipedia page had been changed.

Subsequent calls to people close to the 90-year-old Wilson, who was recently elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, quickly proved the claim was baseless.

Perhaps the fact Wilson had suffered a shoulder injury recently fueled the rumors. He did have to make a trip to the hospital Friday to have the shoulder checked out. But Wilson was fine. No mainstream media ran with the rumor Friday night.

The Bills sent out a Twitter alert this afternoon refuting the claim.

"There is absolutely no truth to the internet rumor referencing Ralph Wilson's health," the Bills' official Twitter page reads.

Wilson, 90, is alive and well.

Those of us at OSG HQ ran through our sources close to the Bills organization Saturday afternoon and evening. The information of the fall- and the fall alone, not anything resembling a death- is correct.

More when we know more...

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