After the AFL's first draft, in which players were selected for the then nameless Minneapolis franchise, Winter reneged from his agreement with the AFL owners and defected to the NFL with a franchise that started play in 1961 and was named the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings were never an AFL team, nor did they have any association with the AFL. Many of the players (including Abner Haynes) that had been assigned to the UNNAMED and defunct Minneapolis AFL franchise were signed by some of the seven loyal remaining members of the AFL's 'Foolish Club'.