"Honolulu blue" is inspired by the color of the waves off the coast of Hawaii. The shade was chosen by Cy Huston, the Lions' first vice president and general manager, in 1935.

During week six of the 1971 season, the Lions hosted the Chicago Bears at Tiger Stadium. Late in the game, with Detroit trailing 28-23, the Lions were driving into Chicago territory when WR Chuck Hughes suffered a heart attack. He is, to date, the only NFL player to die on the field during a game. He was buried in San Antonio, Texas, with all 40 of his Lions teammates in attendance.

Dick LeBeau played 14 seasons in Detroit and was teamed with Hall of Famers Dick "Night Train" Lane, Yale Lary, and Lem Barney as part of a Detroit secondary that was one of the most feared in the NFL.

On Thanksgiving Day 1950, Hoernschemeyer set two Detroit club records, rushing for 198 yards and a 96-yard touchdown run against the short-lived New York Yanks.

In 1952, QB Bobby Layne led the Lions to their first NFL Championship in 17 years. He did so again in 1953 for back-to-back league titles. They fell short of a three-peat in 1954 when they lost 56-10 to the Cleveland Browns in the NFL championship game, a loss which Layne explained by saying, "I slept too much last night."

Steve Owens rushed for 1,035 yards in 1971, becoming the first back in the history of the Lions' franchise to run for more than 1,000 yards in a single season.

Wagner was drafted by the Lions in the first round of the very first NFL Draft (1936). He played three seasons before retiring to pursue a career in engineering.

The Lions added the initials "WCF" to the left sleeve as a permanent tribute to William Clay Ford, who owned the team from 1963 until his death in 2014.

Johnson finished the 2012 season with 1,964 yards, an average of almost 123 yards per game.

Porcher earned trips to the Pro Bowl in 1998, 2000 and 2002. He finished his career with a team record with 95.5 quarterback sacks.