Tài liệu Rockin'''' the Rockpile: The Buffalo Bills of the American Football League pot

by Billy ShawBilly Shaw was a perennial All- AFL selection during his nine-year career with the Buffalo Bills, and is the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to have played his

Jeffrey J Miller

ECW Press

Copyright © Jeffrey J Miller, 2007 Published by ecw press

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library and archives canada cataloguing in publication

Miller, Jeffrey Rockin’ the rockpile : the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League / Jeffrey J Miller.

Includes bibliographical references.

Printed by Thomson-Shore Inc.

distribution canada: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Avenue, Georgetown, on, l7g 5s4 united states: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street,

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printed and bound in the u.s.a.

Buffalo Bills AFL Player Register 521

Buffalo Bills All-Time Coach Register 535

Buffalo Bills Yearly Statistics 537

Buffalo Bills AFL Records 557

Buffalo Bills Drafts 1960–69 563

AFL Yearly Standings 569

Sources 575

About the Author 577

There are many people to thank for their help and support in making this book

a reality First and foremost are the members of the Bills’ family—the players,

coaches and administrators who gave so generously of their time in sharing

their personal stories, memories and memorabilia The first player I

inter-viewed was quarterback Warren Rabb back in June of 2005, and the last was

fullback Billy Joe in February 2007 In between, I had the great pleasure of

speaking with more than 60 men connected with the Bills during the 1960s

Several indulged me by sitting for two or three separate sessions Many loaned

articles from their personal archives Their willingness to be a part of this

project made it a more complete and colorful telling of the story

Special thanks to Billy Shaw, the Bills’ Hall of Fame guard, for writing the

foreword for this book (Great job, Billy!)

I respectfully extend my sincerest gratitude to Denny Lynch, retired archivist

for the Buffalo Bills; Todd Tobias, author of Charging Through the AFL: Los

Angeles and San Diego Chargers Football in the 1960s; Bob Carroll, football

his-torian, author, and Executive Director of the Professional Football Researchers

Association; Dan DiLandro and Peggy Hatfield from the E.H Butler Library at

Buffalo State College; Ange Coniglio, die-hard fan of the Buffalo Bills and the

American Football League; Randy Schultz, author of Legends of the Buffalo

Bills; Pat Abramoski and Sophie Canahai, wife and daughter of long-time Bills

trainer Eddie Abramoski; Greg Tranter, owner of the largest collection of

Buffalo Bills memorabilia on the planet; Roy Sheppard, the computer wizard;

Scott Berchtold, Bills’ vice president of communications; my friends Michael

Powers and Craig T Irish for their sage advice; and Mr Ralph C Wilson, Jr.,

without whom …

My undying thanks to Jack David, the publisher and president of ecw Press,

for believing in this project, and for providing encouragement and gentle

prod-ding Thanks also to Tania Craan and all of the fine folks at ecw who worked

so hard to get this book ready for publication

Thanks to my father, Joe Miller, Sr., and Charlie Weidinger, my little league

football coach, for taking my sister, Nancy, and me to our first Bills game at the

Rockpile back in 1971 The Bills lost to the hated Dolphins that day, but it was

Acknowledgments

a thrill nonetheless! This project is the culmination of a lifelong passion thatbegan that day.

Thanks to my mother, Dorothy Miller, for supporting and encouraging methroughout this project I love you

And to my wife, Cathaline You are not unappreciated or unrecognized—sometimes I simply fail to acknowledge Thank you for your love and support

I love you, too And Ben, it’s finally done!

A complete bibliography appears in the back of this book, but the following

sources were indispensable in forming the framework of this project: Total

Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (Bob

Carroll, et al.); Relentless: The Hard-Hitting History of Buffalo Bills Football (Sal Maiorana); and Tale of the Tape: A History of the Buffalo Bills from the Inside (Eddie Abramoski) Also the Buffalo Bills Media Guides (1960–1970), and the

articles and columns appearing daily in the local newspapers of the day,

including the Buffalo Evening News, the Buffalo-Courier Express, the Olean

Times-Herald, the East Aurora Advertiser and the Holland Orbit.

The book you now hold in your hands is the result of more than two years’work The manuscript went through numerous changes before emerging in itsfinal form I wish to thank the friends who either offered advice or were kindenough to proofread the text—either in part or in whole—before I felt confi-dent enough to send it to the publisher, but I also wish to point out that anyerrors in content, omission, grammar, typography, etc., are the exclusive prop-erty of this writer A heartfelt “thank you” to John C Gethicker VI, RobinCarter, Bill Litz, and Bob Carroll for their time and suggestions, regardless ofwhether I had learned from past experience and listened to them

Eddie Abramoski, Trainer (1960–96)

Glenn Bass, Wide Receiver (1961–66)

Al Bemiller, Center/Guard (1961–69)

Gary Bugenhagen, Tackle (1967)

Bobby Burnett, Halfback (1966–67)

Chuck Burr, Bills Public Relations Director (1960–65)

Butch Byrd, Cornerback (1964–70)

Bob Cappadona, Fullback (1968)

Wray Carlton, Running Back (1960–67)

Don Chelf, Guard/Tackle (1960–61)

Hagood Clarke, Safety (1964–68)

Paul Costa, Tight End/Tackle (1965–72)

Dick Cunningham, Tackle/Linebacker (1967–72)

Hilton Crawford, Cornerback (1969)

Dan Darragh, Quarterback (1968–70)

Elbert Dubenion, Wide Receiver (1960–68)

Bob Dugan, Guard (1964 Taxi Squad)

Booker Edgerson, Cornerback (1962–69)

Bill Enyart, Fullback (1969–70)

Wolfgang Felgemacher, Kicker (1966 Training Camp)

Ralph Felton, Linebacker (1961–62)

Charley Ferguson, Wide Receiver/Tight End (1963–69)

George Flint, Guard (1962–65, 1968)

Willmer Fowler, Halfback (1960–61)

Pete Gogolak, Kicker (1964–65)

Johnny Green, Quarterback (1960–61)

Joe Hergert, Linebacker/Kicker (1960–61)

Bob Hight, Kicker (1966 Training Camp)

Dick Hudson, Tackle (1963–68)

Harry Jacobs, Middle Linebacker (1963–69)

Billy Joe, Fullback (1965)

Jack Kemp, Quarterback (1962–69)

Listed below are the names of the individuals who lent their

voices to this project …

Mailon Kent, Quarterback (1964–66 Taxi Squad)

Howard Kindig, Defensive End/Center/Tackle (1967–71)

Joe Kulbacki, Halfback (1960)

Roger Kochman, Halfback (1963)

Daryle Lamonica, Quarterback (1963–66)

Jack Laraway, Linebacker (1960)

Richie Lucas, Quarterback/Halfback/Defensive Back (1960–61)

Billy Masters, Tight End (1967–69)

Mike McBath, Defensive End/Tackle (1968–72)

Ron McDole, Defensive End (1963–70)

Pat McGroder III, son of Patrick J McGroder, Jr (Bills Vice President)

Mike Mercer, Kicker (1967–68)

Van Miller, Radio Announcer (1960–71, 1979–03)

Chuck Muelhaupt, Guard (1960–61)

Joe O’Donnell, Guard (1964–71)

Warren Rabb, Quarterback (1961–62)

Gary Ramsey, son of Buster Ramsey (Bills Head Coach)

Perry Richards, Wide Receiver (1961)

Ed Rutkowski, Wide Receiver/Quarterback/Cornerback (1963–68)

Lou Saban, Head Coach (1962–65, 1972–76)

George Saimes, Safety (1963–69)

Bob Schmidt, Center (1966–67)

Billy Shaw, Guard (1961–69)

Robert L Smith, Bills Photographer (1960–2002)

Mike Stratton, Linebacker (1962–72)

Gene Sykes, Safety (1963–65)

Bob Tatarek, Defensive Tackle (1968–72)

LaVerne Torczon, Defensive End (1960–62)

Richard Trapp, Wide Receiver (1968)

Jim Wagstaff, Safety (1960–61)

Chuck Ward, Bills Beat Reporter (Wellsville Daily Reporter, Olean Times-Herald)

Ernie Warlick, Tight End (1962–65)

Ralph C Wilson, Jr., President and Owner (1960–present)

Mack Yoho, Defensive End/Kicker (1960–63)

by Billy Shaw

(Billy Shaw was a perennial All- AFL selection during his nine-year career with the

Buffalo Bills, and is the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to have

played his entire career in the American Football League.)

It was a hot August day in Canton,

Ohio, in 1999 As I stepped to the

podium at the center of the Pro

Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement

Ceremony stage, all sorts of thoughts

raced through my mind Looking out

and seeing my family in the audience

reminded me that nothing I’d

accom-plished would have been possible

without their love and support

Seeing my former teammates looking

back at me with admiration in their

eyes humbled me in a way I can’t

describe Friends from my past and

present called my name and waved to

let me know they were there And

fans I’d never even met traveled from

Western New York to Canton to show

their support too All I could think

was, “Oh, what a lucky man I am.”

Of course being elected to the Pro

Football Hall of Fame is the highest honor a player can ever

hope to achieve But for me—the only player elected to the

Hall of Fame who played his entire career in the American

Football League—it was more than personal recognition I

truly felt that day that I was there not just to accept the honor bestowed upon me,but to share my moment in the sun with all my former teammates and with allthose who like me grew up in the afl My nine seasons with the afl’s Buffalo Billsprovided me with the fondest of memories and lasting friendships, and rein-forced my belief that if you work hard and have the will to succeed, nothing isimpossible.

My football odyssey in Buffalo began in 1961 Although I was drafted by boththe Bills in the afl and the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League, Ichose Buffalo because the Cowboys wanted me to play linebacker The Bills, to

my delight, wanted a lineman To some it probably didn’t make much sense for

a kid from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to shun the opportunity to play in Dallas inthe established nfl, but Ralph Wilson and his staff convinced me otherwise Itwas the right decision and one I’ve never regretted

The afl gave young players a chance to play and sometimes an nfl castoff

a second chance to prove he could play My friend and former teammate, JackKemp, bounced around in the nfl with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New YorkGiants prior to joining the Los Angeles (San Diego) Chargers In his first year

in the afl he led the league in passing What a break for the Bills when we wereable to get Jack off the Chargers’ waiver wire

Although the afl was perceived as a pass-happy league with little defense,that wasn’t always the case In point of fact, in Buffalo, we were primarily a run-ning team with a strong defense But with Kemp throwing to the likes of Elbert

“Golden Wheels” Dubenion, Glenn Bass and Ernie Warlick, we could light it upwith the best of them

The Bills’ defense of my era was more than outstanding Guys like TomSestak, Mike Stratton, Ron McDole and Butch Byrd could have played in anyleague There is no denying, however, the league as a whole preferred to play awide-open style of football And as history now proves, fans preferred the afl’sbrand of football as evidenced by today’s wide-open offensive attacks

As a player in the afl, you not only represented a team, you represented anentire league You were a member of a football fraternity that was unique.Constantly compared to the older more established nfl, the afl was looked at

as “the other league.” In fact, as I understand it, “the other league” phrase was adescription the afl owners bestowed upon themselves in 1960 when LamarHunt, Ralph Wilson, and a handful of other entrepreneurs formed the league.Whatever its roots were, the phrase, like the constant comparison to the olderleague, only served to strengthen the bond felt by afl players When the nflsaid, “Jim Brown,” the afl countered on “Cookie Gilchrist.” When the nfl said,

“Charley Taylor,” the afl offered “Lance Alworth.” We had pride in ourselves,our team and our league It was a football family affair

After the Bills’ first championship season in 1964, I remember homemade

signs decorating the rumbling walls of War Memorial Stadium that

pro-claimed, “Bring on the nfl.” The fans weren’t just Bills fans; they were “afl

fans” too And we agreed with them After just a few short seasons, the Bills and

several other afl teams were clearly the equal of any nfl team Without a

doubt, our 1964 team would have matched up nicely against any of the

top-flight nfl teams Imagine the excitement we felt as players at the prospect of

playing in one of those first four Super Bowls

Although the pain we felt as players after afl losses in Super Bowls I and II

was substantial, it didn’t even compare to the jubilation we felt after wins in

Super Bowls III and IV It was as if each and every afl player participated in

those games, and in a sense, we did The Super Bowl wins were league wins—a

tribute to all that players, coaches, owners and fans had accomplished together

To understand that feeling is to understand exactly how I felt that day in

Canton in 1999, when I stepped to the podium It was a tribute to the afl and

the Buffalo Bills

For Benjamin and Cathaline

my home team

Dedication

Eddie Abramoski

1960–97

Athletic Trainer

Purdue University

A lot of schools were interested in me as a football player I was a center my first two

years at Erie East High, and I played tackle in my senior year Playing tackle, I made

All-City and honorable mention All-State in Pennsylvania After the season, I had

offers from a lot of colleges—Princeton, Wisconsin, Harvard, North Carolina and

Purdue I decided to go to Purdue because of the “Erie Connection.” Bernie

Flowers, Joe Suminski, Jack Konkol and Frankie Angelotti—all from Erie—were

playing there Stu Holcomb was the coach, and he was from Erie, too

My first roommate was Walt Cudzik, who later played center for the Bills

My college football career ended early At the beginning of spring practice in

1953, I hurt my back blocking on a sweep Even though I couldn’t play anymore,

I wanted to be around the team So in my sophomore year, I took a job as a

stu-dent trainer to keep my scholarship and be around the boys That’s when Pinky

Newell took me under his wing

Pinky was one of the finest trainers in the country He was one of the leaders

in making it a true profession Working in the training room, I learned to tape

very fast and got pretty good at it Pretty soon, a lot of guys were coming to me

to tape them

Pinky was like a father to me, especially in my senior year after my dad, Alex,

died He died at age 62 Pinky gave me a lot of good advice as I looked ahead to

a career as an athletic trainer One thing he taught—and it stayed with me as

long as I was a trainer—was that you treat every guy on a team the same, from

the number 1 to number 53, or whatever you have If you start showing

favoritism, guys will lose respect for you

When I finished at Purdue, I was supposed to go to physical therapy school

at the University of Pennsylvania Because my dad had died in my senior year,

I needed to help my mom and sister at home I decided to take a job rather than

go on to graduate school

My Path to Buffalo…

During my time at Purdue, Stu Holcomb had left and gone on toNorthwestern I was offered the assistant trainer’s job at Northwestern, and Ihad offers from Western Illinois and from West Point The job at West Pointpaid $300 more Also, West Point was closer to home in Erie, so I took the WestPoint job.

I worked a year at West Point, and I just wasn’t cut out to be regimented likethe Army is down there I found out the University of Detroit job was opening

up, so I applied for it and I got it It just so happened that the trainer for theLions was also a Purdue graduate two years ahead of me, Millard Kelly TheUniversity of Detroit in those days was trying to upgrade their football, andthey were trying to get bigger and better, maybe get games scheduled with theUniversity of Kentucky, instead of playing Xavier and Canisius They didn’twant to compete with Michigan and Michigan State on Saturdays and theLions on Sundays, so we played on Fridays That way I could go to all of thehome games with the Lions, and Millard liked to have me there because I dideverything the same way that he was taught because we were taught by thesame guy, Pinky Newell at Purdue He knew that I knew how to do it the sameway, so we were very compatible So I got to know all of the coaches, BusterRamsey and Buddy Parker and Bob Dove

When Mr Wilson bought the team, he hired Buster Millard told Buster,

“Why don’t you get Eddie?” It was right close to home, I grew up in Erie I said,

“This is the closest I’m ever going to come.” All of my family—who were eitherCleveland Browns or Pittsburgh fans—said, “There’s no chance that they cancompete with the nfl.” I said, “Well, it will look good on my resume—a profes-sional football team I’m young.” So I took the job I left the University ofDetroit with some regret It was a good job, but they never gave you any raises

Mr Wilson gave me a three-year contract It was actually double what teachers were starting at in those days—$7,000 per year—and I was onlyworking six months In the off-season I worked as a substitute physical educa-tion teacher in the Buffalo school district—I worked at South Park

school-Chuck Burr

1960–65

Director of Public Relations

By profession, I was a teacher—History and English I graduated from BuffaloState When I got out of Buff State, I wound up signing a contract with CorningNorth Side Junior High for the magnificent sum of $2,500 a year, plus $300 tocoach the basketball team My father was in construction, and one day—I was

still in college—my father had asked me to bring him a set of plans up to

Niagara Falls for the Hotel Niagara, where they were doing some renovating

On the mezzanine floor where I took the plans to him, there was the station

whld, the Niagara Falls station, and a sign on the door saying, “Announcers’

Auditions.” For some silly reason, I decided to go in there for an audition They

gave me one and I came out of there with a job on their fm affiliate—it was one

of the first fm stations This would have been 1948 I was dee-jaying and reading

the news at night, and I did one sports column I was the only announcer on

duty I worked from 6:00 until they went off the air at 11:00 At Buff State, I had

taken some journalism classes I worked there for six months and got a call

from wxra, a new station in town out on Niagara Falls Boulevard A guy I went

to high school with was the general sales manager at the station, and I went to

work there as the sports director We were the “Home of Champions” network,

and we used to carry the New York Yankee games with Mel Allen during their

heyday I worked there for five years, enjoyed it very much, and all of a sudden

I got a call from the athletic director from the University of Buffalo, wanting to

know if I would be interested in coming to the university to be interviewed for

a job as sports information director They had just hired Dick Offenhamer, who

was my football coach at Kenmore High School, as their head football coach

So I went and was interviewed, found that out, and talked with Dick, and by

the time I walked out of there I was seriously considering the job because it

paid a hell of a lot more money So I talked it over with my wife and agreed that

maybe it would be a good place to go, and radio being radio, you’re always at

the mercy of the ratings So in 1955, I went with the University of Buffalo In

1958, we won the Lambert Cup

I worked there until 1960 The Bills came to town, and Dick Gallagher, the

general manager, called me and asked me if I’d be interested in talking to him

about going with the Bills I had never met him before He’d heard about the

University of Buffalo program, and I think Jack Horrigan, who worked at the

Buffalo Evening News, mentioned my name.

I was drafted by Philadelphia and didn’t hear from them after the draft Back in

those days, they didn’t wait until April for the draft, they did it as soon as the

college season was over After a month, I didn’t get a phone call, so Toronto wascalling me, and they came down to see me, made me an offer Well I heard fromPhiladelphia, and it was Norm Van Brocklin He was like a player-coach Hesaid, “What is this, you’re talking to Toronto?” I said, “Well, they came down tosee me.” He lit into me “Who do you think you are?! Blah, blah, blah!” So I wasthinking, “I’m not going to go there.” I had an offer from Toronto in theCanadian league—they gave me a good contract and a paid honeymoon trip toNassau I was getting married in the summer, so I jumped all over that and Iwent to Canada I was up there for four games and then they traded me toVancouver, and I looked at my wife and said, “I don’t even know whereVancouver is.” So we decided to come home.

I went back to North Carolina and worked for a bank Lou Saban called meand told me about the American Football League just starting up, and said, “Doyou want to play anymore?” And I said, “Well, I don’t know.” I just didn’t have

a good experience up in Canada But he sold me on the idea He was the headcoach in Boston at the time So I signed with the Patriots, and went up thereand played during the exhibition season The first exhibition game we played

in Buffalo, and I didn’t have a real good game, but I wasn’t bad, but the next day

I was traded to Buffalo for Al Crow, a defensive tackle Made the team withBuster and was there ever since

In 1960 I signed, I think it was $10,000 I got a $2,500 bonus But at the time,

I had to ask around, “What do guys make when they play?” The salaries justweren’t there, but I thought I was a rich man I remember buying a brand newChevrolet for $2,250

of fact Tommy O’Connell was on the team, and Ernie Warlick was on the team

We were undefeated—it was a pretty good team

When I went to the Baltimore Colts’ camp, I was there for a week, and I wasone of the smallest linemen there I didn’t know whether I was going to make

it Then a job opened up at North Dakota State, and Bucky O’Connor calledand wanted to know if I was interested in going up there, and I told him I was

I told Weeb Ewbank, the coach at Baltimore that year, I was going to take a

col-lege coaching job rather than take a chance on playing with the Colts So I went

up there for a year, then I went back to Iowa and got my Master’s, and then I

went to the University of Mexico

In 1958 and ’59, I was coaching out at the University of New Mexico with

Marv Levy, and we had a couple of winning seasons Don Perkins played on the

team At the end of that year, Marv got the California job, and I decided to go

back and play with the Bills It was a last-minute situation I was back home in

Iowa, and Buster Ramsey had coached Detroit the year before, and one of the

assistant Iowa coaches, who later became head coach for the Minnesota Vikings,

was a friend of Buster’s because he had been in Detroit when Buster was

coaching there I went up to Iowa and asked him if anybody had any contacts in

the new afl, and he knew Buster So he called Buster, and Buster told me to be

there two days later because we were starting practice It was a real quick thing

I just wanted to play some ball, enjoy it and make a little money, which was

a little as it turned out

I signed to go to Canada Of course, I wasn’t good enough in the first place, to

be honest about it At Bluffton, whoever went out for the team, made it We had

a 35- or 40-man roster My backup one year didn’t play high school football I

was an offensive specialist I didn’t mind getting hit—I don’t hit anybody I was

a running back I just wasn’t good enough But I signed to go to the

Saskatchewan Roughriders—the general manager talked me into signing He

talked to me and my coach and had us convinced: “Who would draft you in the

nfl? You’re not big enough, you come from a small college.” Sounded good to

me, so we signed

Then when the nfl draft came along, I told the guy that was scouting me,

Dick Gallagher, that I was going to Canada, but they still drafted me in the 14th

round He was the scout for the Browns that covered me in Bluffton Then

when the afl started he went to Buffalo as the general manager I was one of

the first guys he signed—$7,000, no bonus Make the team—meal money I had

been out of football for a year and worked It could have been a jfl team—I

didn’t care—I worked for a living for a year!

All-I could have went to Canada and played football All-I was recruited by the B.C.Lions in Vancouver I chose to sign with Philadelphia I spent a week inVancouver—I went out there and they treated me like a king But nfl footballwas what I wanted to play, not Canadian They offered me a hell of a lot moremoney than I would have made playing with Philadelphia.

So I was released, and I went back to Evanston, and I said, “The hell withfootball—I’m done with it.” I got a job—I worked for a recreation center inEvanston I was assistant to the director and I helped coordinate all the activ-ities with the kids, and I enjoyed that Plus I had a radio program with a sta-tion out of Evanston—a fifteen-minute sports show every morning I wouldget the sports news off the teletype and I would go on my program and coversports As a matter of fact, when the American Football League started, I madethe announcement on my program that the new league was starting up, andsome of the people that had been hired with the different franchises, and myfriend Dick Gallagher was hired with the Bills I didn’t know him then, butlater on, my parents called me and told me that the Cleveland Browns weretrying to get in touch with me They were interested in talking to me aboutpossibly playing football for them So I contacted Cleveland, and Dick was theguy that was handling the negotiations He and I met, we got a chance to knoweach other, and he signed me to a contract with the Browns I went in the mil-itary in January I had to report to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for my training Wentaway for the six months and got out a little early I got out before camp opened

in July I had a good camp with the Browns and thought I had made the team,

and I was the last guy that was released I was the final cut before the season

started

Dick Gallagher contacted me and told me that he had a job for me in Buffalo

if I wanted to come So that’s how I got to the Bills I came here and they signed

me to a contract—$7,500, no bonus I thought I had a good contract

I attended high school at West Point, Mississippi, West Point High Then went

to college at Chattanooga At the time, it was the University of Chattanooga A

guy named Jack Gregory, who played there and played for the Browns, took me

and another guy up there I was recruited by Mississippi State, Memphis State,

Mississippi Southern and the University of Kentucky But I didn’t run well—I

had a slight case of polio as a kid My coach at Chattanooga was E.C “Scrappy”

Moore, who was there about 30 years

I had some information from a couple of teams that looked at my scholastic

records A few of them came to practice and to games The Bears did, the Rams

Actually, I went to Canada—Toronto—my first year, and didn’t get to play very

much When I did play, we didn’t do very well, so I got released I went to

Pittsburgh because they drafted me At Pittsburgh I was ruled ineligible that

year because I’d played in Canada and had been picked up on waivers up there

but didn’t know about it

In ’60 I came back to Pittsburgh, and was the last cut at the end of the

exhi-bition season They were going to keep me on the taxi squad, but Buddy Parker

was the coach at Pittsburgh at the time, and he and Buster Ramsey were good

buddies from Detroit days So Buddy called me in and said, “You can go to

Buffalo if you want to, or you can stay with us if you want, but you’re not gonna

get to play here.” They had Bobby Layne and Rudy Bukich, so I went to Buffalo

I played at Florida and was drafted by the Packers I went in the service for sixmonths I went into the reserve program, and I was supposed to get out a lotearlier than I did I thought I’d be able to get to Green Bay, but as it workedout I didn’t get out until the middle of the season They wouldn’t let me go SoLombardi told me to wait and just come next year, which I did I was one ofthe last two or three to get cut from Green Bay One of the coaches was a friend

of Buster Ramsey’s, and they weren’t too fond of the afl starting up at thattime, and after lunch he caught me in the hall and asked me if I’d be interested.And he’s the one who called up Buster, and that’s how I ended up there.Bernie Buzyniski got his elbow dislocated in practice the week that I gotthere I had to practice a week or so to learn defenses before I started playing

of us were engineers When I was a freshman at Purdue, my backfield coach wasGeorge Steinbrenner

I signed with the Ottawa Rough Riders, and was injured right before the ular season started I played all the exhibition games and was injured the lastexhibition game It wasn’t a serious injury Came back home to Pennsylvania,got a call from Buster Buster said, “I need a halfback.” I said, “You got to get me

reg-a relereg-ase from the Preg-atriots.” And he did reg-and I creg-ame up here I sreg-aid give me thesame as I got in Canada, and they did

Dick Gallagher was the General Manager My connection with Gallagherwas that he was affiliated with Ottawa in the Canadian league Same withHarvey Johnson Harvey was also from the Canadian league In fact, Harveywas the one who came to Purdue to interview me for the Canadian league

I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is the hometown of Eddie Abramoski,

and we were friends at that time We both ended up at Purdue University I did

a pretty good job in high school football and was recruited by Stu Holcomb,

who was also from Erie—that gave us a little “in” at Purdue University I

fol-lowed Eddie there I was playing fullback and linebacker at Purdue—of course

we were going both ways at that time Joe Kulbacki was in the same backfield

We had a trememndous experience there because we knocked off both

Mich-igan State and Notre Dame Had a lot of good times and good experiences

while there I was a Mid-West All-American

I’d always wanted to play for the Detroit Lions, and I knew they were

looking at me I was a red-shirt draft choice Eddie was up there at the time, and

maybe had some influence—I don’t know I was in love with Detroit I was a

starter at that time along with Wayne Walker and Joe Schmidt—I was on the

strong side I was on top of the world Don Shula was our linebacker coach We

were running through a tackling drill and I hit Jim Martin, and when I turned,

I came down on my shoulder and dislocated it I was done at the time I tried

to rehabilitate it, but it just kept popping out Eventually they had to release me

I was sitting at home when Dick Gallagher called, and he asked me if I

wanted to come up to Buffalo and how my shoulder was They needed a

strong-side linebacker I said, “Well, I want to play.” So I had the opportunity to go up

there and reunite with Eddie Got up there about two or three games into the

season Dennis Remmert was here and I took his spot

In Glassport, if you play one sport, you generally play three or four sports I

played basketball, football, baseball and volleyball too at some point in time I

enjoyed the athletic experience Al Bruce was the first one to call—the recruiter

at Glassport from Penn State I think Joe Paterno came down, or Rip Engle

came down, but I committed myself to Penn State rather quickly Back in thosedays, you were lucky to get a grant aid I have two brothers One is a year and ahalf older than me, and one is six years younger than me My dad worked in thesteel mills and drove a cab and a few other things, and he put my older brotherthrough college with war bonds Then myself and Kenny—my youngerbrother—we both got grant aids We were fortunate to get scholarships I went

to Penn State, and Kenny went to Pitt We were fortunate that the three of usgot to go to college We were pleased to get an education out of something,something out of nothing We weren’t expecting to play pro football

I was a running quarterback, and back in those days we played defense also Iwasn’t a hotshot quarterback “Riverboat Richie”—we played Missouri the weekbefore the football season actually started There was a lot of coverage in Missouribecause we played in Missouri We had some plane trouble, so the plane we wentout on we couldn’t bring back twa picked us up normally later than we wouldwant to leave In the process, our sports information director got ahold of thesesteamboat pictures, and he sent them to several of the people that were covering

us because there wasn’t another football game around He sent the postcards out,and he signed them “Riverboat Richie.” That’s where that started I punted forPenn State too, and on some occasions I would end up running the football onfourth down—successfully—so it worked out nicely that way But the riverboatgambling situation, that was a combination of the riverboat being in Missouri,and there was a postcard out there with a Missouri thing on it, then the gamblerbecame my play calling, because back in those days we called our own plays.When I was drafted, I was drafted by the Washington Redskins and theBuffalo Bills I always had an idea about playing quarterback, which was prob-ably a mistake on my part because the Washington Redskins wanted me to playdefensive halfback, which was really what my skills were all about Buffalo saidthey’d give me a chance to play quarterback I could have been a really goodrunning quarterback, but back in those days, there were no such things as run-ning quarterbacks

I met with Ralph Wilson He came down to Penn State and we had dinner

at the Nittany Lion Inn It wasn’t a matter of money with me—it was a matter

of playing something you enjoyed doing I was awfully nice, in a manner ofspeaking I didn’t realize the power that you have when you’re the number onedraft choice

Back in those days, there wasn’t a whole lot of coverage about anything Evenfootball on tv was minor In those days you couldn’t even find football on tv Ididn’t have a high expectation for anything at the pro level I enjoyed the factthat I had a chance to play with some ex-pros who had been at other schools orother teams who joined us in Buffalo I’m not sure how good we were

I went to college at Iowa Sate I was a guard on offense and a linebacker on

defense We played in the Big Seven, and they had Oklahoma, Nebraska, we

didn’t get much attention About the only thing I ever made was third-string

All-Phi Delta—Phi Delta Theta was my fraternity In my senior year, I was still

20 years old, so I was still growing, and I think our coach passed my name on

to the scouts I was the 28th draft choice, and that was the last draft choice

The Lions won the nfl that year, and Bobby Layne was a real party boy, and I

was single, and he liked to have a couple of rookies around in a nightclub to go

chase girls and ask them if they wanted to come over to the table Anyway, they got

down to 36 guys left at training camp, and that was on a Tuesday They were playing

the New York Giants that Sunday, and I thought I had made the team There was

another guy, and they were going to cut either him or me, and it ended up being

me For a guy from Iowa State who didn’t have many really great stars, playing for

a pro team for me was just pure fun because these guys were really good athletes

When I graduated from Iowa State in ’57, I became a second lieutenant and I

was awaiting assignment I got a call from the Toronto Argonauts I played one

year up there, and I ended up going to Japan I was in the Air Force from rotc,

and I wanted to be a pilot, but I ended up being a ground safety officer Being a

safety officer was kind of boring, so we gathered some guys together and tried to

recruit guys We had a team there, and I played two years of service ball in the Air

Force Both times we got to go to Hong Kong on R&R because we won the league

When I was in Saudi Arabia, I got a contract from the Buffalo Bills I signed

the contract because I was getting out of the service and I needed some kind of

a job, so I might as well do something fun My contract was $5,500—the

absolute minimum Fortunately I wasn’t married and didn’t have any

depen-dants, so the world was my apple

Robert L Smith

1960–2002

Photographer

In 1959, I was working for a fellow by the name of Chuck Burr, and Chuck was the

public relations director for the University of Buffalo Bulls—the football team

I was taking some pictures for him at the same time I was working for the

Buffalo Evening News These were some side jobs that I was doing Around that

time, Chuck came to me and he asked me if I would like to follow him over tothe Buffalo Bills He had just been hired by the Bills to be their first public rela-tions man I said, “Sure, I’ll come over there.” He said, “There’s only one thing,Smitty, you have to work for nothing.” I said, “Is that right?” He said, “Yes I reallywish you’d come over, and I’ll take care of you with tickets and stuff like that.” Isaid, “ok, I’ll try it out.” So I tried it for about the first year, and around ’61 and

’62, he started paying me a small amount of money to make up for the film that

I was using That’s when they decided to put me on their payroll It wasn’t verymuch, maybe $50 a week Then it just started rolling from that point on

In 1958, I was going to go back to Cleveland, but then I got drafted into theservice I spent about 21 months in the service, and then the guy that signed me

at Cleveland—Dick Gallagher—became the general manager at Buffalo Theycalled me, and Cleveland was after me too, so I had two choices—either go toCleveland or go to Buffalo They signed me in Buffalo I chose Buffalo prima-rily because of the new league and a better opportunity to make the team So Iwas happy about that Cleveland offered me less than Buffalo, but back in thosedays everybody played for nothing Nobody made much

went to Idaho State for the four years I was a walk-on—I walked on that first

year, made the varsity, and lettered four years I was captain in 1957 I think I

was the first one that was drafted by the Detroit Lions, and I went there and I

got down to the last cut I didn’t really think I would make it, and so I had set

up a high school coaching job in Idaho, so I went in and told them that I had

two children and one on the way They said, “It’s between you or another guy.”

I said, “Well, I’m not going to gamble.”

I came back to Idaho and taught school, and they said that they would bring

me back the next year I went down to the last preseason game before going into

the 1959 regular season and I blew a knee, and so I came back home and

rehabbed—went hunting and built my legs back up Then I played with the

Chicago Cardinals I played half a year with the Chicago Cardinals

I had gone back to the Cardinals, and I got the information there and went

to Buffalo Buster Ramsey was the defensive coordinator at Detroit those two

years that I messed around there I really thought a lot of Buster, and I figured

they had a lot of defensive backs at the Cardinals, and so I decided to go there

Mack Yoho

1960–1963

Defensive End, Kicker

University of Miami (Ohio)

Ht: 6’2” Wt: 230

I was born in West Virginia, sort of in the mountain country I went to a school

called East Canton, about four miles on the east side of Canton, Ohio My folks

moved up to Ohio when I was five—my dad got a job up there Like a lot of

athletes in those days, I played three sports I was probably better known as a

basketball player I was going to go to Dennison Johnny Pont, who was the

freshman coach at Miami of Ohio, lived about three miles from me He was

home visiting his parents, and a mutual friend hooked us up, and I rode back

with him They didn’t have any football scholarships, so they gave me a

basket-ball scholarship I went out for footbasket-ball and had a pretty good freshman year,

and switched over to football I never did play basketball at Miami I never

called up Dennison and told them I wasn’t coming The coach was calling the

house I guess they figured it out eventually

I didn’t get drafted because I signed with Ottawa in Canada I was told I was

going to be drafted by Green Bay, which didn’t sound like an awesome thing—

I don’t think Green Bay won a game I just felt at the time that I was a better fit

for Canada In the Canadian Football League, most of the Americans had to

play some offense and some defense I was pretty much a defensive footballplayer, and I played offense up there too At that time, I was 220 pounds I didn’tseem to have a place to fit in the nfl Tight ends were not that prevalent at thattime, or I probably would have been a tight end I could run pretty good, in fact

I was usually one of the fastest guys on the team I was too small to play a downlineman, at least in my mind, so I went up to Canada

I had known Dick Gallagher a little bit He was close to the Miami people—wehad an athletic director when I was there who had coached on the ClevelandBrowns’ staff, and they were very close friends I think he called Gallagher and said

he should probably take a look at me I didn’t know Buster Ramsey or any of theother coaches I knew Harvey Johnson He came around Miami of Ohio a lot

I had had a couple of calls from other teams, but I talked to Dick Gallagherand I said, “I don’t think the salary you’re offering is that good I’d earned more

in Canada because we won some playoff games.” He said, “You can make theextra money on playoff games here.” We didn’t play in any playoff games while

I was there My contract was for $7,500, no bonus

Glenn Bass

1961–66

Wide Receiver, Halfback

East Carolina University

Ht: 6’2” Wt: 205

I was drafted by St Louis I went to the All-American Bowl and was MostValuable Player, and that’s when San Diego jumped in the fray At that time, nothaving a good feel for what the nfl was like, I thought that with the upstartleague that maybe my chances would be better I’d also been drafted in baseball

I was a shortstop in college—made All-American at East Carolina University.But my dad was a very wise man, and he said, “Well, it’s true, you might make

it in baseball, but you’re probably going to bounce around in the minor leaguesfor several years Football, you either make it or you don’t.” I kind of liked thatphilosophy I needed to get on with my life So I chose the latter

I went to training camp in San Diego and supposedly made the team, butSid Gillman and Al Davis saw it differently They wanted to hide me on whatthey called injured reserves because they had a couple of wide receivers on no-cut contracts I said, “No, thank you Just put me on waivers.” They said, “Oh

no, nobody’d be interested.” I said, “Just put me out there, please.” So they did,and Buffalo picked me up, and that was the best move for me I got a chance toplay after the third or fourth game I got there

I didn’t want to be a center When I was in high school I was an end—a tall,

skinny end Prep school—tall, skinny end Went to Syracuse—tall, skinny end

my freshman year In my sophomore year, one day we were playing basketball

in the gym—that’s how we got in shape So coach Daly came in and he said,

“ok, you guys, I’ve got a football here Any of you can center this damn ball?”

We all said, “We’ll try.” So he marked it off, and he said, “There’s a door knob

Whoever hits that doorknob is gonna be my center.” And I hit the doorknob

From that time on, I was a center

When we were in college, our line was known as the Sizeable Seven

Everybody had a nickname I was called “Tombstone.” They had the Simmons

School of Embalming in Syracuse, and I was serious, I thought I was going to

be an undertaker someday

I didn’t know how good I was, and being a new league that’s why I wanted

to get into it Then I had a coach up at Syracuse who used to play here and he

was telling me how great the town is, how great the people were and so on, and

that’s why I picked the Buffalo Bills I figured I had a better shot at making the

team, that’s what it was I looked at both of them and the Detroit Lions needed

a center bad—they were hurting for a center—I could have gone there, or I

could have gone here The money for Detroit I think was $1,000 more My

salary was $8,500, and my bonus was $1,500—which was a lot of money

The reason I went to Buffalo was I knew somebody up there, a guy by the name

of Richie McCabe He played with Washington, and then he went to Buffalo

That’s what dragged me up there I contacted them, and they said come on up

Buster Ramsey was there, and Buster helped me out Buster was sort of rough,

but I tell you, I liked Buster I thought he was a great guy, I thought he was a

great coach, too I played with his brother, Knox, in the nfl

we also played at lsu together.

In my second year in Detroit I was the last cut George Wilson was the coach

He offered me a chance to be on the taxi squad at full salary if I stayed RalphWilson, the owner of the Buffalo Bills, lived in Detroit He called GeorgeWilson and asked if he could talk to me, and we did talk on the telephone atthat time, and he told me what he wanted to do, what they could do for me Heoffered me a little more money and a small bonus and a chance to play, and Isaid, “Well, that sounds good to me.” It sounded like I’d get a little better chance

to play So that’s how it happened

In my senior year in college, my leg got busted up real bad against Oklahoma

in the first game of the season That put me out for half the season I found outthe Lions were going to draft me, but they were concerned about my leg I wasdrafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers Calgary sent me a no-cut contract to gothere, so I had to decide whether I was going to Pittsburgh or Calgary I flewdown to Pittsburgh and they wanted to test my leg because they had heardabout it They got this doctor, and he ok’ed me, so I stayed there TedMarchibroda was there, Jack Kemp, Ernie Staughtner and Lenny Dawson Then

I ended up at the Lions I was on their taxi squad, and then they put me on theirregular squad

When I called the Bills, I called Bob Dove and Buster Ramsey because I was

at the Lions with them both I told them my situation, that I was released by theVikings, and they said, “Come on down.” I hadn’t been at training camp with

them At the time that I talked to them I was really down and out—this was a

miracle to me because of the things that had happened and the time of the

season I was really depressed, so I was so glad to get to Buffalo

I did not think about playing pro football until midway through my senior

year in college My idol when I was growing up was Lou Groza I did some

placekicking and played tackle like him Back in the late ’50s they were on

every time you turned the tv on, and he became my idol In my senior year,

Lou Groza came to Tech He was hurt—he had some back problems and was

working as a scout There was another tackle at Tech named Ed Neddington,

and Ed was bigger than I was, and coach Dodd asked us to match our abilities

against one another for Groza—run a wind sprint, and we did all that and we

went into the dressing room and Groza told me, “Bill, I admire your spunk,

your willingness to play You’re a great college player, but I don’t think you’ll

ever be big enough to play pro ball We got on the scale, and I weighed 219, and

Ed weighed around 250 Well, here is my idol telling me I can’t play Well, I

went on a diet—the right kind of diet—and by the time the draft came along

I was up to 230 And then by the time I got to the All-Star game I was right at

250 Patsy and I married between my junior and senior year, and she started

feeding me really good

We went to the All-Star game in Chicago—this was after I signed with

Buffalo—Stew Barber, Art Baker and myself played in the All-Star game, and I

was playing defensive end, and I was stinking the place up, and they moved me

to offensive guard because the guy that was playing offensive guard was

stinking it up, and that guy happened to be Houston Antwine He went across

to the other side of the ball and he became my nemesis forever But if they

hadn’t have made that swap in the All-Star game, he would have never made it

at offensive guard, and I would have never made it at defensive end, so Otto

Graham saved our lives

I actually signed with Buffalo before the nfl draft, and the reason that I did

that was that Dallas had made contact with me before the draft and they

wanted to play me at linebacker, and I had never played linebacker So I sat

down with coach Dodd, who coached the Tech linemen, and he recommended

that I go to Buffalo because they wanted me to play on either side of the ball.

So I signed with Buffalo prior to the nfl draft, and the Cowboys drafted me inthe 14th round, 184th overall, thinking that the afl would fold and they’d have

I didn’t expect to be drafted—I didn’t even expect to play professional football,

it never entered my mind Lou Saban was with the Boston Patriots earlier, and

my intent was to play baseball, and back in those days you could not sign a fessional contract and play sports in college So when Lou went with thePatriots, he talked about a free agency thing, and I said, “Fine, we’ll sign a con-tract However, you need to keep it in your drawer until baseball season is over,and then we’ll go from there.” In the process, he got fired from the Patriots, and

pro-so he said, “What should I do with this contract?” I said, “Throw it away—tear

it up,” not understanding the circumstances that could have happened around

it, because I said, “Give me a call when you get to wherever else you’re going.” Ijust assumed that he was going to be going with another professional team, andfortunately he ended up with the Bills He called me, and I said, “Send me acontract.” In the process of all that, baseball, I was trying to play but didn’tbecause of the circumstances I played a lot of summer ball, I played college ball

as well That was the area that I was going to go into I knew I was going to have

to go into the minor leagues or something of that nature Football gave me anopportunity to either go right into being a big leaguer or not, and that gave me

an opportunity

In between Saban and the Patriots and the Bills, the Oakland Raiders sent

me a letter about talking to me about free agency, and that really piqued myinterest because I have a lot of relatives that lived in the Bay Area, and I alwayswanted to go to California I said, “This is great!” But the coach out there gotfired, so I never heard anything from them So I signed the contract with theBills when Saban got there, so it all worked out great The ownership—they setthe tone—$7,500—they called the shots I don’t know if Saban had the ability

to offer a bonus because he was just a coach, he was not the general manager

It didn’t make any difference whether I went to the afl or the nfl

I was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and after the war we just up and left in a short

period of time My first two years of high school were in Florence, a school of

200 kids, and I started my freshman and sophomore year Then we moved to

Phoenix, so in my junior and senior year I went to North Phoenix High School,

a school of 4,000 kids So in my junior and senior year I wasn’t even starting

But I was the only one that ever went into pro ball, so they’re impressed with

that part of it anyway

I went a year of junior college, then I came over to Arizona State and Dan

Devine was coaching Dan and I had a little run-in because I felt like I was a

hell of a lot better than the starters and wasn’t getting any playing time So I

told him what to do with the football and joined the Marine Corps When I got

out, Frank Kush was coaching—he was the line coach under Devine and then

took over as head coach—and I went to him and asked him if I could try out

for a scholarship He said, “Yeah.” So I tried out, and in about a week and a half

I went from holding dummies to first team I played three years with him

Playing at Arizona State, we didn’t have any depth—you were in there for the

whole ball game To play in the heat we had down there, we used to recruit our

linemen out of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana—those places We would get

running backs or fullbacks that were maybe 245 to 250, and bring them out here

and make linemen out of them At the end of the whole deal, they weighed 215

I started off at 210 and at the end of the season I was down to about 195 We

practiced in Tempe in temperatures that were over 100 When I came to

Buffalo, I thought I died and went to heaven

I never gave it too much thought that I was going to be playing because of

my size But there were a couple of fellows that I knew who went into pro ball,

and I watched them on television and I thought, “Holy crap—I’m a hell of a lot

better than that.” So that gave me some incentive

I was scouted, and Dallas was very interested There were a couple of other

teams that were really interested in me until they came out to see how big I was

When they noticed that I was around 200 pounds they thought, “This guy can’t

play in pro ball.” But there was an All-Star game, the big schools against the

small schools in the Senior Bowl in Tucson, and apparently Buffalo had a scout

down there We were playing against larger ball players and I was able to handle

them ok, so Buffalo thought, “If this guy picks up a couple of pounds, he can

play.” So Mr Gallagher wrote me a letter, and there was a $200 check and a tract for $8,500 And he said, “Sign the contract and cash the check, and we’vegot a deal.” So I gave him a call, and I said, “Mr Gallagher, I got a $10,000 offerfrom the Toronto Argonauts and $500 bonus.” He said, “Hell, if I was you, I’dtake that!” I was just bullshitting him trying to get it up a little bit more But Itold him that I just wanted to play in the states—I didn’t want to go up there.

con-He said, “I’ll tell you what, if you make the team, I’ll give you another $500.” Isaid, “You’ve got a deal.”

he quit and went to the Pittsburgh Steelers I spent the rest of 1957 backing upEarl Morrall in Pittsburgh with Lenny Dawson I went in the Army Reservesand spent six months in basic training at Fort Ord When I got out, I had a case

of viral pneumonia, and I was getting married, so I didn’t work out, I didn’tthrow any, and that was unlike me because I was in incredible shape My col-lege years I lifted weights, I threw the javelin, I pitched baseball—I was always

in great shape In ’58 I was not in good shape I didn’t have a good pre-season,got cut in the fifth or sixth game of the preseason Went back to California andgot telegrams from the Browns, Colts and Giants I was a pretty good punter—

I punted for the Steelers—and I was asked to come to Cleveland and Baltimorefor punting, and New York as a potential quarterback on the taxi squad So Iwent to the Giants, and was on the taxi squad for about three weeks behindCharley Conerly and Don Heinrich One of them got hurt, and they activated

me In fact, Dan Maynard and I got activated at the same time—he was on thetaxi squad with me—and we spent the rest of the year on the Giants’ team Wehad a good season, but I didn’t play—I just backed up Heinrich and Conerly Iran the other teams’ offenses for practice Vince Lombardi was the offensivecoach, so I learned a lot from Vince Lombardi

I wanted to go back to the Giants Jim Finks was the general manager, and

he suggested I go to Canada for a year of football and then come back to theGiants I signed with the Calgary Stampeders, but the Stampeders had drafted

Joe Kapp, an All-American from California They had a rule about how many

American quarterbacks a cfl team could carry Their season starts early, and

my wife had had our first baby in June, so I came back in semi-retirement I was

going to go to Long Beach State for a Master’s Degree I was in great shape now

because I had been throwing hard and lifting weights, so I sent telegrams to

about six teams that I thought needed a backup quarterback, and I just said

something like, “I’m in good shape, I’ve been hanging around the nfl for three

years…” There were only 12 teams in the league in the ’50s, and there were only

34 or 35 guys on a squad, so it was really tight I heard back from three teams,

and I chose the 49ers because they were the most interested They had Y.A

Tittle and John Brodie I went up there and I was on the taxi squad, doing the

same thing for them that I did for the Giants the year before, and Tittle gets

hurt, so I got activated for the Cleveland Browns game I’m all dressed in

Cleveland—Paul Brown was the owner, Bert Bell was the commissioner—

Brown calls Bert Bell and complains that I was in Canada earlier in the year and

the nfl contract says you can’t be activated in the National Football League if

you’ve been in the Canadian league I had played literally a half a quarter in

Canada, so I should have sued them for anti-trust Red Hickey was the 49ers’

coach, and I had done the pre-game warm-up, and he came in and said, “Jack,

I’ve got bad news Bert Bell just called and said you can’t suit up today—it’s

against the nfl rules.”

This got a lot of publicity back in California where the American league was

being talked about, and the Chargers had an old friend of mine, Don

Klosterman, I think he was the personnel director for Sid Gillman and Frank

Leahy When I got back to San Francisco, and I got a phone call from

Klosterman, and I went down and met him and Frank Leahy and Sid Gillman

I had had three years of being around nfl football, and I had a good strong arm

and I was in good shape, and they signed me to a contract to be the first

Charger quarterback Ironically, I had talked with Ralph Wilson in San

Francisco, because he had called and we talked in a hotel room, he and his

brother, and I wanted a no-cut contract and he wouldn’t do it So I signed with

the Chargers

I had a good year in L.A the first year We didn’t have great crowds, but we

won the Western Division championship—lost to Houston in Houston Barron

Hilton moved the team to San Diego, and that was tremendous blessing for me

and the Chargers—we loved San Diego We won the Western Division, but lost

to the Oilers again I led the league in passing In ’62, we started off strong They

drafted John Hadl—he was backing me up but we’re both competitive We

played the Titans, and I threw a pass to Lance Alworth, who scored a

touch-down, but I hit the helmet of a blitzing linebacker and dislocated my right

finger, but I stayed in the game because I didn’t want Hadl to play After thegame was over, my finger looked like a baseball, so clearly I wasn’t going to beable to play—I couldn’t even brush my teeth much less throw the ball So I didn’tpractice, but I was on the team, and the night before the next game, Sid tries tosneak me through on injured reserve The rule says a team can’t do that the nightbefore a game, because that’s manipulating your schedule So the penalty wasthat I could go to another team, and three or four other teams claimed me JoeFoss was commissioner, and he decided that Buffalo needed a quarterback Icould have gone to Denver with Jack Faulkner, who was my coach in San Diego,

or gone to the Patriots, but they gave me to the Bills, which turned out to be ablessing in disguise My mother told me, “No door closes that another doordoesn’t open.” So, the door to the Bills opened, and I played the last five games

of the year, and we did pretty well I had to play with a brace on my finger

To go into Case Tech, which is strictly an engineering school, there was verylittle help as far as scholarship is concerned, and we had to take the youngsterswho appeared for practice at three different times during the day, so you neverhad a cohesive set-up What I learned was that I made the mistake I looked atthese players that they could be able to do the same things that we did on thepro level I remember one time, the best player on the team got exasperated andlooked at me and said, “Listen, coach, we’re not the Cleveland Browns! We’rejust Case Tech—nuts and bolts!” I looked at him, and I said the only thing Icould say: “Thank you.” But that set a new mindset in my mind You can’t just

walk onto a golf course and say, “I’m going to shoot par.” You’re going to have

to work at it, but it taught me one thing rather quickly in my coaching career,

that I’d better try to see if I could get to each one individually and go from

there What made them tick? I think that helped me a great deal over the years

I spent in coaching

What had happened at Case Tech was the president walked into my office

after three years and said, “Listen, what would you do if we dropped football?”

And of course he did drop it I enjoyed it there I knew I didn’t have to expect

great things happening, but I was enjoying working with young people who

were there for a purpose outside of football I only had about two months to

get organized, and all of a sudden an opening took place up at the University

of Washington That was the only job I could get because it was late in the

spring as far as getting jobs

I wanted to go back to Northwestern because a couple of the coaches that

were there were actually on the coaching staff for Paul Brown, and my home is

in that general area—LaGrange, Illinois—and my wife was a graduate of

Northwestern George Steinbrenner was one of my staff He himself was having

some tough bounces, and he came in and I had known him from the days when

I was playing with the Cleveland Browns We had put on an event there, the

1948 City Olympics He walked in by accident when I was at Northwestern

because we were taking over a horrible situation at the time I kind of have a

feeling that I can solve all of these problems, which I have been trying to do all

of my life Every once in a while you run into a cement wall But I said, “George,

I’d like to have someone work with my receivers, and so on…” And I knew he’d

be an exceptional recruiter, so we hired him

After I had taken over the club, it was chaos Northwestern couldn’t have

gotten any lower—it got to the point before we even started they’d already

selected a man to take over the job, so I was told, “You’re just a fill-in.” If I had

known that, I wouldn’t have accepted the job in the first place I was told that

someone had already been selected, but he had one more year to finish at

Purdue and then was going to take over It was complete turmoil, one of the

most difficult years I had in coaching, realizing there’s no way I can help

Anyway, for the youngsters who were there, at least they tried, we lost a lot of

close ball games, but trying to develop a team it was a great learning lesson It

was a lesson as to when you go to work for an institution or for a particular

person that if he changes the rules of the game, you’re going to have to make a

decision that you’re either going to accept what he has set up, or else you’re

going to get out

The strangest thing happened at Western Illinois I had gone down to the

coaches’ convention in Cincinnati, and I was in tough shape, nobody would

accept me after what happened at Northwestern Jobs were tough to find, so Ifinally said to a friend of mine, “I’ve got to get back home I’ve got about thirtybucks in my pocket, and I’m going to catch the first train out of here.” As I waswalking out the door, this gentleman patted me on the shoulder and says, “I’mFrank Bugh I’m the president of Western Illinois You come on up for us andyou can go to work.” I got there and we had three fantastic years.

When the afl came up, I debated it for a long time Boston was the last team

in the league, and we just picked up what was left, and I figured it was going totake a year to build, and by the second year we’ll be in pretty good shape Butthe same thing happened—we went through the building year, got the squad ingreat shape, and all of a sudden the ownership and the president of the groupcame out to see me after about the fourth or fifth game I noticed that one of

my coaches, Mike Holovak, was not out there for practice, and I just made theremark to my coaching staff—Collier was there, Miller was there—and all of asudden this person came out and said, “Coach, I want to talk to you.” Then ithit me I said to myself, “Wait a minute, something’s happened here, and nowwe’ve got ourselves a pretty good football team.” I said, “Have you actually hiredMike Holovak for the job?” He said, “Yes, we have.” I couldn’t believe it I looked

at him and said, “We’ve gotten ourselves two defensive tackles we needed, andnow you’ve got a football team that can play.” Apparently they got upset with

me because one of the youngsters that we had replaced was a player from[Holovak’s school] So I just packed my bag and got in Joe Collier’s car, didn’teven take a shower And traveled as a group of five, or four, because at that time

we weren’t getting paid that much money, and I said to them, “I can’t stand what happened here Why did this take place?”

under-At that time I had a battle with myself I said, “My God, I’ve had three or fourjobs and the only one that was worthwhile was Western Illinois, and the reason

it was worthwhile was that Frank Bugh said, “If you run your ball club, I thinkyou’ll know when you have to leave if you’re not doing well.” I was taught by myfather that as a man you should know when you’ve done your best job andyou’ve reached the limit and you can’t go any further Don’t punish what you’vebuilt Be able to go ahead and leave And that’s pretty much the philosophy I’veworked on all the time My father set standards He said, “If people believe inwhat you’re doing they’ll stick with you, but as soon as they decide to change therules of the game, you’re going to find yourself in deep trouble.”

Boston let me go after the fifth game, and they won all the next games, and

I wasn’t surprised because they had a good football team Dick Gallagher fromthe Bills called and said, “We need somebody to get on the road and check per-sonnel, and so on.” So I decided to accept it, keep myself in the midst of things,but I had no ideas about what I was going to do I recruited through the end of