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BUFFALO
BILLS
American Football League
Charter Members

Click the logo to see a tribute to the 1965  AFL Champions.

FRONT ROW: Ted Wegert, Tommy O'Connell, Elbert Dubenion, Jack Johnson, Bill Atkins, Buster Ramsey (Head Coach), La Verne Torczon (Captain), Wilmer Fowler, Richie Lucas, Carl Smith, Joe Kulbacki, Wray Carlton, Billy Canard.

SECOND ROW: Harvey Johnson (Assistant Coach), Dan McGrew, Bernie Buzynski, Dick Brubaker, Jack Laraway, John Green, Phil Blazer, Monte Crockett, Jim Wagstaff, Richie McCabe, Joe Schafter, Archie Matsos, Floyd "Breezy"Reid (Assistant Coach).

THIRD ROW: Bob Dove (Assistant Coach), Ed Abramowski (Trainer), Harold Olson, Ed Muelhapt, Dan Chamberlain, Bob Sedlock, Tom Rychlec, Chuck McMurtry, John Scott, Jim Sorey, Ed Meyer, Don Chelf, Mack Yoho, Ed Dingman, (Equipment Manager).

MISSING FROM PHOTO: Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. (owner), Dick Gallagher (GM), Robert Barrett, Fred Ford, Darrell Harper, Joe Hergert, Al Hoisington, Harold Lewis, Leroy Moore, Dennis Remmer, Charles Rutkowski.

     Photo Courtesy of Jack Laraway, No. 57, fifth from left in second row.  Note that the list includes the ENTIRE team complement of admiistrators, coaches, staff and players: a total of FIFTY-ONE!  Click the photo to enlarge it.

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Cookie Gilchrist, Lou Saban
& Wray Carlton

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War Memorial Stadium ~ Home of the American Football League Buffalo Bills

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     A 1960 program from lb Jack Laraway (57).  Laraway was with the Oilers when they won the 1961 AFL title.

       Stew Barber (77), Al Bemiller (50), and Joe O'Donnell (67) protect against the New York Jets' pass rush for Grambling's James Harris (12). In 1969, Harris was the first black ever to begin a professional football season as his team's starting quarterback.

     In the American Football League, a predominantly offensive league, the Buffalo Bills were a great defensive team.  With a linebacking corps of Harry Jacobs, Mike Stratton, and John Tracey; and defensive line stalwarts like Tom Day, Tom Sestak, Jim Dunaway, and Ron McDole, the Bills defense did not allow a rushing touchdown for seventeen straight games over a period of the 1964 and 1965 seasons.   Their pass defense was just as good as their run defense, registering fifty quarterback sacks in 1964, still a team record, although it was established in a 14-game season. 

     The Bills won AFL championships in both of those seasons. They were the first American Football League team to win 13 games in a season (1964); were one of only three teams to appear in an AFL championship game for three successive years; and the only AFL team to apear in the playoffs four straight years, 1963 through 1966.  Balancing their defensive prowess, the Bills had offensive muscle as well, in stars such as running backs Cookie Gilchrist and Wray Carlton, quarterbacks Jack Kemp and Daryle Lamonica, and receivers Elbert Dubenion and Ernie Warlick.

The following Bills are in the American Football League Hall of Fame

George "Butch" Byrd
Elbert Dubenion
Jim Dunaway
Booker Edgerson
Tom Flores
Cookie Gilchrist
Harry Jacobs
Jack Kemp
Bob Kalsu
Daryle Lamonica
Keith Lincoln

Paul Maguire
Ron McDole
Art Powell
George Saimes
Tom Sestak
Billy Shaw
O.J. Simpson
Mike Stratton
John Tracey
Ernie Warlick

Lou Saban

Ralph Wilson

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Billy Shaw ~ the only Pro Football
Hall of Fame member who played
his entire career in the AFL, and
never played a down in the NFL.

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1964 AFL Championship ring courtesy of Ernie Warlick

        


Tom Janik, George Saimes & Harry Jacobs

Richie Lucas ~ 1960

Shaw and Gilchrist block for Bobby Smith
(Original oil painting by Ange Coniglio, 1965.)

Charley Ferguson

BUTCH BYRD

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        George "Butch" Byrd of Boston University was one of the best running backs and pass receivers on the Terrier football team of the early '60s.  He joined the Bills in 1964 and immediately made an impact in the defensive backfield, with seven interceptions. 
         Byrd was also a solid punt returner for his entire career.  Byrd had an outstanding performance in the 1965 American Football League Championship game against the Chargers.  He held Chargers receiver Don Norton to one reception and knocked him unconscious with a block at the line of scrimmage in the third period. 
         But his biggest play of the game was a scintillating punt return, when Byrd took a John Hadl punt and with fabulous blocking, went 74 yards for a TD.  Byrd holds the Bills' career records for interceptions (40), interception return yards (666) and interceptions returned for touchdowns (5). 
          He was a five-time American Football League All-Star, and selected to the second team, All-time All-AFL.

WRAY CARLTON

        In his early years with the Bills, Duke's Wray Carlton formed a virtually unstoppable backfield tandem with Cookie Gilchrist.  He scored the Bills first-ever touchdown against the Broncos in 1960, and led the team in rushing that first year.  Later he  helped the Bills win back-to-back league championships in 1964 and 1965.  Perennially among the AFL's top rushers, he led the league in rushing touchdowns in 1965 and was voted to the American Football League All-Star team in 1965 and 1966.   Carlton was the Bills' all-time leading rusher during their AFL years, with a 4.1 yards per carry average. 

ELBERT DUBENION

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        Elbert Dubenion of Bluffton College had tremendous speed, great hands and excellent running skills.  As a rookie for the Buffalo Bills in 1960, "Duby" or "Golden Wheels" had 7 touchdowns and 752 receiving yards on 42 catches, a 17.9 yds/catch average. He ran 16 times for 94 yards and a TD, a 5.6 yds/carry average. In 1961, facing tighter and deeper coverages, he upped his production as a runner, rushing for 173 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries, a 10.3 yds/carry average.   He had 31 catches for 461 yards and 6 TDs.  In 1964, Duby had one of the most sensational seasons of any receiver in pro football history, 10 touchdowns and 27.1 yards per catch on 42 receptions for 1,139 yards, (14 game season).  In 9 seasons, he totalled 296 receptions for 5,424 yards and 36 TDs for a career average of 18.3 yds/catch. He rushed for 360 yards and 3 TDs on 48 carries, a career average of 7 yds/carry.  Dubenion ranks seventh all-time in the AFL in receptions and reception yardage.      He holds the record for the longest reception in AFL playoff history, a 93-yd reception for a TD from Daryle Lamonica against the Boston Patriots in 1963. Dubenion was an American Football League All-Star in 1964, the year of the Bills' first league championship.

BOOKER EDGERSON

      Booker Edgerson of Western Illinois University was a cornerstone of the Buffalo Bills' defense in the mid-1960s, at left cornerback.
      A four-year letterman (football, baseball, wrestling, track & field); in 1959 and '60, he led the WIU football team to the only consecutive undefeated seasons in school history, and is in the WIU Hall of Fame.
       Booker signed as a free agent with the Bills in 1962 and stepped into a starting role at left cornerback.  He made a career-high six interceptions (including two in his first game, against Hall of Famer George Blanda), and was named to the AFL All-Rookie team.
       Edgerson's college background as a sprinter and long jumper served him well in the demanding role of man-to-man pass coverage. The AFL featured many dangerous receivers at that time including San Diego's Lance Alworth. But Edgerson became one of the key components of the league's best defense, and he was the only man ever to catch Alworth from behind, more than once.  One came in the third quarter of the 1965 Thanksgiving game, when Edgerson tackled Alworth and caused a fumble, recovered by John Tracey in the 20-20 tie.

       Edgerson appeared in playoffs four consecutive years, and in three straight AFL Championship games. The Bills beat the San Diego Chargers in 1964 and again in 1965, when Edgerson was selected as an American Football League All-Star.   He had 23 interceptions in his eight-year career in Buffalo, and scored on two, including one against Joe Namath.   He also forced and returned a fumble for the deciding score in a 1969 game against the Bengals, played in blizzard conditions.
       Edgerson retired to Buffalo, where he has been involved in numerous charitable endeavors through the Bills Alumni, and was the 1993 recipient of the Ralph C. Wilson Award.

COOKIE GILCHRIST

        A legendary player in the American Football League, Cookie Gilchrist came from six years of super-stardom in the Canadian Football League, where he played fullback, linebacker, lineman and placekicker, and gained over 4,800 yards rushing.  Gilchrist was a CFL All-Star five straight years, with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 1956 and 1957 , in 1958 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and with the Toronto Argonauts in 1959 and 1960.  For Buffalo, he ran and kicked, though he insisted he could have played both ways.  He was the first 1,000-yard American Football League rusher, with 1,096 in a 14-game schedule in 1962.  He and later, Paul Robinson (Bengals, 1968), were the only two men to rush for over 1,000 yards in their first year in a U.S. pro football league.  In 1962 year Gilchrist set the all-time AFL record for touchdowns with 13, and earned league MVP honors.  He rushed for 243 yards and scored 5 tds  in a single game against the NY Jets in 1963, setting a pro football record.  Though he was only with the Bills for three years  (1962-1964), he remains the team's fifth leading rusher all-time, and led the league in scoring in each of his three years as a Bill.   Gilchrist ran for 122 yards in the Bills' 1964 American Football League championship defeat of San Diego, 20-7.   His 4.5 yds/rush average is second as a Bill only to O.J. Simpson. 

       Gilchrist led a successful boycott of New Orleans as the site of the American Football League All-Star game after the 1964 season, in an early civil rights victory for black athletes.  He was an AFL All-Star in 1962, 1963, 1964, and while with the Denver Broncos in 1965, when he rushed for 954 yards.  He also played for the Miami Dolphins in 1966 and finished his AFL career in Denver in 1967.  In November of 2006, Cookie received honorable mention in the selection of the 50 greatest CFL players of all time.  Cookie was the only former AFL player to receive this honor.  In 2007, he is fighting and winning a battle against throat cancer. (click here for more)

PETE GOGOLAK

HARRY JACOBS

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JACK KEMP

Jack Kemp (Occidental College) won two AFL Western Division championships with the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers, and played in the first two AFL Championship games in 1960 and 1961, before being picked up by the Bills.  He led Buffalo to three straight Eastern Division titles and two American Football League championships, in 1964 and 1965, throwing to Hall of Fame receivers Elbert Dubenion and Ernie Warlick. 
           Kemp was the first 3,000 yard passer in the American Football League (1960, 14-game schedule) and the league's Most Valuable Player in 1965.  He had the most career passes attempted, most completions and most yards gained passing in the history of the American Football League, although he sat out 1968 with an injury.
          Jack Kemp was an American Football League All-Star six consecutive years and for seven of the league's ten years, and the only American Football League quarterback to be a starter in five AFL Championship Games.   Kemp co-founded the American Football League Players Association and was elected its president five times.

PAUL MAGUIRE

Paul Maguire, a Hall of Fame tight end at The Citadel, led the nation in touchdown receptions in 1959.   In 1960, he was selected as an original Los Angeles Charger, where he was a punter and linebacker.  Maguire joined the Buffalo Bills in 1963 and was an ace at the "coffin corner" punt. 
          He contributed to three Bills' Eastern Division titles, and their American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965. 
          He was involved in one of the most spectacular plays in Bills' history in the 1965 American Football League Championship game against the Chargers.  Butch Byrd took a John Hadl punt and with outstanding blocking, took it 74 yards for a TD. The last two blocks were by Maguire, crushing two Chargers - Hadl and Dave Kocourek. 
          Paul Maguire played in six of the AFL's ten title games - three with the Chargers and three with the Bills, and he was the league's all-time punter in punts and yardage. 
         Maguire went on to a long career as a television network personality and broadcaster of college and professional football.  

RON McDOLE

       Ron McDole was nicknamed "the Dancing Bear" because he was nimble-footed despite his size.
        The defensive end from Nebraska came to the Bills after spending the 1962 season with the Houston Oilers.  McDole went on to anchor the left side of the Bills' great defensive line for the next eight seasons. The Bills finished tied with the Boston Patriots for the AFL's Eastern Division title in 1963, losing the  playoff game to the Pats.
       They would win the division for the next three years, winning two American Football League championships, in 1964 and in 1965.   He and  his defensive team-mates held the opposition without a rushing touchdown in 17 straight games over 1964-1965.  McDole was the defensive team captain during those years, and an AFL All-Star in 1965 and 1967.   He was selected to the All-Time All-AFL second team.

    
A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

GEORGE SAIMES

        An All-American at defensive back and fullback for Michigan State, the Spartan MVP in 1961 and 1962 and a member of their all-time defensive team, George Saimes joined the Buffalo Bills in 1963.  He quickly developed into an outstanding safety and became a key member of the outstanding Bills defensive squads, which produced American Football League Championships in 1964 and 1965. In 1964 he had a career-high six interceptions and earned the first of his five American Football League All-Star game appearances. He achieved All-American Football League honors five times, and he is a member of the American Football League All-time Team. 

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

TOM SESTAK

        In 1962, the Buffalo Bills drafted Tom Sestak as a tight end in the 17^th round from McNeese State. It was one of the Bills' best draft picks ever.   Sestak never played end for the Bills, but became one of the greatest defensive tackles in the history of the game.   
         At 6-4, Tom Sestak had the size, speed and strength to handle any offensive lineman.    He was a starter in his rookie year and, until a series of knee injuries slowed him down, he played without parallel in the American Football League.  What separated him from other linemen was his great strength. 
         More than once Sestak amazed the opposition and his fans by reaching up, while sprawled on the turf behind the line of scrimmage, and tackling a running back in full stride, for a loss!  Twice during his outstanding career he realized the defensive lineman's "dream", returning interceptions for touchdowns. 
          Sestak was and American Football League All-Star for three consecutive years in 1963, 1964 and 1965.  He was the cornerstone of a defense that took the Bills to the AFL championships in 1964 and 1965, while holding opposing rushers without a touchdown  for 17 straight games, and a member of the All-Time American Football League Team.

BILLY SHAW

        Drafted in 1961 by the Buffalo Bills, Billy Shaw of Georgia Tech was the prototypical "pulling guard" who despite his size held his own against Hall of Fame defensive linemen like Ernie Ladd, Earl Faison and Buck Buchanan.    With the Bills, won three straight Eastern Division titles and two American Football League championsips in 1964 and 1965. First-team All-American Football League selection five times (1962 through 1966) and second team All-AFL in 1968 and 1969. Played in eight American Football League All-Star games and was named to the All-Time American Football League Team.  Made All-Decade pro football team of the 1960s.  Shaw played his entire career in the American Football League, and is the only player ever inducted to the "pro football" hall of fame, without ever playing in the NFL. 
       In the foreword of Jeffrey J. Miller's book Rockin' the Rockpile, Shaw says "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 all those who like me grew up in the AFL. My nine seasons with the AFL's Buffalo Bills provided me with the fondest of memories and lasting friendships." (Click here for Behr on Shaw)

(Click here for Shaw mementoes)

MIKE STRATTON

      From TENNESSEE, Mike Stratton had six interceptions for the Buffalo Bills as a rookie in 1962.  Stratton was selected as an American Football League All-Star six straight seasons from 1963 through 1968, and was one of the Bills' league-best linebacking crew that helped them achieve American Football League championships in 1964 and 1965.  In the 1964 AFL championship game against the San Diego Chargers, he made the memorable "hit heard 'round the world".  The Chargers led 7-0 and were marching toward another score when Stratton tackled the Chargers' Hall-of-Famer Keith Lincoln, putting him out of the game. The Bills shut out San Diego for the rest of the game, and won, 20-7.   Stratton was selected to the All-Time All AFL second team.

    
A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

JOHN TRACEY

      At TEXAS A&M, John Tracey held school records for most receptions and most yards receiving.  When he joined the Bills in 1962, Lou Saban liked his speed and agility, and used him at linebacker, where with Harry Jacobs and Mike Stratton he filled out the American Football League's best linebacking crew, playing together for 67 consecutive games from 1963 through 1967.  They helped the formidable front four hold opposing teams without a 100-yard rusher for seventeen consecutive games in 1964 and 1965, and achieved American Football League championships in both those years.  In 1963 he led the team with five interceptions.  Tracey was an AFL All-Star in 1965 and 1966.

    
A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

ERNIE WARLICK

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        Ernie Warlick, a tight end from from North Carolina Central University, was a three time All-Canadian Football League player before joining the Bills in 1962.  He had an average of 17.2 yds/catch with the Bills, while the team earned three straight Eastern Division titles and two American Football League championships, with a 20.8 yds/catch average in 1964.   When Billy Shaw and Dave Behrman were injured for the 1965 American Football League championship game, he helped bolster the Bills' offensive blocking in a double tight end offense. In that game, he also scored the first touchdown in the Bills 23-0 victory over the Chargers, on an eighteen yard pass from Hall of Fame quarterback Jack Kemp.   Selected to the American Football League All-Star Team in 1962, '63, '64, and '65.   First black sportscaster on Buffalo television, elected to the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 1998, received the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Distinguished Service Award in 2000, and was inducted to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2005.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

LOU SABAN

      Lou Saban, a legendary coach in the American Football League, played college ball at the University of Indiana where he was All-Big Ten qb one year, and All-Big Ten fb in another. He began his pro career with the Cleveland Browns of the All America Football Conference. He was the team captain as the Browns dominated the AAFC in all four years of the league’s existence. Saban was twice voted to the league's All-Star team as a linebacker. He went on to be head coach at Case Institute, and assistant coach at Northwestern University. In 1955, Saban was named as the head coach at Northwestern. Two years later, he moved on to Western Illinois University, where he would remain as head coach until he entered the professional football ranks to guide the Boston Patriots of the newly formed American Football League. In his last season at Western Illinois, his team had a perfect 9-0 record.
      In  the early 1960s the Buffalo Bills enjoyed an era of glory. The driving force behind it was Lou Saban, whose style of coaching won him the respect, love and loyalty of his players.  "Trader Lou" came to the Buffalo Bills as head coach in 1962, from the Boston Patriots.  He set to work building the Bills into a formidable defensive team, with a strong offense as well.

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        In 1964 and 1965 the Bills went 12-2 and 10-3-1, enroute to consecutive AFL championships. He was the only American Football League coach to win two consecutive championships, and was named Coach of the Year twice, but one week after winning his second title, he quit to become head coach at the University of Maryland, and then the Denver Broncos.  His record at Buffalo during the AFL years was 36-17-3, with winning seasons in each of his four years.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

RALPH C. WILSON, JR.

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. was one of the forward-thinking businessmen contacted by Lamar Hunt, when Hunt formed the American Football League.  Wilson was a pillar of the league, fielding the only AFL team that went to post-season play for four consecutive years, 1963 through 1966.   The Buffalo Bills won the league championship in 1964 and 1965.  Wilson made professional football a resounding success in a "small market", signing such stars as Hall of Famers Cookie Gilchrist, Jack Kemp, and Tom Sestak.  He was a guiding force in AFL policies that insured success, such as gate and television revenue sharing; his heavy financial backing of the rival Oakland Raiders and loans to Billy Sullivan of the Patriots helped keep those franchises afloat, likely saving the entire league from folding.  In November 1963, Wilson lobbied successfully to have American Football League games postponed the Sunday after JFK's assassination, while NFL games went on.

         Wilson has consistently suppported stability and tradition, uncompromisingly voting against franchise moves and other actions detrimental to continuation of pro football in existing cities.

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Bills History

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