(cid:48)(cid:72)(cid:72)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:37)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:79)(cid:86) C an a football team take on the personality of the city where it plays Fans of the Buffalo Bills know the answer to that question In every victory by the team there is satisfaction in knowing that hard work has its rewards In every defeat there is a valuable lesson to be learned This is true whether you are a Buffalo player or a Buffalo fan That is why the Bills are at their most exciting and most dangerous when things look their worst No team is better at fighting back when they are behind In fact the Bills seem to specialize in amazing comebacks This book tells the story of the Bills They win by playing 60 minutes of tough football Everyone on the team is ready to contribute when a game starts and no one holds back when the Bills take the field That is what it means to play football in Buffalo The Bills greet running back Fred Jackson before kickoff time Every Buffalo player is ready to contribute once the game starts (cid:24)
(cid:42)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:39)(cid:68)(cid:92)(cid:86) B ack in the 1950s professional football was on the rise The National Football League NFL was adding millions of new fans every year The sport was so popular that a rival league called the American Football League AFL began play In 1959 businessman Ralph Wilson bought a team in the AFL After considering his options Wilson turned to a town that he knew really wanted his team Buffalo New York The Bills were born Buffalo was no stranger to pro football The Bills were the city’s fourth team The first club played in the NFL during the 1920s In the 1960s coach Lou Saban and a smart quarterback named Jack Kemp led the Bills Kemp’s favorite receiver was Elbert Dubenion who specialized in catching long passes Buffalo had (cid:25)
a strong running game powered by running back Cookie Gilchrist and linemen Billy Shaw and Stew Barber Tom Sestak and George Saimes led the defense The Bills quickly rose to the top of the AFL In 1964 they won the league championship in a tight game with the San Diego Chargers The following year Buffalo faced San Diego again for the AFL title The Bills repeated as champions In 1970 the Bills were one of 10 AFL teams to join the NFL By then they had football’s most exciting player O J Simpson He was a swift and explosive running back who had the league’s best blockers in front of him Simpson was nicknamed the Juice and his offensive line was known as the Electric Company In 1973 Simpson became the first player in history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season Despite all its talent Buffalo won just once in the playoffs from 1966 to 1987 The team had three great Joes during LEFT This trading card shows the 1960 Bills ABOVE O J Simpson was on dozens of magazine covers during his years with the Bills (cid:26)
