The Buffalo Bills are well known for going to four straight Super Bowls, and losing. But for fans who grew up going to the old “Rockpile” War Memorial Stadium, you know them as the two-time AFL champions. And now that first milestone in the Bills’ early days is the center of a new book, and a special event tonight at the Buffalo History Museum.
For George Bozeka, you could say he was born into football and its history.
“I actually grew up in Canton within walking distance of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so it was sort of a natural for me from early age to have a passion for pro football, you know, research and history," Bozeka told BTPM NPR.
Bozeka serves as the president of the Pro Football Researchers Association, and has compiled books on such legendary teams as the 1958 Baltimore Colts, 1966 Green Bay Packers who won Super Bowl I and now the 1964 Buffalo Bills.
“Not only were they good offensively, I remember [Jack] Kemp and [Cookie] Gilchrist, but they were just as good on the defensive side of the block," said Bozeka. "I think defense was really their calling card. You know, one thing was they went 17 consecutive games, which really was a surprise to me, from 1964 through 1965 without giving up a rushing touchdown. That's a whole season in today's NFL.”
The Bills defense in 1964 set an AFL record for fewest rushing yards allowed, with just 918 all season. Future congressman and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp led the offense with over 2,200 passing yards, and Cookie Gilchrist’s nearly 1,000 rushing yards had him find the end zone six times.
But for as dominant as they were on the field, Bozeka said the ‘64 Bills were also leaders off the field, at a time when the civil rights movement was at its height, fighting racial discrimination.
“Maybe the finest moments of the team was that they were front and center in the boycott that occurred in the 1965 AFL All Star Game, which was the '64 players, then played in January 1965. The game was supposed to be played in New Orleans, but almost as soon as they arrived in New Orleans, the Black players on the team were being mistreated, being treated like second-class citizens," he said. "All the Black players on the team voted to boycott. The white players on the team, led by Jack Kemp and by Ron Mix, who played for the [San Diego] Chargers soon followed, and as a result of that, they got the game moved to to Houston, because they said they simply weren't going to play under those conditions.”
That wasn’t the only time the AFL Bills were challenging racial norms of the times. Bozeka said former Bill and later Erie County Executive Ed Rutkowski, who will be at the Buffalo History Museum for a “Happy Hour History” event about the book tonight at 6 p.m., told him they may have been one of the first pro football teams to break segregation during travel games.
“[Rutkowski] said that Jack Kemp came to him and was surprised that there was no integration amongst the players as the way they room. And he said, 'Well, you know, you're right, and you need to bring that up,'" Bozeka recounted of his interview with Rutkowski, one of many conducted for "The 1964 Buffalo Bills: Profiles of the AFL Champions." "And Jack brought that up. And after that, they started to integrate their rooming assignments, and they felt that they were one of the first teams to do that. So that off the field thing too carried onto the field, that brotherhood,”
That on-field success saw the Bills win 12 out of 14 regular season games in the 1964 AFL season. There was no traditional playoff structure like in the NFL today, so when Buffalo ended the regular season at the top of the Eastern Division, they punched their ticket to the championship game.
And they didn’t have to go far for it, because also unlike the NFL today, the big game was played at the home stadium of the team with the best record. Meaning War Memorial Stadium, “the Rockpile,” was the scene of the showdown between the Bills and San Diego Chargers.
“The Bills players sort of recount the fact that here's this blue collar town, blue collar stadium. And when the Chargers came to town, they could just tell they did not want to play there," said Bozeka. "The Bills, of course, won the championship 20-7. Most famous play in that game was when Mike Stratton, the Bills' linebacker, tackled Keith Lincoln on a flare pass. It was called the 'hit heard around the world,' and is probably the most famous play in Buffalo Bills history."
Many of those players of course also went on to win the AFL championship the following year as well. Those banners, still hanging proudly today in the Bills Fieldhouse.
In addition to Ed Rutkowski, former Bills cornerback Booker Edgerson will also join Bozeka for his presentation tonight at the history museum, which is free for members and priced admission for other guests.
