Archives for January 11, 2011

‘”It’s very important for me to finish up my degree, because what I stand for is being a man of standard – that is academic first, and sports second,” said Moats. “In order for me to pursue my goal and keep my image out there, I need to be a man of my word and get that degree.”‘

‘"Jim Brown was the great back during that era, but I have often said that I thought Cookie was every bit as good as Jim Brown," Bills’ Wall of Famer Butch Byrd once said. "The Buffalo Bills weren’t the team that the Cleveland Browns were at that time, but taking nothing away from Jim Brown, man for man, talent for talent, Cookie was right there."’

‘"I think it says a lot about the guys that we have in the group, just with the amount of uncertainty," Fitzpatrick said. "We knew some guys were going to get thrown in that really hadn’t had much playing time or no experience at all in the NFL. Between what Stevie did this year and Roscoe having the year he was having, and David and Donald stepping up and really doing some really good things, we’ve got a lot of talent at that position."’

‘"If he had played his whole career in the NFL, absolutely, he’d have been a Hall of Famer, no doubt about it," said former Bills tight end Ernie Warlick.’

‘"People think I’m an oddball because I’m a Negro who speak up," Gilchrist said in the article. "But I have a lot on my mind. It’s an internal disease, and it’ll eat me alive if I don’t get it out of my system what I think about things."’

‘”They better get a quarterback,” DeLamielleure said of the Bills. “If you don’t have a quarterback in this league, forget it. When Vince Lombardi had Bart Starr, he was a good coach. When Tom Landry had Roger Staubach he was a good coach. When Chuck Knoll had Terry Bradshaw, he was a good coach. When those guys leave, they’re not such good coaches. Same thing with Bill Belichick. When he didn’t have Tom Brady he was 15 games under .500. It’s a pretty simple game and when you don’t have a quarterback, you’re not going to win.”‘

‘Mr. Gilchrist was one of 21 black players selected to play in the game. But when white cabbies refused to drive Mr. Gilchrist and other black players into the city — and after French Quarter businesses wouldn’t let his black teammates in the doors — he and others decided to boycott the event. Ron Mix, Hall of Fame tackle for the San Diego Chargers, befriended the running back as a result. “The truth is, New Orleans should erect a statue to Cookie,” Mr. Mix said in the 2003 profile of Mr. Gilchrist. “The city wanted an NFL team, but it was not going to get it unless it desegregated. The boycott led to a change in the laws.”‘

‘”Whoever’d run up, he’d run at him and then run over him,” his former Bills teammate Booker Edgerson, a defensive back, told Jeff Miller in “Going Long,” a history of the A.F.L. “A lot of guys said, ‘Why don’t you sidestep and run around?’ He said: ‘I want to teach them a lesson. If I run over ’em, they won’t come up anymore.'”‘

‘Retired Buffalo News football writer Larry Felser covered Gilchrist during his days with the Bills and still regards him as the best to play the game. Felser wrote in 2004: "Any time. Any place. Any brand of football. Cookie was, pound for pound, the greatest all-around player I ever saw. He would be a superstar in today’s football."’

‘Gilchrist played with Buffalo from 1962-64 and helped the team win the AFL Championship in 1964. He was named the AFL Player of the Year in 1962 when he totaled 1,096 yards and 13 touchdowns. It was the first time an AFL player had surpassed the 1,000-yard mark.’