Booker Edgerson: Bills’ Wall of Fame

[Jim Gehman]

Congratulations to Booker for being put on the Bills’ Wall of Fame. I realize that some younger fans aren’t familiar with stories about his playing days, and hope these excerpts from my book about the Bills, “Then Levy said to Kelly…”, will help serve as an introduction.

 

An in With the Boss

 

Booker Edgerson arrived in Buffalo as a rookie free-agent cornerback in 1962 with an advantage. His coach at Western Illinois University three years earlier was the same man who was the Bills’ head coach at the time, Lou Saban.

 

“When he got the call to be the coach [of the AFL’s Boston Patriots in 1960], Leroy Jackson, Larry Garron, and myself said, ‘Don’t forget us when we graduate,’” Edgerson said. “I was playing baseball and had signed a contract with the Patriots, but in those days you could not participate in college sports and sign a professional contract. I just told them to hold on to it until the baseball season was over with. But in the meantime he got fired. So he asked me what I wanted to do with the contract. I said just tear it up, throw it away, and wherever he ends up, give me a call."

 

In addition to calling players that he was familiar with such as Edgerson, the coach was handing out pink slips. A lot of pink slips! Prospective players did not really face a secure future during Buffalo’s training camps under Saban.

 

"Saban got rid of a lot of folks between ‘62 and ‘64," laughed Edgerson. "A lot of guys were hollering and screaming. They didn’t feel comfortable and they didn’t feel this. And he said, ‘Hey! I don’t feel comfortable either. [but] I’m going to fire somebody before they fire me!’ And basically, that’s what it was.

 

"We’d go on a road trip, in particular in North Carolina [during the 1963 preseason], and they cut a guy basically on the bench and traded him to [that game’s opponent] Denver. The guy wanted to get back on the plane and they told him, ‘No, you’ll have to get on the other team’s plane.’

 

"And we had a situation in Houston where I think there had to be five or six guys that they cut right then! Cut them on the spot! It was brutal, but I guess it was something he had to do. It goes back to the story that he said, ‘I will fire somebody before I get fired.’ The [remaining] guys took it really seriously and worked very hard to maintain some kind of consistency in their play, and it all paid off."

 

He Could Go All the Way! Or Maybe Not

 

In Booker Edgerson’s first game, the 1962 season opener against Houston, the cornerback intercepted Oilers quarterback George Blanda twice, as did Marv Matuszak and Carl Taseff in the 28-23 loss. Edgerson would finish the year with six picks for 111 yards and would be named to the AFL’s All-Rookie team.

 

Two seasons later, Edgerson was on the receiving end of another Blanda pass. On November 1, 1964, with a perfect 7-0 record, the Bills hosted Houston, a team that had just two victories. They witnessed an Oilers offensive attack: 93 plays for 428 yards. But coach Sammy Baugh’s team came up short and only found the end zone once in the 24-10 game.

 

Edgerson came up short as well. Late in the fourth quarter, he intercepted Blanda’s pass at the Buffalo 1-yard line and returned the ball 91 yards to the Oakland 8. That’s right, a 91-yard return. No touchdown.

 

"I should have run out of bounds in the end zone. I should have kneeled down," laughed Edgerson. "Then they could never say anything about it. It would have just been an interception and that’s it.

 

"Blanda, he threw 68 passes that day. It seemed like 60 of them were to my side. So when I intercepted the ball, I ran it back as best I could. I guess everybody was in pursuit, because I went from one side of the field halfway to the other side, back and forth. And finally, at the 9, [running back] Sid Blanks stepped on my heel and I went down. Everybody said I just pooped out. I said, ‘No, no, no.’ If you really look at the film close enough you’ll see that he stepped on the heel. But nobody accepted that excuse."

 

The good-natured Edgerson continued. "I was laying on the field and Blanks was laying on the sideline, and Saban said, ‘Well, we have to get you in condition.’ I raised up and looked over to the sideline, and that’s when I saw Blanks. I said, ‘What the hell? If he’s tired, what makes you think I wouldn’t be tired? He’s an offensive player. Offensive players are supposed to be in better shape than defensive players.’

 

"Plus, on top of it, I told Lou Saban, ‘I got the ball all the way down to the 8, and you guys couldn’t even score! You couldn’t even get eight yards! You had to kick a field goal, so don’t be telling me why I didn’t score the touchdown. Why didn’t they score the touchdown? They came in fresh!’"

[Just Jack]

I like it

[cåblelady]

I like it

[Chandler#81]

Thanks JG. I love this stuff and I have to get your book!

[JohnC]

The person more deserving to be placed on the Wall is Lou Saban. Of course he quit on the owner. The mercurial and idiosyncratic HC quit on everyone. Once he got the "moving bug", which happened quite often, he took off for his next short term stop.

 

What the elderly owner has to remember about Lou Saban is that he was an odd fellow with a lot of pent up volitility. For whatever complex psychological reason it was impossible for him to stay in one place for very long.

 

Booker Edgerson was a fine player and an exceptional person. Lou Sabin on the other hand was not the most stable person. But he was involved in bringing championships to this mostly failed franchise. The owner needs to forget about the past transgressions against him and do the right thing by putting Lou Saban on the Wall. It is my understanding that Saban has a daughter or some family still living in the area. It would be a very generious and kind spirted thing for him to do. It would be the right thing to do.

[Helpmenow]

Overated, How about Butch Byrd. Now there is a cornerback, that should be on the wall.

[cåblelady]

Congratulations to Booker for being put on the Bills’ Wall of Fame. I realize that some younger fans aren’t familiar with stories about his playing days, and hope these excerpts from my book about the Bills, “Then Levy said to Kelly…”, will help serve as an introduction.

Here's a link I found for anybody that would like to order Jim's book. I'm going to.

 

http://www.nextag.com/Then-Levy-Said-to-600736925/prices-html

[ChasBB]

 

"We’d go on a road trip, in particular in North Carolina [during the 1963 preseason], and they cut a guy basically on the bench and traded him to [that game’s opponent] Denver. The guy wanted to get back on the plane and they told him, ‘No, you’ll have to get on the other team’s plane.’

 

"And we had a situation in Houston where I think there had to be five or six guys that they cut right then! Cut them on the spot! It was brutal, but I guess it was something he had to do. It goes back to the story that he said, ‘I will fire somebody before I get fired.’ The [remaining] guys took it really seriously and worked very hard to maintain some kind of consistency in their play, and it all paid off."

I love it. Oh, I can think of some individual performances in recent years that would warrant being cut on the spot before the game even ended.