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What’s your earliest memory of the Buffalo Bills?


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First memory was sitting on the family room sofa listening to the home games at the Rockpile on a little transistor radio. I’m still not sure why I got so into the experience but I did. Then you’d have to wait until the next Saturday late afternoon to watch Buffalo Bills Highlights on Channel 7 so you could see actual images of what you’d heard the Sunday before. No internet or ESPN back then fellas! 

Edited by SoCal Deek
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Some of my earliest life memories are from the Bills Super Bowl years.  I was in elementary school during the runs and it was pretty nuts, the hallways would just be decked out in Bills posters and stuff, huge pep rallies before the Super Bowls.  We even had a guidance counselor that was also a Buffalo Jill so that was kind of a big deal.  Also at that time in my neighborhood there would be huge parties every Sunday for the games, someone different would take a turn hosting it each week.  I didn't really grasp it at the time what it all meant but it's pretty cool to look back on it now.  I always joke around but it's true that no matter what happened with the Bills after the glory years there was a time in my life where I only knew the Bills as a dominant powerhouse going to the Super Bowl year after year after year...and nobody can ever take that away from me! 

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Do not have a visual memory, just remember radio broadcasts, Cookie Gilchrist, who I saw play live in Canada, Pete Gogolak, Golden Wheels Elbert D,.

I especially remember the big trade with Raiders, Lamonica, Bass, Flores, with Powell. 

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I was 6 years old for the 1966 season when Joe Collier took over coaching Bills after Lou Saban had led the Bills to back to back AFC Championships.  Like many fans, my first memory of a Bills games was not a pleasant one.  It was listening to them lose to the Kansas City Chiefs on New Years Day 1967.  The game was radio only as I distinctly remember listening to the call on the radio in our kitchen.  We were home against a team we had split the season series with - both teams had prevailed on the road.  The winner of this game was going to the 1st World Championship game of AFL winner versus NFL winner.  The Chiefs went instead and lost to the Packers.

 

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21 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

I didn’t grow up in a sports-following family, but in 1989, the East Brady Pa “Home of Jim Kelly” huge sign left quite an impression on 10 yr old me while we drove past on a random early Summer day and it’s been all Buffalo ever since lol...

East-Brady.jpg?ssl=1

 

 

It wasn’t random. It was destiny, bro!

Edited by BillsFan619
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1963 - My Dad took me to my 1st game. Bills-Jets when Cookie ran over, around and through the jets for 243 yds, a pro record at the time. My Dad was a Buffalo cop and his partner and son were there with us. The son was Pat Dobson who was pitching in the Tiger farm system at the time. That spring he sent me a used mitt and ball from training camp. It was the 1st of many Bills memories and I am still expecting many more. The Milano and Williams signings have me even more excited for this season to get started.

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Earliest memory for me was a very brief moment of Super Bowl 25. I was 4 years old going on 5. I don't remember much of the game itself except being at my Grandfather's house watching my parents and people at the Super Bowl party we had all holding hands and saying "Norwood...Norwood" when he was about to kick the field goal. 

 

The first actual game I remember actually watching and being focused on in its entirety, was the 49ers "no punt" game in '92. I was 6 years old and that was really when my Bills fandom started

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3 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

I remember buying a season ticket in 1971 and my father calling me a stupid kid

 

 

I’m thinking your father must have been talking with my father, cause I heard that phrase  at least twice in my life... 

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1 minute ago, Trust The Process said:

My earliest memory of the Bills took place when I was 8 years old at my uncles house listening to the 1980 version of Buffalo Bills 12 Days of Christmas 

That’s cool, I didn’t know that there was a Bills version of that song.

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1 hour ago, stevens273 said:

My dad took me to my first game at the Rockpile. 12/13/70. I was 8. It was cold and we lost to Johnny Unitas but I was hooked. 

I was at that  game. Lots of snowball battles in the stands.

 

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My earliest memory was in the 62 or 63 season.  My dad and coworkers shared season tickets and I was able to go to a few games.

One memory is that after a field goal or a extra point was kicked, the ball would go into the stands and security would chase down the 

ball. One kid who caught the ball was really fast.  Somebody in the stands yelled, "Sign him up now we need a half back"

Then the idea of nets to catch the ball was developed.  We used to go to

Chin's Chinese restaurant in downtown before the game and even though I was 8, I really liked Chinese food.

 

In 65 their group tickets were 2nd row behind the visitors bench.  Horrible idea as players would stand on the benches

blocking the view of those in the front rows.

 

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As most know, I’m older than the Bills by 5 years. So pretty much from the getgo. My earliest memory though was when we stole Jackie Kemp from Sid Gilman’s Chargers when he tried a midnight finagle to slip him through waivers in ‘62. (Whoever it was that caught the midnight transaction, we KNOW it wasn’t Buddy Nix!) The next afternoon, 4 neighbor men were at the house swilling Shlitz with my Dad and raving about our good fortune. 

They were right. We won 3 of our last 4 games once he returned from injury, giving us our 1st winning season and made the playoffs the following 4 seasons. Saw about 10 games at the Rockpile, then the Redskins preseason opener and Jets home game in ‘73 at brand new Rich Stadium. In short, I am the history of the Buffalo Bills (and Braves and yes, even the Sabres...🤦‍♂️)

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There were little bits and pieces in the season or two before this but the first clear Bills memory was the wild card game in 81 against the Jets where Bill Simpson picked off Richard Todd at the end to save it. The Bills had a good team that year and actually gave the eventual AFC champion Bengals a better game the next week than the Chargers did in the AFC Championship the week after.

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Nov 30 1969 at War Memorial vs. Cincinnati, my dad got tickets from a friend who didn't want to go in the snow

They couldn't get the tarps up so the field was marked with orange dye and there was a lot of snow 

Whole game was in slow motion and there were 10 turnovers.  Booked Edgerson returned a fumble for the win and I was hooked for life

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My first memory was an exhibition game during the 1969 preseason... OJ Simpson's rookie year. Though I can remember OJ playing at USC fairly clearly, I don't think that he played very much at all during my first Bills game... most of the carries went to Mini Max Anderson and Bill "Earthquake" Enyart. Jack Kemp was still the starting quarterback at that time... but I think that James Harris took most of the snaps in this one.

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2 hours ago, BornAgainBillsFan said:

OJ running wild on every team in '73, when I was 7. His limbs were that of a superior species in those days. And I was hooked from then on.

 

My earliest memory was the same thing, I was 5 however.

1973 OJ, OJ, OJ and more of OJ.   and a thermos of hot chocolate between my legs to stay warm at War Memorial.

Been a fan ever since ...

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3 hours ago, Bill Lewes said:

Training camp at Niagara, OJ standing high jumping a 4'+ security fence to sign autographs

My first memory is also training camp at Niagara. 1973 or 74. I was along the fence as players were coming out to the field for practice. J.D. Hill was walking by. I said "Hi J.D." He looks at me in kinda of a pissed off way and says in a really deep voice, "Hi". I also remember O.J. running out to the field at full speed which impressed the 7 or 8 yr old me. 

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Earliest memory of the Bills was watching Greg Bell run for over 200 yards against the Cowboys in November 1984. It was the Bills' first win of the season and I remember (as a 5 year old), I felt sorry for they guy because he was such a good player trapped on a bad team.

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1 hour ago, phxbacker said:

 

My earliest memory was the same thing, I was 5 however.

1973 OJ, OJ, OJ and more of OJ.   and a thermos of hot chocolate between my legs to stay warm at War Memorial.

Been a fan ever since ...

I believe he gained 2,000 in 73 after moving to Rich Stadium. They stuck the fork in War Memorial on a cold late December day against the Lions. My thermos bottle nearly froze. 😂

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Walking through the concourse tunnel and seeing the green turf glistening in the Monday night lights.  It was 83 or 84 against the Jets.  My Dad was supposed to babysit me (I was 4 at the time) while my Mom worked.  Uncle scored some tickets and my Dad just left a note for my Mom that we were going to the game (she was pissed...lol).  I fell asleep by halftime, which was probably a good thing since the game apparently broke a record for arrests during an NFL game.  Don't remember the score (I know we got destroyed) or much of the game, just that first image of seeing the field for the very first time.

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Sitting in the cheap end zone seats at the Rockpile early 60's. Parking with dad in the neighborhood front lawns, hoping your tires weren't slashed when you got back from the game (only if you didn't tip up front!). Training camp at some hotel off the Thruway in Hamburg, and also camp at Niagara University.

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49 minutes ago, TheBrownBear said:

Walking through the concourse tunnel and seeing the green turf glistening in the Monday night lights.  It was 83 or 84 against the Jets.  My Dad was supposed to babysit me (I was 4 at the time) while my Mom worked.  Uncle scored some tickets and my Dad just left a note for my Mom that we were going to the game (she was pissed...lol).  I fell asleep by halftime, which was probably a good thing since the game apparently broke a record for arrests during an NFL game.  Don't remember the score (I know we got destroyed) or much of the game, just that first image of seeing the field for the very first time.

Was she mad because he left a note instead of telling her face to face, because he took a four-year-old to a game with an NFL record amount of arrests or because he didn’t take her instead?

 

Or, all three? 🤣

7 minutes ago, Alfredo said:

Drafting Richie Lucas in 1960. (I'm running out of time for that first Super Bowl victory. 😨)

Just one before I die!!!

 

Actually, I’m hoping for a couple under the Beane/McD/JA regime.

 

Go Bills!

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5 hours ago, BornAgainBillsFan said:

OJ running wild on every team in '73, when I was 7. His limbs were that of a superior species in those days. And I was hooked from then on.

Yes, I probably watched a game before then, but the memory that I can pinpoint...and still envision...is him going over 2000 yards for the season against the Jets in a snowstorm.

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1973, it was the magical trifecta.  Rich Stadium was a new jewel, OJ ran wild and the NFL lifted the local blackout rule if the game sold out 72 hours before kick-off.  So all of the games were on TV.  Growing up in Toronto during that period, we really just watched the CFL.  But seeing that new stadium drew me in and I watched every game. The next year a friend parents took us to Bills vs Miami, Bills lost, but I was hooked.  Been a die hard ever since.

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One of the Bill's games at the Rockpile in 1960.  I went with my dad.  We paid to park near the stadium on some guy's front lawn.

 

I remember Mack Yoho returning kicks (the crowd would chant "Yo-Ho", Yo-Ho" just before the kick, Elbert "Golden Wheels" Dubenion playing flanker and Laverne "Tarzan" Torzcon on the DL.  The QB was Tommy O'Connell, I think.

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1963.  My dad was trying to explain to a seven year old (me) how the playoffs and championship worked.  It came down to whether the Bills or Boston would win the most games.  And my next question was, and then that team plays San Diego, right?  Back then the Chargers were considered the class of the league.

 

I think the first game I went to was in 1967, a preseason game that the Bills lost. 

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