Chance encounters with current/former Bill players. Did it change your opinion of them?

[Einstein]

I’ve met Kelly and he was fine in the very VERY brief encounter I had.

 

Ive heard from others that met Kelly (and Reed) for longer and they said they are absolute a-holes of the highest order.

 

Definitely dampered my thoughts of them.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Einstein

[Lost]

44 minutes ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said:

I saw Rex Ryan at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.  He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”  I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.  The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.  When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

 

Pretty much how I would expect a Rex Ryan encounter to go

[Clyde Smith]

Ran into Bruce twice. Not as tall as I thought he was but dude was diesel as hell. Wearing a tight ass shirt when I ran into him the second time in the club. 

 

For Thurman to be short, his hands are huge.

 

Phil Hansen is a big tall dude and awesome.

 

Jim is cool, he has jokes lol. Talking about my hat.

[Real McClappy]

3 hours ago, Starr Almighty said:

I met Drew Bledsoe at the Sundowner #TrueStory

 

I've met others but this is my favorite one to tell people.

Met Bruce Smith at Sundowner and Sabre Mathew Barnaby on different visits before in the mid 90's.

 

I shook Bruce's hand there and felt like a little child, his hands were like 3x mine.

[Augie]

21 minutes ago, boater said:

I'm not very good with faces. Compound that with those faces being buried in a helmet, and I'm done for. Tom Brady could pass me on the street and I wouldn't even notice.

 

FWIW... a friend of mine had an Ed Oliver experience at Dave & Busters. It was very positive and made him an Ed Oliver jersey owner. There's a lot to be said about being humble and having basic manners.

Very true about the bold. I’d love to be rich, but I’d hate to be famous. I’d like to think that I would always be gracious, but it must be tough if you can’t go out to eat or drop into the grocery store without be approached by strangers. 

 

I’m not an autograph guy and tend to leave famous people alone, but I understand folks wanting to say hello, Go Bills or get a pic. One bad experience wouldn’t bother me much. You never know what they are dealing with that day. Maybe their dog just died, who knows? But when you keep hearing the same reports about a guy from different people, maybe that’s just who they are at that time of their life. 

 

[Motor26]

Bagged Don Beebe's groceries when I was a teenager, nice guy. Ran into Josh, his (very long legged) girlfriend and I assume some former NCAA/NFL player based on his size at a golf dome. Just gave Josh the nod and said what's up like he was anyone else. If I was an athlete I'd want to live in Buffalo, wouldn't have to worry about fans being all up in your business all the time. Granted, that was right after Joshes rookie year and I have since left the area. I'd like to know if he can still walk around town with the same freedom. 

[mrags]

47 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Whenever you hear only side of a story like this, I often wonder what the other side of the story is, and if the version we are hearing is actually the "right" one.

 

Don't get me wrong mrags, I'll side with you on this one.  

 

But I just wonder about some of these.  Some fans out there are freaking crazy, really weird, or just abnormal people, and I can see a famous person trying to get far away from them once they catch a whiff of it! I'm with the famous person in that situation.

 

Now, if a fan is polite and straight forward, but the famous person is just an a-hole, well, that's different.

 

We heard that story up-thread about Nate Odomes shafting a kid 3 times inside a half hour!  Hard to think the kid was the wrong party in that exchange!

 

 

 

I won’t get into specifics here. I know how much all of those guys are loved around here. Kelly and Reeds exploits of the 90s are in record tho to back up my opinions. I’ve got serious terrible stories about both from other people I know and trust though, as well as my own personal contacts with them. 
 

ive met countless Bills in my lifetime. There was a time where I would go to any autograph signing or public meet and greet as possible. Have countless autographed material to show for it. And these 3 take the cake for me for the 3 biggest POS I’ve ever met that were famous sports players. 

[BillsFanNC]

14 minutes ago, Motor26 said:

Bagged Don Beebe's groceries when I was a teenager, nice guy. Ran into Josh, his (very long legged) girlfriend and I assume some former NCAA/NFL player based on his size at a golf dome. Just gave Josh the nod and said what's up like he was anyone else. If I was an athlete I'd want to live in Buffalo, wouldn't have to worry about fans being all up in your business all the time. Granted, that was right after Joshes rookie year and I have since left the area. I'd like to know if he can still walk around town with the same freedom. 

 

My wife is more into the celebrity side of football and as such she listened to Matthew Stafford wife's podcast before the season opener. She had Josh's girlfriend on as a guest and she talked about how great Bills fans are etc. but at the same time she was excited about their new house on gated property since fans would often ring their doorbell at their old house asking for Josh to sign stuff.

 

It just boggles my mind that people would do that.

Edited October 6, 2022 by DRsGhost

[BigDingus]

I met Taron Johnson's parents at the Houston airport... does that count? 😆

 

It actually did change my opinion of him, as he was still a rookie that I didn't know much about, and his parents were insanely supportive & friendly. Made me really pull for him even more.

[Rocket94]

I remember meeting former safety Jeff Nixon. He was selling pools and he seemed surprised that I recognized him. I even remembered that he led the NFL in interceptiuons early on!

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I have a Marv Levy connection too. First I saw him eating dinner alone at Russell's Steakhouse a few years ago. I was there with my siblings for a family reunion. We had a big group. We left him alone but as he walked out he stopped by the table and spoke with my family.

Second one of my patients was faculty at Coe College. He knew Marv very well from his time there. I did not know this but Marv kept up his connection to Coe throughout the years. They named a street on the campus after him. My patient said Marv was always kind and generous with his time.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

I remember trick-or-treating in Marcellus Wiley's neighborhood and he was just walking around with his kid in a wagon filled with candy. Pretty cool.

 

My ex was loud and annoying and blew up Tyrod Taylor's spot while he was waiting for his sushi burrito at Market Expo on Main downtown. He seemed like a super nice guy.

 

Also can say Mark Kelso is a really nice guy and good coach.

[Einstein]

3 hours ago, JohnNord said:

 

I’d also agree that Jim has changed over the years, yet people want to drag ***** up from 30-40 years ago to disparage him.

Is there evidence that Jim has changed? I hadn’t heard.

[145B4IDIE]

JK used to hold his football camp at St. Bonaventure in early 90s. Someone was looking for one of those giant photo-op checks they use for donations. I made that and JK came in the place I worked to pick it up and signed it. Was returned after the whole photo op but have no idea what happened to it. Players after camp would hit local bars and have drinks. And yes, Andre Reed was unapproachable with his ‘people’ around him.

When the bar closed (good friend with owner) we had a little after-hours and Kent Hull and Will Wolford hung out and helped hammer plaster off a brick wall we were revealing😀 super nice, real people, just hanging out having a good time!

 

also met House Ballard, Don Beebe and Brad Lamb at a charity basketball game at local high school, signed a jacket.

 

this is the wall

[Curt]

The only Bills player that I ever met was Andre Reed. It was in December 2011, when the Bills were in San Diego to play the Chargers. On the Saturday night, the eve of the game,  the San Diego Bills Backers organized an event downtown San Diego. I don't remember how much was the evening per person but it was fairly reasonable.  It included some food and we could also get a picture taken with Reed plus his autograph. Quite frankly, I have nothing positive to say about my short experience with him. I found him very arrogant. He couldn't care less about the fans who had to wait a long time just to meet him. He was probably tired,  had enough and couldn't wait for that to be all over.   

[Process]

30 minutes ago, Buffalo619 said:

Played 18 holes with Andre Reed at Maderas GC. Great guy!! He really warmed up when I told him I was from Buffalo and a huge fan.  
Good golfer, we exchanged numbers and text each other every now and then. He’s a cool dude. 

We found Andre's burner.

[Pete]

where there is smoke, there is fire.  It seems like Andre and Jim are jerks.  Thats too bad

[Solomon Grundy]

I met OJ Simpson during the Bills SB era at a downtown hotel. Really cool guy. Liked his Bloody Mary's

[Dopey]

What is now Templeton Landing used to be Crawdaddy’s back in the day. Was there one night wearing a pair of Bruce Smith sneakers from the “Bad things” commercial. He saw, smiled, shook my hand and offered to buy me a drink. He was on his way out with Biscuit. 
Almost met Andre Reed, almost. Waited in line at the McKinley Mall at an autograph session and with 11 people left, he left. I was one of those 11. 

[BBills83]

I'll come to Jim Kelly's defense. This past May my wife, sister and I met his daughter Erin, who was a sweetheart, and sat with Jim for about 40 min in his charity's conference room. He talked with us like he'd known us for a long time. We discussed his teams and this one. He loves Josh and has high hopes for this group. We all left feeling great about meeting them.  Definitely not an a$$.

 

[henry jones]

Steve Tasker at Bar Bills... Nice guy.  Made me feel better about myself.  He's shorter than I am!!  😀

[SectionC3]

5 hours ago, Herc11 said:

Lived in an apartment below George Wilson at a complex near the stadium that many players live at during the season. George was super nice, always said hi in passing. Would hold the door open when we were carrying in groceries, etc... Ran into Jason Peters coming down the stairs, this was around the time he was still relatively unknown outside of Bills fans. Said "Hi" in passing and didn't even acknowledge me. My wife worked in the apartments office. When he first got there he stopped in asking for the owner. Owner wasn't there so she asked him if he wanted to leave a message. He said to let him know Jason came by. She asked Jason who? and he replies, "Just Jason." He was a prick even when he was a fresh undrafted tight end on special teams.

That’s weird.  I lived in that building for a bit, too.  Small world. 

I have a great Brian Daboll story that I’ll share someday here.  It involves my wife excoriating him (thinking he was a creeper) for circling our neighborhood, a chance encounter at Kone King, and him (jokingly) returning the favor the next summer by Mangia in OP. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by SectionC3

[MarkyMannn]

 On a plane flight I was seated next to DC Ted Cottrell.  I talked to him about Bills for a bit, he was OK. Then thought how would I feel if he talked to me incessantly about my stupid job.  I left him alone after like 5 minutes

[Richmond_Bills]

4 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

Having been there, what was your interpretation of Jim's comments?  Having fun?  Being an ass?  Something in between?

 

 

something in between....I think he was having fun, but it seemed a left-handed jab...

[BRH]

I live a block and a half from Fisher and I happened to be walking on campus one morning when I walked by a couple of people putting up a sign advertising a camp for something or other.  One of them turned around, and I stopped and pointed like an idiot and said the first thing that popped into my vacant head:  "You're Don Beebe."  He said, "Yes I am."  Turned out it was his camp, a "speed camp" for young athletes.  We chatted for a bit.  Didn't change my impression of him at all.  Perhaps the thing I'm proudest of is that I didn't go "remember in the Super Bowl, when Leon Lett picked up the ball, and then you ran after it. and made him fumble?  That was awesome."

Edited October 6, 2022 by BRH

[thenorthremembers]

3 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

Oh that's right! Kelly's camp went from being like a 5 day camp where you stayed the whole time like how it was when I went to just a day camp at some point right?

Yes sir.  Its a 3 day camp.  I think its morning to late afternoon.  My kid did it three years straight but hasn't been since the Pandemic.

 

Absolutely love the camp but will probably move to the UB Camp next year because he will be in high school.  

[The BLUES Brothers]

Met Darryl Talley at an Orlando golf course and as luck would have it - I still text him occasionally (yes he texts back lol). He told me cool stories and it made me respect him even more as a player and person. He really liked Coach Levy which was nice to hear.

 

Saw Darryl again (and his wife) at a Buffalo Bills Alumni event before an opener a few years back. At the same event - a buddy and i sat at a table that Jeff Nixon and his wife asked if they could join...(of course!!) While they were there - over comes Andre Reed and his wife and Andre is right next to me - it was unreal.  Later on at the same event met Jon Fina, Fred Smerlas, Mike Stratton, Lou Piccone and every one of them were very cool and personable.  On the way home i told my buddy that invited me to the event that other than the birth of my children - it was THE greatest day of my life lol

 

Also met Frank Reich and Steve Tasker at a charity golf event - got pictures with both and Tasker signed my Bills cap - the ink faded but not the memory.  Go Bills!

[Bills of Boston]

Met Marv Levy at a restaurant in Harvard square roughly in 2009 or so. I’m not sure he could have been any nicer. Introduced myself, Bills fan etc and he lit up. Brought me over to the table to meet his wife and say a quick hello. Class act would be an understatement. 

[Let's Go Buffalo]

I've had a few encounters with Steve Tasker. He's really down to earth, and always has something nice to say. He's been a good role model on and off the field, and so my interactions with him have been great. 

[RiotAct]

1 hour ago, BBills83 said:

I'll come to Jim Kelly's defense. This past May my wife, sister and I met his daughter Erin, who was a sweetheart, and sat with Jim for about 40 min in his charity's conference room. He talked with us like he'd known us for a long time. We discussed his teams and this one. He loves Josh and has high hopes for this group. We all left feeling great about meeting them.  Definitely not an a$$.

 

agree. I met Jim a few years ago at a volunteer event and he couldn’t have been more gracious.  (Same thing goes for Thurman Thomas and Darryl Talley).

[Tommy81]

Grew up on same street as Talley, Conlan & Ray Bentley.

All 3 were nice and attended block parties. We would have street hockey tournaments and both Talley and Conlan played with us. 

My little brother has one of the 1st copies of the Darby the Dinosaur children's books Bentley authored.

 

JD Williams lived a street over and was nice.

 

Kelly lived a development over. We would go to his house on Halloween but he would never come to the door. His wife was super nice to us though...

[El Guapo]

I’ve met a few players over the years. Usually just a handshake and a hello. I’ve never talked football with them, except for one.

 

I was in the Atlanta airport late one night, traveling home from a work trip. This was back before smart phones and such devices. Early 2000’s. The concourse was pretty empty, and I was sitting in a gate area reading a magazine or newspaper. I was wearing a Bills sweatshirt. 
 

out of nowhere, this older gentleman comes up to me and asks if I am a fan. I told him I was, and I introduced myself. He introduced himself as Billy Shaw. I noticed a ring on his finger and asked if it was one of his AFL championship rings. His face lit up as he held it out, and he said no, this was his most treasured ring. It was his HOF ring.   He took a seat and we talked for ten or fifteen minutes. Super nice guy. He initiated the encounter and seemed to enjoy talking about his playing time and the Bills in general.  His flight was called and we said our goodbyes. 
 

Great memory. 

[muppy]

3 hours ago, Kwai San said:

 

  I always wanted to meet Marv.  That woulda been a hoot.

I never met him myself but I have a  friend who arranged graduation ceremonies for National University here in san diego. Marv Levy was the keynote commencement  speaker for that event. He called my buddy to be picked up from the airport, left a message on his cell phone. So he picked him up. Said he was congenial and polite, very nice guy. My friend knew what a big Bills ran I am. He called me and said "Guess who I just picked up from the airport" and played the message Marv had left on his cell phone. That was so cool. 🙂 He has a very easy to identify voice but he did say "hello this is Marv Levy I'm ready to be picked up"

 

🙂

[Ray Stonada]

In 88, I was a kid who waited an hour in line at Hills for Bruce Smith’s autograph. (Funny how many of us did this.) When I was three people away, they announced it was over and he got up to leave. I followed him to the parking lot, this was about 7pm and it was dark, and as he was getting into his car I yelled out like a moron, “Bruce, I hope you sack Marino on Sunday!” (We we’re playing the Phins.) 

 

He smiled, shrugged, and said “Thanks, kid.”

 

A couple years ago I got to have dinner with Thurman and he was super cool. Also paid for an expensive dinner for all five people, cracked jokes, and even talked about old games a little. You could see he loves the current team and roots hard for them. Just an awesome, warm dude. I had to connect it in my mind that this friendly and kind person was the same human did all those things I watched growing up.

[Big Turk]

1 hour ago, Richmond_Bills said:

something in between....I think he was having fun, but it seemed a left-handed jab...

 

Coming from a guy that grew up in East Brady, PA

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Bills of Boston said:

Met Marv Levy at a restaurant in Harvard square roughly in 2009 or so. I’m not sure he could have been any nicer. Introduced myself, Bills fan etc and he lit up. Brought me over to the table to meet his wife and say a quick hello. Class act would be an understatement. 

 

Oh I didn’t realize we were doing coaches too.

 

I called Levy at his house once. He was nice enough and took my thoughts into consideration.

[streetkings01]

Met Roscoe Parrish Memorial Weekend down in Miami around 07 or 08……..real nice guy……looked just as small in person as he does on tv.

 

Non Bills player I met that was surprisingly a real nice guy……Mike Vrabel. Met him at the Adams Marks hotel back in 05 back when the away teams used to stay there.

[Einstein]

5 hours ago, Awwufelloff said:

Fred Jackson at a Tim Hortons, nicest guy ever. Still my all time favorite Bill. 

 

Mine too.

 

The way that Whaley and Rex turned on Fred was disgusting.

[EmotionallyUnstable]

I’ve ran into current Bills players on two occasions, like almost literally, ran into them:  

 

1) We were trying to exit the galleria mall while EJ Manuel was trying to come in the same door. He was with a few other guys, none of who I immediately recognized mostly because I was so surprised to look up and see him right there. This was his 2nd or 3rd year in the league. He must have realized we were staring because he gave us the ole head nod, and kept it moving. Guy looked like an average Joe in street clothes.
 

2) At SoHo Burger bar downtown buffalo late one August night, we were heading upstairs to the rooftop bar and as we turned to continue upward, we stop to let a guy go up right before us. My wife says, “isn’t that Ronald Darby?”. I told her absolutely not, there is no way. That dude is tiny. As soon as we get upstairs, we immediately run into an entire entourage highlighted by Sammy Watkins, who was being mobbed by the local woo girls (he looked like he had zero interest). I didn’t interact with any of them at the time, but Sammy’s demeanor was off-putting from a far.
 

BONUS: 

 

My only non-bill I’ve run into was John Randle. He was at a bar in Buffalo, presumably after the Kelly golf tournament circa 2014. He flicked me off using the old crank-up the middle finger trick. Good times. 

 

Also, I’ve also met Thurman Thomas’ daughter. My friend tried to hit on her. No dice. 
 

It was a great party though!

[HappyDays]

A few years ago I was at Bills training camp and I ended up standing near an area where the players walked to the field from the locker room. I was just trying to find the bathroom and all of a sudden I see Kyle Williams walking towards me and a bunch of other fans around me with jerseys held out ready to get signed. I had a Tremaine Edmunds jersey on, it was his rookie season. I hand the jersey to Kyle and I blurt out "Kyle you're my favorite Bill of all time." He looks at me and says deadpan "then why aren't you wearing my jersey?" then chuckled and signed it and handed it back to me. Lorenzo Alexander came right after him and signed it. Then the punter Colton Schmidt walks up like a man on a mission, he was looking for a jersey to sign and I happened to be standing there. So I now have a Tremaine Edmunds jersey signed by Kyle Williams, Lorenzo Alexander, and Colton Schmidt.