What is the origin of “Ralph is cheap.”

[Sierra Foothills]

6 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

"Ralph is cheap!" is mostly a joke on this board. Every free agent signing in the league prompted a new thread complaining about not signing XYZ player and the conclusion was always that Ralph wouldn't spend. As if free agents were lining up to play for a bad Buffalo Bills team but we refused to match salary.  It was so tiresome that the more sane posters started using it ironically and attributing Ralph's cheapness to anything from not signing the most washed up has beens or nobodies of the league, to non-football matters in Buffalo, or even acts of God.  

 

All you say is true but it was also a common refrain that you would hear from Bills fans around town.

 

[corta765]

1 hour ago, US Egg said:

He wasn’t the ideal owner, but fans should be forever grateful for Ralph. 

It is why I said he was a C+/B- owner but his vision for the game was A+ and more the reason he is in the HOF. His best period was 86-2000' as spending was never an issue and he trusted the people he hired. The real criticism that he did earn was that 70s/early 80s timeframe with the spending issues but that was more common for a lot of owners. The 2000s Donahoe's hire really hurt him when it didn't work out and very bad old habits returned. By the time he relented he was too old, team was Siberia, long term future bad, etc.. it was unfortunate. His legacy or reputation if they just made a token few playoff appearances instead of the drought probably is more favorable by Bills fans.

Edited August 31 by corta765

[Jauronimo]

Just now, Sierra Foothills said:

 

All you say is true but it was also a common refrain that you would hear from Bills fans around town.

 

Yes, it was the most common criticism of the early 2000s and drought years.  To the point that it so tired and cliched that it became a joke.

[dollars 2 donuts]

Two words to pile on here:

 

Joe Cribbs

 

$10,000 bonus his 1980 rookie year if he made it to 1,200 yards rushing his rookie season.  

 

He had a great final game against SF (120 + yards) and a game we needed to win...but they benched him in the second half that left him...15 yards short.

 

AFC offensive rookie of the year and the administration wouldn't budge.  This and other reasons forever soiled the relationship.  75 yard average rushing per game in his 54 games from 1980-83 (4,046 yards, plus 162 receptions for 1,641 and 15 TDs) and one of the most underrated and lost opportunity Bills for all-time.

 

105 yards per game total average in those 4 years.

 

He justifiably jumped to the USFL in 84.

 

 

 

Edited August 31 by dollars 2 donuts

[RiotAct]

19 hours ago, Buffalo Boy said:

Refusing to pay Chuck Knox and replacing him with Kay Stephenson and then Hank Bullogh…..ooof

I’m reading Fred Smerlas’ autobiography right now and there are some great stories about all 3 of those coaches in there!

[Big Turk]

Because he was? I don't think you need to really look very far into it.

[Admiral Sean]

17 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

Two words to pile on here:

 

Joe Cribbs

 

$10,000 bonus his 1980 rookie year if he made it to 1,200 yards rushing his rookie season.  

 

He had a great final game against SF (120 + yards) and a game we needed to win...but they benched him in the second half that left him...15 yards short.

 

AFC offensive rookie of the year and the administration wouldn't budge.  This and other reasons forever soiled the relationship.  75 yard average rushing per game in his 54 games from 1980-83 (4,046 yards, plus 162 receptions for 1,641 and 15 TDs) and one of the most underrated and lost opportunity Bills for all-time.

 

105 yards per game total average in those 4 years.

 

He justifiably jumped to the USFL in 84.

 

 

 

Yep, there was a story in Sport Illustrated after the 1981 Bills opener in which they stomped the Jets. You would think the story was going to be about the Bills and their strong team. Nope. It had a bunch of player quotes about being underpaid and unhappy.

Edited August 31 by Admiral Sean

[JP51]

2 hours ago, US Egg said:

He wasn’t the ideal owner, but fans should be forever grateful for Ralph. 

the era of Ralph has aged exceedingly well... many of us have grown to appreciate him... a major portion of his estate is dedicate to Detroit and Buffalo and thier communities... he was a good man who did the best he could... some of his penny wise pound foolish decisions certainly can be questions but he always did what he thought was best to keep the Bills here... 

[skibum]

Ralph had deep pockets and short arms.

 

[cba fan]

21 hours ago, Professor Worthington said:

Just curious. Anyone know?

These are just off the top of my head.

first sign was this and it then got worse:-----he repurposed Lions old uniforms and helmets for Bills first two years(this is how the nickel gray became a thing)....... his cash to cap(crap) which effectively killed any thought or possibility of being playoff competitive in the salary cap era. Refusing to recognize the need to sign players before they became FA in the new FA period and then losing them after GM agreed to deals lower deals and Ralph said no let them be FA first then refused to match the even higher offers they received. Wilford, Bennett, Paup, Pozluzsny, Wright, Odoms, and many others. Refusing to pay the best player in NFL a reasonable salary until he held out and then it was still not market. OJ and Bruce. Refused to pay Wade Phillips his binding owed contracted salary after he fired him. Majority of time promoted yes men up from the org to get loyalty and low balled their pay. His unwillingness to sell naming rights to the Ralph during the time he actually owned the naming rights. His refusal to pay the Jills. Refusing to pay Jills travel to Super Bowls where they actually performed. ............... his refusal to specifically state in his will for Bills to remain in Buffalo after his death. It only required selling to highest bidder. Mrs Wilson helped keep them in Buffalo in spite of him.. ...

There are many more examples if you want me to look again. I had a good friend who worked for the Bills in marketing, and he has lots of other frugalness issues examples. Ralph made (former Buffalo Braves franchise) notorious penny pincher Clippers Don Sterling look like a big spender in comparison. Minus the racist thinking of course.

Ralph was a kind good person but not a good NFL owner.

Edited August 31 by cba fan

[cba fan]

13 hours ago, US Egg said:

Ralph wasn’t the reason the Lancaster dome didn’t happen. The county agreed to pay for it and then bailed after estimates came in 20 mil over the 50 mil estimate, resulting in their building the concrete bowl in Orchard Park.

No no no. Ralph insisted he wanted a bigger, 80k instead of the 60k dome, and open-air stadium in the suburbs that was all the rage of NFL teams back then. He even offered to buy the naming rights which the county refused and sold to Rich Products.

Edited August 31 by cba fan

[US Egg]

6 minutes ago, cba fan said:

No no no. Ralph insisted he wanted a bigger, 80k instead of the 60k dome, and open-air stadium in the suburbs that was all the rage of NFL teams back then. He even offered to buy the naming rights which the county refused and sold to Rich Products.

Wilson did balk and I guess I got it wrong, but I thought it was after the Lancaster Dome deal fell through is when the County then agreed to build in O.P. to appease Ralph’s wants. Not that this was part of the reason for the fallout, but the Dome deal reached a criminal level of impropriety with some local county legislators going to prison.

[BRH]

21 hours ago, loyal2dagame said:

He had deep pockets with short arms.

 

Came here to say I literally saw that very sign hanging from the wall during our home opener against the Chiefs in 1982.  (We won 14-9; Marv was coaching the Chiefs then).

 

Knox was still coaching the Bills at the time, so "Ralph is cheap" even predated Knox's departure as well as our failure to sign Kelly out of college in 1983.  I date it back to at least when we drafted and couldn't sign Tom Cousineau as the #1 overall pick in 1979 -- a pick we received from the 49ers in the OJ trade (I don't blame Ralph for that; OJ wanted to go home, and we got a high first-rounder for a guy who was essentially done).

 

Worked out okay, though, because we ended up trading Cousineau's rights to the Browns in 1983 in exchange for a first-round pick, allowing us to select Kelly.  And Cousineau sucked when he came back to the NFL.

 

In the end the whole "Ralph is cheap" shtick was bogus, of course.  He paid to keep our core together through the '90s (although you could argue that he wouldn't have been able to do that once free agency became truly "free").  And Ralph could have made a ton more money selling the franchise to a buyer who would have moved the team.  He didn't, and he kept ticket prices affordable here long past the time when other owners started gouging their fans.

Edited August 31 by BRH

[corta765]

51 minutes ago, skibum said:

Ralph had deep pockets and short arms.

 

He actually was a T Rex!

[corta765]

13 minutes ago, BRH said:

In the end the whole "Ralph is cheap" shtick was bogus, of course.  He paid to keep our core together through the '90s (although you could argue that he wouldn't have been able to do that once free agency became truly "free").  And Ralph could have made a ton more money selling the franchise to a buyer who would have moved the team.  He didn't, and he kept ticket prices affordable here long past the time when other owners started gouging their fans.

I wouldn't say it was bogus completely as pre 86/Bills Kelly-Polian he absolutely had times he was tight or frugal, but again that was more common for owners back then so some of the criticism was accurate especially when Knox left. BUTTT he did evolve and 86' Bills on he certainly tried to win and he did spend, just the later times it was either misguided decision wise or the league had kinda passed him by. Ralph was a very good person and very good businessman. I believe he truly cared about Buffalo as shown for years since his passing by doing his best to help keep the team here and the amount of money he has given to Buffalo/Detroit. Ralph's greatest flaw was not that he was cheap but he was incredibly prideful and it bit him quite a few times badly. He himself said he regretted firing Polian and that was two major ego's that unfortunately couldn't last. He actually did the right thing when he hired Donahoe as that was the proper next step and he hired a pedigree out of network that was from a winning team. Again when that failed his pride stepped in and instead of trying the same idea he retreated with comfort and yes man instead of the proper move. It is what it is and he himself would've told you as much and he did so. He was a very good citizen of Buffalo as an owner for what he did to keep the team here & keep it affordable for fans... in football owner world he was C+/B- if that makes sense haha.

[Professor Worthington]

5 hours ago, Jauronimo said:

"Ralph is cheap!" is mostly a joke on this board. Every free agent signing in the league prompted a new thread complaining about not signing XYZ player and the conclusion was always that Ralph wouldn't spend. As if free agents were lining up to play for a bad Buffalo Bills team but we refused to match salary.  It was so tiresome that the more sane posters started using it ironically and attributing Ralph's cheapness to anything from not signing the most washed up has beens or nobodies of the league, to non-football matters in Buffalo, or even acts of God.  

Lots of history noted here and I genuinely appreciate the thoughtful answers (except Chandler, although I think he was trying to be funny.)

I was most curious about why it’s quoted in posts that have nothing to do with Ralph. Thanks to Juranimo who explained it’s essentially taken on a life of its own.

[Nihilarian]

Perhaps what Bills fans don't know is that while he had that cheap moniker, he also took everyone associated with his Buffalo Bills team with him to that first Super Bowl. From Players, coaches, office workers, and ball boys. EVERYONE: must have cost him a small fortune.

 

Then, after that first SB and on to the second, everyone on the team thought they were so special and deserved more money. Can you imagine after four Super Bowls in a row?

 

In his later years, he was not only notoriously frugal but also notoriously cantankerous. Just to say, when he drove up to his stadium (he could have sold the name and kept it the "Ralph"), you expected him to be driving up in a super luxury car like some of the players. He was in a common rental car. Nothing special at all.

 

He would walk around inside his stadium and greet the fans at every turn, smiling and waving. He kept the ticket seat prices about as inexpensive as he could, and he loved Buffalo fans. He wanted to keep the team in Buffalo no matter what, and that was difficult at times. 

[Coach Tuesday]

I think the origin was Ralph being cheap.

 

Also where the heck is @Rico and @BADOLBILZ

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

Cash to the cap. Words almost as reviled as “wide right”, “forward lateral” and “13 seconds”

[PromoTheRobot]

47 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

Perhaps what Bills fans don't know is that while he had that cheap moniker, he also took everyone associated with his Buffalo Bills team with him to that first Super Bowl. From Players, coaches, office workers, and ball boys. EVERYONE: must have cost him a small fortune.

 

Then, after that first SB and on to the second, everyone on the team thought they were so special and deserved more money. Can you imagine after four Super Bowls in a row?

 

In his later years, he was not only notoriously frugal but also notoriously cantankerous. Just to say, when he drove up to his stadium (he could have sold the name and kept it the "Ralph"), you expected him to be driving up in a super luxury car like some of the players. He was in a common rental car. Nothing special at all.

 

He would walk around inside his stadium and greet the fans at every turn, smiling and waving. He kept the ticket seat prices about as inexpensive as he could, and he loved Buffalo fans. He wanted to keep the team in Buffalo no matter what, and that was difficult at times. 

 

I think he owned a Ford Taurus. Another popular verbal meme on TBD; picking up new players, or in one case, former SF coach George Seifert, in a Ford Taurus with Ralph driving.