An Atmosphere of Tolerance

VB's note: The second installment of the posts I did a few months
back chronicling different aspects of the Bills start up.

Until this past season's International Bowl, the University at Buffalo Bulls had not played in a bowl game their entire 102-year history of football. I use the word played because they have been invited to a bowl game. In 1958, the Buffalo Bulls went 8-1 and were invited to play in the Tangerine Bowl against Florida State. The game was not to be, however, as two members of the Buffalo Bulls, starting halfback Willie Evans and backup defensive lineman Mike Wilson, were black. This circumstance posed a problem for the Bulls because the Orlando High School Athletic Association, sponsors of the Tangerine Bowl, did not allow blacks and whites to play on the same field. Rather than leave them behind, the Bulls held a team meeting and voted not to accept the invitation and did not play in the 1958 Tangerine Bowl. Willie Evans went on to bigger and better things, however, as he was drafted to play for my grandfather on the new AFL franchise in town, the Buffalo Bills.

Ernie Davis was the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy. He starred at Syracuse University at the HB position and was named to two All-American teams. In 1959, Syracuse won the National Championship by defeating Texas in the Cotton Bowl to cap an undefeated season. After the game, Ernie Davis accepted his MVP award at the banquet and was then asked to leave because of his skin color. He also was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, but he eventually signed with Paul Brown in Cleveland after a bitter dispute between my grandfather and the Browns organization. Had there not been separate leagues, Ernie Davis may have led the Bills to prominence earlier and saved my grandfather's job. He and my grandfather were inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in the same ceremony in 1979.

Note: For more on the 1958 Buffalo Bulls football team, please see the outstanding article "All or Nothing" by ESPN's Eric Neel here. For more on Ernie Davis, you may visit his wiki here.

East Tennessee and Western New York? Closer Than You Might Think...

VB's note: I originally wrote this some months ago for the guys at Buffalo Rumblings, but I wanted it here for posterity's sake I suppose. In any case, enjoy!

From the title alone, you may infer this to be about Terrell Owens’ collegiate career at the University Of Tennessee at Chattanooga, or maybe about the Bills tendency to draft or sign players from the University of Tennessee. It is about neither. This FanPost is meant as addendum to Matt’s chronicles of the Buffalo Bills history up to this year’s 50th anniversary. This is about their first head coach. You know him as Garrard "Buster" Ramsey. His two year stay in Buffalo was crucial to the team’s current existence. I just called him "Pop".