Sunday, November 24, 2019

He loved the games

Gregg Mace loved to show off the tourist attractions
in the Harrisburg area. This is from 1981.
Let's start with one basic fact. Gregg Mace, my friend of more than 44 years who died on Saturday, loved to go to sporting events of any kind. I think he loved them more than anyone I've ever met. Give him a game to watch on any level to attend - high school to pro championship game - and he was happy. And he saw a lot of games in his 65 years.

Is it any wonder, then, that most of my memories about Gregg involve games? They serve as a reminder of the length and quality of our friendship.

Gregg and I met in late March of 1975. We were both students at Syracuse University. He was involved with the student radio station, WAER, and I worked at the student newspaper, the Daily Orange. We both flew out to San Diego when the Orangemen reached the Final Four. It was an easy way to become friends, as we discovered we had so much in common. He was good-natured and fun to be around. Besides, we looked a bit like each other at the time. "Say, who is that good looking guy?" one could say about the other. (This did not last, thanks to some premature graying hair on his part.)

I don't have any photos of Gregg at the 1975 Final Four
in San Diego, but a shot of our hotel for the weekend
survives. It's been remodeled since then. 

The next fall, we started to run into each other frequently at football games and the like, and became closer. Gregg and his three roommates were all radio-television types, but they put up with the visit of a newspaper person at their apartment once in a while. They were all smart and fun, and you could tell they'd do well.

Fast forward several months - I remember watching the 1976 Democratic Convention one summer afternoon, and seeing Gregg standing behind Dan Rather. I called him the next week at home - and Gregg told me that WAER letterhead had led to a press credential to the entire show in New York that year. Gregg was really good at using that stuff. As sports director, he wrote every major college and pro team asking for media guides and news releases. Gregg received more mail than any other employee of the radio station - and that still was true 10 years later. My friend Paul Peck was at WAER in 1987, and knew Gregg's name because of all of the mail.  

By our senior year, Gregg and I started having "adventures" together. Two quickly come to mind. It was a dull winter Friday night, and Gregg suggested that we head to downtown Syracuse to watch the Blazers play. That team was in the North American Hockey League, which supplied some stories for a movie called "Slap Shot" a little later. Syracuse was playing Broome County, and Gregg said on the way down there, "These games usually are kind of boring."

We got to the War Memorial, and the Blazers had proclaimed it "Noise Night." Broome County's fans filled up a few buses for the trip up from Binghamton, and apparently alcoholic beverages were served along the way. The game was filled with noisemakers, goals, fights (on and off the ice) and other bizarre occurrences. I remember a Blazer diving into the penalty box in order to avoid a pounding from one of the tougher Dusters. Syracuse scored two goals in the final two minutes to win, 7-6. I said to Gregg, "That was the most exciting hockey game I've ever seen!" He answered, "Honest, they usually aren't that good.' We talked about that game occasionally for decades.

In the spring of 1977, Syracuse qualified for the NCAA basketball tournament. Its first round game was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana against Tennessee - right at the start of an 11-day spring break. Gregg, Bill Epps and I hatched a scheme to drive to Louisiana to cover the game for our respective media outlets. We figured we'd see the game, watch Syracuse lose (the Volunteers had Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld that year), and then spend the rest of spring break on a Florida beach looking for girls in bikinis. Remember, it was winter in Syracuse then.

Off we went in Gregg's car - changing drivers every two hours and buying the local newspaper every time we stopped. The back seat was filled with sports sections by the time we reached Alabama. I believe once we crossed the Mason-Dixon Line, we spoke in bad Southern accidents and started to address each other as "Colonel Bailey," "Colonel Mace" and "Colonel Epps."

The WAER Sports team uncovered many
developments in its full coverage of the Orangemen.


We made it to Baton Rouge, and had a frog's leg lunch sponsored by the NCAA that featured some coach from the University of Detroit as the main speaker. It was Dick Vitale, I can still recite his jokes. The game offered a surprise - Syracuse won in overtime. Therefore, it was off to Lexington, Kentucky, for the next round (which meant more newspapers) instead of Clearwater Beach.

Let me assure you that there were no bikinis in view in Lexington in March. But we did stop on the way at a place in the French Square in New Orleans that featured women wearing less than a bikini, so I guess we rebounded nicely. Gregg thought a photo outside the establishment could be a good recruiting tool for potential male members of WAER Sports. We also stopped on the drive north in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee. The three of us hopped a fence to get into the mammoth football stadium, and ran around the then-novel artificial turf before 85,000 empty seats.

In Lexington, we all got a tour of NBC's production area from their unit manager. We all even played a game of pickup ball at Rupp Arena in our dress shirts, ties and socks (no good shoes on the court, please). Alas, Syracuse got smoked in the NCAAs by Cornbread Maxwell and North Carolina-Charlotte. The three of us headed back to Syracuse, stopping in Cleveland to watch a Barons' NHL game while waiting for an ice storm to subside. Yes, even then Colonel Mace found a game to watch.

"Quiet. I'm putting" That is Gregg's roommate,
Roger Vanderhorst, waiting for his turn.
Gregg was a good-sized part of my life that year in college, and not just because he ate a lot of late-night pizza at the Varsity with me and our mutual friends. When he needed an emergency talk show guest on the air, I was on the top of his call list. We didn't have many listeners, or calls, but we had fun. When Gregg wanted to play Putt-Putt once spring sort of arrived, I was instantly ready to go along.

Graduation - mine, not his (too many games, I think) - arrived in May of 1977. I recall visiting his family in August of 1977, noteworthy for the fact that both Elvis Presley and Groucho Marx died that week. We saw the Redskins, Phillies and Colts within a week. The following spring, I met up with Gregg in Washington to take part in a workshop that could have led to jobs as press secretaries for Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. We lasted for about two days, and then both realized that if we made the cut we'd be sent to some place where a Republican didn't stand a chance of winning. We bailed early to see a game - naturally - between the Spurs and the Bullets in the NBA playoffs.

Finally, we got on some sort of career path. Gregg thought it was pretty funny that I popped up in radio for a while before moving on to public relations and newspaper work. I thought it was funny that he was the only one driving toward Three Mile Island during the nuclear meltdown, because he was doing weekend sports at Ch. 27 in Harrisburg. We both stayed in touch reasonably well, with email and social media making it easier to do so in later years. When I happened to see Gregg on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" when the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke, I called him up and he told me how it was a little odd to be doing national reports about subjects like sexual abuse involving a football coach. No matter what the circumstances, we always could pick up where we left off the last time. Kids, that's more rare than you'd think.

Gregg was too busy to clean up his apartment
when his wedding day arrived in 1983 --
at least that was his story at the time.
There were a few trips to Harrisburg along the way. I did go to his wedding there, gawking at the absolute mess in his apartment on the morning of the ceremony. All of the guests noticed that when they drove to the ceremony, they went past a billboard with giant photos of the Ch. 27 news team - meaning we had to see Gregg's head at 50 times its normal size. Another time as my friend Glenn and I drove around Harrisburg with Gregg, we were astonished at how many people would smile and wave upon recognizing him. Glenn and I started shouting at pedestrians, "Look! It's Gregg Mace!" in fun. He'd wave and say "Thanks for watching!" brightly.

My last contact with him came in August, when I wondered if he'd be at the Buffalo-Penn State football game. He wasn't going to be there, and the trip fell through at my end. There was silence about his activities until Friday, when I saw a Tweet from his son saying that Gregg was very ill and needed prayers. While his closest friends knew about his various health problems, I had no clue. Gregg died on Saturday. As Bill Russell said when Wilt Chamberlain passed away, "I am unspeakably injured."

Since then, the outpouring of love and grief on social media from Gregg's many friends and viewers has been enormous. That raises a couple of concluding points. There are always people like Gregg Mace in the media of smaller markets, pros who stay put for decades rather than working their way up the ladder. If they are class acts like Gregg, they go out of their way to be helpful to others and those in their communities - even though they probably could have gone on to bigger things professionally. Their contributions are made one person and one story at a time, and are priceless. The effort adds up over 40 years.

It's obviously sad to see Gregg leave us, and many, many people will miss him in different ways. If there's any consolation to this, it's that this was someone who did exactly what he loved for his entire adult life, and did it well while making the world around him a happier place. We all should be so lucky.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Buffalo's Biggest Trades: No. 1-20


Go to Buffalo Sports Page for full details of all of the trades.

No. 1: December 9, 1976 - The Braves trade Bob McAdoo and Tom McMillen to the New York Knicks for John Gianelli and a reported $3 million.

No. 2: April 24, 1982 - The Bills trade Tom Cousineau to Cleveland for a first-round draft pick in 1983 (Jim Kelly), a third-round draft choice in 1984 (Rodney Bellinger) and a fifth-round draft choice in 1985 (Matt Darwin).

No. 3: August 7, 1992 - The Sabres trade Stephane Beauregard and a fourth-round draft choice in 1993 (Eric Daze) to Chicago for Dominik Hasek.

No. 4: December 2, 1981 - The Sabres trade Jim Schoenfeld, Danny Gare and Derek Smith to Detroit for Mike Foligno, Dale McCourt and Brent Peterson.

No. 5: October 25, 1991 - The Sabres trade Pierre Turgeon, Uwe Krupp, Dave McLlwain and Benoit Hogue to the New York Islanders for Pat LaFontaine, Randy Wood and Randy Hillier.

No. 6: October 31, 1987 - The Bills trade Greg Bell, a first-round draft choice in 1988, a first-round draft choice in 1989, and a second-round draft choice in 1989 in a three-way deal with Los Angeles and Indianapolis for Cornelius Bennett.

No. 7: February 28, 2014 - The Sabres trade Ryan Miller and Steve Ott to St. Louis for Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, William Carrier, a first-round draft choice in 2015, and a third-round draft choice in 2016.

No. 8: October, 1991 - The Bandits trade Brian Nikula to Detroit for John Tavares.

No. 9: March 24, 1978 - The Bills trade O.J. Simpson to San Francisco for a second-round draft choice in 1978 (Scott Hutchinson), a third-round draft choice in 1978 (Danny Fulton), a first-round draft choice in 1979 (Tom Cousineau), a fourth-round draft choice in 1979 (Ken Johnson), and a second-round draft choice in 1980 (Joe Cribbs).

No. 10 – June 16, 1990 - The Sabres trade Phil Housley, Scott Arniel, Jeff Parker and a first-round draft choice in 1990 (Keith Tkachuk) to Winnipeg for Dale Hawerchuk and a first-round draft choice in 1990 (Brad May).

No. 11: April 30, 2014 - The Bills trade a first-round draft choice in 2014 (Tavon Austin), a first-round draft choice in 2015, and a fourth-round draft choice in 2015 (Ibraheim Campbell) to Cleveland for a first-round draft choice in 2014 (Sammy Watkins).

No. 12: July 8, 1995 - The Sabres trade Alexander Mogilny and a fifth-round draft choice in 1995 (Todd Norman) to Vancouver for Michael Peca, Mike Wilson, and a first-round draft choice in 1995 (Jay McKee).

No. 13: February 2, 1993 - The Sabres trade Dave Andreychuk, Daren Puppa, and a first-round draft choice in 1993 (Kenny Jonsson) to Toronto for Grant Fuhr and a fifth-round draft choice in 1995 (Kevin Popp).

No. 14: March 14, 1967 - The Bills trade Daryle Lamonica, Glenn Bass, a third-round draft choice in 1967 (Bill Fairband), and a fifth-round draft choice in 1967 (Mike Hibler) to Oakland for Tom Flores, Art Powell, and a second-round draft choice in 1967.

No. 15: March 4, 1972 - The Sabres trade Eddie Shack to Pittsburgh for Rene Robert.

No. 16: March 23, 1999 - The Sabres trade Mike Wilson to Florida for Rhett Warrener and a 1999 fifth-round draft choice (Ryan Miller).

No. 17: September 12, 1973: The Braves trade Elmore Smith to the Los Angeles Lakers for Jim McMillian.

No. 18: April 9, 1985 - The Bills trade the first-round choice in the supplemental draft (Bernie Kosar) to Cleveland for Chip Banks (did not report; replaced with a first-round draft choice in 1985), a third-round draft choice in 1985 (Hal Garner), a first-round draft choice in 1986 (Ronnie Harmon), and a sixth-round draft choice in 1986 (Floyd Dixon).

No. 19: February 24, 1965 - The Bills trade Cookie Gilchrist to Denver for Billy Joe.

No. 20: March 11, 2003 - The Sabres trade Chris Gratton and a fourth-round draft choice in 2004 (Liam Reddox) to Phoenix for Daniel Briere and a third-round draft choice in 2004 (Andrej Sekera).

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Buffalo's Biggest Trades: No. 21-40


Go to Buffalo Sports Page for more information about each trade.


No. 21: October 24, 1976The Braves trade Moses Malone to Houston for a first-round draft choice in 1977 and a first-round draft choice in 1978.
 
No. 22: July 1, 2001 - The Sabres trade Dominik Hasek to Detroit for Vyacheslav Kozlov, a first-round draft pick in 2002, and future considerations.

No. 23: December 31, 1987 - The Sabres trade Paul Cyr and a 10th-round draft choice in 1988 (Eric Fenton) to the New York Rangers for Mike Donnelly and a fifth-round draft choice in 1988 (Alexander Mogilny).

No. 24: April 16, 2018 - The Bills trade their first-round draft choice (Vita Vea) and two second-round choices (M.J. Stewart and another pick that was later traded) to Tampa Bay for a first-round draft choice (Josh Allen) and a seventh-round draft choice (Austin Proehl).

No. 25: July 1, 2018 - Traded Ryan O’Reilly to St. Louis for Tage Thompson, Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, a first-round draft choice in 2019 and a second-round draft choice in 2021.

No. 26: June 7, 1972 - The Bills trade Marlin Briscoe to Miami for a first-round draft choice in 1973 (Joe DeLamielleure).

No. 27: July 3, 2003 The Sabres trade Rhett Warrener and Steven Reinprecht to Calgary for Chris Drury and Steve Begin.

No. 28: March 10, 1981 - The Sabres trade Rick Martin to Los Angeles for a third-round draft choice in 1981 (Colin Chisholm) and a first-round draft choice in 1983 (Tom Barrasso).

No. 29: April 27, 2017 - The Bills trade a first-round pick in 2017 (Patrick Mahomes) to Kansas City for a first-round pick in 2017 (TraDavious White), a third-round pick in 2017, and a first-round pick in 2018.

No. 30: April 21, 2002 - The Bills trade a first-round draft choice in 2003 to New England for Drew Bledsoe.

No. 31: March 20, 2015 - The Bills trade Kiko Alonso to Philadelphia for LeSean McCoy. 

No. 32: March 10, 1980 - The Sabres trade Jerry Korab to Los Angeles for a first-round draft choice in 1982 (Phil Housley).

No. 33: August 2, 2018 - The Sabres trade Cliff Pu, a second-round draft choice in 2019, a third-round draft choice in 2020, and a sixth-round draft choice in 2010 to Carolina for Jeff Skinner.

No. 34: February 28, 2018 - The Bandits trade Callum Crawford and a second-round draft choice in 2019 to New England for Shawn Evans and a fourth-round draft choice in 2018.

No. 35: June 24, 2001 - The Sabres trade Michael Peca to the New York Islanders for Tim Connolly and Taylor Pyatt.

No. 36: October 5, 1979 - The Sabres trade Rene Robert to Colorado for John Van Boxmeer.

No. 37: February 14, 1998 - The Bills trade a first-round draft pick in 1998 (Fred Taylor) and a fourth-round draft choice in 1998 (Tavian Banks) to Jacksonville for Rob Johnson.

No. 38: June 26, 2015 - The Sabres trade Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, J.T. Compher and a second-round draft pick in 2015 to Colorado for Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn.

No. 39: June 10, 1970 - The Sabres trade Tom Webster to Detroit for Roger Crozier.

No. 40: June 6, 1983 - The Sabres trade Tony McKegney, Andre Savard, J.F. Sauve and a third-round draft choice in 1983 (Iirvo Jarvi) to Quebec for Real Cloutier and a first-round draft choice in 1983 (Adam Creighton).

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Friday, June 28, 2019

Buffalo's Biggest Trades: No. 41-60



You can go to buffalosportspage.com for the more complete versions of each deal.

No. 41: April 28, 1987 - The Bills trade a first-round draft choice in 1987 (Alonzo Highsmith) to Houston for a first-round draft choice in 1987 (Shane Conlan) and a second-round draft choice in 1987.

No. 42: December 19, 2002 - The Bandits trade Ken Montour and a third-round draft choice in 2004 to Columbus for Mark Steenhuis.

No. 43: April 17, 2009 - The Bills trade Jason Peters to Philadelphia for a first-round draft choice in 2009 (Eric Wood), a fourth-round draft choice in 2009 (Shawn Nelson) and a sixth-round draft choice in 2010 (Danny Batten).

No. 44: November 12, 1988 - The Sabres trade Tom Barrasso and a third-round draft choice in 1990 (Joe Dziedzic) to Pittsburgh for Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon.

No. 45: June 9, 1982 - The Sabres trade Don Edwards, Richie Dunn, a second-round draft choice in 1982 (Rich Kromm) and a first-round draft choice in 1983 (Dan Quinn) to Calgary for a first-round draft choice (Paul Cyr) and second-round draft choice (Jens Johansson) in 1982 and a first-round draft choice (Norm Lacombe) and a second-round draft choice (John Tucker) in 1983.

No. 46: March 6, 2003 - The Bills trade Peerless Price to Atlanta for a first-round draft choice in 2003 (Willie McGahee).

No. 47 – September 29, 1997 - The Sabres trade Pat LaFontaine to the New York Rangers in exchange for a second-round draft choice in 1998 (Andrew Peters) and future considerations.

No. 48 – February 1, 1976 - The Braves trade Gar Heard and a second-round draft choice in 1975 (Al Fleming) to Phoenix for John Shumate.

No. 49 – February 14, 1995 - The Sabres trade Grant Fuhr, Philippe Boucher, and Denis Tsygurov to Los Angeles for Alexei Zhitnik, Charlie Huddy, Robb Stauber, and a fifth-round draft choice in 1995 (Marian Menhart).

No. 50: July 18, 1985 - The Bills trade Tony Hunter to the Los Angeles Rams for Vince Ferragamo and a third-round draft choice in 1986 (Leonard Burton).

No. 51 – May 25, 1971 - The Sabres trade Joe Daley to Detroit for Don Luce and Mike Robitaille.

No. 52 – April 29, 2013 - The Bills trade Kelvin Sheppard to Indianapolis for Jerry Hughes.

No. 53: August 1, 2017The Bandits trade Ryan Benesch and a third-round draft choice in 2018 to Colorado (Dennon Armstrong) for Callum Crawford and Alex Buque.

No. 54: February 11, 2015 - The Sabres trade Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, the rights to Brendan Lemieux and a first-round draft choice in 2015 (Jack Roslovic) to Winnipeg for Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian and Jason Kasdorf.

No. 55: December 26, 1988 - The Sabres trade Adam Creighton and future considerations to Chicago for Rick Vaive and future considerations.

No. 56: March 14, 2018 - The Bills trade Tyrod Taylor to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a third-round draft choice in 2018.

No. 57: April 25, 2013 - The Bills trade a first-round draft choice in 2013 and a third-round draft choice in 2013 (T.J. McDonald) to St. Louis for a first-round draft choice in 2013 (EJ Manuel), a second-round draft choice in 2013 (Kiko Alonso), a third-round draft choice in 2013 (Marquise Goodwin), and a seventh-round draft choice in 2013 (Chris Gragg).

No. 58: October 18, 1976 - The Braves trade a first-round draft choice in 1978 (Rick Robey) to Portland for Moses Malone.

No. 59: September 1, 1977The Braves trade Mike Bantom and Adrian Dantley to Indiana for Billy Knight.

No. 60: March 18, 1997 - The Sabres trade Barrie Moore and Craig Millar to Edmonton for Miroslav Satan.

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Buffalo's Biggest Trades: No. 61-80


You can go to buffalosportspage.com for the more complete versions of each deal.
 

No. 61: December 27, 1973 - The Sabres trade Tracy Pratt and John Gould to Vancouver for Jerry Korab.

No. 62: June 11, 1976 - The Sabres trade the rights to free agent Peter McNab to Boston for the rights to free agent Andre Savard.

No. 63: May 11, 1970The Braves trade Bailey Howell to Philadelphia for Bob Kauffman.


No. 64: April 22, 1980 - The Bills trade Bob Chandler to Oakland for Phil Villapiano.

No. 65: March 6, 1989 - The Sabres trade Calle Johansson and a second-round draft choice in 1989 (Byron Dafoe) to Washington for Clint Malarchuk, Grant Ledyard and a sixth-round draft choice in 1991 (Brian Holzinger).

No. 66: March 10, 2000 - The Sabres trade Michal Grosek to Chicago for Doug Gilmour and Jean-Pierre Dumont.

No. 67: October 27, 2013 - The Sabres trade Thomas Vanek to the New York Islanders for Matt Moulson, a first-round draft choice in 2015 and a second-round draft choice in 2015 (Brendan Guhle).

No. 68: April 3, 2013 - The Sabres trade Jason Pominville to Minnesota for Johan Larsson, Matt Hackett, a first-round draft choice in 2013 (Nikita Zadorov) and a second-round draft choice in 2014 (Vaclav Karabacek).

No. 69: April 2, 1976 - The Bills trade Walt Patulski to St. Louis for a second-round draft choice in 1976 (Joe Devlin.).

No. 70: September 10, 1973 - The Braves trade John Hummer, a second-round draft choice in 1974 (Leon Benbow), and a second-round draft choice in 1975 (Larry Fogle) to Chicago for Gar Heard and Kevin Kunnert.

No. 71: January 26, 1974 - The Bills trade Dennis Shaw to St. Louis for Ahmad Rashad.

No. 72: February 17, 2012 - The Bandits trade first-round draft choices in 2013 (Logan Schuss) and 2014 (Shane MacDonald) to Minnesota for Anthony Cosmo.

No. 73: September 3, 1960The Bills trade Al Crow to Boston for Wray Carlton.

No. 74: January 14, 1972 - The Sabres trade a second-round draft choice in 1972 (Larry Sacharuk) to the New York Rangers for Jim Lorentz.

No. 75: May 11, 1971 - The Bills trade Ron McDole to Washington for a third-round draft choice in 1973 (Bob Kampa), a fourth-round draft choice in 1973 (Jeff Yeates), and a seventh-round draft choice in 1973 (John Ford).

No. 76: October 14, 1974 - The Sabres trade Gerry Meehan and Mike Robitaille to Vancouver for Jocelyn Guevremont and Bryan McSheffrey.

No. 77: November 23, 1977The Braves trade John Shumate, Gus Gerard, and a first-round draft choice in 1979 (Roy Hamilton) to Detroit for Marvin Barnes, a second-round draft choice in 1978 (Lew Massey) and a fourth-round draft choice in 1978 (Larry Harris).

No. 78: March 11, 1999 - The Sabres trade Matthew Barnaby to Pittsburgh for Stu Barnes.

No. 79: April 29, 1980The Bills trade a first-round draft choice in 1980 (Jacob Green) to Seattle for a first-round draft choice in 1980 (Jim Ritcher), and a third-round draft choice in 1980 (John Schmeding).

No. 80: March 10, 2000 - The Sabres trade Wayne Primeau, Brian Holzinger, Cory Sarich and a third-round draft choice in 2000 (Alexander Kharitonov) for Chris Gratton and a second-round draft choice in 2001 (Derek Roy).

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Buffalo's Biggest Trades: No. 81-100+


Here's a recap of part of the series I'm writing for Buffalo Sports Page on Buffalo's biggest trades. You can go to buffalosportspage.com for the more complete versions of each deal.

No. 81: May 29, 1986 - The Bills trade a second-round draft choice in 1986 (Garry James) and a third-round draft choice in 1986 (Tom Rathman) to San Francisco for a first-round draft choice in 1986 (Will Wolford) and a 10th-round draft choice in 1987 (Jim Ellis).

No. 82: October 5, 2010 - The Bills trade Marshawn Lynch to Seattle for a fourth-round draft choice in 2011 (Chris Hairston) and a conditional draft choice in 2012 (Tank Carder).

No. 83: April 21, 2001 - The Bills trade their first-round draft choice in 2001 (Kenyatta Walker) to Tampa Bay for a first-round draft choice in 2001 (Nate Clements) and a second-round draft choice in 2001.

No. 84: October 1, 1975 - The Sabres trade Larry Carriere, a first-round draft choice in 1976 (Greg Carroll) and cash to Atlanta for Jacques Richard.

No. 85: February 26, 2008 - The Sabres trade Brian Campbell and a seventh-round choice in 2008 (Drew Daniels) to San Jose for Steve Bernier and a first-round pick in 2008 (Tyler Ennis).

No. 86: June 30, 2017 - The Sabres trade Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno and a third-round draft choice in 2018 (Jack McBain) to Minnesota for Marco Scandella, Jason Pominville and a fourth-round draft choice in 2018 (Linus Lindstrand Cronholm ).

No. 87: March 10, 1992 - The Sabres trade Kevin Haller to Montreal for Petr Svoboda.

No. 88: July 15, 2013 - The Bandits trade first-round draft choices in 2015 (Randy Staats) and 2016 and a third-round draft choice in 2017 (Frank Brown) to Minnesota for Ryan Benesch and Andrew Watt.

No. 89: February 15, 1996 - The Sabres trade Craig Muni and a first-round draft choice in 1996 (Daniel Briere) to Winnipeg for Darryl Shannon and Michal Grosek.

No. 90: October 11, 1991 - The Sabres trade Darrin Shannon, Dean Kennedy and Mike Hartman to Winnipeg for Dave McLlwain, Gord Donnelly, a fifth-round draft choice in 1992 (Yuri Khmylev) in 1992 and future considerations.

No. 91: April 30, 1985 - The Bills trade a first-round draft choice (acquired from Cleveland) in 1985 (Ken Ruettgers) and a fourth-round draft choice in 1986 (Tim Harris) to Green Bay for a first-round draft choice in 1985 (Derrick Burroughs), and a second-round draft choice in 1985 (Chris Burkett).

No. 92: May 1, 1984 - The Bills trade a first-round draft choice in 1984 (Jackie Shipp) to Miami for a first-round draft choice in 1984 (Greg Bell), a third-round draft choice in 1984 (Sean McNanie), and a third-round draft choice in 1984 (Speedy Neal).

No. 93: December 2, 1981 - The Sabres trade Bob Sauve to Detroit for a conditional first-round draft choice (Sauve was returned to the Sabres after the 1981-82 season).

No. 94: April 7, 1995 - The Sabres trade Petr Svoboda to Philadelphia for Garry Galley.

No. 95: March 12, 2018 - The Bills trade Cordy Glenn, a first-round draft choice in 2018 (Billy Price), and a fifth-round draft choice in 2018 (Andrew Brown) to Cincinnati for a first-round draft choice in 2018 and a sixth-round draft choice in 2018 (Ray-Ray McCloud).

No. 96: April 24, 2004 - The Bills trade a second-round draft choice in 2004 (Julius Jones), a fourth-round draft choice in 2004 (Sean Ryan), and a first-round draft choice in 2005 (Marcus Spears) to Dallas for a first-round draft choice in 2004 (J.P. Losman).

No. 97: June 26, 2015The Sabres trade a first-round draft choice in 2015 (Colin White) to Ottawa for Robin Lehner and David Legwand.

No. 98: January 30, 1986 - The Sabres trade Larry Playfair, Sean McKenna and Ken Baumgarter to Los Angeles for Brian Engblom and Doug Smith.

No. 99: March 26, 2007 - The Bills trade Takeo Spikes and Kelly Holcomb to Philadelphia for Darwin Walker and a seventh-round draft choice in 2007 (Stevie Johnson).

No. 100: September 1, 1977The Braves trade George Johnson, a first-round draft choice in 1978 (Micheal Ray Richardson) and a first-round draft choice in 1979 (Cliff Robinson) to New Jersey for Tiny Archibald.

Honorable mention, in chronological order:

November 25, 1970The Sabres trade Mike McMahon to Los Angeles for Eddie Shack and Dick Duff.

July 26, 1971The Braves trade Herm Gilliam and Don May to Atlanta for Mahdi Abdul-Rahman and Jerry Chambers.

April 19, 1973The Bills trade Edgar Chandler, Wayne Patrick and Jeff Lyman to New England for Jim Cheyunski, Mike Montler and Halvor Hagen.

June 7, 1977The Braves trade a first-round draft choice in 1977 (Marques Johnson) to Milwaukee for Swen Nater and a first-round draft choice in 1977.
.
September 1, 1980The Bills trade Joe DeLamielleure to Cleveland for a second-round draft choice in 1981 (Chris Williams) and a third-round draft choice in 1982 (Eugene Marve).

November 16, 1995The Sabres trade Doug Bodger to San Jose for Vaclav Varada, Martin Spanhel, Philadelphia’s fourth-round draft pick in 1996 (Mike Martone), and a future first-round draft choice.

March 8, 2007The Bills trade Willis McGahee to Baltimore for third-round and seventh-round draft picks in 2007 (Trent Edwards and C.J. Ah You) and a third-round draft choice in 2008 (Tavares Gooden).

June 25, 2011The Sabres trade Paul Byron and the rights to Chris Butler to Calgary for Robyn Regehr, Ales Kotalik and a second-round draft pick in 2012 (Jake McCabe).

August 11, 2017The Bills trade Sammy Watkins and a sixth-round draft choice in 2018 (Sebastian Joseph) to the Rams for E.J. Gaines and a second-round draft choice in 2018 (Duke Dawson).

November 28, 2018Acquired Corey Small and conditional second-round picks in 2020 and 2022 from Vancouver for Mitch Jones and conditional second-round picks in 2020 and 2022.