The 50th Anniversary Reunion of the CCHS Class of 1973

Greetings. There were some comments expressed that it was difficult to get news of the August reunion outside of Facebook. This might help solve that. Pass the word to all of your friends.

We have reopened our website for the Clarence Class of 1973. Please head there for the latest information.

Paul Wieland: Forever Young

I'm with Paul Wieland and Seymour Knox IV here.

 

The many friends of Paul Wieland probably all had the same reaction when they heard the news of his death earlier this week. They were saddened, of course, over the loss of someone so vibrant and memorable. But then, the stories about Paul came to mind … and it was hard to do anything but smile at them.

You see, Wieland grew older, but in many ways never grew up. He always could go into something of a rage over a perceived injustice, yet still see the humor in any situation. We all should be that lucky to have a friend like that.

Paul grew up in Buffalo, attending Bishop Timon High School, and attended St. Bonaventure University. He learned to love college basketball while good-naturedly hating the other Little Three teams (Canisius and Niagara) in the process. After graduation, he had some odd jobs before landing at the Courier-Express. Then Paul moved down the street to the Buffalo Evening News. I don’t remember hearing much from him about those days, although Paul was quite descriptive about how intimidating a meeting with the bosses there could be.

But one story always stuck with me. Back when newspaper newsrooms had actual people in them (as opposed to the remote staffs of today), people used to call and ask for random bits of information. One time, Paul overheard a call asking about the nation’s longest river. Was it the Missouri or Mississippi? Wieland asked to have the call transferred to him. “River Desk,” he said solemnly. The question was repeated. While looking up the answer, Paul stalled for time by saying it was nice to get a call because so few people wanted information on rivers.

Wieland probably would have been happy working at The News for life, adding a touch of whimsy to the paper’s output as well as to the lives of those at the paper whenever possible. Then he found out that one of his bosses had inserted a made-up quote into one of Paul’s news stories, crossing a major line of behavior. That started him job hunting. While he was offered positions at some other newspapers, taking them would lead to a pay cut in a sense since other cities had higher costs of living. So he accepted a job in public relations for General Motors. It’s hard to imagine Wieland in the stuffy corporate world, but the job came with more money and a perk – a company car. Done.

Sure enough, Paul lasted two years with the suits.  Then he heard that the new NHL team that planned to play its first season in 1970-71 in Buffalo was looking for a public relations person. Chuck Burr was the original PR Director, but the Knox brothers (who led the team’s ownership group) thought that wasn’t working out. Wieland accepted the job on one condition – a company car. Done. If you look at the Sabres’ first-ever media guide, Paul is listed as the assistant PR director … but he soon moved up a step.

There he bonded with new general manager and coach Punch Imlach, who soon had a problem that needed solving. Roger Crozier often missed practice with stomach problems, and the team needed a spare goalie. Wieland, a beer league goalie in earlier days, stepped in as a replacement. Paul’s worst moment came when he went to make a poke check one time, and accidentally tripped Gil Perreault. The young star went crashing into the board, and Wieland had instant dreams of ruining the rookie’s career before it got started. Luckily, Gil popped right up … and beat Wieland on his next 10 shots during practice. As for after practice, Wieland learned a lesson about his “teammates” – “They weren’t too good, but they sure could drink,” he said years later.

Now comes the part that would be the lead to any story about Wieland’s life that’s not personal in nature. The Sabres had a problem in the 1970s – all of their tickets were sold.  That meant the house was filled with the same people night after night, more or less. That’s not a long-term formula for success. Besides, it also meant revenues would be flat with little room for growth.

Owner Peter Gilbert of International Cable proposed that his outlet carry a few Sabre games on his system. The Sabres agreed, but they didn’t want the broadcast to look like the primitive coverage that was used for, say, high school games. Therefore, they wanted to produce their own broadcasts – and Wieland would head up the operation. Gilbert agreed, and the broadcasts were instantly popular. You can connect the dots from there to the point where major league teams in all sports became involved in broadcasting directly. That led to the creation of regional sports networks, which became a huge business. The model is still evolving today, and it all started with the Sabres.

Paul made NHL history in 1973 when he became the first PR director to draw a penalty on the opposing team in the playoffs. The goalie in him thought Ken Dryden’s pads were too big, so he quietly strolled into the Montreal Canadiens’ locker room and personally measured them. Yup, too big. He told the Sabres’ coach Joe Crozier to save the information for the right time. That turned out to be near the end of regulation time in Game Five, with the score tied. Referee Bruce Hood didn’t like it, but a rule was a rule – and the Canadiens opened overtime shorthanded. Alas, Buffalo didn’t score on the power play … but the Sabres did win the game on Rene Robert’s goal.

Wieland’s wit moved front and center in 1974, when the NHL draft was taking place in Montreal.  The proceedings were threatening to drag into infinity, and boredom always was Paul’s enemy. Imlach asked what he could do to annoy NHL President Clarence Campbell, and the answer from Wieland was to draft a player that didn’t exist from an unlikely country. Thus, in the seventh round, the Sabres selected center Taro Tsujimoto of the Tokyo Katanas (swords). The joke lasted through training camp, and Taro probably will be part of Sabres’ history forever.

Wieland’s sense of humor soon became famous around hockey circles as well as Western New York. I’ve written about Paul’s famous April Fool’s Day gags that usually were treasured by those who knew him. Here’s the story:

April Fool’s Day with the Sabres

There were other instances where his wit popped up. A tradition started in 1976 that featured an extra paragraph, silly in nature, in the section of the press guide that dealt with media services. In 1977, it read, “Because of the extreme height of the press box, there are skydiving exhibitions on the eves of holiday games. Special arrangements can be made for such exhibitions by calling the Sabres public relations office at least 48 hours in advance of your visit.” (Footnote: When I started writing the Sabres’ media guide in 1987, I made sure to continue that tradition. In 1988, I wrote, “Press box seats will be filled on a space-available basis. Gate-crashers in the press box will be forced to watch reruns of ‘Gomer Pyle’ for four hours.”)

Paul’s habit of playing a role in odd times in Sabre history continued on February 12, 1977. Goalie Gerry Desjardins was injured, so the team recalled Don Edwards from the minors … and Imlach ordered coach Floyd Smith to start Edwards. That didn’t sit well with backup goalie Al Smith, who skated on to the ice, waved at Seymour Knox and said, “See ya, Seymour,” and left the building.

Assistant general manager John Andersen put out a call for Wieland, who was planning on broadcasting the game on cable as usual. Wieland signed an amateur tryout contract and began dressing for the game as Edwards’ backup. But the team couldn’t get all the details done before the lineups were signed, thus ending Paul’s NHL career before it started. That was OK with him. "Can you imagine if I had to go out and play against NHLers?” he told me years later. “I was just a beer-league goalie. They would have really embarrassed me.”

One time Paul noticed the college stickers that adorned the rear-view windows of cars. He saw a financial opportunity, and had “Buffalo Sabres Universally” stickers printed and sold. He once told me, “I can’t believe that I can come up with an idea like that, and the Knoxes will say, ‘Go ahead and make them.’” During a really boring preseason game in the early1980s, Paul started writing fake and silly coupons on paper and throwing them over the front of the press box into the crowd. Fans took them to the concessions stands and asked for their redemption, drawing stares from the workers and head-shakes from their bosses. I should know. I sat beside Wieland that night, writing and throwing.

I was hired for the Sabres’ public relations department in 1986, with Paul’s stated reasons for hiring me ringing in my ears for days: “You’re a good writer, you know hockey, and you’re bleeping nuts.” High praise indeed. Working on television production was becoming a full-time job for him, so he was more of an overseer of the communications department rather than my direct boss. In other words, I was allowed to say no sometimes when Wieland asked me to take the afternoon off because he needed another player for a doubles match in tennis.

Still, everyone in the Communications Department including new PR director John Gurtler bonded pretty quickly, establishing friendships that would last for the rest of our lives. We chuckled together about some of the absurdities of life in the NHL, and complained when the City of Buffalo turned off the heat to our offices once the playoffs were over – usually before the end of April, unfortunately.

Paul eventually spent more and more time on the television side of the hockey business. At one point the Sabres' games were on Channel 49, which was owned by the team. One night, the hockey game ended at 10:20 p.m., and Paul figured he'd have the announcers fill time until the bottom of the hour. But no - he was order to dump out immediately and go to local programming. Wieland was absolutely horrified to hear a recording saying "We now return to our scheduled programming" - in this case the last 10 minutes of "Gomer Pyle." Paul was outraged: "This is a bleeping Gomer Pyle station!" From then on, Channel 49 was always called "The Gomer" by Wieland. It caught on, at least internally. 

By the time the early 1990s arrived, things had started to change in the hockey business. The money involved was rising rather quickly, and everyone was starting to take things more seriously. The staff grew in size, ending some of the intimacy that Paul had enjoyed in the Sabres’ early years. That seriousness put pressure on the entire Sabres organization, especially as the first-round playoff losses of that era mounted, which meant the team’s fabled sense of humor that Wieland had created was at risk. “All the things we did only enhanced our reputation in the community,” he told me once. “We never took ourselves too seriously.” The April Fool’s Day broadcast soon became one of the casualties. Boo.

It might not have been the last straw for Paul, but maybe the company car was. Gone. He also had some problems with some of the ethics of team leadership, just like he had at The News in the late 1960s. It was time to get out of the hockey business. Paul was off to Massachusetts to run a public television station for six years, where he did some production work for some major outlets on the side and watched his Boston Red Sox during free time in the summer.

But when it was time to retire from that job, Wieland saw it as an opportunity to move back to the Buffalo area. He landed a job as a teacher at his beloved St. Bonaventure, working for Dean Lee Coppola – better known as “Mel Moonlight,” a nickname given by Paul for all of Lee's freelance work involving the Sabres back in the 1970s. Based on the social media postings I’ve seen lately, Wieland touched a lot of lives as a faculty member. I remember him excitedly telling me early in his tenure, “One of my kids said in a survey that I was his favorite teacher of all of his instructors at St. Bonaventure. That’s quite a compliment.”

Paul finally left his teaching job in 2017. I remember writing up something of a tribute to his career for the party that was held in Ellicottville; such messages are always better when they get to be read by the subject while they are around to see it. We met for lunches and bumped into each other every so often, such as when he had a book signing of one of his literary efforts. My last encounter came on my birthday in 2021, when I happened to spy an extra seat next to him at the induction ceremony of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. It was a great present. He was in considerable pain at that point due to a variety of ailments, and was laughing about the idea that he was allowed to smoke medical marijuana for relief. I asked about another lunch meeting during 2022, but he wasn’t up for it immediately. “I’ll let you know,” he wrote.

The news of Wieland’s death was shocking and sudden, then, but not surprising. No doubt all of his other friends, like me, were left wishing for one more two-hour lunch to share some laughs and review good times. Paul combined smarts, humor and wit to carve out a unique niche in the local sports community. That’s an act that’s impossible to follow.

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Our turn

(Mensana, the monthly newsletter of the local chapter of Mensa, usually doesn't discuss the events of the day in its pages. However, we thought it was necessary to address the mass shootings that took place in Buffalo earlier this month. For better or worse, I volunteered to come up with something. Maybe you'll like it.)

It was difficult to escape the aftermath of the mass shootings in Buffalo on Saturday, May 14. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. 

After a difficult week for everyone in our area, my wife and I drove to a social event with friends and others in Northern New Jersey. Usually when word gets out at such functions that we’re from Buffalo, someone says something clever like “Has the snow melted up there yet?” But this time the questions were different - numerous and serious. People wanted to know how close we were to the site of the incident, and how we and others in this part of the world reacted to it. That was no different from what happened earlier in the week, when people from various parts of our lives checked in. We even heard from a friend in Perth, Australia, which is as far as you can go from Buffalo and still be on land. 

Like everyone else in Western New York, my reaction was shock, but not surprise. There are too many shootings like this one in America, of course, because one is too many. But every so often, one pops up in another city or town. One friend of mine works at Virginia Tech University, and spent a terror-filled day there. Another friend of mine lived up a hill from the supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, that saw a similar attack. These incidents arrive like, well, a virus – in unexpected places without warning. It was, simply enough, our turn. 

On the way back, we drove past the town of Conklin, which is located on Interstate 81 south of Binghamton near the Pennsylvania border. It used to be the home of the Buffalo shooter, who won’t be identified so he doesn’t receive any publicity, even here. As we drove back to Buffalo, it was easy to imagine the assailant driving that same route over the course of nearly four hours, intent on returning to a Buffalo neighborhood that he previously scouted for a high percentage of African American citizens. 

No one goes on that sort of drive lightly. Yet this 18-year-old managed to drive that distance while staying angry enough to complete his horrible mission. Where did all of the hate that fueled that drive come from? Certainly none of the shoppers in Tops that peaceful Saturday afternoon did anything to him, so we’ll never be able to understand his motivation. That means we’ll never be able to put this completely behind us, even when we just stop at a store for a gallon of milk and some bananas. 

We have argued as a society over the causes of such actions, and what we should be doing to try to prevent them. It’s fair to say, though, that the current approach isn’t working. Maybe we need to start by figuring out why people hate others who are merely different from themselves. 

In the meantime, we’ll be waiting for the next incident. Whose turn will it be then?

Book Review: Newsroom Confidential (2022)

Ever read a published autobiography of someone you know?

It is an odd feeling. A couple of college friends of mine have published books that are more like memoirs, revealing pieces of themselves along the way. For the most part, I was pretty clueless about those pieces, so it was interesting to learn about those previously unknown aspects of their lives (at least to me).

That brings us to "Newsroom Confidential," by Margaret Sullivan, the media critic from The Washington Post. Almost everything except the skeleton of her life's work was new to me.

Margaret, you see, was my boss at The Buffalo News for several years. She moved on to bigger and better things, as her current title indicates. When I had the chance to obtain an e-copy of the book well in advance of the publication date, I jumped at the opportunity. The price I had to pay was a review of the book, so here it is.

Sullivan grew up in the Buffalo area and quickly landed at The Buffalo News after college and a short stint at the Niagara Gazette. But I first met her through softball, oddly enough. I was working for the Buffalo Sabres at that point in the late 1980s, and I played on a softball team that mostly consisted of Buffalo News employees. We weren't too good, but we were literate. 

Sometimes the team would go out for food and drink after games, and significant others would show up. One of our players was married to Margaret at the time, and she joined us occasionally. It was always interesting talking to her on such occasions, even in a large group. So I started paying more attention to what she was writing in the newspaper, which at one point was a regular Sunday column that usually was the best thing printed on that particular day. I remember at one point Margaret received a promotion that would force her to give up the column. I said to her, "I certainly understand why you won't be writing the Sunday column any more, but I'm going to miss it." Her reply was along the lines of "Yes, it is a good opportunity for me, but I appreciate the compliment." You're heard of the smartest person in the room? Margaret always was the smartest person in the bar after games. 

Eventually, I landed at The News in the sports department, ready to begin a run that lasted 23 years. Sullivan wasn't the editor in chief yet, but she soon took that step to be the boss of the newsroom. I probably could count the number of contacts with her that went beyond "hello" on two hands ... if not one. She worked during the day and I worked at night; besides, the sports editor preferred to run his own little fiefdom, and did so effectively. 

Naturally, the part on life in Buffalo is the portion of the book that was of great interest to me as a former employee. I can report that only a couple of people came off as a little less than honorable. Most of those chapters are devoted to some of the issues that came up at the newspaper in that era. To be honest, I can't imagine it would be particularly interesting to those in the "outside world." But I'm not a fair judge of that, under the circumstances.

When Sullivan left The News to go to the New York Times in 2012, no one seemed to be too surprised. It takes plenty of effort and ambition to be the editor of a newspaper, and Margaret had plenty of both qualities. She admits that her personal drive played a big role in the end of her marriage, something that many of us guessed could happen back in the day.  

At the Times, she became the Public Editor. As jobs in journalism go, this is an odd one. Sullivan was an independent voice in the newsroom, asking questions about how the Times went about the business of daily journalism and answering them on line and in print. It can't be easy to be the "scold" in the office - showing up at someone's door or in someone's email when something may have gone wrong in the process. I suppose an agent for the Internal Revenue Service knows the feeling.

The chapters on her years at The Times vary in interest level. Some significant and interesting issues came up along the way, and Sullivan reviews them here with depth and thoughtfulness. It's also fair to add that the material on the inner workings of the New York newspaper such as comings and goings seemed like "inside baseball" - more interesting to those inside the building than outside of it.

Eventually, Sullivan was worn down by that job - easy to see why - and jumped at the chance to work in the Washington Post's Style section as a media critic. It's quite fair to say it's a good niche for her, as she combined the smarts and the writing ability that were on display in her days as a columnist in Buffalo. Many of her columns have received national attention, in part because she has written points of view that no one else is saying.

And as you'd expect, the most interesting parts of the book are discussions about the issues came up in the five-plus years since she joined the Post. Obviously, Donald Trump hovers over much of those stories. His time in the Presidency busted several norms, to put it nicely, and caused journalists to examine how to do their jobs more effectively. We're still trying to figure out what the new rules should be.

Most of the autobiographies by journalists that I've read usually concentrate on the author's encounters with others. (Sports writer and broadcaster Dick Schaap prided himself on how many names he dropped in his book.) That's because reporters usually interact with interesting people on the outside world. I'm not sure if the autobiographical format was ideal for a story like "Newsroom Confidential," which is not like that. Most would rather eat and digest the hot dog rather than learn about how the sausage was manufactured. But, to further strain the analogy, some of the book is still pretty tasty.

In other words, Margaret is still the smartest person in the bar. We can always learn something from people like that.

At the finish line, sort of

Saturday morning marked a perfect storm for the climax of the endless Presidential campaign. The actual voting had taken place on Tuesday, but a number of issues (mail voting, close state elections, etc.) delayed the announcement of an outcome until Saturday - even if the outcome was apparent by then. 

I was in the shower when my wife yelled out the news - "Pennsylvania had been decided." I finished my business and headed to the television for confirmation. Sure enough, the analysts had decided that Joe Biden had done enough to claim victory. 

The news came at exactly the right time for an unprecedented celebration, mostly because of the timing. Usually we find out the identity of the next President around midnight on a Tuesday at the earliest. This time, there was an entire Saturday afternoon in front of us, with nothing but blue skies and warm temperatures in the Northeast waiting. So the news reports soon switched to scenes from big cities, where there was literally dancing in the streets. I can't remember anything like it in the political scene. Note: It is not a good sign about your public standing when people react to your upcoming unemployment by acting as if we had just finished World War III.

One such scene came in Washington, as the White House soon was surrounded with celebrants. One person, perhaps Puerto Rican, symbolically threw a roll of toilet paper over the fence and on to the lawn, and thus completing a circle. Speaking of that, Lafayette Square was again full of people. The last time that area was in the news, it was because the authorities in June had kicked peaceful protesters out of the area with gas and riot sticks in order for President Donald Trump to walk a block to a church for a bizarre photo opportunity. Perhaps some of those same protesters were back five-plus months later to celebrate Trump's loss. It was a case of payback, American style.

World reaction followed suit. While reports that fireworks in London and bell-ringing in Paris were used to mark the outcome have been mostly discredited, they did fit the story line. More to the point was the language used by political figures. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted it out nicely - "Welcome back America!" - as if she anticipated America's return to full status in the world community again. Maybe the system of alliances that has worked so well since World War II is ready for a comeback.

Since then, Biden has made a couple of speeches about the moment as he prepares to take over the executive branch of the government. Trump, meanwhile, has refused to concede because of alleged corruption in the voting process. We should have seen this coming, since he warned us about it in the campaign - raising the question, "How did he know ahead of time?".  He made similar claims during the campaign of 2016 - remember the story of people getting bused into New Hampshire to vote illegally for Hillary Clinton? - only to file them away when he actually won the election. 

These claims have produced some comic moments. The highlight came when Rudy Giuliani gave a news conference about some alleged problems in Philadelphia not at the Four Seasons Hotel, but at Four Seasons Model Landscaping in an industrial part of that city. This led to predictable but hysterical comments about "Lawn and Order" and "Make America Rake Again."  People with my sense of humor will be driving by the place for a quick photo for years to come.

There has been very little evidence backing Trump and Co. up on this. Still, Republicans for the most part have refused to accept Biden's almost inevitable victory. (On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo even said, "There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” which probably won't age well even if he was trying to be funny.) Perhaps all of them have forgotten just how difficult it is to fix an entire state election result. Biden is leading by five figures in four of the battleground states. Someone could fudge a handful of votes here and there, but to coordinate an effort in that many places would be more than daunting. Election counting in this country isn't exactly designed to handle a very, very tight decision smoothly - look at Florida in 2000 - but most of the time, especially when there are a large number of votes, we come up with the correct winner. 

We can only guess at the reasons why so many are not accepting the inevitable result. Trump no doubt is smarting over this loss to Biden, and will take a look at running in 2024 - even if he'll be 78. If he wants to run again, he'll have to keep his supporters fired up and believing that he'll be back to make up for this injustice. Yes, the risk is that our faith in free and fair elections - one of the bedrock principles of a democracy - may be damaged in that process, but Trump hasn't paid attention to such issues in the past. Maybe Grover Cleveland used such a technique to win non-consecutive terms, even without a Twitter account. However, I'm sure his rallies weren't as well attended.

The legal defense fund led by Trump for the fraud investigation is interesting for the fact that the money mostly will go to Trump's Political Action Committee and the Republican party. Maybe Trump can throw himself rallies for four years to keep himself occupied and relevant. On the other hand, he is facing nine figures in personal debt as well as some serious legal troubles in the  future. Can he pardon himself before January 20? It's an interesting legal question, since even Biden is unlikely to be as generous as Gerald Ford was when it comes to transgressions by a Presidential predecessor. 

There are a couple of points about all of this that have been overlooked. Let's face it - Trump probably should have been reelected this year. His path to victory as of February appeared to be pretty clear. All he had to do was address the nation and say, "Put on a mask." Trump knew the dangers involved in the Covid-19 virus, based on the taped conversation with Bob Woodward. Instead, he played down the threat ... and then doubled down on his actions when he criticized those who took precautions in various forms. Trump didn't change his message as the virus came roaring back in the fall, even as thousands who had connections to his mostly maskless rallies became carriers and hundreds of those people died. "Come to my rally and risk your life" is never a good look. Trump couldn't even keep the White House safe from Covid-19. That approach to reelection might have been a tipping point, thanks in part to media reports that kept the death toll fresh on our minds. A large majority of those 230,000 deaths could have been avoided, which hardly seems like a good talking point. 

Meanwhile, Biden finally has reached the White House after years of trying. In one sense, a difficult job awaits him. Even if Democrats claim the Senate through run-off elections in Georgia, the margin will be very tiny and it will be difficult to get much of substance passed. Trump had two years of having the House and Senate in his favor, and his only piece of major legislation was a tax cut that made rich people richer and gave the economy a small and perhaps unnecessary boost. Senate leader Mitch McConnell can't wait to figure out a way to block the next Supreme Court judge nomination - whenever it is. The progressive wing of the Democratic party will figure it deserves a bit of a reward for its role in the election result, but some of their ideas will be difficult to sell to the rest of the legislators and the public. That could lead to some good-sized arguments if Biden doesn't run in 2024. Joe was about the only person who could do bring the coalition together, and the challenge will be to make sure it holds. 

As for the Republicans, they'll start searching for a way to win the Presidency the next time. Leaving Trump out of the picture for a moment, there will be those who think they can follow Trump's act by simply repackaging his policies slightly but putting more of a smile with it. That will be a tough balancing act. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Lindsay Graham and even Pompeo may be anxious to try. Mike Pence could be on that list, but he may simply head back to Indiana to follow Dan Quayle's trip into Hoosier obscurity and life as an historical footnote. 

In the meantime, maybe Biden's position isn't so bad after all.  The first several months will feature the tasks of the distribution of a vaccine and the restoration of the economy to full power. That's not an easy job, but it probably will have bipartisan support. But Biden may become a success simply by cutting down on the chaos. You probably can make up your own list of easily obtainable goals. At the top of the list: Don't lie to the American people. In other words, run the government with honest and quiet efficiency.

As John Lennon once said, "We're only trying to get us some peace." That would be enough for many of us.

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Buffalo's Biggest Free Agents: No. 1-20

Visit Buffalo Sports Page for the complete list of selections.

1. Jack Kemp – Signed by the Bills in 1962

2. Kent Hull – Signed by the Bills in 1986

3. Steve Tasker – Signed by the Bills in 1986

4. Mario Williams – Signed by the Bills in 2012

5. Cookie Gilchrist – Signed by the Bills in 1962

6. Elbert Dubenion – Signed by the Bills in 1960

7. Ted Washington – Signed by the Bills in 1995

8. Robert James – Signed by the Bills in 1969

9. Ollie Carnegie – Signed by the Bisons in 1931

10. Booker Edgerson – Signed by the Bills in 1962

11. Fred Jackson – Signed by the Bills in 2007

12. Steve Christie – Signed by the Bills in 1993

13. Pat Williams – Signed by the Bills in 1997

14. Bryce Paup – Signed by the Bills in 1995

15. Ron McDole – Signed by the Bills in 1963

16. Jason Peters – Signed by the Bills in 2004

17. Mark Kelso – Signed by the Bills in 1986

18. Takeo Spikes – Signed by the Bills in 2003

19. Terrell Owens – Signed by the Bills in 2009

20. Doug Flutie – Signed by the Bills in 1998

Buffalo's Biggest Free Agents: No. 21-40

 

Visit Buffalo Sports Page for a full recap of the list.

21. Scott Norwood – Signed by the Bills in 1985

22. London Fletcher – Signed by the Bills in 2002

23. Ville Leino – Signed by the Sabres in 2011

24. Ernie Warlick – Signed by the Bills in 1962

25. Derrick Dockery – Signed by the Bills in 2007

26. James Lofton – Signed by the Bills in 1989

27. Luke Easter – Signed by the Bisons in 1956

28. Christian Ehrhoff – Signed by the Sabres in 2011

29. Tyrod Taylor – Signed by the Bills in 2015

30. Ryan Fitzpatrick – Signed by the Bills in 2009

31. Brian Moorman – Signed by the Bills in 2001

32. Richie Incognito – Signed by the Bills in 2009 and 2015

33. Matt Moulson – Signed by the Sabres in 2014

34. Lorenzo Alexander – Signed by the Bills in 2016

35. Charles Clay – Signed by the Bills in 2015

36. Tony Greene – Signed by the Bills in 1971

37. Dave Foley – Signed by the Bills in 1972

38. John Davis – Signed by the Bills in 1989

39. Steve Freeman – Signed by the Bills in 1975

40. Langston Walker – Signed by the Bills in 2007