Ray Abruzzese, American football player (Buffalo Bills, New York Jets), died he was 73
Raymond Lewis Abruzzese, Jr. was an American college and professional football player died he was 73..
(October 27, 1937 – August 22, 2011)
Abruzzese was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A defensive back, he played college football at the University of Alabama, and played professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills from 1962 through 1964, when the Bills won the AFL Championship game, 20–7, over the defending AFL champion San Diego Chargers. He also played for the AFL’s New York Jets in 1965 and 1966.
Though it is little-known by today’s Professional Football fans, Ray Abruzzese had a major impact on the growth of modern Professional Football. He roomed with Joe Namath when both were at Alabama. When Namath was deciding between signing with the NFL’s Cardinals or the AFL’s Jets, he told Jets owner Sonny Werblin that he would lean toward the Jets if they would acquire Ray Abruzzese. Bills owner Ralph Wilson
cooperated and, for the good of the league, traded Abruzzese to the
Jets, who under Namath’s leadership went on to defeat the NFL’s
over-rated Baltimore Colts in the third AFL-NFL World Championship game.
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Cookie Gilchrist, American football player (Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos), died from cancer he was , 75.
Carlton Chester “Cookie” Gilchrist was a gridiron football player in the American Football League and Canadian Football League died from cancer he was , 75..
He is one of the few professional football players who did not play college football.
(May 25, 1935 – January 10, 2011)
Career
A star player at Har-Brack High School (Natrona Heights, Pa), in 1953 he led the team to the W.P.I.A.L. co-championship with Donora. As a junior, he was talked into signing a professional football contract with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns by Paul Brown. The signing was against NFL rules and likely illegal, and when Brown reneged on his promise that Gilchrist would make the team, Gilchrist left training camp at Hiram College, in Hiram, Ohio, and went to Canada to play. There, in the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU), he received the Jim Shanks (Team MVP) Trophy for the Sarnia Imperials in 1954, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen‘s Team MVP Award in 1955.
In 1956, he joined the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, helping lead them to a 1957 Grey Cup victory. He spent one season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, rushing for 1,254 yards. He then was traded to the Toronto Argonauts for Tex Schwierer, and played three years in Toronto.[1] In his six years in the CFL, Gilchrist was a divisional All-Star at running back five consecutive years from 1956 to 1960 (there were no All-Canadians selected in those years) and was also an Eastern All-Star at linebacker in 1960. In his CFL career, Gilchrist recorded 4,911 rushing yards, 1,068 receiving yards and 12 interceptions.
Gilchrist then joined the roster of the Buffalo Bills of the fledgling American Football League. Incidentally, Gilchrist was Buffalo’s backup plan: they had actually drafted Ernie Davis to be the team’s franchise running back in 1962. Davis instead chose the NFL, but died of leukemia before ever playing a down of professional football. The Bills instead signed Gilchrist as a free agent. While with Buffalo, Gilchrist played fullback and kicked, though he insisted he could have played both ways. He was the first 1,000-yard American Football League rusher, with 1,096 yards in a 14-game schedule in 1962. That year he set the all-time AFL record for touchdowns with 13, and he earned AFL MVP honors. Gilchrist rushed for a professional football record 243 yards and five touchdowns in a single game against the New York Jets in 1963. Though he was only with the Bills for three years (1962–1964), he remains the team’s fifth-leading rusher all-time, and led the league in scoring in each of his three years as a Bill. Gilchrist ran for 122 yards in the Bills’ 1964 American Football League championship defeat of the San Diego Chargers, 20-7. His 4.5 yard/rush average is second as a Bill only to O.J. Simpson.
In an early civil rights victory for black athletes, Gilchrist led a successful boycott of New Orleans as the site of the 1965 American Football League All-Star game. He is the only athlete to turn down being enshrined into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum, because of what he described as racism and exploitation by management. Gilchrist frequently was at odds with team management. He told a reporter from the London Free Press that most of the problems he encountered were a result of his standing up for principles at a time when black athletes were expected to remain silent.[citation needed]
Gilchrist also played for the Denver Broncos in 1965 and 1967, and for the Miami Dolphins in 1966. He was an American Football League All-Star in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965, making him one of only a few professional football players who made their league’s All-Star team for 10 consecutive years (six in the CFL, and four in the AFL). Gilchrist was selected as the fullback of the All-Time American Football League Team.[citation needed]
After football
Gilchrist had numerous feuds with the people he worked with during his football career. He refused entry into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.[2] He also refused to accept enshrinement on the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame because he wanted payment for appearing; Van Miller eventually convinced Gilchrist to change his mind, but Gilchrist was not inducted prior to his death.[3]
In an article in The Buffalo News on March 18, 2007, Gilchrist, then 71, announced that he was being treated for throat cancer. At the time, he lived in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania.
On January 10, 2011, Gilchrist died at an assisted living facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2]
Honors
- First American Football League player to gain over 1,000 yards in a season (14 games, 1,096 yards in 1962)
- Previously held the American professional football record for most yards rushing in a game, 243 yards vs. the New York Jets, on December 8, 1963.
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