Archives for January 2011

‘"People think I’m an oddball because I’m a Negro who speak up," Gilchrist said in the article. "But I have a lot on my mind. It’s an internal disease, and it’ll eat me alive if I don’t get it out of my system what I think about things."’

‘”They better get a quarterback,” DeLamielleure said of the Bills. “If you don’t have a quarterback in this league, forget it. When Vince Lombardi had Bart Starr, he was a good coach. When Tom Landry had Roger Staubach he was a good coach. When Chuck Knoll had Terry Bradshaw, he was a good coach. When those guys leave, they’re not such good coaches. Same thing with Bill Belichick. When he didn’t have Tom Brady he was 15 games under .500. It’s a pretty simple game and when you don’t have a quarterback, you’re not going to win.”‘

‘Mr. Gilchrist was one of 21 black players selected to play in the game. But when white cabbies refused to drive Mr. Gilchrist and other black players into the city — and after French Quarter businesses wouldn’t let his black teammates in the doors — he and others decided to boycott the event. Ron Mix, Hall of Fame tackle for the San Diego Chargers, befriended the running back as a result. “The truth is, New Orleans should erect a statue to Cookie,” Mr. Mix said in the 2003 profile of Mr. Gilchrist. “The city wanted an NFL team, but it was not going to get it unless it desegregated. The boycott led to a change in the laws.”‘

‘”Whoever’d run up, he’d run at him and then run over him,” his former Bills teammate Booker Edgerson, a defensive back, told Jeff Miller in “Going Long,” a history of the A.F.L. “A lot of guys said, ‘Why don’t you sidestep and run around?’ He said: ‘I want to teach them a lesson. If I run over ’em, they won’t come up anymore.'”‘

‘Retired Buffalo News football writer Larry Felser covered Gilchrist during his days with the Bills and still regards him as the best to play the game. Felser wrote in 2004: "Any time. Any place. Any brand of football. Cookie was, pound for pound, the greatest all-around player I ever saw. He would be a superstar in today’s football."’

‘Gilchrist played with Buffalo from 1962-64 and helped the team win the AFL Championship in 1964. He was named the AFL Player of the Year in 1962 when he totaled 1,096 yards and 13 touchdowns. It was the first time an AFL player had surpassed the 1,000-yard mark.’

‘”Cookie at that time was probably the largest back in the league,” said former teammate Charley Ferguson. “He played at about 250 or 255. What was unbelievable about Cookie was his determination. If there is such a thing as giving 150 percent that’s what he gave on the field. I’ve never seen anybody with that much enthusiasm to want to do it. If he could carry the ball 100 times, he would do it. That was just his attitude. He just felt that he could do it all. If there was anybody like a Superman he was a Superman.”‘

‘”I had the opportunity last week to speak with Cookie and we had a good conversation,” Bills owner Ralph Wilson said. "Today is a sad day for me, the Bills and all of the community that Cookie is no longer with us and I want to offer my deepest sympathies to his family and friends.”‘

‘Gilchrist was a 251-pound bruising runner in the 1960s in the American Football League. He spent six years in the Canadian Football League before joining the Buffalo Bills of the AFL in 1962.’

‘Former Buffalo Bills great running back Cookie Gilchrist died early today in an assisted living facility in Pittsburgh, his nephew, Thomas Gilchrist, confirmed this morning.’

‘”If this guy is healthy he can be a major force on the football field,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “That is a proven fact. He has been before. He can upgrade your defense in a hurry if he plays to the level that he has played in the past. And indications are enough that we obviously feel he’s going to be healthy.”‘

‘Ryan Fitzpatrick gave the Bills their best production at quarterback since Drew Bledsoe’s 2002 season. Is he ever going to outduel Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger or Philip Rivers in the playoffs? Probably not. But the Bills are a long way from crossing that bridge. At the worst, Fitzpatrick gives the Bills real hope of improvement next season.’

‘Fitzpatrick almost surely will be the starting quarterback on opening day in 2011. Will a first-round draft choice be behind him? Now that Stanford’s Andrew Luck is off the draft table, Auburn’s Cam Newton becomes the most intriguing quarterback prospect. Expect the Bills to give him thorough consideration.’

‘"It is an opportunity that you look forward to because of the opportunity to work hands-on with some of the top players in the nation," said Gailey, who was an assistant under Dan Reeves when the Denver Broncos coached in the 1986 and 1989 Senior Bowls. "Anytime you can do that, you get a much better read on a guy — whether he can learn and retain, his work habit and his leadership. All of those intangibles that you can’t get off of film or in interviews."’