Calling the 50yr + fans..need help

[Kwai San]

This whole board will hate me but I grew up in Philly and met MANY of the Flyers from 1973 and on forward.  Yes those same Flyers who beat the Sabres for their cup.

 

Funniest in game story at least for me....I was attending a Sabres Flyers tilt in the early 90's.  Went to the Anchor bar beforehand and met a classmate of Lindros,  I had my 88 jersey on.  We all got rip roaring basted.  Go to the game and there is this lady sitting in front of me.  Lindros is playing his typical run the hell over anyone in his way game and basically making an ass of himself as I admitted several times to her.  He FINALLY goes to the box middle of the 3rd as the Flyers are getting their cans handed to them.  This lady stands up and start screaming at me like I was Lindros hisself!!  After she sits down and calms down a bit I leaned forward and stage whispered in her ear "Lady - kindly point out Lord Stanley's banner hanging from the rafters".  Her husband elbows her almost 2 seats over and screams SHUT THE EFF UP - he knows what he is talking about!!!!  My buddies were all rolling in the aisles laughing, several people also shouted over for her to shut up and leave me alone as she was on me like white on rice from the drop of the puck and the first Lindros hit.

 

Good times!!!!

[Chandler#81]

My 7th grade Math teacher got Monte Ledbetter to come talk with my little league football team in NT, late 60’s. 1st athlete I met personally, though the Bills would come annually to play our teachers in basketball, after the season.

2 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Ya gotdam Whippersnapper!

 

[twist_to_open]

I'm embarrassed to say my family lived next door to the Gronkowskis in Cheektowaga in the early 80s. I had already left for the Navy, but remember 3 little kids running around the front yard when I went back on leave.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

3 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Just remember, that ??????

was built in America by Americans (probably the greatest generation, or first wave boomers) using American parts.  Not like having to wait a month for N95s to airfreight in from overseas.  ?

*
?

(Part of me is joking, part of me is dead serious.)

1 minute ago, HOUSE said:

I lived next door to every Buffalo Bill both past a present. I move alot

Harder to hit a moving target, no doubt...?

Edited May 28, 2020 by Ridgewaycynic2013
Must be temporal distortion. I answered House before he posted. ?

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

I remember my mother schlepping the three kids grocery shopping in the football  off season, and here's Tom Day repping for Utica Club (I think).  Whatever brand it was, buy a 12, get a signed team picture.  Dad drank Genesee, but for the next 12, he drank UC.

[GreggTX]

Manny Martin's mother in law lived next door several years back. He and his wife came for a visit and she marched him straight from his car to my front door to meet me. He later sent some Bills gear to me and my wife.

[ChevyVanMiller]

4 hours ago, \GoBillsInDallas/ said:

PFWA George Halas Award

Presented in 1972

Banquet was in Niagara Falls as Larry Felser had just been elected PFWA president

That’s what I love about this board. An obscure question concerning an event held nearly a half century ago and boom, the first responder nails it within minutes. Well done, GoBillslnDallas.

[BringBackFergy]

Phil Villapiano. 1983 - 1986. Somewhere in there. I delivered the Buffalo News to his house in EA. I sucked at billing so I’d knock on the door every 5 or 6 weeks to say they had money owing. His wife was a smoke show. I was about 14-16. I hoped she’d invite me in for a “refreshing” drink. * Bom chicka wow wow *. No such luck. Not sure I ever even collected the damn subscription. 

[Ra-cha-cha]

I met Elbert 'Golden Wheels' Dubenion  (sp?), Mike Stratton & Jack Kemp at the Super Duper supermarket in the early 1960s.  I was probably 7 years old.  I remember Elbert shaking my hand - his hand reached the inside of my elbow.

[Augie]

5 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

Hey all, Richard Deitsch had a twitter question today about the first professional athlete you met, and where you met them. Mine was meeting Tom Dempsey at a sports banquet at the Niagara Falls Ramada Inn..maybe 71 or 72...and he was receiving some kind of sports award that always seemed to be presented in Buffalo. I cannot for the life of me remember what that award was!!!

 

does anyone else recollect this or am i just going crazy?

 

To be straight, just because someone else might remember this does NOT mean you are NOT crazy! You don’t get off that easy! 

 

I think it was 1968 when Butch Byrd was at the door talking to my dad. He lived in a community with us and my parents worked for the developer. I tried to show them an amazing trick. If you apply equal pressure to all sides of an egg, it will not break. Apparently, my pressure was not quite equal enough, and I blasted him and his suit with a large grade A egg. I don’t care if he went all OJ later in life, I love that man for surviving that day! 

 

 

P.S. - That man belongs on The Wall! 

[stevewin]

First time was meeting some of the Buffalo Braves at St Francia basketball camp when i was a kid.  They held a "practice" for us campers and hung out a bit after.

 

Used to go down by the locker rooms before Braves games and sometimes catch the eye of a player.  Also if you got down there early sometimes random visiting players would just be sitting in the stands.  I remember talking to Wes Unseld, Truck Robinson, others i cant remember

 

God I loved the Braves

[TroutDog]

Reggie McKenzie at a signing...I don’t recall where, only that he was the largest human being I’d ever seen. He was active at the time and completely cordial...thus the antithesis of what I expected a football player to be when I was a kid. ? 

 

I suspect this was ‘77 or so but I could very well be incorrect...may have been later. 
 

Edit: I’m 50 so barely squeeze into the equation here. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by TroutDog

[Bob in STL]

First professional athletes that I met were Bills players Al BeMiller (C) and Joe O’Donnell (G), both at our church Holy Name Fund Raiser breakfast back in 1966 or 67.  They both spoke and signed autographs.   It was awesome as I was just a young school boy.  My father was the President of the Holy Name, I heard him tell others that they did it for free which was amazing.  
 

Most of you probably never heard of these guys but they were inspiring and engaging gentlemen.  
 

I did see a Ernie Warlick at Henry’s and that was fun but this was different.  

Edited May 29, 2020 by Bob in STL

[First Round Bust]

just after Pegulas bought the Sabres, Tyler Myers rookie year,  here in DC ( at a pub owned by a Buffalonian)  they had a meet and greet  (roadshow) with no players but all coaches including RJ and Harry Howell.  Shook RJ hand and got autograph

So I asked Lindy Ruff what the hardest part about coaching this team...he said..,Winning, keeping guys like me and you happy....he then chugged a bottle of beer - serious

Later I asked Darcy a stupid fan question about trades and in the middle of his response a loud-mouth Sabre fan interrupted with another question...Darcy drank wine from what I recall. 

James Patrick (asst coach) was very polite, cordial and talkative.

I also got to meet coach Barry Trotz and his lovely wife at a charity event  the season they won the cup (their son Austin has autism) and we we chatted for 10-15 mins; safe to say the Trotz remember where they came from...rural Manitoba...so down to earth and genuine.   His very first coaching job was U of Manitoba at age 23-24

When David Poile called him about first NHL job to coach the Predators he thought the call would be about coaching the AHL team.

[JMF2006]

I think I have you all beat...….Nov 1958 the day I was born....my Grand Father on my Fathers side ...Thomas Henry Kehoe

 

My Grandfather played for the Ottawa Senators Football team and won the Grey Cup in 1926

 

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=U7KlplAu&id=0ECC6275012B48D864898D180FAA2718FF2234AB&thid=OIP.U7KlplAu13ddhwYLJDOulQHaEK&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cfhof.ca%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2fphoto-gallery%2fgrey-cup-team-pictures%2f1926.jpg&exph=576&expw=1024&q=1926+grey+cup+winning+team&simid=608039456244501493&selectedIndex=0&ajaxhist=0

 

I have a pic on my ancestory page but I cannot link it

Edited May 29, 2020 by JMF2006

[JMF2006]

Here it is he is the skinny guy on the left.....his nickname was Slim

[Gugny]

1986 ... music trade show in Albany.  I met Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) and Tommy Aldridge (drummer for Ozzy and Whitesnake).

 

Rick Nielsen could not have been a bigger dick.  I was 15 years old.  Loved Cheap Trick.  Finally met him and all he had to say was "Yo."  That's it.  Hey Rick, I've been a fan for a long time.  Yo.  Would you mind giving me an autograph?  Yo.  Wow!  Thanks a lot!!  Yo.  A-hole.

 

Tommy Aldridge was the exact opposite.  He was there representing Yamaha drums.  Put on a sweet show.  Gave a tutorial.  Took questions from the crowd.  Spoke about his experiences with Randy Rhoads.  I remember someone asking him something about Neil Peart and he went on and on about how he respected him.

 

 And every person who waited to get his autograph ... he thanked them for coming and expressed true appreciation.

 

I threw Rick Nielsen's autograph in the garbage about 30 seconds after I got it.  Over the years, I lost Tommy Aldridge's autograph, but I'll never forget how cool he was.

 

And almost 35 years later, that bastard is STILL drumming for Whitesnake.  He deserves it.

[Buftex]

When I was a lad, my sisters' boyfriend played football at UB.  He spent a summer with the Bills, trying out. He was an O-linemen.  He made it pretty deep into camp before getting cut.  During that time, he became good friends with Joe DeLamiellure and John Leypoldt, among others.  My memory is a little hazy (I think it was 1973, I was 8).  My sisters boyfriend, Dick (I know, I know) took me one evening to a bar.  As I recall, it was a club that John Leypoldt (I think) was opening.  The joint wasn't open yet, and Leypoldt and a bunch of other Bills players were there one night, setting up pool tables, putting furniture together.  They were all drinking beers, bull-shitting, and working on setting this place up. As I recall, it was a weeknight, during the football season, which illustrates how different things are now.  As I recall, it was all white players.  The ones I remember, and got autographs from , were Leypoldt, Joe D,  John Skorupan, and Bruce Jarvis.  There were others, but those are the guys I remember.  I had a piece of college lined paper signed by all of them. I managed to hold on to that for years, the ink faded badly...not sure where it is now.

 

That same year (I think) Buffalo Braves team captain Bob Kaufman came to speak at my grammar school...I remember being blown away by how tall he was.  Don't think I had ever seen a human being that tall in my (albeit short) life. 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by Buftex

[Utah John]

My dad was an amateur photographer, and he did up some Christmas cards for Al Bemiller with Bemiller's family.  Bemiller came to our house in the mid-60s.

 

My father always claimed Bemiller stiffed him, not paying him or even getting him a football in exchange.  Things were REALLY different back then.  Players made less money in the regular season than it took to earn a living, and most of them had off-season jobs.

[JMF2006]

Non family related I met Don Marcotte , Derek Sanderson and a whole bunch of the 1970 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins in Niagara Falls.

 

They were having a big party at a house on Dorchester Rd and we were riding by on our bikes.

 

Don  and another player were out front having a beer and other than all their cars the street was quiet they invited us over for a hamburger and pop.

 

I was 11.

 

Then later that summer I found out Ken Shinkel lived one block over from my house and I met Les Binkley there(they played for the Pittsburgh Penguins)

 

Ken even played a little ball hockey on the street with us once

Edited May 29, 2020 by JMF2006
forgot we in sentence