The original table dive?

[cage]

There's a crazy article on The Athletic detailing the wildness of the World Football League, which was in operation from 1974-5.  Lost a ton of money, but crazy stories.  Sorry its behind paywall:

https://theathletic.com/3668558/2022/10/25/world-football-league-history/

 

Anyhow, one part of the narrative is as follows and details what might be the first Pro Football table dive and, of course, it was a former Bills player!

 

" 

Mike McBath, the former Bills lineman with the booming voice, looked at his buddy, linebacker Billy Hobbs from Texas. What they were about to do was impossibly stupid, and had McBath been in the right frame of mind, he would have realized it too. But by that point in the night, McBath had consumed enough alcohol that the idea he and Hobbs had originated seemed ingenious.

 

Now they just had to execute.

 

This night, like many nights, McBath and his Florida Blazers teammates were at Rosie O’Grady’s, one of the most popular bars in Orlando, where sawdust covered the floor, a Dixieland band blasted tunes and singing bartenders served flaming hurricanes in souvenir glasses. 

 

“We had a lot of drinks and a good time,” McBath said. “That was our motto.”

 

On the second floor, McBath and Hobbs stared over the balcony at the packed crowd. One teammate said McBath was a “wild man,” but Billy Hobbs was a “wild, wild, wild man.” This was to be their crowning act as a tandem.

 

The pair jumped over the railing, their huge bodies falling through the air like pro wrestlers, until their chests smashed a table, flattening it on impact. Mission complete, they stood up, brushed themselves off and stumbled away in search of another beer. These were the moments of camaraderie that kept McBath and his teammates going after their pay stopped.

"