What is your BEST Bills related memory that doesn't involve a game's result?

[tomur67]

This goes way back. Joe Ferguson was the QB. It was a great game. The Bills won. I don't remember who they played. But, it was a beautiful day and we decided to see if we could get some autographs after the game.  So we walked around the back of the stadium to where the players parked their cars. Sure enough there were a bunch of players back there signing.  Joe Ferguson was sitting on the back of his pickup truck, drinking a coke and signing autographs for all the kids.  My son was 9 or 10 at the time.  I said to my son , " Matt, this is Joe Ferguson the quarterback." My son said to Joe, " I'm the quarterback on my Vince Lombardi team."  "well," said joe "if I give you my autograph, you better give me your autograph, you may be a famous quarterback someday." Well, they exchanged autographs and my son, Matt had a special moment to remember.  Joe was the nicest, friendliest guy, but I'm not sure if that was really a coke he was drinking.

[DefenseWins]

This probably isn't the response you'd expect, but I will always remember the Bills - Raiders Playoff Game that the Bills scored 51 points. But what make it a game I will not forget were the network telecast "Updates" on the then ongoing Gulf War. It was incredibly surreal. Just seeing almost LIVE action of the war while the Bills were dominating the Raiders was until then, never before done/seen on network TV.

[The Jokeman]

This was the last Bills game I attended.

1 hour ago, holla83 said:

A group of us, including my dad and my brother attended the Bills/Bengals game in 2013. It was the one that Thad Lewis started at QB. There was a father and son sitting in front of us. It was the son's first game. He couldn't have been any more than 7 or 8 years old. Thad Lewis connected with Marquise Goodwin on a long TD pass late that tied the game. This kid turned around to high five my brother. My brother picked him up and held him over his head so he could high five the people behind us. The kid loved it and I don't think I've ever laughed that hard at a Bills game.

Picking up my mom at the Buffalo airport in the 90s, and I ran into Frank Reich.

[Gugny]

This is an easy one for me. 
 

The moment I found out TuhROD was traded for a 3rd round pick. 

[Rocky Landing]

49 minutes ago, tomur67 said:

This goes way back. Joe Ferguson was the QB. It was a great game. The Bills won. I don't remember who they played. But, it was a beautiful day and we decided to see if we could get some autographs after the game.  So we walked around the back of the stadium to where the players parked their cars. Sure enough there were a bunch of players back there signing.  Joe Ferguson was sitting on the back of his pickup truck, drinking a coke and signing autographs for all the kids.  My son was 9 or 10 at the time.  I said to my son , " Matt, this is Joe Ferguson the quarterback." My son said to Joe, " I'm the quarterback on my Vince Lombardi team."  "well," said joe "if I give you my autograph, you better give me your autograph, you may be a famous quarterback someday." Well, they exchanged autographs and my son, Matt had a special moment to remember.  Joe was the nicest, friendliest guy, but I'm not sure if that was really a coke he was drinking.

I'm sure it had Coke in it...

[muppy]

my answer pertains to Bills tailgating. Having been partaking of it from my teens to present some of my BEST Bills memories pertain to people I have met, encountered, watched and shared with in the parking lots.

 

The last time I attended a home game it was the home opener against the San Diego chargers and  my friend Tommy introduced me to the "Ice luge". It was a frozen  thing of beauty LOL so much fun. Rumplemintz lol aka Canadian floor stripper FTW

 

One of those and I cut myself off. But so Much FUN 🙂

Edited May 24 by muppy

[Augie]

When each of our boys turned 16 I took them to their first Bills home game.  It was a rite of passage type of trip with just me and my son. The first night we walked from the hotel to the Creekview restaurant for dinner. Somehow we got to talking to some people in the bar. When they learned that we were there from Florida to take my son to his first Bills home game, we were invited to about a half dozen different tailgates. People were begging us to join them.

 

That memory tells me a couple things. First, people in a bar can get chatty and quite friendly. (Duh) But it was also a very “Buffalo thing” to happen. That was exactly the kind of thing I wanted my son to experience, the way the people rally around the Bills and invite you in. It’s not like that everywhere.  

[PromoTheRobot]

Walking from my childhood neighborhood by St. Stan's to the Rockpile for my first live Bills game. Opening day 1969 versus the Super Bowl champion Jets led by Joe Namath. Up Fillmore, left at Best. As we got closer the crowd got heavier. It was like a parade by the time we reached Jefferson. I was 10.

 

 

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[oldmanfan]

Back in the AFL days the players that had off-season jobs in town put together a basketball team to play charity events.  One was at Cardinal O’Hara every year, and they always asked my dad to be one of the refs.  So he’d take me with him, and I’d get to hang out in the locker room with guys like Stew Barber, Al Bemiller, Paul Costa, Ernie Warlick, Butch Byrd, Lamonica.  Pretty cool for an 8-10 year old kid.

[BillsPride12]

Going to Nashville the last time the Bills played there in 2021 was such a surreal experience.  I have done a decent amount of Bills road trips and they are always great but that one was on another level.  It was a complete takeover and everywhere you went that entire weekend it was just a sea of red, white, and blue.  Bills fans know how to have a great time, it was one of the most fun weekends of my life.  Catching a Bills game in Nashville should be on the bucket list for any diehard Bills fan.  

[Craig Oi]

Feeling the electricity of the crowd at the greatest comeback ever. Wow what a feeling!

[Augie]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Walking from my childhood neighborhood by St. Stan's to the Rockpile for my first live Bills game. Opening day 1969 versus the Super Bowl champion Jets led by Joe Namath. Up Fillmore, left at Best. As we got closer the crowd got heavier. It was like a parade by the time we reached Jefferson. I was 10.

 

 

 

Not that Jets game, but my #2 response (after taking my boys to a game) would be the first time I walked up to the Rockpile. I had never seen a crowd like that, and when we walked up to the giant entry gates this little kid thought it was mightier than the Roman Colosseum! A friend took me by the old gates after a game at the Ralph maybe a decade ago. Funny how our memories work. 

[faderphreak]

Thanks for this question.  Trying to figure it out brought back some really great memories! I’ll be back when I can make up my mind.  Haha

 

[PonyBoy]

I worked at a place that hosted the Thurman Thomas show back in the early '90s. Darryl Talley, amongst other Bills were there too.

We were all eating together in a banquet room, Darryl had ordered a small liquor on the rocks, this was shortly after his DWI.

A friend of the owners was there & said to Darryl a couple of times hey boy watch it with the alcohol you don't want another DWI again.

Then he said hey boy careful with the liquor we need you this Sunday.

We went in the back room for a private signing shortly thereafter & Darryl said to me he says "you tell that MF'er  if he calls me boy one more time I'm going to bust his ass. 😀 Darrell was super pissed we just kept this guy away from him as much as we could the rest of the night.

[DrW]

This might sound trivial, but for me it was seeing Kevin Everett walk again. What the orthopedic surgeon did there was miracle.

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, oldmanfan said:

Back in the AFL days the players that had off-season jobs in town put together a basketball team to play charity events.  One was at Cardinal O’Hara every year, and they always asked my dad to be one of the refs.  So he’d take me with him, and I’d get to hang out in the locker room with guys like Stew Barber, Al Bemiller, Paul Costa, Ernie Warlick, Butch Byrd, Lamonica.  Pretty cool for an 8-10 year old kid.

I actually played in one of those charity games, at D'Youville in 1967 or 68.  I remember practically nothing from that game.  A few years later I played in one against Redskins players.   I remember that one because I was run over by an offensive lineman going after loose ball.  

40 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Not that Jets game, but my #2 response (after taking my boys to a game) would be the first time I walked up to the Rockpile. I had never seen a crowd like that, and when we walked up to the giant entry gates this little kid thought it was mightier than the Roman Colosseum! A friend took me by the old gates after a game at the Ralph maybe a decade ago. Funny how our memories work. 

Where are the old gates?  I'd like to see them.

[Augie]

6 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

 

Where are the old gates?  I'd like to see them.

 

Right where they used to be?  🤷‍♂️

 

I’m not kidding, I only have a very rough idea of its location. My buddy who still lives in Buffalo took me by.  Maybe @PromoTheRobot can give us a better idea. 

[Shaw66]

5 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Right where they used to be?  🤷‍♂️

 

I’m not kidding, I only have a very rough idea of its location. My buddy who still lives in Buffalo took me by.  Maybe @PromoTheRobot can give us a better idea. 

Got it.  When you said a friend took you after a game at the Ralph, I thought you meant they were on display at the stadium in Orchard Park.

 

I'll have to go find them.  I'd like to see that. 

[Augie]

8 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Got it.  When you said a friend took you after a game at the Ralph, I thought you meant they were on display at the stadium in Orchard Park.

 

I'll have to go find them.  I'd like to see that. 

 

It was strangely moving to see it again. Not so much a Bills reverence thing but more as a “WOW! What I remember is not what I remember” thing. Like the first home I remember in Hamburg, and I drive by now to find it’s a shoebox. 

 

But it’s still well worth seeing. I think you’d appreciate it. 

 

 

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Edited May 24 by Augie

[Success]

It's not one memory, but I used to travel a lot, and when I'd be wearing a Bills shirt or something, I'd usually get approached by other Bills fans - and it's really like someone from the family.  There is such a comradery from the shared experience.  I don't think we're the only fanbase like that - but it's a select few, imo.  We've just been through so much.