Near shooting at last Bills-Lions 1972 game at War Memorial Stadium

[amprov56]

59 minutes ago, Haslett_Stomp said:

My dad used to bring in a big thermos of hot chocolate in the late 70's and early-mid 80's for those November and December games.  Lord know what others brought into Rich in theirs.

Back in the Rockpile some use to bring in kegs the booze at those games unreal!

13 hours ago, 1962 said:

The kid on you tube  is shocked that the fan was able to bring a gun into stadium, that is funny. In 1972 there was no security at the entrance gate it was a different era. The ticket takers were there to prevent fans without tickets from entering. The biggest controversy when Rich stadium opened was that fans were no longer allowed to bring in their own booze. Can you imagine Ralph Wilson’s greed at making fans buy overpriced beer in the stadium. Handguns required a permit in NY in 1972 just like today, and carrying a pistol without one was a felony. A felony arrest would not result in a $25 fine even accounting for inflation. This guy was most likely drunk, relatively harmless, but wired politically thus the small fine.  And yes I was at that game

I was at that game too, one of the more raucous crowds!

[US Egg]

My uncle lived on B St., we’d walk to the stadium from his house.
 

Ones safety near the stadium was a bigger concern than inside it. 

[ColoradoBills]

12 hours ago, US Egg said:

Not true.

 

For sure.  We brought in booze all the time in the 70s.

 

49 minutes ago, amprov56 said:

Back in the Rockpile some use to bring in kegs the booze at those games unreal!

I was at that game too, one of the more raucous crowds!

 

My dad and I went to a game the first year of Rich Stadium.  A bunch of guys in front of us in line had a pony keg strapped like a

backpack to one of the guys.  After a moment at the gate, they let him in.  When we got closer a guy in front of us asked the ticket

taker about it.  The ticket taker said, "he bought a ticket for the keg, so I let him in".

 

That was funny!

[msw2112]

In the late 80's, I brought roughly a 12-pack of beer into the stadium, probably called Rich Stadium at the time.  Me and my buddies took my little brother, probably around 10 years old, to the game with us.  We made him wear an adult-sized winter coat with an elastic waistband.  We unzipped the jacket, stuffed about 12 cans of beer into his chest, and zipped the coat closed.  We told him to puff out his cheeks at the gate to look like a "very fat" kid, as he had the appearance of a very large belly will all the beer stuffed in his jacket.  He walked right in, no issue.  When we were at our seats and unzipped his jacket to take out some beers to drink, one of the ladies in our row gave us a very disappointed and concerning look.  We thought she might call security.  So we offered her and her husband a free beer, and all was good!

 

Despite the many scars that kid suffered from his older brothers and friends, he managed to grow up OK and is a successful doctor in Southern California today with kids of his own.  He remains a huge Bills fan.  He even pays full price for beer inside the stadium.  I have recounted the the story on this board before, but it seemed to fit the bill again, given the discussion in this thread.

Edited Thursday at 05:38 PM by msw2112

[Simon]

3 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

Despite the many scars that kid suffered from his older brothers and friends, he managed to grow up OK and is a successful doctor in Southern California today with kids of his own. 

 

Props to you guys for building such great character in him at a young age. 

[notpolian]

My parents used to have one of those really big thermos type things.  They used to put the cans of beer and flasks of booze in there during the first several years at Rich Stadium.

 

I remember the crowd was always pretty hammered.  One year we played the Colts with QB Bert Jones.  A guy near us seemed to only be able to say "Hurt Bert" every few minutes.  Childhood memories to be savored.

[Wacka]

And the gun. Remember this was only about 4 years after the riots in that neighborhood and race relations hadn'ttotally cooled down. I bet that there were many more people packing there.

Edited Thursday at 06:52 PM by Wacka

[Sargent Hulka]

17 hours ago, Big Turk said:

I had no idea this even happened...apparently a guy was a able to sneak a gun into the stadium attending the final game at War Memorial Stadium(before moving to OP) between the Bills and Lions in 1972 and afterwards while on the field and people were taking seats and pieces of the field, etc, things about took a turn for the worse...

 

Does anyone have more background about this or was anyone in attendance at this game on the board?

 

https://youtu.be/03_uFjs5Nm4?si=dkJLUaod5VKlrjn7

https://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers 21/Buffalo NY Courier Express/Buffalo NY Courier Express 1972/Buffalo NY Courier Express 1972 12-15 01236_1.pdf    https://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers 21/Buffalo NY Courier Express/Buffalo NY Courier Express 1972/Buffalo NY Courier Express 1972 12-15 01235_1.pdf

[RoyBatty is alive]

1) That video was about 15 minutes too long and boring.

 

2) I was at that game as a little kid and vividly recall that game, at the end I was by the snow fence surrounding the field and the drunks started to crush me to storm the field, I was deathly worried about being trampled.  I also recall fans trying to take whatever they could and one person took on oxygen tank and mask.

 

And "sneaking" in a handgun into War Memorial stadium was not much of an accomplishment.

[ProcessTruster]

18 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

I was there. It was freezing. 

1972?  I was 16 and probably the last thing on my mind was the Bills last game at the Rockpile.  Just guessing... 

[SoCal Deek]

34 minutes ago, ProcessTruster said:

1972?  I was 16 and probably the last thing on my mind was the Bills last game at the Rockpile.  Just guessing... 

And you call yourself a fan? 😂

[PromoTheRobot]

6 hours ago, Haslett_Stomp said:

My dad used to bring in a big thermos of hot chocolate in the late 70's and early-mid 80's for those November and December games.  Lord know what others brought into Rich in theirs.

I heard stories from the 60's of people bringing kegs into the stadium. They did have to buy a ticket for it, though.

[amprov56]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I heard stories from the 60's of people bringing kegs into the stadium. They did have to buy a ticket for it, though.

We took a bus from a Penelton bar, Sunday morning they would have beer for sale out of trunks of cars and drinking would begin around 10AM. Many in our group had flasks with liquor they would take into the Rockpile. The hard working blue collar people who made thr NFL! 

[SoCal Deek]

8 hours ago, Haslett_Stomp said:

My dad used to bring in a big thermos of hot chocolate in the late 70's and early-mid 80's for those November and December games.  Lord know what others brought into Rich in theirs.

Likewise. We'd eat the lunch my mom packed at our seats (aluminum bench the next year). The game tickets were all my parents could afford. Eating from the concession stand was out of the question.

[SoMAn]

21 hours ago, 1962 said:

The kid on you tube  is shocked that the fan was able to bring a gun into stadium, that is funny. In 1972 there was no security at the entrance gate it was a different era. The ticket takers were there to prevent fans without tickets from entering. The biggest controversy when Rich stadium opened was that fans were no longer allowed to bring in their own booze. Can you imagine Ralph Wilson’s greed at making fans buy overpriced beer in the stadium. Handguns required a permit in NY in 1972 just like today, and carrying a pistol without one was a felony. A felony arrest would not result in a $25 fine even accounting for inflation. This guy was most likely drunk, relatively harmless, but wired politically thus the small fine.  And yes I was at that game

Me and my friends bought a beer ball in for the 1980 opener against the Dolphins. No problem. Beer balls were basically a mini-keg. 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Bring in a gun... Heck, they allowed people to roll a keg into The Rockpile!

 

😆🤣

18 minutes ago, SoMAn said:

Me and my friends bought a beer ball in for the 1980 opener against the Dolphins. No problem. Beer balls were basically a mini-keg. 

Even in the mid-1980s we'd get in with a 6-pack spread out on the inside of your parka!

 

Beer ball was 5.2 gallons.  55 12oz. Beers.

[ExiledInIllinois]

 

That's ~41 pounds of beer... Plus container/ball, tapper...

[Sargent Hulka]

Biggest difference between the 1972 Bills era and today: fans didn't wear merch anywhere near like they do now. In a way, I think it was more pure.

[RiotAct]

JaguarGator9 is a frigging animal, he churns out the Youtube videos like no one’s business…

10 hours ago, amprov56 said:

Back in the Rockpile some use to bring in kegs the booze at those games unreal!

My dad went to many games at The Rockpile as a kid, and would usually take a bus from a restaurant near his house in the Black Rock district to the game.  He definitely recalls keys being carried onto the bus… usually at least a few!

[US Egg]

3 hours ago, Sargent Hulka said:

Biggest difference between the 1972 Bills era and today: fans didn't wear merch anywhere near like they do now. In a way, I think it was more pure.

It wasn’t a thing, but can’t imagine my father and his friends, or anyone their age back then, costuming up going to games back then or in general.