Bill Bergey Joins the Choir Eternal

[Old Coot]

Bill Bergey, Eagles All-Pro LB has died.

 

He was a WNYer from S Dayton.

 

Sadly he did not live to see the Bills win the Super Bowl next year :0

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bergey

[QLBillsFan]

He played in the NFL at the same time as Marv Hubbard/Randolph/Oakland  and Chuck Christ/Salamanca/NYGiants. Amazing all three from the Southern Tier small schools. 

[Chandler#81]

Ferocious, great player. R.I.P. 

[Sierra Foothills]

36 minutes ago, Old Coot said:

Bill Bergey, Eagles All-Pro LB has died.

 

He was a WNYer from S Dayton.

 

Sadly he did not live to see the Bills win the Super Bowl next year :0

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bergey

 

Thank you very much for posting this. I was hoping someone would.

 

26 minutes ago, QLBillsFan said:

He played in the NFL at the same time as Marv Hubbard/Randolph/Oakland  and Chuck Christ/Salamanca/NYGiants. Amazing all three from the Southern Tier small schools. 

 

Also the same corner of the world which brought us Shane Conlan (Frewsburg). In fact Bergey attended Pine Valley High School which is a rival of Frewsburg.

 

For those not familiar, South Dayton is virtually next to Gowanda, the village that straddles Erie and Cattaragus Counties. South Dayton is where some of the scenes from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles was filmed. It's also on the edge of WNY Amish Country.

 

11 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

Ferocious, great player. R.I.P. 

 

In addition to his highly-decorated collegiate career, Bergey was:

• AFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
• A member of the Cincinnati Bengals All-Time Team
• A member of the Philadelphia Eagles HOF
• A 5-time Pro Bowler back when the Pro Bowl actually meant something
• A 5-time All Pro (twice 1st Team, three times 2nd Team)
• Tied for 10 all time among LBs with 27 career interceptions
• Runner up to Mean Joe Greene for 1974 Defensive Player of the Year

He played in the era where RBs were the biggest stars on offense and MLBs the biggest starts on defense.

 

Aside from his well above-average skill for intercepting the ball, Bergey was a prototypical run plugging, stack and shed linebacker. He was listed at 6'4 and 245 at a time when players were considerably smaller than they are today.

 

Bergey came after the golden era of MLBs (Chuck Bednarik, Sam Huff, Ray Nietschke, Bill George, Harry Jacobs and Joe Schmidt). Some of his contemporaries at the position were Dick Butkus, Nick Buoniconti, Tommy Nobis, Willie Lanier, Mike Curtis and LeRoy Jordan.

 

Bergey is one of the many great, borderline HOFers who history will mostly forget.

 

RIP

 

[Old Coot]

2 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Thank you very much for posting this. I was hoping someone would.

 

 

Also the same corner of the world which brought us Shane Conlan (Frewsburg). In fact Bergey attended Pine Valley High School which is a rival of Frewsburg.

 

For those not familiar, South Dayton is virtually next to Gowanda, the village that straddles Erie and Cattaragus Counties. South Dayton is where some of the scenes from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles was filmed. It's also on the edge of WNY Amish Country.

 

 

In addition to his highly-decorated collegiate career, Bergey was:

• AFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
• A member of the Cincinnati Bengals All-Time Team
• A member of the Philadelphia Eagles HOF
• A 5-time Pro Bowler back when the Pro Bowl actually meant something
• A 5-time All Pro (twice 1st Team, three times 2nd Team)
• Tied for 10 all time among LBs with 27 career interceptions
• Runner up to Mean Joe Greene for 1974 Defensive Player of the Year

He played in the era where RBs were the biggest stars on offense and MLBs the biggest starts on defense.

 

Aside from his well above-average skill for intercepting the ball, Bergey was a prototypical run plugging, stack and shed linebacker. He was listed at 6'4 and 245 at a time when players were considerably smaller than they are today.

 

Bergey came after the golden era of MLBs (Chuck Bednarik, Sam Huff, Ray Nietschke, Bill George, Harry Jacobs and Joe Schmidt). Some of his contemporaries at the position were Dick Butkus, Nick Buoniconti, Tommy Nobis, Willie Lanier, Mike Curtis and LeRoy Jordan.

 

Bergey is one of the many great, borderline HOFers who history will mostly forget.

 

RIP

 

Outstanding post.

 

I did not realize that Planes, Trains & Automobiles was filmed in part in S Dayton. Do you know which scenes?

 

It's a great film, both funny and poignant, especially for the holiday season.

[QLBillsFan]

I had the chance to play HS football against Conlan as I went to Randolph .. great athlete in 3 sports. And I was fortunate enough to play Rec league basketball with Chuck Christ and he was an outstanding basketball player. And a great guy! 
Bergey as noted above was for a few years one of the most dominant defensive players. At a time when D could play with the physicality the league no longer allows. A tackling machine who intimidated the middle of the field. 

[ExWNYer]

R.I.P., Bill. I remember having his Eagles football card as a kid in the '70s. Great linebacker.

[Sierra Foothills]

18 minutes ago, Old Coot said:

Outstanding post.

 

I did not realize that Planes, Trains & Automobiles was filmed in part in S Dayton. Do you know which scenes?

 

It's a great film, both funny and poignant, especially for the holiday season.

 

From Wiki:

 

Filming

 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles began filming in February 1987 and lasted 85 days. It was filmed mostly in Batavia, New York, and South Dayton, New York. A scene that takes place in St. Louis was filmed at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. There was also a scene in Braidwood, Illinois, at the Sun Motel, as well as a scene in Woodstock, Illinois, where the city's old courthouse was shown.

 

Bill Bergey

 

The Pride of South Dayton, NY

Edited 14 hours ago by Sierra Foothills

[BuffaloBill]

May he R.I.P.

[Bongo]

My father used to talk about Bill all the time. He taught him to read at Pine Valley. Bill had trouble reading and credited my father with helping him make it. Small-world awesome stuff. 
 

I also played football at Pine Valley but, of course, no where near the level of Bill. 
 

BTW, another small-world thing, one of the Planes, Trains and Automobiles scenes was filmed right outside my house.

 

And a last note, a big scene for the movie The Natural was filmed in South Dayton at the old train station. Was big happenings when I was younger.