From the archives...Fredonia Training Camp Days

[galept]

2 hours ago, stevewin said:

Yeah - the great thing about Fredonia is it used to be so unstructured and you used to be able to be so close to the players and move so easily around to where different groups/players were

 

We would hang by the orange fencing by the field near where players would get on their golf carts. Crowd wasn't heavy and it was super easy to get to.

 

I got a signature from Dusty Zeigler. His cart was like four feet in front of me.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

back when I wore a younger man's shoes

[Neo]

Thruway Exit 56 Motel.   On the sidelines and playing keep away with OJ Simpson after practice.    I ran into him at the sports bar at the Hyatt downtown on a Friday before a Raiders playoff game in 1993.  He was in town and having a drink with the Raiders equipment manager.  It was early and the bar was empty.   I broke a personal rule and went up to his table and told him I was a “keep away” kid from Exit 56 so many years ago.

 

He laughed a charming OJ belly laugh and asked me to sit down.   We had a beer, together ….. and in a year, the trajectory of his life story changed dramatically.

 

Hero of my youth.   Hero of everyone’s youth.  Oh, what a story.

[ColoradoBills]

5 hours ago, BigPappaPump said:

Loved Fredonia! Was just about football, no marketing, no merchandise tents, no concession stands. Just orange snow fence between you and the players. So many great memories. Met Thurman Thomas & he talked to me for about 5 minutes one day along that fence. Caught Bruce Smith in the parking lot on another occasion. Unfortunately selfies didn’t exist back then. lol Times were different then & I’m glad I was able to experience it ( just not glad that it’s telling of how old I’m getting lol). Not taking anything away from St John Fisher, I took my children there every year until they grew up and moved away. It’s a great experience also, just different than Fredonia. Thanks for making me reminisce about those times, they were special 

 

I remember that.

[Kornfed]

Went there a lot. Very cool day was Jim Kelly’s first practice. The crowd was much larger than usual. The energy, snarl, and joy of anticipation could be felt. Same juice as current Bills Mafia without question. Cool as hell!…. Kent Hull was also at his first practice and I recall wondering who the hell he was. lol…. Man those guys did us proud. 💥 GO BILLS 

[Dan in Owego]

Memories for me, Robb Riddick smoking cigs and signing autographs someone asked if Marv was ok with him smoking dead pan he say's love  Marv but he AIN'T MY DAD🤣

 

Second was Marvcus Patton dominating one on one drills, totally blew me away i was literally 10 to 15 yards behind the action, and suddenly John Fina put an end to it just absolutely pancaking the rookie the two were lock up on the ground for what seemed like forever with Fina repeatedly calling him a punk. After the altercation you could have heard a pin drop, walked away knowing we had something in th UCLA rookie, and Fina had some MF'ER in him lol.

[I'm Spartacus]

15 hours ago, BigAl2526 said:

Me too, on both counts.  Class of '74.

Class of 80.

[Crunchem]

21 hours ago, Draconator said:

The only training camp I've ever gone to was at, Niagara University. I still have memories of JD Hill saying, "Yo" after I said Hi to him. And of OJ running on to the field at full speed. 

Went to Niagara Univ. training camp many times as a kid. Remember Keith Lincoln dropping a pass and cussing. I remember OJ's first practice. Supposedly they were only allowed one cup of water, he had his helmet upside down while holding it. He hid one in there while he grabbed another one. They did calisthenics back in those days as most didn't do much to stay in shape during the offseason. Jack Kemp talked to me as a kid during Marine Midland Bank opening event. Good memories.

[BillsPride12]

I love reading all of your stories and memories from training camp back then.  As I mentioned in my original post I never actually went to Fredonia because I was still pretty young back then but I used to love reading all of the training camp articles in the Buffalo News and watch the coverage on Fan TV/Empire Sports Network.  There was just something exciting about it back then, I remember even Sports Illustrated For Kids did a feature at Bills training camp in Fredonia in like 92 or 93?  I really wish I still had my copy of it