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Lou Saban 1921-2009


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"They're killing me Whitey...they're %#$@! killing me!!!"

 

A 2-time AFL Champion, Saban was one of our more colorful head coaches and, IMHO, one of only 3 decent HCs in Bills history.

 

Come on, Ralph, let bygones be bygones - Lou is long overdue for the Bills' Wall of Fame.

 

RIP Coach :(

Two notable omissions from the Wall of Fame...Lou Saban and Cookie Gilchrist.

 

Supposedly the Wall of Famers are chosen by 20 media members and honorees had to have spent at least 3 seasons with the Bills. Strange that these two fit that criteria and are not enshrined. Perhaps not strange is that Ralph holds a grudge against both.

 

Lou Saban, in addition to arguably being the Bills greatest coach (Levy is the only other candidate for this argument) is one of only four Bills coaches with a winning record in Buffalo (Levy, Phillips, Knox are the others). He's also one of only 5 coaches in Bills history to record a winning season (Mularkey is the 5th) for the Bills.

I guess Bill Polian, the greatest general manager in Bills (and arguably NFL) history shouldn't be holding his breath.

 

RIP Lou. You epitomized the expression, "fire and brimstone."

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"They're killing me Whitey...they're %#$@! killing me!!!"

 

A 2-time AFL Champion, Saban was one of our more colorful head coaches and, IMHO, one of only 3 decent HCs in Bills history.

 

Come on, Ralph, let bygones be bygones - Lou is long overdue for the Bills' Wall of Fame.

 

RIP Coach :(

 

Too bad he couldn't make it before he passed. RW should be ashamed of himself. :angry:

 

 

Sad news, but the guy packed a lot of living into those years -- he was still coaching well into his 80s. We should all be fortunate enough to do something we love for that long.

 

R.I.P., Lou.

 

:(

 

And successful at it too!

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Two notable omissions from the Wall of Fame...Lou Saban and Cookie Gilchrist.

 

Supposedly the Wall of Famers are chosen by 20 media members and honorees had to have spent at least 3 seasons with the Bills. Strange that these two fit that criteria and are not enshrined. Perhaps not strange is that Ralph holds a grudge against both.

 

Lou Saban, in addition to arguably being the Bills greatest coach (Levy is the only other candidate for this argument) is one of only four Bills coaches with a winning record in Buffalo (Levy, Phillips, Knox are the others). He's also one of only 5 coaches in Bills history to record a winning season (Mularkey is the 5th) for the Bills.

 

I guess Bill Polian, the greatest general manager in Bills (and arguably NFL) history shouldn't be holding his breath.

 

RIP Lou. You epitomized the expression, "fire and brimstone."

 

sorry for not knowing the backstory between Lou and Ralph and Ralph and Cookie. Could you enlighten those of us who dont know please? Thanks in advance

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Sad news, but the guy packed a lot of living into those years -- he was still coaching well into his 80s. We should all be fortunate enough to do something we love for that long.

 

R.I.P., Lou.

boy you got that right. i'm pretty sure my only chance at living that long is if i keep coaching.

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sorry for not knowing the backstory between Lou and Ralph and Ralph and Cookie. Could you enlighten those of us who dont know please? Thanks in advance

Ralph doesn't speak publicly about his dislike for people. He has a difficult relationship with both Saban and Gilchrist although in fairness both of those individuals could be difficult to deal with.

 

This about sums it up on Ralph and Lou. A fine article by D&C columnist Bob Matthews:

 

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/articl...317/1007/SPORTS

 

Regarding Cookie, there's a series of events over decades which have galvanized their inability to cooperate with each other. Ralph cut Cookie once before Jack Kemp interceded. William C. Rhoden, the highly-respected sports columnist for the New York Times wrote a story of how Cookie contacted Ralph before the 1994 Super Bowl and volunteered to give the team a pre-game pep talk. Ralph refused his request.

 

Cookie feels Ralph needs to extend him an olive branch and show some love for the greatness that he helped the Bills attain. Basically they've never been able to see eye to eye. I just found Rhoden's article.

 

http://www.cookiegilchrist.com/Article5.html

 

You must read this...Cookie was a more polarizing figure than Jim Brown. He was the leader and emotional toughness on the team. See the incident in New Orleans and Paul Maguire's comments about the 1964 AFL Championship game.

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sorry for not knowing the backstory between Lou and Ralph and Ralph and Cookie. Could you enlighten those of us who dont know please? Thanks in advance

 

 

Let bygones be bygones was exactly my first thought, as so many others said here. Of course Saban deserved the Wall, and he deserved to have nearly 80,000 people show him some Bills love on a Sunday afternoon. Too late now for him to hear it.

 

The bottom line on Lou Saban is that Ralph never forgave him for quitting the second time, mid-season.

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Two notable omissions from the Wall of Fame...Lou Saban and Cookie Gilchrist.

 

Supposedly the Wall of Famers are chosen by 20 media members and honorees had to have spent at least 3 seasons with the Bills. Strange that these two fit that criteria and are not enshrined. Perhaps not strange is that Ralph holds a grudge against both.

 

Lou Saban, in addition to arguably being the Bills greatest coach (Levy is the only other candidate for this argument) is one of only four Bills coaches with a winning record in Buffalo (Levy, Phillips, Knox are the others). He's also one of only 5 coaches in Bills history to record a winning season (Mularkey is the 5th) for the Bills.

I guess Bill Polian, the greatest general manager in Bills (and arguably NFL) history shouldn't be holding his breath.

 

RIP Lou. You epitomized the expression, "fire and brimstone."

 

 

I have talked to several people on on the Bills Wall of Fame Committee.

 

Basically, the committee is given a list of "approved" names by Ralph to choose from.

 

When they make their final choice from the list, Ralph has to sign off on it.

 

Ralph doesn't want Lou or Coookie on the Wall, and until he does, they will never be there.

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A 2-time AFL Champion, Saban was one of our more colorful head coaches and, IMHO, one of only 3 decent HCs in Bills history.

 

Come on, Ralph, let bygones be bygones - Lou is long overdue for the Bills' Wall of Fame.

 

RIP Coach :(

 

 

Amen to that.

 

RIP Coach

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