1965 AFL Champions

       Nineteen sixty-three was the first of a string of four consecutive years in which the Buffalo Bills participated in post-season play, the only American Football League team to accomplish that feat. They lost the 1963 AFL Eastern Division playoff to their arch-rivals, the Boston Patriots. But that taste of post-season action served them well, and they came back to make 1964 their first championship year, defeating the favored San Diego Chargers 20-7.
      In 1965, the same two teams met for the championship, this time on the Chargers' home field. The Bills' 1964 victory was discounted by some as a fluke, or as the result of the loss of the Chargers' Keith Lincoln early in the game. In the 1965 Championship game the Bills, now without Cookie Gilchrist, were again the underdog. But the 1965 Bills showed that they were as formidable a team as the previous year's squad.
     This page is a tribute to that 1965 team.
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The Bills wore throwback jerseys from the 1964 and 1965 Championship years for two games in 2005.

       Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist was a fiery competitor and a handful to coach. During 1964's confrontations with Bills' head coach Lou Saban, he had benched himself, had been cut and then reinstated, and the handwriting was on the wall. Before the 1965 season, he was traded to the Denver Broncos for the 1964 AFL Rookie of the Year, Billy Joe.
       "It had to happen," Lou Saban said. "The situation between Cookie and the Bills had become impossible. He has been a great player, I wish him well in Denver."
       So the Bills played the 1965 season without their first true superstar, the first AFL player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, the first pro to rush for over 240 yards in a single game.

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The Bills had a costly victory as their All-Star receiver Elbert Dubenion sustained a knee injury and was lost for the remainder of the 1965 season.
"Charley Warner (22) bats ball away from surprised Dee Mackey (89) to save Jets' touchdown late in game. Hagoode Clarke (45) is in background."

The Jets won the second meeting, 14-12. The Bills had clinched the Eastern Division Championship, and played a sloppy game. Three passes from center on placekicks went astray, and Gogolak went scoreless his first time as a pro. In the loss, Warner had two TDs.
Joe Namath had a good day, throwing two touchdown passes to Don Maynard.

In the first four weeks of the season, the Bills lost both their starting flankers, Elbert Dubenion and Glenn Bass.
"Ed Rutkowski snuggles ball as he completes important first down pass from Jack Kemp in final minute of game with Raiders."

The Raiders got off to a fast start, with Clem Daniels running strong, but the Bills slowed him in the second half. Butch Byrd held Art Powell without a reception, and Paul Costa made a tough catch to set up the winning field goal with 9 seconds to go.

"This is the fabled Lance Alworth. After taking short sideline pass from John Hadl, 'Bambi' demonstrates open field running ability as he leaves Harry Jacobs grabbing air. Hagoode Clarke (45) and Mike Stratton (58) set to make their attempts. George Saimes was eventually successful after 18 yd. gain."

"In two weeks on the west coast against the two toughest teams in the AFL, Buffalo came within 13 seconds of two defeats, avoided both, and clinched no worse than a tie for their division championship. - - - Nobody spots Lance Alworth 5 yards and catches him from behind, but Booker Edgerson did it in the third quarter." ~ Steve Weller

More on the Thanksgiving Game

"On the fourth play from scrimmage, linebacker John Tracey of the Bills got to Charger fullback Gene Foster before John Hadl's pitchout. Tracey caused a fumble and Jim Dunaway recovered fr the Bills on the San Diego 45 . The Bills scored in five plays, with Kemp firing a 6-yard roll-out pass to Wray Carlton." ~ Larry Felser

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     Pete Gogolak, the AFL's leading scorer, added 11 points on three field goals and two PATs.
     "After a Short gain, Mack Lee Hill is swarmed by the Bills' defense: JohnTracey (51), Tom Sestak (70), Harry Jacobs (64), and Gene Sykes (23). Jim Dunaway (78, number not visible) makes the tackle."
     "Buffalo defense -- led by a perfect safety blitz by George Saimes -- keyed a 23-7 victory.
     Saimes jolted the ball loose from quarterback Pete Beathard, scooped it up and raced into the end zone for a touchdown."

     "Middle Linebacker Harry Jacobs signals a Bills fumble recovery after QB Len Dawson is dropped."
      Bo Roberson covered admirably for the injured Dubenion and Bass, catching TD passes of 66 and 18 yards from Jack Kemp. Gogolak added another ten points on 2 FGs and 4 PATs..
     The Bills' victory was clouded by a knee injury to Chiefs running back Mack Lee Hill, a promising second-year player from Southern University. He underwent routine surgery for the injury but died on the operating table in Kansas City on December 14, 1965, of acute heat stroke.

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In a poorly played Hallowe'en game, Buffalo's TDs came on a 4 yard run by Billy Joe and a 2 yard dive by Wray Carlton. Pete Gogolak added a 39 yard field goal.
George Blanda acounted for 18 of the Oilers' points, with field goals of 31, 30, 13 and 7 yards, and a 10 yard TD pass to Ode Burrell - - the PAT was kicked not by Blanda, but by Jack Spikes!

Trading long plays, Bo Roberson scored on a 74 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica and the Oilers' Dick Compton caught Blanda's pass for a 95 yard TD. On the ground, Wray Carlton took Lamonica's handoff on the Bills' 20 and with Billy Shaw blocking downfield all the way, and a devastating block by Roberson, went 80 yards for the score. The win clinched the Eastern Division title for the Bills.

So the Bills finished the 1965 regular season with the American Football League's best record, 10-3-1. The AFL Championship Game would be a rematch with the San Diego Chargers, who were 9-2-3. Though the Bills had the better record, they were underdogs: Dubenion, Bass and Keating had all had season-ending injuries; during the season, the Chargers had tied the Bills in one game and crushed them 34-3 in the game at War Memorial Stadium.

Most importantly, the Bills no longer had the player who had punished the Chargers for 122 yards on only 16 carries in the 1964 Championship Game - Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist. In 1965 Billy Joe, who had replaced Cookie, ran for 377 yards and gained 271 on pass receptions, for a total of 648 yards. Cookie, meanwhile, had 954 yards rushing and 154 yards on receptions, totalling 1,108 yards . . . but Cookie was in Denver.

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"This, in addition to being the first shutout in AFL championship game history, was every bit as crushing as was the Charger's pasting of Boston two years ago." ~ Jim Peters

"The Bills limited Paul Lowe, the AFL's rushing king, to 63 yards on 12 carries. He gained 47 yards on one breakaway, but was otherwise completely neutralized." ~ Jim Peters

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     "The Chargers couldn't get moving after the first Buffalo score and Hadl booted a high, soaring punt to Butch Byrd on the Bills' 26.
       'Henry Schmidt and Tommy Janik gave me big blocks after I caught it' he reconstructed. 'I stepped inside and tried to stay along the sidelines. The referee said I stayed in bounds by about a half inch.'
       'Paul Maguire knocked down two guys at about the 10. Man, he really hit 'em. That sprung me'."   ~ Larry Felser

"'We used a double tight end offense (with Warlick replacing Ed Rutkowski at split end, then closing in to the line of scrimmage) with the idea of controlling the ball.' said Offensive Assistant Johnny Mazur.
The amazing part of the drive was that the Bills operated with three strangers in the middle of their line. Al Bemiller had started for the injured Dave Behrman at center and Joe O'Donnell replaced Bemiller at right guard. George Flint replaced the injured Billy Shaw." ~ Larry Felser

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During the 1965 season, I designed this "charging bison" Bills logo. Ralph Wilson Jr.'s autograph is on the lower right. Click the image to enlarge it.

        FRONT ROW: Paul Maguire, Wray Carlton, Pete Gogolak, Hagood Clarke, George Saimes, Booker Edgerson, Willie Ross, Glenn Bass, Charley Warner, Tom Janik, Sullivan "Pete" Mills, Bobby Smith.

   SECOND ROW: Trainer Ed Abramowski, Ed Rutkowski, Bill Groman, Butch Byrd, Mailon Kent, Jack Kemp, Head Coach Lou Saban, Daryle Lamonica, Floyd Hudlow, Gene Sykes, Don Stone, Tom Day, Assistant Coach Joel Collier, Assistant Coach Jerry Smith.

   THIRD ROW: Equipment Manager Tony Marchitte, Assistant Coach Johnny Mazur, Dave Behrman, Joe Auer, Billy Joe, Dudley Meredith, Ron McDole, Jim Dunaway, George Flint, Bill Laskey, John Tracey, Paul Costa, Ernie Warlick, Remi Prudhomme, Assistant Equipment Manager Ron Krauza.

   FOURTH ROW: Woody Ward, Doug Goodwin (taxi squad), Co-Captain Billy Shaw, Al Bemiller, Tom Keating, Mike Stratton, Co-Captain Tom Sestak, Joe O'Donnell, Dick Hudson, Harry Jacobs, Stew Barber, Charley Ferguson, Marty Schottenheimer, Jim Davidson, Henry Schmidt.

      MISSING FROM PHOTO: Elbert Dubenion, Fred Moore, Bo Roberson.
Photo by Robert L. Smith

Photo Courtesy of Denny Lynch, Buffalo Bills Archivist

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Remi Prudhomme, a 1965 Bills draft choice, was injured for the entire 1965 season and didn't play a game. However, he was such a hard worker, and so popular, that the Bills voted him an AFL Championship ring. He later earned a 1969 AFL Championship and a World Championship ring with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 1965 Buffalo Bills continued the on-field excellence of the previous year. Their defense extended a string that began in the 1964 season, to seventeen straight games without allowing an opponent to score a rushing touchdown. Two members of the 1965 squad were eventually named to the American Football League's All-Time Team, five to the second team, and fifteen are in the American Football League Hall of Fame. The only player ever inducted to the "pro football" hall of fame, without ever playing in the NFL, was a member of the 1965 Bills; guard Billy Shaw.


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