BILLS FOOTBALL HISTORY

The Bills were a charter member of the American Football League and one pro football's dominant teams of the 1960s. Buffalo captured back-to-back league titles in 1964 and 1965. After suffering some highs and lows through the years, the Bills returned to dominance in the late 1980s and 1990s when Buffalo became the first team ever to reach the Super Bowl in four consecutive seasons.

Buffalo Bills, professional football team and one of five teams in the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) of the National Football League (NFL). The Bills play at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, New York, and wear uniforms of royal blue, scarlet, and white. The team was named by the organization’s first president, Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., after American scout, guide, and showman William Frederick Cody, who was known as Buffalo Bill for his ability to kill buffalo.

The Bills built powerful teams in both the now-defunct American Football League (AFL) and the NFL. The team won consecutive AFL titles in 1964 and 1965 with teams that starred running back Cookie Gilchrist and quarterback Jack Kemp. During the 1970s Bills running back O. J. Simpson became one of the most prolific rushers in professional football history, breaking nearly every NFL rushing record. Buffalo appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls from 1991 through 1994 with teams starring linebacker Cornelius Bennett, quarterback Jim Kelly, defensive end Bruce Smith, and running back Thurman Thomas.

Buffalo became a charter member of the AFL in 1960. After four mediocre seasons, the team won the Eastern Division in 1964 under head coach Lou Saban, who was named AFL coach of the year. Also that year, the Bills’ star kicker, Hungarian-born Pete Gogolak, became professional football’s first soccer-style kicker, using the side of his foot rather than his toe to propel the football. The Bills beat the San Diego Chargers in the 1964 AFL Championship Game. A year later they repeated the feat. Saban again won top coaching honors, and Jack Kemp was named the league’s most valuable player (MVP).

After posting the AFL’s worst record in 1968, the Bills used their number-one pick in the 1969 AFL draft to select O. J. Simpson. A year later, Buffalo joined the NFL when the AFL and NFL completed their merger. In 1972 Simpson won the first of his four AFC rushing titles, and the next season he ran for 2,003 yards, breaking the NFL record held by Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns. Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams (now St. Louis Rams) broke Simpson’s record in 1984 with 2,105 yards. The Bills had little postseason success during Simpson’s time with the club, and he left the team in 1977.

Led by veteran quarterback Joe Ferguson and rookie running back Joe Cribbs, Buffalo made the playoffs in 1980, and Chuck Knox was named AFC coach of the year. The Bills continued to improve during the 1980s, reaching the playoffs again in 1981 and acquiring key players such as quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, and wide receiver Andre Reed.

Marv Levy, who took over the coaching reins in 1986, quickly fashioned the Bills into one of pro football's truly dominant teams. Starting in 1988, the Bills won five AFC Eastern titles in six years and became the only team ever to play in four straight Super Bowls. Levy was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

While three coaches -- Saban, Knox and Levy -- have been primarily responsible for the Buffalo's winning years, so too have a handful of superstar players been key factors in the Bills' successes. While Simpson was the key man in the winning years in the early 1970s, such stars as quarterback Jack Kemp, who later became a United States Congressman, fullback Cookie Gilchrist, defensive tackle Tom Sestak and Hall of Fame guard Billy Shaw played dominant roles in the 1960s. Levy's teams in the late 1980s and 1990s were powered by such perennial all-stars as quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas and defensive end Bruce Smith.

Through it all, Buffalo fan support has been magnificent. Attendance demands forced the expansion of the Bills' first inner-city home, War Memorial Stadium, from 26,000 to 45,748 during the 13 seasons the Bills played there. In 1973, the Bills moved to Rich Stadium in suburban Orchard Park, NY. Buffalo fans set an NFL single-season attendance record of 635,889 in 1991. Through it all, Wilson has remained as one of the oldest owners, in terms of longevity, in the entire pro football world. In 1998, civic leaders decided to honor the owner and renamed the home of the Bills, "Ralph Wilson Stadium."

In 1988 the Bills reached the AFC Championship Game for the first time since joining the NFL. Buffalo’s Eastern Division title was the first of five that the team captured from 1988 to 1993. The team combined a potent offense with defensive standouts such as Cornelius Bennett and Bruce Smith. In 1991 the Bills lost the first of four consecutive Super Bowls. The margins of defeat ranged from a 1-point loss to the New York Giants in 1991 to a 35-point rout at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys in 1993. Although Bennett left the team after the 1995 season and Kelly retired in 1996, Buffalo continued to be a dominant force in the AFC Eastern Division in the mid- and late 1990s. Before the 2000 season Buffalo retooled its roster and released popular stars Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, and Thurman Thomas.

1991 Super Bowl XXV Lost to New York Giants, 20-19
1992 Super Bowl XXVI Lost to Washington Redskins, 37-24
1993 Super Bowl XXVII Lost to Dallas Cowboys, 52-17
1994 Super Bowl XXVIII Lost to Dallas Cowboys, 30-13

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