Bills vs. Chargers Classic: 1964 AFL Championship

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but, I was at the game, the crowd roar around Stratton’s hit rocked the rock pile.
Historic Bills…gritty, tough, muddy, hard-nosed football. No prima donnas, no celebrations, no “I” in team.

Some players who helped contribute to those championships graciously shared their memories in my book "Then Levy Said to Kelly…".

“We’d beaten [San Diego] in Buffalo the first year and the second year, we’d gone out there. The time frame we were in, Sports Illustrated didn’t even recognize our [first] championship. That [the 1965 title game] was the first game they covered. They went out to San Diego and talked with the Chargers about the individuals they were going to play against. The magazine came out on the Thursday or Friday before we played that weekend, and to a man, just about, not very bright, these guys. They ended up talking about how they were going to kick everybody’s butt! So we ended up with all kinds of motivation because of what we were reading, what they said they were going to do to us on the field come the game. That was a great, great effort by our team.”
- Stew Barber, offensive tackle

“Well, let’s see, number one, we were truly a great defensive team. Even though we had Cookie [Gilchrist] and Elbert Dubenion and Jack Kemp, I think anybody will tell you that the strength of the Buffalo Bills team was its defense those years. It’s very interesting because the two teams that we beat were both the San Diego Chargers. On paper, I didn’t see how we could beat them. They had [Keith] Lincoln and [Paul] Lowe and [Lance] Alworth and [John] Hadl, [Dave] Kocourek, Ron Mix. And that was offense! Then they had Ernie Ladd and Earl Faison. I could almost repeat both sides of the ball verbatim because they were that good, that talented. So anyway, on paper, they looked to be very strong. But on game day, we were just very good, very confident. We just felt that our defense could play with anybody. I don’t think we were favored in either one of the games, but we were just absolutely confident that we could beat the Chargers. And we did.”
- Butch Byrd, cornerback

“We were more of a solid football team. We just didn’t have any weaknesses. We weren’t glamorous or anything. The key for us, and I’m sure all the guys would say that we were a ball-control offense. Just run the clock, get the first downs, get down there close enough that if you don’t score a touchdown, kick a field goal and leave it up to our defense to give us the ball. We were a strong special teams. Paul Maguire was a great punter. We were just solid. We didn’t have any spectacular players except Cookie. Most of our guys were just blue-collar guys that just went out and beat you. Just very methodical, mistake-free football. Ball-control, solid defense, great special teams, a good field-goal kicker with [Pete] Gogolak. We were just solid. There’s nothing like winning.”
- Wray Carlton, running back

“We had a great defense and we had a heck of a running back, Cookie Gilchrist. And we had a real good offensive line. We controlled the ball; we would just move down the field. And then the defense would come in there and one, two, three, out! On one occasion, we told the defense, ‘Don’t get out so fast! We’re tired!’ They didn’t allow anything. The defense was just great.”
- Elbert Dubenion, wide receiver

“I think we played as a team and had some good talent to go with it. It just seemed that we worked together from ‘63 on and just seemed to jell. And I didn’t think a coach was as important as they really are until [Lou] Saban left. When he left, Joe Collier was a fine defensive coordinator, a good man, and I liked him very much. But a difference in philosophy and the way you handle certain things in a ballgame, Saban just had a knack for that. I don’t think we won but three or four games the next year after that year that Saban left.”
- Jim Dunaway, defensive tackle

“The key was, every time we ran on the field, we knew we were going to win. That type of a feeling. Plus Saban believed in a very cohesive veteran offensive line. We had a very good offensive line and also a pretty good defensive line. These guys – Billy Shaw and Al Bemiller and Ernie Warlick and Dave Costa, the tight ends – these guys were playing together and were kind of the heart of the team. And of course, Cookie Gilchrist was excellent. Every position, we had some strength and we just kind of blossomed. We just had a very good team, and we beat San Diego twice.”
- Pete Gogolak, kicker

“I think that the defense was the best in the American Football League and we obviously felt we were the best in football at that point in time. The stable performance of our offense was just fantastic. The best defense is having the offense on the field. They did a great job for us. Jack [Kemp] was really a stable quarterback who did a great job. He was a super leader. So I would say it was a combination of both those things. The biggest part of it was that we had a great team that worked together and made things happen. We were supported tremendously by a great offense. We all played as a team. We didn’t really care who got the credit for it just as long as we got the job done. And we got the job done. Everybody on the team was a hardworking type of personality who did their job.”
- Harry Jacobs, linebacker

“In ‘64, we were successful because we had an all-around team. We had offense with Cookie and my passing. Good running and good blocking. And we had the greatest defense in the AFL with Tom Sestak and Butch Byrd and the guys. Saban was absolutely on fire. We went into Boston to play the Pats in a snowstorm, and we beat them [to clinch the Eastern Division title] and just jelled offensively and defensively. And I can’t overestimate the contribution of Cookie Gilchrist, even though we had a flare-out when he got mad at me for throwing too many passes. But we really were good friends and we are today, believe it or not. He just tore into the Pats at Fenway Park, and then we played the Chargers, and I think we felt we could beat anybody.

“The next year, Cookie was gone. We didn’t quite have the offensive weapons, but we had a great defense. And we beat the heck out of the Chargers! They were so overconfident. I think they were two-touchdown favorites, and we whipped them convincingly. It was really, if not the capstone of my 10 years in the AFL, close to it.”
- Jack Kemp, quarterback

“We were following Lou Saban. He kept saying we could win. We just had a lot of good ballplayers. We didn’t have that one person. There were guys like (Tom) Sestak that I’m sure should be in the Hall of Fame. We had a good defense. We had a good offense. It seemed like every week, somebody else would step up and get the job done one way or another. Whether it’d be Elbert Dubenion or Jack Kemp or Cookie Gilchrist or Wray Carlton, it was just an all-around good team. In fact, the ‘64 and ‘65 championship teams, there weren’t that many different ballplayers on those teams. I think that was the big success. We just played well together, and the coaching was good, assistant coaches like Joe Collier and people like that. We were just a good team.”
- Ron McDole, defensive end

“We were successful because of two things. One was that we had the best defensive team in football during that period of time. We were led by our defense. They were dominant! They gave up seven points in two [championship] games! The other point was that the offense was good enough to capitalize on the opportunity that the defense gave us. But when we talk about the Bills of that era, I’m proud that the offense was just good enough to get the job done, but our defense was awesome.”
- Billy Shaw, guard

“I think it really started the year before. We finally got on a good track and started winning some games. Although we did lose a playoff game for our division to Boston in ‘63, ‘64 was when everybody sort of came together. It was what I consider more of a team effort than anything else. We had a good mixture. We had some folks that had played with other teams and other leagues and everything. And then we had some younger folks, too. I think Paul Maguire added quite a bit to our team as a punter and being able to see from the Chargers, who had a good run. Of course, he was telling everybody that we had more talent than the Chargers did. So I think he did a lot to build up the confidence of the team. Besides, all of his wisecracks and everything kept the team very loose. I think it was sort of a special time where we had a nice group of players that sort of came together and played with a lot of heart for each other. It was just more of a team effort than anything else.”
- Mike Stratton, linebacker

“We had the horses, number one. That was an excellent team. Cookie Gilchrist running the ball, Bass and Dubenion at wide receivers, we had speed and an excellent offensive line. And defense. The defense was really great. But I think we finally jelled as a unit and, as they say, we went out there and kicked butts!”
- Ernie Warlick, tight end

and “gritty” it was – not just the intensity, but the dark skies, cold, rough playing field and general atmosphere. Yes, Stratton’s hit on Lincoln seemed to take the wind out of the Chargers’ sail……and I agree with the last poster that our defense in ‘64 and ’65 was the AFL’s best.