Buffalo Bills (AAFC)
The Buffalo Bills were an American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and was based in Buffalo , New York . The team played their home games at the War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, which was then called Civic Stadium .
founding
In 1944, the AAFC was launched as a competitive league for the National Football League (NFL). The league was founded by a sports journalist from Chicago , who was able to gather numerous investors interested in football. The league awarded a total of eight franchises . Investors included Sam Cordovano, who bought a franchise and settled the team in Buffalo, initially naming it as Buffalo Bisons. The team was renamed in 1947 after the legendary bison hunter Buffalo Bill . Until 1949 the team was trained by Red Dawson . During the 1949 season he was replaced by Clem Crowe . The Bills played at War Memorial Stadium.
successes
The bison could only win three of 14 games in their first year of play in 1946. The next season went a lot better for the Bills. The team won eight games. It was only on the 13th day of the game that they lost to the New York Yankees , allowing the Yankees to move into the AAFC final. If they had won, the Bills would have had a good chance of participating in the final.
In 1948, play-off games were introduced in the AAFC . The Bills won seven of their 14th games and could also win their play-off game against the Baltimore Colts with 28:17. The Bill's quarterback George Ratterman threw three touchdown passes . In the AAFC final, the Bills had no chance in front of 23,000 spectators. The running back of the Cleveland Browns , the final opponent of the Bills, Marion Motley , could score three touchdowns and contributed significantly to the 49: 7 victory of his team.
The 1949 season started badly for the Bills. Only one of the first six games could become. Dawson had to vacate his coaching chair and his successor Crowe managed to win four of the next six games. In the play-offs, the Bills then failed at the eventual champions Cleveland Browns with 31:21. The quarterback of the Browns Otto Graham repeatedly managed to bring his wide receivers Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli into play. Although the Bills managed to balance the game for a long time, they ultimately left the field as a loser. After the 1949 season, the Bills, like the entire league, had to stop playing due to financial problems. A planned takeover of the team in the NFL failed.
Well-known players
Web links
- History of the AAFC ( Memento of February 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 61 kB)
- History of the Buffalo Bills, AAFC (PDF; 47 kB)