The Drive to Stay Alive

By Andy

“Wide Right”, the signal waved by the referee during the final seconds of the Buffalo Bills’ first of four consecutive Super Bowl losses. During the early 1990’s the Buffalo Bills lost four Super Bowls in a row, a feet that haunts Buffalo sports fans to this day. It is amazing to think of all of the hard times and troubles Buffalo sports fans have gone through, including a goal that was kicked in during the 1999 national hockey championship game that again shattered Buffalo sports fans dreams of a championship. With all of disappointments suffered by the organizations and fan historians still wonder: why is Buffalo still viewed as a sports town? The city of Buffalo only harbors two out of the four major professional sports teams (football and hockey) and both teams have been sub par teams, averaging more losses than win, their entire existence, with glimmerings of glory every now and then.

Many scholars have researched and written about the Buffalo Bills and also the city of Buffalo, looking at the effects of sports on the citizen population. Craig Coenen, the author of From Sandlots to the Super Bowl looked particularly at the beginnings of professional football leagues. In one section of his work, he writes specifically about cities and the relationships of fans and their support. He shows in detail using charts and graphs the contributions of fans and booster clubs and how they popularized the sport of football in each city. Sal Maiorana, a Buffalo native, has written many books specifically on the American Football League and the Buffalo Bills. His book, If You Can’t Join ‘Em, Beat ‘Em, outlines the destruction of the All-American Football Conference (AAFC) in 1949 to the emergence of the American Football League. This book also describes the Bills as a defensive minded team, joined an offensive minded league and still succeeded.

This paper will discuss the effects of sports boosters and city support, comparing the similarities and differences between large metropolitan cities and smaller cities. Some of the larger ideas and questions that will be addressed in this research paper are how a small city like Buffalo rallied around its city’s population and fans to successfully stay afloat in professional football. The paper will also take an in-depth look at the city of Green Bay, a small city like Buffalo, and how their city representatives kept a professional football team running and succeeding.

It is interesting to say that Buffalo still hosts and supports a National Football League (NFL) team. In 1946 the Buffalo Bisons played their first game as a professional football team against the city of Cleveland’s team. Following the 1946 season, in an effort to create more fan interest and differentiate the football team from the city's minor league baseball and hockey teams, which also bore the name "Bisons," the team ran a contest to select a new name. Over 4,000 entries were submitted by fans and citizens, and the Bills won over other names such as Bullets, Nickels and Blue Devils. After playing in three more seasons in the All-American Football Conference, the league crumbled because of a lack of interest from fans and the emergence and popularity of the National Football League[1]. The new league which took the name National-American Football League (NAF) would keep the ten original teams in the NFL and field three teams from the All-American Football Conference. The Buffalo Bills were not one of those three teams because the team did not do very well in its first four years (1946-1949) and due to a lose of revenue they were not selected as one of the teams. Instead the Bills were slated to merge with the Cleveland Browns and become one team located in Cleveland.[2]

This new plan did not sit well for Buffalo fans in the summer of 1949 and Bills’ president James Breuil. While attending the All-American Football Conference championship game Breuil found out that if Buffalo wanted to have any hope of their own team, the fans and team must raise $250,000 to show the new league owners that Buffalo was worthy of a team. The two previous attempts raise money to support the team while playing in the AAFC both failed, leaving Breuil skeptical about the journey ahead. Immediately calls began to come in from members of the Quarterback Club of Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills Booster Club. These two organizations that had supported the Bills during the team’s local stand were the primary movers. One caller from the Booster Club declared that it was be a “cinch to raise ten dollars each from the 20,000 rabid, dyed-in-the wool fans who have formed the core of Buffalo’s fine attendance record during the last season.”[3]

The main reason Buffalo was not granted a team by the NFL in the first place was because of scheduling difficulties. League commissioner Albert Bell said that he would welcome Buffalo’s application, but did not see how a new team could make it into the schedule. The lineup of thirteen teams alone was already awkward, and the addition of another team would make it almost impossible to do. Bell told Breuil that if the league expanded to sixteen teams, such as major league baseball, the Bills would definitely be one of those teams accepted into the league. When questioned about the acceptance of Green Bay, Bell said that although attendance was low, the money revenue was too high to let go. Dan Sherby, an official of the Cleveland Browns was quoted as saying that “although we have 13 teams in the new setup, there is a possibility that other teams will be admitted when we have our meeting in January.”[4] This recent news led to a popular demand for a fund raising group to be created immediately.

Two separate groups were formed to take concrete action on a plan to raise the money needed for the Bills’ to stay in Buffalo. The first group to materialize was the Quarterback Club, containing twelve to fourteen businesses and banking leaders. The second group that formed

was headed by Arthur Rich, a local industrialist. It was called the Citizens Committee, and it met to discuss ways to raise the capital needed to make a bid for a franchise. The city government came forward with offers to take any necessary action in promoting the campaign. To the surprise of the government and the newly formed groups, the most powerful group to emerge was the ordinary citizens, calling in and telegraphing bids to the Courier Express, the donations ranging from five dollars to five hundred dollars. The highest individual bid came from a local citizen, pledging to put down one hundred dollars to save the Bills. Several small groups also called in ready to wage as much as five hundred dollars.[5] These wages and pledges were just a small portion of what would become one of the city’s greatest rallies and fund raisers.

On December 13^th the citizens of Buffalo settled down to the business of purchasing the Buffalo Bills back to a professional football league by holding its first major fund raiser in the basement of the Memorial Auditorium. The Memorial Auditorium, located in downtown Buffalo, was used as a convention center, concert hall and arena for political events, ice shows and sporting events. The fund raiser lasted only five hours and included 20,000 people streaming through the door with pledges. First in line to buy stock was mayor-elect Joseph Mruk, who purchased twenty shares of stock and was quoted as saying that “it would be a shame to lose the advantage we have gained in four years of building up a winning team and public support.”[6] At the end of the night the city raised $74,770 on top of the $125,000 that had been written by the Bills to start the campaign. The total was $199,770, four fifths of the amount needed to keep the team alive.

Citizens of all kinds brought in money and support. One local business man from Tonawanda donated 50 cars for free transportation to and from the Auditorium. Many sports booster clubs from Buffalo’s suburbs such as Hamburg, Lancaster, and Depew, came in with money to donate, Men came with their wives, many with young children in their arms. One man who made his way down from Ebenezer was in a wheel chair.[7] One young teen who claimed to be the “biggest” fan from Alden donated his life savings, or around $500 in assorted bills.[8] And it was not just white men donating; there were people of all races, classes, and creeds there. All of these people were gathering for the sole purpose of keeping the Bills in Buffalo. The top donation of the day came from William J. Conners III, vice president of the Courier-Express, with a sum of $10,000. Also making donations and pledges were members of Bills team in 1949 who still resided in Buffalo. Player Jim Lukens gave a $25 check and a telegram from other players in support of the drive.[9]

To keep the drive alive local banks such as Marine Trust, M&T, and Liberty Banks opened special receiving stations to handle the sale of stock subscriptions at every branch office in Western New York. Within the first three hours bank representatives estimated that about $20,000 had been raised, mostly from five and ten dollar pledges from local citizens. On the following day, new organizations came forward, volunteering as receiving stations while banks were closed. The list of organizations included Adam, Meldrum & Anderson, Hens & Kelly, Kleinhans, Sattlers, Kobackers, and three Sears and Roebuck stores.

The enthusiasm behind the drive extended beyond the borders of Western New York. Art Rich, the secretary-treasurer of the Citizens Committee, said that they had received pledges towards the purchasing of stocks from St. Louis and Chicago. Stocks could only be purchased by citizens of New York State, but this did not stop the pledges from donating money instead. The citizens and fans of Ontario donated $5,000, and verbally pledged to purchase season tickets if the team stayed in Buffalo.

On December 17 a very important step was made in the right direction, when the Buffalo Bills Football Club Inc. was created. Finally a board of directors was created to head the cause and fund raiser, giving the fans more hope. The group consisted of 33 men, representing a wide range of local business men, banking elites, industrial presidents, and labor groups. All future activities of the Citizens Committee for the Bills would be handled by the group, from the selection of a delegation to meet with the League Commissioner in January, to the actual operations of the team if selected into the league.[10]

With less than a month left before the meetings with the new league commissioner and current team owners, Art Rich made a statement that big businesses in Western New York needed to step up and start making donations. “Up to the present time, the little fellow, the man on the street, has financed the drive to save the Bills. Big businesses much come through with sizeable donations if we are to realize our goal of $500,000.”[11] The members and delegates of the Buffalo Bills Football Club Inc. understood that businesses were waiting to donate until a formation of some kind of board of trustees was created, but now that the Buffalo Bills Football Club had assumed that function, they must come through. The original amount of $250,000 would soon be reached, but Mr. Rich assured the public that they would not set up a meeting with Albert Bell, commissioner of the new league, until they had doubled that amount into $500,000. On December 18 a week after the drive started, the total was $230,135 with thousands coming in each day from local subscription banks and branches.[12] This left one month to reach their final goal.

At the start of the second week the fund raiser raised $116,385 in cash and with $125,000 pledged to start the campaign the grand total was $241,385. The city was half way there and had almost a month left to raise the other half. To the board of directors and citizens’ dismay, however, league commissioner Albert Bell had begun working to complete a schedule for a 13-team league, leaving Buffalo out and perhaps ending professional football in Buffalo. Art Rich and the Football Club knew that they had to set up a meeting with Bell before the schedule for the 1950 season was finalized. The Club wanted to show Bell that with the substantial amount of money they had raised, he should hold off making the schedule until after the meetings and votes in January.[13]

A day after meeting with Albert Bell in New York City gathering information on techniques to use to keep the dream of the Bills’ alive, the Buffalo Bills Football Club showed new life upon return. One result of the meeting was the formation of a new plan of operation within the next few weeks to meet their goal of $500,000 and to be ready for the meetings in January. Solid advance season ticket sales, along with a second financial backing were the main concerns of the owners of the new league, according to Bell. The members explained to Bell that the financial backing was already in place with the use of the fund raiser. The season ticket sales, however, were one problem that had to be addressed by Rich and his committee immediately. Bell told the delegates that the sale of season tickets would be their biggest selling point to the team owners when the meetings would be held. Bell also stated that Buffalo would be “welcomed with open arms” if the thirteen owners now holding teams were assured of substantial sales for every home game played in Buffalo. Bell told Rich a definite figure of $40,000 in advance and $240,000 for six home games would surely impress the league’s committee in Buffalo’s favor. To obtain those types of funds, Rich and his delegates figured that 12,000 to 15,000 season tickets must be sold. The problem with those figures was that the highest amount of season tickets ever sold in Buffalo was 5,300 in 1948. Bell also urged the committee to consider the election of an executive or general manager who would have total control, contrary to the 33 member group the Buffalo Bills currently used.[14] Rich told the Courier Express that throughout the entire meeting Mr. Bell did not once bring up the difficulties of scheduling fourteen teams, which left Rich and the other delegates who attended the meeting with high hopes.[15]

With raised hopes and a brighter outlook for the city of Buffalo, the Buffalo Football Club Inc.. announced on December 22 that a new plan for the advance sale of season tickets would soon be in place. A spokesman for the Club stated that they wanted to have a plan to show evidence of a sound season ticket sale to the league committee, “a plan to show evidence of a sound season ticket sale will be announced shortly by the committee.”[16] The plan was put on delay, however, because the Citizens Committee wanted to make sure the city was granted a team before collecting money for the tickets.

Taking Mr. Bell’s suggestion a step further, the Buffalo Bills Football Club elected Albert O’Neill as the sole president of the Buffalo Bills Football Club Inc.. O’Neill, who was also the president of Buffalo Niagara Electric Corporation, did not welcome the job at first. He said that when the meetings were over and a decision was made that he owed it to himself and his business to step down as president of the Bills and return full time to his office at the electric company. In a statement he made after the election, O’Neill said that there were two important steps to take one was a plan to accept pledges for advance season ticket sales and the second was to name “one strong man” to meet with the NAF committee to request a franchise. He also reiterated the ideas and plans of season ticket sales in a statement saying “I do not believe it plausible to sell season tickets until we have been granted the franchise. However a plan to accept pledges will be announced shortly.” At the end of his news conference he was quoted saying “I believe that the reaction of the citizens of Buffalo and Western New York to the demand for a professional football franchise in this city merits continued whole hearted civic support.”[17] Within the next few weeks, O’Neill and his committee worked day in and day out to keep the drive alive.

On January 3, 1950 the hope for a team was jolted, and some dreams were crushed. NAF commissioner Bert Bell told Albert O’Neill that he was encountering extreme difficulty in fitting a fourteenth team into the schedule. Bell declared that unless he could solve the problem of scheduling, he would be unable to recommend to the league’s owners the acceptance of the Bills’ into their league. O’Neill told Bell that he had set up a committee that had been working on a fourteen team schedule and it was possible. Bell shot that idea down by saying “it is simple to work out a schedule, but it is another thing to please the teams.” The commissioner continued to say that he was not telling the Bills not to present their case, because he does not vote, but that the thirteen team owners vote and they can vote which ever way they want. Asked of his thoughts of the vote outcome, Mr. Bell answered “I don’t know, I simply don’t know.”[18]

Keeping things on track the Bills’ announced the plan for advance season ticket sales. The price scale would range from $1.80 to $6.00 and a total of 10,000 tickets were being asked to be sold. The head of this committee was Dr. James Ailinger, who was also a member of the Club Inc. O’Neill and Ailinger both believed that if the city could sell out in advance a good part of seats available, that even with the difficulties of a fourteen team schedule, the Bills’ would be allowed into the league. Everyone believed that the future of the Bills in Buffalo rested on this one major plan “The ticket pledge drive is our last and most vital weapon, Ailinger said. “The city’s pro football life hinges on it.”[19] Ailinger stated that there would also be a partial payment plan to pay for the season tickets devised later on if the team was selected. Citizens could send in their pledges to the committee using the forms that were in newspapers, banks, and other local businesses. Ailinger stressed however, the pledges should not be accompanied with money.[20]

On the first day of ticket sales 2,727 pledges were made. With the rapid and major response of the grid iron fans of Buffalo, the drive to “Keep the Bills in Buffalo” looked to be closing in on its goal. Also adding fuel to the hope was a phone call from Mr. Bell to O’Neill stating that he had finished a fourteen team schedule even though it was not a pretty one. Mr. Bell stated that he did not think anyone, even Buffalo would agree to it. “This schedule would lead to financial chaos.”[21] Bell also stated that since winter comes early in Buffalo, the last two home games for the Bills may cause some controversy from the opposing teams.

The three week scramble looked to be slowly falling into place. Of the 2,727 pledges received, 465 had been made in person and overnight 1,464 pledges came in the mail, while the rest were still being held and counted at local businesses. That number represented about $61,279.20 in collectable cash, a number that had to be doubled in the next few days. Breaking down the 2,727 pledges showed that 1,604 or 59% were pledges from persons not owning season tickets during the 1949 season, indicating an optimistic outlook for the committee. Two days before the meeting with Bert Bell, the number of pledges cruised past the half way mark. A total of 5,364 pledges were received and 3,382 of those were from non-season ticket holders the previous year. Dr. Ailinger stated that in order to achieve the goal of 10,000 the city must pledge an average of 2,300 for each of the two remaining days. Previous Bills owner James Breuil helped out with pledging 150 season tickets in the name of his company Frontier Oil Refining Co., making that the largest block of tickets to date for the Bills.[22]

The goal was reached and on January 13 a new ray of hope shined on the city of Buffalo. Washington team owner George Preston Marshall gave his support to the Bills saying that he would not mind having a fourteenth team in the league, as long as it would not interfere with Washington’s traditional games. Marshall even went a step further by constructing his own schedule that included Buffalo and saying that “it is quite apparent that that local drive to gain season ticket pledges is doing more to aid Buffalo’s franchise drive each day.”[23] Also in the good news was the call from Mr. Bell telling the Bills that he had received their letter of application including the report on the efforts of local fans to pledge financial support through the sale of stock and season tickets. The letter also pointed out to Mr. Bell that Buffalo was never ranked worse than third in attendance and total income.
On January 19 in Philadelphia Albert O’Neill presented the case for a franchise team in Buffalo to the NAFL owners and commissioner. No vote was taken immediately, but Buffalo seemed to be the only team with a real chance of getting into the league. From all that was said about the scheduling difficulties, Bell and owners figured it would take a few days, possibly a week or two, to make a final vote. The Bills needed a unanimous approval, and they believed that they could get it. O’Neill stated that they did not care what division they would be in or who they would play; they just wanted a franchise in Buffalo. Heading into the meetings the committee had gained $177,000 in cash and $86,000 plus in pledges from the fans and citizens of Buffalo. The delegates also had more than 15,000 pledges for season tickets that would prove support for the Bills.

Unable to agree on a fourteen team schedule the NAFL owners on January 20, 1950, denied the Buffalo Bills a slot in their professional football league. Commissioner Bert Bell made the announcement after a closed meeting with the owners, where the vote was not unanimous. Bell said in his announcement that the votes swung away from Buffalo during the morning meeting, and Buffalo’s bid was finally declined in the evening meeting due to a non-satisfactory schedule that was produced, “The owners were unable to agree on a satisfactory 14-team schedule. And they couldn’t agree on a two-divisional setup of the league.”[24] He added that time and the alignment of the schedule figured against Buffalo. Not helping the matter was the dispersion of the Bills’ 32 players to the NAFL player pool, to be used and picked by the 13 teams. This left Buffalo with no franchise or players.

Upon return to Buffalo the big task that remained was for the Buffalo Bills Football Club Inc. to set up a plan to return and refund the $177,000 collected in the public stock sale. The plan was to return the money that was held by the Marine Trust Company to every person who purchased stock in the full amount.[25]

Within two days of rejection from the NAFL, the American Football League sent an invitation to Buffalo to join their league. The invitation was quickly rejected by fans because of the lack of talent in the league. Fans stated that it would be too hard to go from watching a professional football team to watching a minor league team. Albert O’Neill was quoted saying “It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. This league is a bush league and I don’t think Buffalo wants to get into a bush league.”[26] Buffaloanians only wanted to be recognized as a major league city, and that meant an NFL franchise. Another reason for rejection was because the Bills had no players available, they were all thrown into the pool of players for NAFL teams to pick and choose from. All the city would have had would have been a franchise with no players.[27] The rejections from the NAFL led to a 10 year drought of football in Buffalo. It would not be until 1959, when wealthy real estate company president Ralph Wilson would buy the team and join the AFL, that Buffalo would gain a major league franchise.

Similar to the city of Buffalo’s situation, the city of Green Bay was in the same boat. The Green Bay Packers had two choices when joining the AAFC in 1946: either to compete for the best players by paying high prices and lose money that way, or to sign less talented players and suffer a decline in attendance and fan support. Without the sufficient funds the Packers opted for the second choice and saw a dramatic decrease in attendance because of a bad record team. In 1948 the team lost $155,000, which more than eliminated their financial backing.[28]

The team played half of their games in Milwaukee and half in Green Bay, and ironically enough there was a larger fan attendance in Milwaukee. When the Packers looked to the city for money, however, the city felt no reason to donate and support its financial investment. because the team did not belong to the city the stock offering proved to be the only way to go for the Packers. With no money to back the stock offerings, the Packers caught a stroke of luck when their only facility caught fire and they then claimed $50,000 from the insurance company. Packer players believed it was an act of God “I didn’t set the Lodge fire, but I was sure fanning it … said Tony Canadeo. Personally I think it was an act of God.”[29]

A few months into the stock offerings there was great success. Officials approved 5,000 shares selling for $25 a piece. Keeping the team available to everyone equally, officials put a 200 share limit available to one individual. Local ad campaigns used the slogan “Back the Drive with Twenty-Five,” and more than 1,500 people attended a rally at a local high school in Green Bay. The night after the rally more than 1,000 shares were sold and the community responded with more than $25,000 in donations and pledges.

In three weeks the stock sales passed their goals and brought in over $100,000 well before the meetings of the NFL being held in June 1950. At the meeting, Commissioner Bert Bell declared the “Packers out of the financial woods.” The acceptance of the Packers led the NFL into a new small-city era and owners looked ahead to the attractiveness and success.[30]

With small cities such as Buffalo and Green Bay, it is easy to see how fan support and city backing was important to the success of professional sports teams. Even though the Bills did not receive a team, it set a precedent in ways to keep teams alive in the 1949-1950 effort. Even today in the year 2006, the Buffalo Bills are on the verge of possibly moving to another city because of the players union and team owner collective agreements. Such a small city and small revenue team as Buffalo can not compete and afford the new deal accepted by the rest of the league. In the following weeks we may see a fund raiser developed just like we did in 1949.

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[1] 1949 All American Football Conference Teams: Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, N.Y. Yankees, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Dons, Chicago Hornets, Baltimore Colts. 1949 NFL Teams: Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, N.Y. Giants, Washington Redskins, N.Y. Buffdogs, Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers.

[2] “Bills Merged with Browns in New Loop.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 10, 1949, page 1

[3] “$250,000 Required; Bell Would Welcome Bills in New Loop.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 11, 1949, page 1

[4] Ibid

[5] “Meeting are Planned by 2 Groups Today.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 12, 1949, page 1

[6] “Grid Bills’ Drive Nets $199,000 in 24 Hours.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 14, 1949, page 1

[7] Ebenezer is a town south of Buffalo approximately 15 miles from the Auditorium.

[8] “Drive for Bills Really Rolling, $209,770 Now In.” The Buffalo Evening News, December 15, 1949

[9] Mike Kanaley. “Drive for Bills Hits $217,000.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 16, 1949, page 18

[10] Mike Kanaley. “Directors Selected for Buffalo Bills.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 17, 1949, page 17

[11] Mike Kanaley. “Bills’ Drive Faces ‘Big’ Money Need.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 18, 1949 page 19

[12] Ibid

[13] “Bills’ Fund Now $241,385.” The Buffalo Evening News, December 20, 1949, page 38

[14] Cy Kritzer. “Buffalo Pro Football Drive Recruits Allies in Old NFL.” The Buffalo Evening News, December 21 1949, page 57

[15] Mike Kanaley. “Talk With Bell Aids Bills Grid Committee.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 21, 1949 page 19

[16] Kanaley, Mike. “Drive to Raise $500,000 Is Still Main Objective.” Buffalo Courier-Express, December 22, 1949 page 18

[17] Both of these quotes are from: “O’Neill Elected Bills’ Prexy; Stiglmeier May Get Key Post.” Buffalo Courier -Express, December 28, 1949 page 14

[18] Both of these quotes are from: “Bills’ Hopes For Pro Grid Life Jolted.” Buffalo Courier-Express, January 3, 1950, page 1

[19] “Drive for Bills’ Ticket Pledges to Start Today.” Buffalo Courier-Express, January 4, 1950, page 1

[20] “Bills’ Ticket Drive Opens.” The Buffalo Evening News, January 4, 1950, page 50

[21] “Bills Included in ’50 NAL Slate, But There’s a Hitch.” Buffalo Courier-Express, January 5, 1950, page 18

[22] “Ticket Pledges for Bills Soar Past Halfway Mark.” Buffalo Courier-Express, January 7, 1950, page 18

[23] Mike Kanaley. “Marshall Throws Support to Bills’ Franchise Bid.” Buffalo Courier-Express, January 13, 1950, page 16

[24] Tony Wurzer. “Pro Football Owners Reject Bills’ Bid.” The Buffalo Evening News, January 20, 1950, page 1

[25] “Bills to Prep Stock Refund Plan Today.” Buffalo Courier-Express, January 23, 1950, page 14

[26] “Buffalo Head Calls AFL ‘Bush League’.” The Washington Post, January 24, 1950 page 15

[27] “Bills Invited to Join AFL; Offer Called ‘Ridiculous’.” The Buffalo Evening News, January 23, 1950, page 20

[28] Craig Coenen, From Sandlots to the Super Bowl (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2005), 147

[29] Ibid p. 149

[30] Ibid p. 150