THE AFL 1960–69: A RETROSPECTIVE
Billy Shaw Was as Effective a Blocker as a Buffalo Snowplow
The Bills’ great became the first player who spent his entire career in the AFL to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
During his nine-year career with the Bills — one that was rewarded with a long overdue induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 — you could point to any play in any game to see just how good a player Billy Shaw was.
Shaw leading Cookie Gilchrist around the corner, moving would-be tacklers like a snowplow on the streets of Buffalo in January, was one of the most enduring sights in Buffalo sports history.
His skill was unmatched, his technique was perfect, his composure never wavered. And the defining game of his career — when all three of those attributes melded together in symphonic harmony — came appropriately enough in the most important game Shaw played as a Bill.
It was the 1964 AFL Championship game against the San Diego Chargers at War Memorial Stadium, and on that cold December day Shaw put on exactly the kind of performance that lands a player in the Hall of Fame.
