1965 - TWO STRAIGHT AFL TITLES

The Buffalo Bills repeated as AFL Champions in 1965 by shutting out the San Diego Chargers in the title game.

The Bills come storming in on Chargers' quarterback John Hadl in the 1965 AFL Championship game. Here three Bills converge on Hadl, Jim Dunaway (78), Ron McDole (72) and John Tracey (51) as the Bills' D put the pressure on Hadl the entire game, shutting out the explosive Charger offense.

There's an old cliche in sports that goes like this: "The team that plays together wins together." That expression just about sums up the sixth annual American Football League Championship game played 34 years ago in sunny San Diego.

Take two teams, one with great individual stars, and the other a team with practically no stars at all, but one with players that are willing to give up individual glory for the benefit of their team. Almost always, the starless team will come out in front. This was exactly the case in the championship game between the Buffalo Bills and the San Diego Chargers.

The Chargers had such superstars as Lance Alworth, Keith Lincoln, Paul Lowe, Ernie Ladd and John Hadl to name a few. The Bills didn't have any superstars. They had lost (by trade or by injury) the few they did have before the game. Buffalo traded the mighty Cookie Gilchrist (1964's AFL rushing champion) to Denver, before the 1965 season started, in exchange for fullback Billy Joe - hardly a superstar, but a player who gives 100% for the team. The Bills had lost their top two receivers early that season, Glenn Bass and Elbert Dubenion, when they were both tied for second as the top AFL receivers.

The Bills also lost some other important players as the season dragged on. Safetyman Gene Sykes and tackle Tom Keating were sidelined for the season. Hagood Clarke, the man who replaced Sykes, played most of the season with a pulled left leg muscle. Charley Ferguson, filling in for Bass at split end, suffered a pulled left hamstring muscle against Houston three weeks earlier and was put on the injured deferred list for the remainder of the 1965 campaign.

With the Bills injury list for the 1965 season, it seemed as if the Bills had been on the battle fields of Viet Nam rather than the gridiron. Here are some of the other key injuries the Bills had to contend with as the season wore on: Safety Gene Sykes was sidelined for the season. Hagood Clarke, the man who replaced Sykes, played most of the season with a pulled left leg muscle. Charley Ferguson, filling in for Bass at split end, suffered a pulled left hamstring muscle against Houston three weeks earlier and was put on the injured deferred list for the remainder of the 1965 campaign.

The Bills suffered another big blow during the week of the AFL championship game. Dave Behrman, the team's regular center, seemingly slept in the wrong position one night and he couldn't get up out of bed the next morning. He had muscle spasms in his lower back and was out for the championship game.

If these injuries were not enough, there was one more to come. On the opening kickoff of the championship game, All-AFL Guard Billy Shaw was knocked unconscious and didn't return until the second half. So the Bills had three new players on their offensive line; Al Bemiller replacing Behrman at center, Joe O'Donnel taking over Bemiller's vacant right guard sport, and George Flint filled in for Shaw.

Bills safety George Saimes slams into Chargers' running back Paul Lowe just after he catches a pass from John Hadl, forcing a fumble. Butch Byrd (42) closes in on the play.

The Devil himself couldn't have done a better job in trying to cripple the Bills. It seems that Satan had been working against the Bills all season long. Buffalo played 11 of its 14 regular season games in rain and mud, so it was almost a habit of playing in mud ankle deep. It was a total shock to the 38 Buffalo Bills who took the field 30 minutes before game time, to find it a sunny and warm day in San Diego. The most surprising element was the dry field, however.

Never did a team put forth more effort that the Buffalo Bills exhibited during their 23-0 AFL Championship victory over the San Diego Chargers. The talent-loaded Chargers were the pick of just about all the experts before the game. They were officially 7-point favorites, but most experts thought San Diego would win by a much wider margin. Even Chargers' head coach Sid Gillman predicted a San Diego blowout along with the rest of the media. He told Buffalo News reporter Larry Felser before the game, "You know, there is no way we can lose this game Sunday,"

Gillman said the reason was "Because of Kemp. We're going to win this game because Kemp has the maturity of a 10-year-old girl."

Kemp and the rest of his Bills would prove Gillman and the world dead wrong.

So here were the Buffalo Bills, in their second straight AFL Championship game, and underdogs for the second straight time. The Bills, who did the impossible all season long, did it again. They not only stopped Pro football's top scoring threat, Lance Alworth, but also stopped the entire San Diego team - without a single point. The Chargers were the most explosive team in football in 1965. No one expected them to be shutout on this balmy Southern California afternoon. The Chargers were the team that scored over 30 points in six of their 14 games, for a total of 340 points in all. But shutout they were, and here's how Buffalo did that and scored points of its own:

1. The Bills used double coverage on flanker Lance Alworth (the first time in their history that they ever double-teamed anybody) and shut him out without a touchdown.

2. The defense rushed quarterback John Hadl. Bills coach Lou Saban had studied films before the game and found that Hadl's pass efficiency faltered when he was harried. The Bills front four got to Hadl on several occasions and forced him to scramble often. The safety blitz was also installed, with right safety George Saimes charging through to nail Hadl. This, along with the blitzing of linebackers Mike Stratton, Harry Jacobs and John Tracey, worked with great success.

3. Saban wanted more protection for quarterback Jack Kemp. Kemp had spent over half the 1965 regular season flat on his back because the lack of this ingredient. The week before, Saban had placed Wray Carlton, a 6-foot-1, 230 pounder who had played at halfback for most of the season, at fullback. Lou then removed Billy Joe, ordinarily the Bills fullback, out of the lineup, in favor of halfback Bobby Smith. Saban afterwards decided to put 235-pound Joe back into the lineup to help keep 300-pound Ernie Ladd (tackle) and 285-pound Earl Faison (defensive end) off Kemp's back.

4. The Bills decided that, in order to defeat San Diego, that they would have to control the ball to keep the explosive Charger offense off the field - the less San Diego had the ball, the less points they would score. Saban decided to stick to the time consuming running game.

5. Buffalo used a different kid of offense to help the running game: a double tight end offense. Tight end Ernie Warlick was on one side, and rookie tight end Paul Costa on the other. This gave the Bills more blocking up front where it was necessary for ball control.

If there was a star in the AFL Championship game, and it was a hard task to decide just that because the Bills put forth such a team effort, it had to be quarterback Jack Kemp. Kemp, although playing with a separated shoulder and sore ankle, completed 8 out of 19 passes for 155 yards and one touchdown. These may not seem like great statistics, but in consideration to Kemp's health and the lack of adequate receivers, it was an outstanding game. Kemp, who was named the AFL's Most Valuable Player for 1965 earlier in the month, was pronounced the game's MVP for his courageous performance.

In an age of expensive football signings, the Bills got Kemp practically gift-wrapped. He was the Chargers No. 1 quarterback in 1962 when he injured the middle finger of his right throwing hand. San Diego coach Sid Gillman, who believed that Kemp was unable of winning the "big game," put him on the waivers, hoping that no team would grab the injured quarterback. Buffalo, who was in desperate need for a solid quarterback, seized the opportunity and grabbed Kemp for the $100 waiver price. This move by Gillman completely backfired in his face. Kemp not only won this championship game, but also the previous year's title game over Gillman's Chargers.

Jack Kemp gets off a pass before 300-pound Ernie Ladd is about to pounce on the Bills quarterback in the 1965 AFL Championship game. On this play, Kemp completes an 18-yard pass to another Ernie, Ernie Warlick for a touchdown (which turned out to be the only offensive touchdown of the game by either team).

For an entire quarter, it looked as if the sixth AFL Championship game was going to be played into the year 1966 without a single point being scored. But with a first and ten in the second quarter, Kemp threw a 22-yard pass to Paul Costa. The 6-foot-5, 256-pound rookie made a sensational, over-the-wrong-shoulder catch at the San Diego 22 yard line. Two runs netted four yards, and Kemp went to the air again - this time on a post pattern to Ernie Warlick. Warlick outdistanced defender "Speedy" Duncan and caught the ball on a dive in the end zone.

Warlick, or "Old Hoss" as he was nick-named by his teammates, had spent most of the 1965 season on the bench. Rookie Costa had beaten him out of his tight end position, and the 33-year old veteran was in doubt about his playing future. But Warlick got his chance when Saban employed the double tight end offense.

"This was my big chance," Warlick said after the game, "and I prayed I wouldn't muff it. I gave him (Duncan) a move to the outside. He went for it. Then I ran a post pattern."

The Bills scored again, only minutes later, when Butch Byrd took a John Hadl punt at the Buffalo 26. Byrd broke two tackles and then proceeded down the right sideline untouched for the second Buffalo touchdown. Paul Maguire, another player received from San Diego for $100, gave the key block at the Charger 10 that cleared the way for Byrd.

Byrd explained his 74-yard touchdown run: "Henry Schmidt and Tommy Janik gave me big blocks after I caught it. I stepped inside and tried to stay along the sidelines. The referee said I stayed in bounds by about a half inch.

"Paul Maguire knocked down two guys at about the 10," the All-AFL cornerback continued. "Man, he really hit ‘em! That sprung me."

After that, all the scoring was done by the Hungarian soccer-styled kicker, Pete Gogolak. Gogolak, who still intends to play out his option, kicked three Buffalo field goals for an AFL Championship game record.

In the third quarter, Kemp went back into the pocket to pass. Getting perfect protection, the small but gritty quarterback threw the long bomb to Bo Roberson. The swift flanker mad an over-the-shoulder catch at the SD 24. It was a 49-yard pick up in all, the longest offensive gain of the day. From there, the Bills drove to the four, but the Charger defense stiffened. In came Gogolak. His 11-yarder was true, and the Bills led 17-0.

Paul Maguire, the reserve linebacker who does the Bills punting chores, took the snap and booted the ball deep into San Diego territory where it was downed by Charley Warner at the one. The Bills decided to blitz since it was obvious that the Chargers would have to take to the air to get back into the ball game. Hadl went back into the end zone to pass, saw that the blitz was on, and he hurried his throw. Butch Byrd embarked upon the scene once again, this time by intercepting that pass and returning it to the Charger 23. Again the San Diego front four held. So in went Gogolak, and this time he kicked his second longest field goal of the season, a 39-yarder, to up the score to 20-0.

By then it was just a matter of time. The Chargers were completely worn out. Everything they did seemed to backfire in their faces. Gogolak's final 32-yard field goal (his third of the day) was just salt to the injury.

The unsung hero of the game for the Bills, and for the entire season for that matter, had to be fullback Wray Carlton. He gained 63 yards in 16 trips (3.9 yards per carry), and that tied him with San Diego's Paul Lowe as the game's top rusher. But, as is true with the entire Buffalo team, statistics don't tell half the story. Carlton was injured and missed most of the 1963 season. He was talked out of retirement the season before by Saban, and started out the 1964 season strongly. But another injury crippled him until the last two game of the season. It was then that Carlton played an all-important part in the Bills drive to their first AFL championship.

During the 1965 season, Wray had an almost impossible task ahead of him. He had to help replace Cookie Gilchrist, who had been traded to Denver. But the dark-haired, 27 year old veteran came through in great style. In regular season statistics, he gained 592 yards on 156 carries and scored six touchdown. Carlton had been the workhorse for the Buffalo offense all season long. He would gain the big yardage when needed, provided a key block, or go out as an alternate receiver when the regular receivers were covered. His catching abilities got Kemp out of a jam plenty of times.

Players like Carlton don't win any awards and they do not receive a lot of attention. But without him, or the other unsung players on the Buffalo Bills squad, the Bills wouldn't have finished close to the top during the 1965 season.

Tom Sestak shows his athletic skills as he leaps to tackle Chargers' quarterback John Hadl for a sack in the Bills 23-0 victory over the host San Diego Chargers in the AFL title game.

The 1965 version of the Buffalo Bills were a rarity in sports. They didn't have any superstars like Jim Brown, Paul Lowe or Lance Alworth, but they did have players who were willing to give their heart for the team. This was the principle reason for their 23-0 lacing over the "unbeatable" San Diego Chargers.

There were other reasons for the victory, also. The Buffalo defense played an outstanding game. For the first time in their history, the Bills double-teamed a receiver. So it wasn't such a shock that the man who was so honored was Lance Alworth, Pro football's premier pass catcher.

"We double-teamed Alworth on almost every play," said Buffalo defensive coach Joel Collier. "When he lined up at flanker, Booker Edgerson and Hagood Clarke double-covered him. When he was at split end, it was George Saimes and Booker."

This alignment allowed Alworth only four receptions for a mere 82 yards, and no touchdown.

Hagood Clarke received special praise from San Diego quarterback John Hadl after the gam's end, "We knew he was a tough and heady player, but we didn't think he had that much speed."

Buffalo's game plan was to let Alworth score only one touchdown, instead of his usual two. But here is where the heart and pride come in again. The Buffalo secondary, which was statistically the worst in the AFL in 1965, completely shutout Alworth, something no team had been able to do all season.

This was a day that 40 Chargers and 30,361 fans in the sunny stands would have liked to soon forget. But, unfortunately for the San Diego fans, it was difficult to do so.

The deeply disappointed Sid Gillman had no alibis. "We just got beat," he said. "We lost to a fine football team. The Bills have excellent personnel and coaching. What else is there to say?"

The defeat was summed up perfectly when John Hadl said, "They kicked the Devil out of us." Maybe the Bills got even with Satan after all!

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