Bills Great Cookie Gilchrist has Died January 10, 2011 Pittsburgh, PA (WKBW-TV) After his career in the CFL had ended, Cookie Gilchrist helped put the Buffalo Bills on the football map. The 6-3 250 pound fullback was a punishing runner. “Cookie was the Jim Brown of the American Football League; he was the icon of the league,” said Booker Edgerson, a member of the Bills 1964 championship team. http://www.wkbw.com/sports/Bill-Great-Cookie-Gilchrist-has-Died-113214139.html ___________________________________________ In one week in December 1963, Gilchrist ran all over the Jets. Sunday, December 8- 36 carries, 243 yards, 5 touchdowns Saturday, December 14- 31 carries, 114 yards, 1 touchdown
The name was changed from Titans to Jets for the 1963 season. One of those Jets-Bills games was originally scheduled to be played on Sunday, November 24. The AFL cancelled all games that day in observance of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. (The NFL did not cancel their games. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle said that was the worst decision he ever made.)
I remember Gilchrist. He was excellent in the CFL before signing with Buffalo after they lost out on Ernie Davis to the NFL (Davis never played a down, of course, dying of leukemia in 1963). Gilchrist had 3 excellent seasons for Buffalo (first or second team all-AFL) before being traded to Denver because of contract demands. He then had one more excellent year for Denver. Ralph Wilson treated him very shabbily, refusing to put him on the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame. They apparently finally patched things up last week, according to Gilchrist's nephew. Wilson also refuses to put Lou Saban on the Wall, even though he's the only man to coach them to a championship (he won 2, in 1964 and 1965). RIP Cookie.
I was eleven years old in 1963, playing City League football. I remember watching Cookie Gilchrist on TV. He was good. RIP Cookie.
I remember him vaguely. Rest in Peace http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/sports/11gilchrist.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries