Published: October 29, 2008 04:59 pm      

BOOK REVIEW: Football book makes Bills fans want to shout

The Bills are finally playing in a manner that would remind longtime fans of the team’s glory days, but a new book will help maintain that warm and fuzzy feeling regardless of how this season ends up.

Longtime NFL writer Jim Gehman compiled hundreds of first-person accounts in his tome saluting the history of Buffalo’s football franchise, “Then Levy Said to Kelly ... The Best Buffalo Bills Stories Ever Told.” Players from the team’s seminal days in the American Football League to this decade are cited, with the material broken into chapters both by time period and position (two sections, for example, focus on linemen and quarterbacks).

Gehman largely lets former players do the talking, using breezy narrative to fill in the gaps through most of the book. The exceptions are the franchise’s two highest points — the 1964-65 AFL championship teams and the 1990-93 Super Bowl squads — to which chapters are entirely devoted to player comments to chronicle what those times were like.

The book offers an even-handed, thorough look at the team’s five decades of existence. While information on the early days has historical significance, younger readers like myself will find particular interest in the chapters detailing the making of and dazzling play seen during the Super Bowl years.

All of the highlights are there, from the playoff comeback win against the Houston Oilers to the fallout from each of the four defeats and reflection on that team’s place in history. Also mentioned are peripheral matters such as Phil Hansen’s free pants; the defensive lineman was one of several Bills to be given boxes of free Zubaz pants prior to Super Bowl XXVI as a promotional stunt by the novelty clothesmaker, and he recalled having more pairs of the striped pants than he knew what to do with.

Player accounts outline how the culture surrounding the Bills changed in the late-’80s. Tight end Pete Metzelaars, traded to Buffalo from Seattle in 1985, was quoted as struggling to find any positives out of being sent to a 2-14 team for which he couldn’t start.

By 1989, free agents such as running back Kenneth Davis were thrilled just to be backups for the Bills, citing the direction the team was headed. Davis, in fact, rejected offers to play elsewhere after the Bills told him in 1995 he wouldn’t be signed again.

“Maybe it was selfish or stupidity on my behalf, but that’s just how much I cared about the organization and playing under coach (Marv) Levy,” he said. “Buffalo is a very special city to me. And it was a very special team.”

That sentiment is one of the book’s themes, with many of the quotes used speaking to how special it was to play in Buffalo — even quotes from players who demanded to leave during their time on the field.

“That was my biggest regret — that I ever left Buffalo,” said lineman Joe DeLamielleure, a Hall of Famer who sat out prior to the 1980 season due to personality conflicts and money issues, and forced a trade to Cleveland in the process.

The book also details matters of a less serious nature, such as running back Wray Carlton’s being unaware of his place in team history. A back on the inaugural team in 1960, he scored a touchdown in the team’s second game to become the first Bill to find the end zone. He had no idea of that fact, he said, until he heard his name used as the answer to that very trivia question decades later on a radio show.

Then there’s sometimes destructive manner in which players celebrate scoring. Receiver Don Beebe recalled scoring a touchdown in his first game in 1989 and having fellow receiver Andre Reed tackle him so hard in jubilation that Beebe hurt his shoulder.

Whether a newbie Bills fan or a die-hard devotee, this book — which comes with an audio CD of additional interviews — offers a pleasant trip down memory lane while likely educating readers on at least a couple facets of the team’s history. Bills fans won’t want to miss it.

Contact editor Paul Lane at 693-1000, ext. 116.



IF YOU READ

• WHAT: “The Levy Said to Kelly ... The Best Buffalo Bills Stories Ever Told”

• BY: Jim Gehman

• DETAILS: Published by Triumph Books, 217 pages

• GRADE: A-