The Rockpile

In 1964, Buffalo's football team played in the young American Football League, in an old concrete stadium on the city's East Side that everybody called the Rockpile. That fall they won their first nine games. They beat the defending champions twice. They clinched their division in the snow at Fenway Park.

Then, the day after Christmas, in the fog, in front of a sellout crowd at the Rockpile, they beat San Diego 20-7 for the league championship. It was the first title in the team's history.

The year had a fullback nobody could tackle, a rookie kicker from Cornell who kicked the ball sideways like a soccer player, two quarterbacks who both won games, a receiver called Golden Wheels who caught five passes for 218 yards in one afternoon, and a defense that gave up barely 900 rushing yards all season.

The Rockpile tells the 1964 season game by game, with chapters on the fullback, the kicker, the quarterbacks, the defense and the old stadium itself.

Every game chapter has the score, the crowd, the weather and the story, a full-page chart drawn from the box score, and Ray's Take, a few lines of opinion from a lifelong fan from Buffalo's Old First Ward. At the back you'll find fifty bar-trivia questions (four quarters and an overtime) and a complete stats appendix.

A warm, funny, fact-checked holiday gift for anyone whose grandfather still talks about the Rockpile.