Commentary
Put Russert on Wall for expatriates
Updated: 06/22/08 6:50 AM
Every now and then someone I meet on the streets or in the supermarkets asks me where I get ideas for my column. My usual answer is “from people like you and I need one for Sunday. What’s your suggestion?”
Today’s came from an old friend, Don Barnett, a longtime Buffalo sports fan and currently a member of the Western New York Sports Hall of Fame advisory committee. Like a legion of Western New Yorkers, Barnett is an admirer of the late Tim Russert, especially Tim’s devotion to things Buffalo, primarily the Bills.
Barnett got to his point quickly. “Wouldn’t he be perfect for the Bills’ Wall of Fame?” he asked.
I thought about it for quite a while, how the wall is reserved mostly for players, coaches, team executives and the like. But I also thought of how it salutes the fans, the “12th Man”, who show up rain, shine, snow or sleet; winning seasons, mediocre ones and even disasters.
Then I thought of how hordes of the faithful who moved to distant places because of job transfers, career opportunities and dozens of other good reasons would love to be at The Ralph for eight games a year but had to be content with the televised version.
For some of those expatriates a yearly or semi-annual visit to their new homes from the Bills or even a rare chance to see them in person amounts to a movable feast from home, a piece of their youth in Western New York for which they still yearn. Russert was a symbol of that in-absentia faithful and to have his name represent them on the wall would be a wonderful idea.
I covered the Bills, home and away, for more than 40 years from their inception in the 1960 season, first for the Courier-Express and later for The Buffalo News. I can’t remember a city where the team wasn’t greeted at its hotel or the stadium gates by a swarm of ex-Buffalo area residents.
I remember a 1989 game in Atlanta when Don Beebe, then a rookie, raced downfield with a kickoff return as the stadium actually shook with the roars of Bills fans who had long before moved south. The roars didn’t stop until Beebe was caught near the Falcons’ goal line by the then-fastest man in football, Deion Sanders.
Sometimes, cheering for the Bills on the road was risky, most often in the Boston area. Coming out of Fenway Park one Sunday was bugle-playing super fan Leo Kaz leading a group of New England-based Bills fans. A Boston tough slugged Kaz with his own horn.
Road games for me were often an occasion for seeing former neighbors, ex-co-workers and even my Canisius High School classmates. One time in Dallas, in the company of old wide receiver Gerry Brennan in the living room of ex-quarterback John Labinski, we replayed the 1950 Timon game. About 2:30 a. m. we finally beat those suckers.
Those were the sort of Bills-driven reunions in which Tim Russert thrived. I remember a visit by the team to Washington. In the pregame lunch room, Tim huddled with Bills’ announcer John Murphy in an animated discussion of the candidacy of John’s father, Matt, the longtime state assemblyman from Lockport.
Russert’s name belongs on the wall.
Larry Felser, former News columnist, appears in Sunday’s editions.
