Kemp was a born leader for Bills
Jack Kemp had an unparalleled career in the AFL, guiding the Bills to a pair of titles
Former teammates fondly remembered Jack Kemp on Sunday as a great leader of the Buffalo Bills' American Football League championship teams of the 1960s.
"What made Jack a powerful leader was Jack had chutzpah," said Bills great and running back Cookie Gilchrist. "He was Jack Kemp. He was cocky as hell. There is nothing he couldn't do. ... Jack was one of a kind. Jack came in with the confidence of a winner, and we won."
"The thing I admire most about him I think was his honesty," said cornerback Booker Edgerson. "He didn't bite his tongue too often. He said what he had to say. He did it with dignity and without trying to hurt people's feelings. ... He was an outstanding leader and a great spokesman for our team."
Kemp died Saturday at his home in Maryland after a battle with cancer. He was 73.
While he is known best across most of the country for being a national political figure, many Americans don't realize what a great football career he enjoyed.
Kemp was the starting quarterback in five of the 10 AFL championship games from 1960 to '69. He ended his career as the AFL's all-time leader in pass attempts (3,055), completions (1,428) and passing yards (21,130).
He was the all-league quarterback twice (in 1960 and '65), the league Most Valuable Player once (in '65), and he was an all-star seven seasons. His career record as a starter was 65-37-3.
"Under dire circumstances in the clutch, he was always able to pull the right play out," recalled Bills linebacker Harry Jacobs. "I remember one game at War Memorial Stadium when Daryle Lamonica and Jack were vying for the quarterback position. Daryle had started and they pulled Daryle and put Jack in. The crowd just booed Jack. On his first play, he threw a touchdown to Charley Ferguson, and everybody turned to cheering him."
Kemp was considered too short coming out of high school to play big-time college football so he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he became Little All-American. He was drafted by Detroit of the NFL in 1957 and had stints with the Lions, Steelers, Giants and 49ers but played only four games. Kemp was on the New York Giants' roster for the famous 1958 NFL title game — dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played" — but did not suit up.
When the AFL formed, he joined the Chargers franchise and led it to the league championship game in both 1960 and '61. He suffered a broken finger early in the 1962 season, and the Chargers tried to sneak him through waivers for a week with the intention of bringing him back onto the roster. The Bills claimed him.
Kemp led the Bills to a playoff berth in 1963, and the team became a juggernaut in '64, going 12-2 and defeating the Chargers, 20-7, for the AFL title.
Kemp had a strong arm. He led the AFL in yards per attempt in 1964 and still has two of the four longest completions in Bills history. His accuracy was not as much of an asset as his arm strength. He tended to run hot and cold with his accuracy.
"I remember his first play when he came to Buffalo," said receiver Elbert Dubenion. "Al Dorow had been the quarterback prior to Jack, and Al threw the ball so soft I could line up about 10 yards off and cradle the ball. The first time Jack took a snap I lined up the same distance and he stepped back and zoomed the ball. That ball hit me in the chin and bounced away."
"When he first came to Buffalo, I had trouble catching the ball real bad," Dubenion said. "But he stuck with me and told me how to run the patterns. And he told me the thing is having confidence."
"Jack was the first quarterback that really was into weights," said retired Bills trainer Ed Abramoski. "He was a track guy and threw the javelin. He saw how the track guys would work weights. That was unheard of in football because they said you'll become muscle bound and won't be able to throw; he could throw that ball 70, 75 yards."
Kemp, who played at 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds, also was a fine athlete, with good mobility.
"He had a lot of escapability," said Abramoski. "He'd get away from a lot of people when they'd rush him. He'd juke them. I'd always kid him. He'd make that big figure eight [going backward] to get away from a rusher and he'd get the pass away. He could throw the ball a country mile. He'd throw the ball 40 yards and it'd be a 5-yard gain, but it was better than a 25-yard loss."
Kemp scored 40 rushing touchdowns in his career, third most in U.S. pro football history, only behind Hall of Famers Otto Graham (45) and Steve Young (43).
"He was tougher than he looked," Dubenion said. "A lot of people didn't think Jack was tough but Jack was tougher than Cookie. He'd fake a handoff and put his head down and bowl a guy over."
"He had a lot of gumption," Jacobs said. "He loved to take the football in when it was down there near the goal line, and he was very good at it."
The 1965 season arguably was Kemp's finest. The Bills lost both starting receivers, Dubenion and Glenn Bass, to injury four games into the year. They had to employ a two-tight end offense and play ball control. Kemp was league MVP even though the Bills ranked seventh out of eight teams in passing yards.
"When we went to San Diego for the second championship in 1965, the San Diego Chargers were the most prolific scoring team in all of pro football," Jacobs said. "We shut them out, 23-0. One of the reasons the defense was able to hold them to nothing was because of the Kemp-led offense. They were out on the football field for so long. It was a team effort."
Kemp called the plays and managed the games masterfully in '64 and '65.
"He was so smart and he could read defenses," Dubenion said. "He was a heckuva guy at changing signals at the line of scrimmage."
No member of the Bills organization in the '60s was surprised Kemp pursued a career in politics.
"George Saimes gave him the nickname "The Senator,'" Dubenion said. "We'd go on road trips and he'd be reading political books and the rest of us would be reading "Tom and Jerry.'"
"What stood out most for me was his fervor for wanting to be a politician," Abramoski said. "I knew he was going to be a politician way back when because he would always run things by me. And he was always reading economic books. ... I'd always kid him and say, "Jack I don't know if you're the smartest guy I know, but I know dang well you're the best read,'" Abramoski said.
Kemp was the first president of the AFL players' union.
"He always was concerned about the players and their economic times," Edgerson said. "We really weren't making much money back in those days. He was always trying to figure out a way for us to make more money. ... He always tried to educate us about politics."
Whether his teammates agreed with his politics or not, they admired his passion.
"We need to celebrate his life," Jacobs said. "I think the best thing we can do is to celebrate it by each one of us standing tall for what we believe. That's what Jack did all the time on the football field, at home with his family in the community and in politics."
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