"The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League are known for having a fervent fan base. The team had such an impact on the city and on professional football that franchise owner Ralph Wilson, when searching for a home for his American Football Leagueteam, settled in Buffalo and named the team in honor of the original Bills"--Provided by publisher.
The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League have a fervent fan base; the city's love affair with their football team dates back more than six decades. The Buffalo Bills were one of the strongest teams in the All-America Football Conference in 1948 and 1949, their final years of play. The team had such an impact on the city and on professional football that current franchise owner Ralph Wilson, when searching for a home for his American Football League team, settled in Buffalo and named the team in honor of the original Bills.
No matter the weather, the Buffalo Bills are game to play! Through narrative nonfiction, timelines, and Fun Facts, readers will engage with the history and superstars of the Buffalo Bills like never before.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West presents a fascinating analysis of the first famous American to erase the boundary between real history and entertainment Canada, and Europe. Crowds cheered as cowboys and Indians--and Annie Oakley!--galloped past on spirited horses, sharpshooters exploded glass balls tossed high in the air, and cavalry troops arrived just in time to save a stagecoach from Indian attack. Vivid posters on billboards everywhere made William Cody, the show's originator and star, a world-renowned figure. Joy S. Kasson's important new book traces Cody's rise from scout to international celebrity, and shows how his image was shaped. Publicity stressed his show's "authenticity" yet audiences thrilled to its melodrama; fact and fiction converged in a performance that instantly became part of the American tradition. But how, precisely, did that come about? How, for example, did Cody use his audience's memories of the Civil War and the Indian wars? He boasted that his show included participants in the recent conflicts it presented theatrically, yet he also claimed it evoked "memories" of America's bygone greatness. Kasson's shrewd, engaging study--richly illustrated--in exploring the disappearing boundary between entertainment and public events in American culture, shows us just how we came to imagine our memories.
Buffalo Bills: The Complete Illustrated History is the ultimate celebration of a beloved team, complete with photos, stats, and stories from a half century of Bills football. From its origins in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League to the latest season on the gridiron, the team and its fans have seen their share of highs and lows, and author Sal Maiorana presents them all—the players, the games, and the personalities from 50 seasons of pro football in Buffalo. It is the perfect companion and reference for Buffalo’s “12th Man”—the fans.
Rockin' the Rockpile is a complete and comprehensive history of the Buffalo Bills AFL era -- from the first meetings of the "Foolish Club" to the eventual merger with the senior NFL -- and it brings to life the stories of a bygone time that fans regard as Buffalo's golden age of sport. Rockin' the Rockpile resonates with the words of the men who lived it. More than 60 former players, coaches, and administrative staff -- including Ralph Wilson -- shared their thoughts and memories for this book. As this book was intended as a collective memoir of the Buffalo Bills' AFL era, those interviews constitute the foundation upon which this book was written. It offers the average fan a glimpse into the locker room, film room, whirlpool, coach's office, press box, as well as the huddle, to see and hear just what the players and coaches were thinking or saying during a significant game or play. The Buffalo Bills of the 1960s represent a special time in the collective conscience of Buffalonians, a time when their team was twice champion of the renegade American Football League, and when Jack Kemp, Billy Shaw, Cookie Gilchrist, Mike Stratton, Tom Sestak, Elbert Dubenion, Ron McDole, and O.J. Simpson, captured the imagination of an entire community. They were the antithesis of the high-scoring, pass-happy AFL. When high-powered offenses were the main attraction, the Bills competed, and won, with a ball-control offense and a stingy defense. For three consecutive years, Buffalo's defensive unit was the best in the league, and was one of the best throughout the AFL's history. Western New Yorkers loved this team and its successful approach -- the Buffalo Bills mirrored the community they represented.
Everyone knows the name Buffalo Bill, but few these days know what he did or, in some cases, didn't do. Was he a Pony Express rider? Did he serve Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn? Did he scalp countless Native Americans, or did he defend their rights? This, the first significant biography of Buffalo Bill Cody for younger readers in many years, explains it all. With copious archival illustrations and a handsome design, Presenting Buffalo Bill makes the great showman come alive for new generations. Extensive back matter, bibliography, and source notes complete the package. This title has Common Core connections.
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was the most famous American of his age. He claimed to have worked for the Pony Express when only a boy and to have scouted for General George Custer. But what was his real story? And how did a frontiersman become a worldwide celebrity? In this prize-winning biography, acclaimed author Louis S. Warren explains not only how Cody exaggerated his real experience as an army scout and buffalo hunter, but also how that experience inspired him to create the gigantic, traveling spectacle known as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. A dazzling mix of Indians, cowboys, and vaqueros, they performed on two continents for three decades, offering a surprisingly modern view of the United States and a remarkably democratic version of its history. This definitive biography reveals the genius of America’s greatest showman, and the startling history of the American West that drove him and his performers to the world stage.
A history of the football franchise is enhanced by vintage photographs, memorabilia, and artwork from the Bills' archives, including reproductions of historic tickets, bumper stickers, game programs, and pennants.
Army scout, buffalo hunter, Indian fighter, and impresario of the world-renowned "Wild West Show," William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody lived the real American West and also helped create the "West of the imagination." Born in 1846, he took part in the great westward migration, hunted the buffalo, and made friends among the Plains Indians, who gave him the name Pahaska (long hair). But as the frontier closed and his role in "winning the West" passed into legend, Buffalo Bill found himself becoming the symbol of the destruction of the buffalo and the American Indian. Deeply dismayed, he spent the rest of his life working to save the remaining buffalo and to preserve Plains Indian culture through his Wild West shows. This biography of William Cody focuses on his lifelong relationship with Plains Indians, a vital part of his life story that, surprisingly, has been seldom told. Bobby Bridger draws on many historical accounts and Cody's own memoirs to show how deeply intertwined Cody's life was with the Plains Indians. In particular, he demonstrates that the Lakota and Cheyenne were active cocreators of the Wild West shows, which helped them preserve the spiritual essence of their culture in the reservation era while also imparting something of it to white society in America and Europe. This dual story of Buffalo Bill and the Plains Indians clearly reveals how one West was lost, and another born, within the lifetime of one remarkable man.
