A column by JOHN ANDERSON, Josh Allen photo by Bill Wippert/Buffalo Bills
In 1992, I was unemployed, just out of college, recently married, moved from Rochester to the Southern Tier and we were expecting our first child that fall.
During a bizarre two-week span:
– I applied for two job openings as freelance news writer to cover occasional town board meetings and one as a paid part-time sports intern.
– My son, Brendan was born.
– I was standing two feet away from Marv Levy in a tight room with white-painted brick walls. There were no backdrops with ads, no fancy podiums or mic stands, and the Bills had just lost their first game of the season — convincely — 37-10 to the Miami Dolphins at home in front of 80,368 fans.
I had never covered an NFL game. I had covered two high school football games. I knew I had to do a pre-game story and post-game story by talking to players and the coaches.
As I walked into the press box on the 50-yard line at Rich Stadium, my eyes lit up as Van Miller was holding court just to the right, telling a hilarious joke featuring three people walking into a bar, a priest, a Rabbi and someone Irish. The group around Van laughed, it included the woman who passed the stat sheets around between quarters, the head of security, one or two sportswriters, and the owner of the Buffalo Bills, Ralph Wilson.
I kept looking for my seat in the back row and could not find it. The Wellsville Daily Reporter and Hornell Evening Tribune circulation was less than the amount of people it took to put on the game. Then, I saw another legend — Chuck Pollock from the Olean Times Herald. Chuck led me down to the first row of the press box. Larry Felser from the Buffalo News was in the middle, flanked by other News staffers. I knew them all. We went to the left and there was my seat, on the 46-yard-line. The Buffalo News to my right, Chuck on my left, and to his left, other legends to me from the D&C including Leo Roth. I wanted to stand up and tell all of them how much they inspired me and I studied their writing, but I sat down.
Dan Marino threw three touchdown passes and Lewis Oliver returned a Jim Kelly pass 103 yards for a touchdown.
Levy said, “They gave us a good beating.”
Standing to the left of Levy was long-time Buffalo Bills’ Public and Media Relations Director Scott Berchtold. I had no idea how a press conference works. I had just turned 23. My journalism classes in college consisted of a retired English teacher letting us know the most important part of the story goes at the top.
I thought, “If I don’t ask a question, Scott Berchtold is going to take away my credential.” My first NFL question was more of a statement that an obscure tight end Rob Awalt had a good game. Levy looked at me and said, “You found the one bright spot,” and went on to answer better questions from better reporters.
Months later, the Bills were trailing Houston at home in a wild card game, 28-3 at the half. O.J. Simpson sat down with me at my empty round table in the press box and we ate together and exchanged small talk. I think I told him my uncle ran the scoreboard when he played, thinking we had some connection. We did not.
But I saw Berchtold as I was throwing away my plate and I said, “The Bills showed life at the end of the half and the Oilers are complacent. I think the Bills win this one.” He laughed, he didn’t make me feel small, but said, “I hope you are right.” It’s no secret the Bills won, 41-38.
The Bills treated each writer the same, no matter the publication, no matter the medium. They granted me whatever I needed for the Super Bowl that year.
I thought to myself, “Wow, what a gig, Super Bowl every year.” Suddenly, I was 49, and had covered the team through stints in Wellsville, Olean and Batavia for 26 years without a Super Bowl. We toasted the press box moving from prime real estate to the end zone corner and we all became very cynical.
But I got to fight through a crowd of either happy or angry drunks to a locker room after the game, see away players cramped in the smallest locker room ever, and work in a time when there were stronger ethics in the media. When players said things to each other in the only tunnel that led to the field, that was not for publication, a tweet or for an anonymous source quote.
And finally, something you will never see again, Al Davis came in the press box flanked with three cheerleaders in white fur coat jackets. There was no room for them in the visitors’ owner box. That was the other interesting part of the stadium, scouts, owners, media and celebrities all sat in the same area.
The Bills put bar stools behind us in the first row for the guests of Davis to sit on and watch the game. There was barely enough room back up as it was. The Bills won, 29-23. The first time it was announced, “this is a working environment, there is no cheering in the press box,” they turned around and glared. We didn’t hear that announcement again.
Over the years, I watched Don Shula coach his last game, staring at Howie Long staring at the ground in the visitors’ locker room in his final game. Julian Edelman asked me to say a few things to him so he could goof on Tom Brady. Brady laughed and told us to “shut it!” Later Jim Kelly’s family asked me to take photos in the tunnel of them with Brady.
There were so many conversations between players and friends, between players and reporters, in that tunnel. Recently, Tim Graham of The Athletic wrote an amazing piece about that tunnel. It is a special place. It’s the only entrance to the field at Highmark Stadium, which will make way to a new stadium next year.
That tunnel is tough to get through when there is an ambulance and golf carts going up and down. Until Graham pointed out how it is the heartbeat of the stadium, I knew but I never knew!
What I did know was, it was an honor to cover those games for readers in Wellsville and Allegany County, to do post-game videos on the field and with players. With the internet, that reach grew. But it was always special to talk to readers and Bills fans each week about the games and hear their opinions. It was fun to see everyone in the parking lots and in the stadium.
As the years went by, the players, coaches and games became a blur. As I worked with other publications outside of Buffalo, I started going to the games with my kids, as a fan. It was wonderful.
But this is the final game in Highmark Stadium. I have read so many stories on Facebook from our friends with photos ranging from the 1970’s to this season. They are better than anything I can say.
The Bills approved the Sun credentials for this game. I arrived early to walk about the stadium, the tunnel and see some of the sportswriters I spent years working near. I then went outside to the parking lots and took in the atmosphere. Ran into a lot of familiar faces.
The first game I attended as a child was with my father, a time when you could bring in a Thermos of hot chocolate and another with soup. The first game I covered my son was weeks old.
Today, I’m going to wander out of the press box at halftime.
My son is here.
It beats a meal with O.J. and will be the perfect ending to a full-circle moment as the doors to the stadium close.
(John Anderson is an executive editor for Sun Publications. You can reach him at john@johnandersonmedia.com)
