Billy Shaw, a Buffalo Bills great who remains the only player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame without playing in the NFL, died Friday. the Hall of Fame announced. He was 85 years old.
His family said he died of hyponatremia, an abnormally low amount of sodium in the blood.
Shaw spent his entire nine-year career playing offensive guard for the Bills, then members of the AFL. During this period, he was part of two AFL championship teams in 1964 and 1965 – the most recent championships in Bills history – and was a seven-time All-AFL and eight-time All-AFL selection. AFL star. He was later named a member of the AFL all-time team in 1970.
He was also a standout two-way player at Georgia Tech, so much so that it affected his options as a professional. He was selected in the 1961 AFL Draft by the Bills and in the 1961 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys wanted him at linebacker, while the Bills gave him an opportunity on offense.
Shaw chose the Bills, receiving an $11,000 contract and a brand new Pontiac Bonneville from team owner Ralph Wilson Jr.
That professional career ended after the 1969 season, a year before the AFL merged with the NFL and created the league many know today. This left him an interesting place in football history.
From the Hall of Fame:
“Billy Shaw has the distinction of being the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to play his entire career in the American Football League, but while this fact is worth noting and enjoyable to recite, it is far from providing the reason he was elected to the Class of 1999,” said Hall of Fame President Jim Porter. “Billy’s all-around athleticism brought a new dimension to the guard position and made. of the 1960s Buffalo Bills a formidable opponent, capable of bruising opponents with a rushing and punishing attack.
“And while Billy could be ruthless to anyone who got in his way on the football field, he was the classic example of a ‘Southern gentleman’ off the field to everyone he met.”
Shaw’s induction into the Hall of Fame in 1999 was also eventful.
Entering the room alongside Lawrence Taylor, Eric Dickerson and Ozzie Newsome, Shaw thanked everyone he could think of, then stepped away from the lectern to take photos with his bust. However, he forgot one very important person: his wife Patsy.
From ESPN:
“My daughter, sitting in the front row, gave me this sign,” Shaw said before reenacting the throat-slitting gesture that Cindy Shaw made to her.
“When she did that, I knew I had screwed up royally. And she [mouthed] “I forgot mom.” During intermission, I went to the front of the stage, knelt down and did this to him.”
Shaw imitated a reverential salute, theatrically raising and lowering his arms toward his wife.
Patsy was by Shaw’s side when he died, as were their three daughters.
