The
year was 1963 and it was a turning point in the history of the Buffalo
Bills. Until '63 the Bills had struggled to field a respectable team. They
were lacking key components on both sides of the ball. In 1962 the Bills
signed coach Lou Saban and things began to look brighter as he picked up
stars Cookie Gilchrist, Jack Kemp Mike Stratton and Tom Sestak. It was
in 1963 however, with the additions of Ron McDole, George Saimes,
Darryl Lamonica, Harry Jacobs and mammoth defensive tackle Jim Dunaway,
when the Buffalo Bills went from doormat to an American Football League
powerhouse.
Dunaway was drafted by the Bills in the second round in '63. In the fifth game of that season Saban inserted the rookie Dunaway into the starting lineup would go on to record their first shutout, a 12-0 win against the Oakland Raiders, since the third game of the 1960 season. The Bills had been winless on the season up until that game and would go on to win their next four out of six games to tie with the Boston Patriots for first place in the Eastern Division. Dunaway considered enormous in his day possessed the speed of a fullback. He and Tom Sestak formed an impenatratable wall in the middle of the Bills' defense that was the cornerstone for three straight AFL Championship game appearances. No one had any success running up the middle on the Bills in those days.
"I'm scared to death of Buffalo," Oakland Raiders coach and general partner Al Davis said in '63 before that shutout game. "Their defensive line is really tough."
Jim Dunaway would play in four straight AFL Pro Bowls from 1965-68. He and linebacker Mike Stratton were the only Bills' defensive players from those championship teams to last through the veteran roster purge of coach John Rauch. Dunaway was traded to the Miami Dolphins with wide receiver Marlon Briscoe for a number one draft pick in 1972, ironically by Lou Saban the coach who gave him his first start and who had just come back on board as the Bills' coach once again. Saban would use that pick to select offensive guard Joe DeLamielleure, a future all-pro. The trade was good for Dunaway as well, as he would go on to help the Dolphins win back-to-back Super Bowl championships.
Back to: The AFL Years