PFRA and HoVG in the Buffalo News

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JeffreyMiller
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PFRA and HoVG in the Buffalo News

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THE BUFFALO NEWS, September 22, 2021

Why Ron McDole belongs on the Bills Wall of Fame

by Erik Brady

Ron McDole occupies rare air in pro football history. Only a handful of men are, like him, beloved figures in the history of two franchises.

McDole was a stalwart defensive end for the Buffalo Bills in the 1960s and for the Washington Football Team in the 1970s.

As it happens, those two teams will meet Sunday at Highmark Stadium. But you will not see McDole’s name on the Bills Wall of Fame there. Nor is he on Washington’s Ring of Fame, or in the University of Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame.

All of which makes Tammy McDole, his daughter, mad as hell. Go beyond Buffalo, Washington, and Nebraska: She thinks her father belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, too. She even created a Facebook group dedicated to that end. It has more than 1,800 members and is called – what else? – Ron McDole Should Be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Fan Group.

By now, it is almost as though her father is most famous for being un-famous.

“I know he belongs in all of those halls,” she says. “They didn’t keep a lot of defensive stats when he played. And that’s a problem.”

Sacks were not yet an official statistic in McDole’s time, but he has some eye-opening numbers nonetheless: His 12 interceptions are the most for a defensive lineman in pro football history. And his 18 blocked kicks are the fifth-most.


Bruce Smith is the greatest defensive end in Bills history – no one argues otherwise – but it says here that McDole is the next best. Others might point to Aaron Schobel, who is No. 2 in career sacks for the Bills (behind Smith), or to Phil Hansen, who had the distinct advantage of playing on a line with Smith.

But there are other ways to measure greatness. When the all-time AFL team was named, in 1970, McDole made second team. That put him among the four best defensive ends in AFL history. And his second act in Washington had not yet begun.

He was named to the Bills’ all-time team for the franchise’s 25th anniversary – and was chosen one of the 70 greatest players and coaches in Washington’s first 70 seasons.

“You’ve got to be pretty good to make the all-time team for two teams,” says Jeffrey Miller, a football historian and author of books about the Bills.

McDole was selected this year to the Hall of the Very Good, which the Professional Football Researchers Association founded to honor outstanding players who are not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Miller wrote the McDole bio for that selection. Some highlights:

• McDole anchored a smothering defense that led the Bills to AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. The Bills’ defense of that era went 17 games without allowing a rushing touchdown, which remains a record unlikely to be broken. The Bills gave up the AFL’s fewest points and fewest yards per rush in 1964, 1965, and 1966.

• The Bills traded McDole to Washington 50 years ago (for third- and fourth-round draft picks) because Bills coach John Rauch thought he was past his prime. That made McDole ideal for Washington’s so-called Over-the-Hill Gang. Sonny Jurgensen dubbed him “the Dancing Bear,” and McDole helped lead Washington to Super Bowl VII, a 14-7 loss to the undefeated Miami Dolphins.

• McDole played 240 career games, including brief stints with the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Oilers before hitting it big in Buffalo and Washington. That was the sixth-most career games in pro football history at the time he retired, and remains the third-most for defensive linemen.

And then there is this: When the Bills played in San Diego against the Chargers for the 1965 AFL title game, Bills defensive coordinator Joe Collier devised a scheme in which linebackers John Tracey and Mike Stratton blitzed while McDole dropped into pass coverage. Such defenses are more common now; then it was something new. And McDole, that dancing bear, was nimble enough to make it work: Bills 23, Chargers 0.

Tammy has sad news to report. This summer her father entered memory care in Virginia.

“Does he have dementia because he got his head beat on for 20-some years, or because he is 82?” she asks. “Well, he played at a time where when you got whacked in the head, they had you smell some ammonia and get right back out there. So you tell me.”


The last time I saw McDole was in 2019, at Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern, a raucous Bills bar in Herndon, Va. McDole was there to sign his book, “The Dancing Bear: My 18 Years in the Trenches of the AFL and NFL.” We talked about his fond memories of the Bills. Many revolved around their vaunted front four of his era, with Tom Sestak and Jim Dunaway at the tackles, and Tom Day at the other end.

“I’m the only one left,” McDole said sadly. “Everyone else has passed away. They were all great ballplayers.”

So was he. His memory is gone now. Our memories of him never should be.

It is time to put Ron McDole’s name on the Wall of Fame.
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football."
RichardBak
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Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:04 pm

Re: PFRA and HoVG in the Buffalo News

Post by RichardBak »

That's a poignant piece about McDole, and sadly a way-too-common story about guys who got beat on the head for 20 years, as his daughter says. I agree----you gotta be pretty good to make the all-time squad for two different teams.
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