Mike Harrington: The games, the noise and the cold heated up Highmark for all these years
"My sense is we're not remotely as sad about leaving the building as we are about leaving the memories behind," Mike Harrington writes.
The first time I entered what was then called Rich Stadium, I was stunned by how enormous a building looked with roughly 78,000 empty seats. Had never seen anything so big.
And I remember the biting chill of the wind.
It was Nov. 8, 1980, and already dark on a Saturday night when the school bus dropped us off to watch our friends play in the second Section VI championships. Sweet Home against Frontier for the Division I-II title. No classifications back then.
We were sophomores, and lots of us from all years strutted into that place and chanted that Frontier, um, stinks, because a panther is obviously going to get the better of a falcon, right? Then the game started. Some dude in blue ran wild. Our heroes in white were helpless. Who was this guy?
His name was Ron Wolfley. I recently found a Courier-Express clipping about the game, written by longtime former Bisons general manger Mike Billoni. Wolfley had 214 yards on 26 carries as Frontier rolled to a 27-0 victory, but his name only grew bigger – first at West Virginia, then as a four-time Pro Bowl special teams ace for the then-St. Louis and Phoenix Cardinals, and finally as a 20-year radio analyst for the Cardinals before he retired last year.
Wolfley beat the massive odds and actually made the NFL. Also made the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2012.
I didn't grow up going to Bills games. Watched them all − when the infernal non-sellout blackout didn't get us − but never went to one in the early years of the stadium. Let's just say it wasn't real family-friendly at times back then.
So that night in ’80 was a quick education into what Mother Nature could bring. Even with nary a flake of snow around, the wind was relentless, and you were freezing. (Nice call by the powers that be, incidentally, building the new Highmark in a such way as to block most of the wind.)
To this day, I've been in the stands for just three Bills regular-season games in the old Highmark since it opened in 1973 and about 30 in the press box. Many of you rate in the hundreds. Bless your hearts. (My medal of honor, of course, is the hundreds of bad hockey games I've had to watch in person the last 14 years.)
An overall view as the Buffalo Bills play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Highmark Stadium on Oct. 26, 2023.
Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
The goodbyes we'll see come January in Orchard Park will conjure familiar feelings for those of us old enough to remember the farewell to Buffalo's other major sports homes.
While there wasn't much melancholy when the Bills left decrepit War Memorial Stadium for Orchard Park in ’73, there was some distinct sadness when the Bisons wrapped things up at the rejuvenated Rockpile in 1987 to head downtown to Pilot Field in ’88.
After that final game, the strains of Frank Sinatra's "There Used to be a Ballpark" escorted us out the Jefferson Avenue gate to the parking lot.
And there were folks openly weeping nine years later when the Sabres closed Memorial Auditorium on the final night in 1996 against the old Hartford Whalers to head to state-of-the-art Marine Midland Arena. KeyBank Center, now dog-eared beyond belief, once was as elite a facility in the NHL as the team that skated on its rink. How far both have fallen.
Which brings us to 2025 and the final season at old Highmark, which sits across Abbott Road from the impressive edifice now rising to replace it.
My sense is we're not remotely as sad about leaving the building as we are about leaving the memories behind.
"It's antiquated for the NFL, and it feels like War Memorial Stadium in 1972 being well past its due date," said John Boutet, the historian and exhibit curator for the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. "Now here we are with Highmark."
"The stadium was used pretty much for two things: Bills games and concerts. And not really a lot of concerts for the last few decades," Boutet said. "Going to the Aud, you had hockey and concerts, basketball, the circus, boxing, wrestling, an endless amount of things.
"It feels like more people are more excited about the new place than they are thinking about the old place. What carries us now is the fact there were so many unbelievable games there."
On-the-field memories
The first time I landed in the Highmark stands was an afternoon I started on the field. Seriously. It was Dec. 11, 1988, Buffalo Bills against the L.A. Raiders. Temperature of 11 degrees, wind chill of minus-14.The All-Western New York high school team, chosen by The News, was being honored pregame, and the Bills asked the paper to provide an escort for the players to help line them up for the ceremony. As the high school writer who selected the group, I was the obvious choice. The team provided two tickets for my use in exchange for the help.
I'll never forget being on the field for warmups at the tunnel end. Bo Jackson emerged and let out a scream and a "brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" as he ran past. A few others howled and cursed. Al Davis walked by in a full-length fur coat. It felt like the Raiders were cooked even before kickoff. They were, 37-21.
"The fans. The weather. The intimidation factor was real for opponents," Pittsburgh Pirates play-by-play man and former Bills radio analyst Greg Brown said last month during his induction week for the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame. "So many games, you just felt the '12th Man' had already beaten them, like they took the field already down a touchdown."
For other All-WNY gigs, the Bills gave me a seat in the press box after the ceremony. Tickets were too hot a commodity in the Jim Kelly era. I saw the Saints hand the Bickering Bills a loss on a snowy day in ’89, the iconic start to the no-huddle offense against the Eagles in ’90 that featured a 24-point first quarter, and a completely forgettable win over the Jets in ’91.
Buffalo Bills defender Bruce Smith looks down on injured Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Joe Montana during the AFC championship game at Rich Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 23, 1994.
News file photo
Concussions are sure treated differently now.
Many of your memories are going to be obvious. The Comeback Game against Houston and 51-3 over the Raiders in the first AFC title game are at the top of every regular's list in some order. Younger folks gravitate to a bevy of Josh Allen's legendary performances, or perhaps the overtime blizzard game against Indianapolis in 2017.
A sidelight to the Comeback Game is the droves of fans leaving at halftime with the Oilers leading, 28-3, and then piling back into the stadium when the rally began. And as the story goes, many Houston reporters and some national figures were in the press box buying plane tickets to Pittsburgh to cover the Oilers' visit there the next week. Whoops.
On the air, you always see the famous NFL Films clip of the Oilers' confused sideline during the third-quarter rally, accompanied by the voice of Brown foreshadowing the finish when he says, "Like a tidal wave, this game has changed."
"Everyone was very down at halftime," Brown said. "We're off air and Van Miller says to me, 'It's OK, Buddy' – he always called me Buddy – 'Don't worry about it. Book a flight and head down to Florida for a week and play golf.' Glad I never made that call. It turns out I basically didn't sleep that night and didn't take a day off for weeks after we went to another Super Bowl."
Boutet's memories go for more of the oldies. The last-minute touchdown pass to Ahmad Rashad that beat the Raiders in the ’74 opener on a Monday night, and the Hail Mary toss from Joe Ferguson to Roland Hooks to beat the Patriots in ’81. Those were two of his.
Buffalo Bills' O.J. Simpson (32) looks for more running room in the fourth quarter of game in Buffalo against Kansas City, Oct. 30, 1973.
Stopping O.J. is Kansas City's Willie Lanier. O.J. carried 39 times for 157 yards.
Associated Press file photo
Simpson's 219-yard game through the snow in the Patriots in ’73 the week before he went for 2,000. One with darker overtones was a snowy ’75 loss to the Vikings, best known for the snowballs tossed at the Minnesota bench that struck star running back Chuck Foreman in the eye.
A few other friends of mine reminded me of the goalposts coming down after the ’80 opener vs. the Dolphins (farewell, 20-game losing streak) and the ’88 AFC East division-clincher against the Jets.
That was the day that Darryl Talley coined the term "Fandemonium." It appeared in a headline across the top of The News the next morning and became one of Miller's calling cards on the radio in the Super Bowl years.
Like Talley often said in succeeding years, you just came down the tunnel, heard the noise and plugged into the electricity.
Sidelines
• When you covered high schools and the weather was agreeable, it was fascinating − and a tad dangerous – to walk the sidelines during the game rather than sit in the press box. I did that for the most vicious high school event I ever saw in any sport: A 7-0 Timon win over St. Joe's at the stadium in 1988. Hard to believe hate between the ’80s and ’90s Bills and Dolphins could have been any hotter."Oh my God, what an experience to do that on a professional field," Boutet said. "I once played basketball at halftime of a Braves game, and it stays with you the rest of your life. Imagine all the kids who have gotten to go on that field and then watch the Bills play there the next week."
• Other than the ’88 Raiders game, my only other Bills outings in the stands: The Club Marv overtime loss to the Lions in the ’91 finale when many starters sat, and the overtime loss to the Dolphins in 2016 in a game the Dolphins tied on a 55-year field goal with 6 seconds left.
• I covered most of the Bills home games from 2008-11, writing a story for the paper and running a live internet chat for fans . The best of the lot was easily the 34-31 upset in 2011 of Tom Brady's Patriots. When it was over, an elderly Miller slowly stood from his chair in the middle of the press box and suddenly announced for all in his classic voice: "And the kick is good, and the Bills have finally beaten the New England Patriots!"
More than 71,000 were on hand at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Jan. 1 2008, to watch the NHL's first Winter Classic between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Harry Scull Jr./News file photo
• Of course, I was at the two outdoor hockey games (Sabres-Penguins in 2008 and Team USA-Canada at the 2018 World Juniors). Those in the press box in ’08 probably remember me saying more loudly than I should have, "NBC fix is in!" when Sidney Crosby skated to center ice during that shootout. My two biggest memories: Lindy Ruff correctly smiling at reporters and saying "you guys even looked cheerful out there" on practice day, and the noise of 70,000-plus people when Ales Kotalik prepared to take the first attempt in the shootout. Pretty amazing.
The final game is coming
The home of the Bills has nine regular-season games left in its history. Then we'll see about the playoffs, where there could be one or two more."I have chills, goosebumps all over me when I think about Rich Stadium," Brown said. "I remember the cold. Always the cold. I remember Van Miller stepping on the counter and doing a jig, and I would have to grab him and bring him back down.
"I remember the faces of all the people looking up in the booth, how loud it was. The electricity. It saddens me this is the last year, but nothing lasts forever."
Can you imagine if the old lady's last show is the AFC Championship Game? Especially if it's against Patrick Mahomes and those darn Chiefs?
"It would be amazing, a Cinderella finish to the building. A real storybook," Boutet said. "And I know something else: It would probably be the hardest ticket in Buffalo sports history."
Stadium timeline
Memorable moments from the Bills' home in Orchard Park:
| Aug. 17, 1973 | Fans who attend the first game at the new stadium receive a commemorative coin and card. Washington wins the exhibition 37-21. |
| Dec. 9, 1973 | O.J. Simpson runs for 219 yards, pushing his season total to 1,803, just 61 yards shy of Jim Brown's single-season record. |
| Sept. 16, 1974 | Joe Ferguson hits Ahmad Rashad for two touchdowns in the final two minutes to defeat the Raiders in a 21-20 thriller. |
| Sept. 7, 1980 | The Bills defeat the Dolphins 17-7, ending a 20-game, 0-for-the-1970s losing streak against Miami.. |
| Nov. 20, 1988 | Fandemonium' reigns as the Bills defeat the Jets 9-6 in overtime, clinching the AFC East title. |
| Jan. 20, 1991 | Jim Kelly and the Bills demolish the Raiders 51-3 in the franchise's highest moment to date, clinching their first Super Bowl berth. |
| Jan. 3, 1993 | Somehow, 'everyone' was there to see the Bills make the biggest comeback in NFL playoff history, stunning the Oilers 41-38 in overtime. |
| Jan. 23, 1994 | Thurman Thomas runs for a playoff career-high 186 yards and the Bills knock out Joe Montana and the Chiefs, 30-13, for the AFC title. |
| Jan. 2, 2005 | With a chance to reach the playoffs, the Bills collapse against a Steelers team resting its starters. The drought reaches Year No. 5. |
| Dec. 10, 2017 | Amid thick lake-effect snow and driving winds, LeSean McCoy rushes for the game-winning overtime TD in a 13-7 win over the Colts. |
| Jan. 16, 2021 | The Bills dominate the Ravens in a 17-3 defensive battle (and a largely empty stadium) to earn their spot in the AFC championship game. |
| Jan. 15, 2022 | Josh Allen & Co. play a nearly flawless game, humiliating old enemy Bill Belichick en route to a 47-17 wild-card win over the Patriots. |
| Dec. 1, 2024 | In the signature moment of Allen's MVP season, he scores on his own TD pass, taking a lateral from Amari Cooper and diving past two 49ers to the pylon. |