by Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page

We are counting from 99 to 0 to determine who’s the best Buffalo athlete to wear each number.  It’s Buffalo Sports By The Numbers here on Buffalo Sports Page.

We’ll have a new number and athlete every day this summer.  Each story also includes reaction from the Buffalo Sports Page staff, and a way to catch up on numbers you’ve missed.

After every 10 numbers, a Sylvester & Peck On Sports podcast will feature Budd Bailey and the guys reacting to the selections.  The latest edition, recapping 29-20, is available now.

#11

Gilbert Perreault, Sabres. The original Sabre was one of the most exciting offensive players of his era. The NHL Hall of Famer stayed through 1986, and he was crucial in making Buffalo a successful hockey franchise. Others: John Tavares, Bandits; Bob McAdoo. Braves, Scott Norwood, Bills; Drew Bledsoe, Bills.

Bob Gaughan’s Digit Discussion:  Perreault is the call but McAdoo is a close second.  When you see NBA big men that can shoot from the outside today, you need to know that Bob McAdoo was one of the first to do that.  In an era with Wilt, Kareem and Walton as huge post-up men it was McAdoo that would expose the other teams big men in space and bring them away from the basket.  He deserves credit for modernizing the game.

Missed any of the previous numbers from 99 to 12?  Visit the Buffalo Sports By The Numbers section on the home page.

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

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