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 selection.  A new podcast breaking down 89 to 80 has just been posted.

#77

 Pierre Turgeon, Sabres. He was the second player ever taken first overall by the Sabres (1987). Turgeon was very good at times in Buffalo, but might be best remembered as the centerpiece in the deal that brought Pat LaFontaine here. Pierre did finish with 500+ goals. Others: Ben Williams, Bills; Stew Barber, Bills; Cordy Glenn, Bills.

Mike Waggoner’s Take: I just feel although Turgeon was more memorable to most fans, and it’s nice to get a hockey player on here with a number in the 70’s, I personally would have gone with Ben Williams over an underachieving Turgeon. Ben Williams was the lesser known, but most productive sack master of the late 70’s, and early 80’s Chuck Knox “Talking Proud” Bills teams. “The Bermuda Triangle” may have stolen the hype on those underappreciated playoff teams, but it was Big Ben who was the constant presence sacking the likes of Richard Todd and Steve Grogan with regularity.

Missed any of the previous numbers from 99 to 78?  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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *