By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist

John Tracey – Signed by the Bills in 1962

“Tracey, Stratton and Jacobs” sounds like a law firm that advertises on television constantly. Instead, those are the names of three linebackers that set a record by playing 62 straight games together.

John Tracey was the free agent of the bunch. He had spent three seasons in the NFL, playing for the Cardinals and Eagles through 1961. But Philadelphia released him, and the Bills gave him a look in 1962. Mike Stratton was already there, and Harry Jacobs completed the trio in 1963. It didn’t take long for them to become the best group of linebackers in the AFL.

Buffalo didn’t give up a 100-yard rushing day for 17 straight games in the midst of its two-year title run in 1964-65. Tracey played until the age of 34, retiring after the 1967 season. It was a nice career for Tracey as a linebacker, especially considering that he played wide receiver for Texas A&M at college.

Some more on Tracey:

(For a recap of No. 41 through 60, click here. Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

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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