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.

#46

Khalil Mack, UB. It’s fair to call Mack the greatest football player in Bulls’ history. Come to think of it, he is one of the top five defenders in the NFL right now. Khalil was the fifth overall pick by Oakland in 2014. Too bad he didn’t just move down the road to the Bills. Others: Leonard Smith, Bills; Keith Moody, Bills.

Paul Peck’s Digit Discussion: There’s a story behind why Mack wore #46 at UB.  Before he even played a down for the Bulls, the NCAA Football video came out and rated the unknown freshman as a 46 on the scale of 100.  Khalil didn’t like that, and decided to use it as motivation by wearing the #46.  Coincidentally, 1846 is the year that UB was founded.  That’s one of the reasons why #46 jerseys are available in the UB Bookstore.

Missed any of the previous numbers from 99 to 47?  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Your email address will not be published.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 *