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.

#69

Larry Costello, Niagara. He played 69 minutes for the Purple Eagles in a famous basketball game against Siena in 1953. That prompted him to change numbers from #24 to #69. Larry was a second-round pick of Philadelphia in 1954, and was a player or coach for more than 30 more years. Others: Will Wolford, Bills; Conrad Dobler, Bills.

Bob Gaughan’s Numerology: If it wasn’t for a shady deal by the Indianapolis Colts the answer here would be Wolford. If you remember the Colts signed him to contract that was impossible for the Bills to match. He had to be the highest paid offensive player on the team. The NFL closed the loop hole but it was too late for Bills to keep Wolford.

Missed any of the previous numbers from 99 to 70?  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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