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 on 89-80  has just been posted.

#79

Ruben Brown, Bills. The offensive guard wasted no time becoming the best player on the Bills’ offensive line as a rookie in 1995. A starter from Day One, he played nine years here and made eight Pro Bowls. Brown finished his career with the Bears, and started all 181 games of his career. Others: Dick Hudson, Bills; Eric Pears, Bills.

Paul Peck’s Digit Discussion:  Slam dunk.  Not even a close second to Ruben.  He was a great draft pick that became one of the few Bills of the 1990’s to start as a rookie.  He was a dominant player for a long time.  He remains a WNY resident and a great contributor to the community.

Missed any of the previous numbers from 99 to 80?  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Your email address will not be published.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 *