By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist
No. 73: September 3, 1960 – The Bills trade Al Crow to Boston for Wray Carlton.
Al Crow holds a rather obscure place in Bills’ history, but an important one. He came out of William and Mary in 1955, and was a 28th-round draft choice of the New York Giants. There’s no record that he ever played a down in the NFL. But apparently he loved football, because he tried out for the new Buffalo Bills in 1960.
Shortly after the Bills played the Boston Patriots in a preseason game, Crow was traded to the Patriots. Apparently Boston coach Lou Saban liked something he saw out of Crow that day. The price tag was a running back by Wray Carlton. It turned out Carlton was a bargain. He was a reliable player in the Bills’ backfield for most of the next eight seasons, and was part of two championship teams.
As for Crow, he played in three games for Boston – and then was done with football. But no one can say he left without making a little piece of football history. The Crow for Carlton deal was the first swap in the history of the American Football League.
(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)
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