We knew the day would come. We all knew at some point the elephant in the room would become a reality to all of us. It’s now here staring us in the face. Ralph Wilson died at the age of 95, and here I am writing this in somewhat shock. What’s next? Now what?
I’ve haven’t said a lot of good things recently about Ralph Wilson, and I still believe and stand by those things. I’m not going to repeat them here, maybe at a later time, but for now, I want to thank the man that brought me my first love. I want to thank the man that has made me friends, brought my family closer, and made me accept heartbreak and how to recover from it. I want to thank the man who taught Bills fans that life goes on even after a bad loss. That even in the most darkest, humbling defeat…the sun will rise in the morning and we’ll be back at it in September or the next Sunday.
I want to thank the man that gave me a passion for being a Bills fan and making them apart of me. It’s the first thing I knew as a kid. I remember the dark days of the 80’s…the glory years of the 90s… and then obviously the dark times of the last 15 years. He wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t the greatest, but he gave us something to thrive to believe in and to be entertained by.
He brought a professional sports team to Buffalo, NY. And as the economy diminished, as the steel plants went away, there stood the Buffalo Bills. Since 1960 it’s been the mainstay.
As the city of Buffalo has been built, demolished and rebuilt again, the Buffalo Bills are what kept us and our families together for 16 weeks from September to December and if we were lucky we got some playoff football. And that is all because of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr.
Could he have done things better? Hell yes. Should Cookie Gilchrist be on the Wall of Fame? You better believe it. Should Lou Saban, the only coach to have won a title with The Bills, have been one of the first names up? You better believe it. Ralph was far from perfect, but who amongst us are?
He was labeled cheap, but he was far from it. He was labeled a distant owner because he wasn’t always here, but a sports owner just needs to be engaged and passionate and there’s no doubt that he was.
We have now until the foreseeable future to argue his legacy and where the Bills go from here, but remember this: There wouldn’t be a Bills Mafia, a “Shout!” Song, or celebrating on Sundays, or heart ache (and yes as frustrating as it is, it’s what makes us strong and resilient) without the passion, the commitment, and love from Ralph Wilson.
Passion is what leads to heartbreak and we’ve been going through that a lot lately. Look at what we as fans have been dealt in 24 hours: Death of the only Owner we know,and the declining health of the guy who has said “As long as I’m around the Bills are going nowhere”.. We’ve been dealt a hell of a hand here. The future of this team is now officially up in the air. Scary.
That’s why today, now, and for awhile I just want to thank Ralph Wilson and remember him for what he gave us.
March 25, 2014 will be a day none us will forget for a long time. It’s a date that forever changed how I feel about the Buffalo Bills.
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