10/2/1960 – Buffalo, N.Y. – Halfback Paul Lowe, #23, of the Los Angeles Chargers eludes potential tackler Joe Schaffer, #67, a Buffalo Bills linebacker. #19 is Bob Laraba, the Los Angeles quarterback. Half-time score at War Memorial Stadium is Los Angeles 7, Buffalo 3. UPI TELEPHOTO
A couple of interesting notes about this photo…
Bob Laraba was a reserve quarterback and linebacker (odd combination), and did not have a completed pass in this game. In fact, Bobby Clatterbuck, another Chargers reserve quarterback, played the remainder of the game and only had 70- passing yards. The Chargers wont he game by a score of 24-10.
Laraba moved to San Diego with the Chargers, and played the 1961 season, but was killed in a car accident on February 16, 1962.
Bills linebacker, Joe Schaffer, played only one season for the Bills, 1960. As tackles were not kept as an official statistic at the time, his career stat line reads 14 games, one interception for 19 yards.
Nice piece of history. It’s hard to find my Buffalo Bills in blue and silver. Most people don’t know that owner Ralph Wilson is from Detroit. So he modeled the Bills to look like the Lions.
I knew Ralph Wilson was from Detroit, but I didn’t know he patterned the Bills’ original uniforms after the Lions.
Speaking of the Bills, Cookie Gilchrist gets my vote for The Hall of Fame. Paul Lowe does, too. I love seeing anything connected with either one of those running backs.
I read just yesterday that former Bears DB Alan Ellis has died, Ellis like Lowe were Compton Centennial HS alumnus.
Alan Ellis ! ! ! I’m sorry to hear that. I came across his football card just days before reading your comment.
My buddy from childhood gave me a box of cards (from his collection of doubles), and the collection included some of the Bears from the late ’70’s, like RB Roland Harper and WR Rickey Watts. When I saw Alan Ellis, I thought, “Oh, yeah. I remember him.”
Ellis was part of a secondary that included Doug Plank, Gary Fencik, and Virgil Livers. Buddy Ryan arrived on the scene at that time–either 1978 or ’79. Ryan named his 46 defense after Plank’s number, but Fencik was the only one (from that secondary) who was part of the legendary ’85 Bears.
By coincidence a friend on Sunday gave me a couple of Ellis’s football cards,, the back of one of the cards said Alan played the saxophone. The LA Times article on Ellis’s death also included the passing of legendary Southern California high school coach Ernie Johnson. Johnson was 87 at the time of his death and in 1967 Johnson coached against Ellis in a memorable playoff game won 13-7 by Johnsons El Rancho Dons.
I have a copy of that game film.
Ellis played most of his NFL career never missing a game.
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