Billy Shaw, a Buffalo Bills great who remains the only player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame without playing in the NFL, died Friday, the Hall of Fame announced. He was 85 years old.
His family said he died of hyponatremia, an abnormally low amount of sodium in the blood.
Shaw spent his entire nine-year career playing offensive guard for the Bills, which were then a member of the AFL. Over that time, he was part of two AFL championship teams in 1964 and 1965 — the most recent championships in Bills history — and was a seven-time All-AFL selection and eight-time AFL All-Star. Later, he was named a member of the AFL’s All-Time team in 1970.
He was also a standout two-way player at Georgia Tech, so much so that it affected his options as a professional. He was selected in the 1961 AFL Draft by the Bills and in the 1961 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys reportedly wanted him as a linebacker, while the Bills offered him an opportunity on offense.
Shaw chose the Bills, receiving an $11,000 contract and a brand new Pontiac Bonneville from team owner Ralph Wilson Jr.
That professional career ended after the 1969 season, a year before the AFL merged with the NFL and created the league many know today. That left him an interesting spot in football history.
From the Hall of Fame:
“Billy Shaw holds the distinction of being the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to play his entire career in the American Football League, but while that fact is worthy of noting and nice to recite, it comes nowhere near providing the reason he was elected as a member of the Class of 1999,” Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said. “Billy’s all-around athleticism brought a new dimension to the guard position and made the 1960s Buffalo Bills a formidable opponent capable of bruising opponents with a punishing rushing attack.
“And while Billy could be unforgiving to anyone in his way on the football field, he was the classic example of the ‘Southern gentlemen’ off the field to everyone he encountered.”
Shaw’s Hall of Fame enshrinement in 1999 was eventful as well.
Entering the Hall alongside Lawrence Taylor, Eric Dickerson and Ozzie Newsome, Shaw thanked everyone he could think of, then walked away from the lectern for photos with his bust. However, he forgot one very important person: his wife Patsy.
From ESPN:
“My daughter, sitting on the front row, gave me this sign,” Shaw said before re-enacting the throat-slash gesture Cindy Shaw gave him.
“When she did that, I knew that I had screwed up royally. And she [mouthed] ‘Forgot mom.’ During the intermission I went to the front of the stage and I got my knees and did this to her.”
Shaw mimicked a reverential bow, theatrically raising and lowering his arms in his wife’s direction.
Patsy was at Shaw’s beside when he died, as were their three daughters.