How They Got Their Name: Buffalo Bills

1000logos.net

It’s not surprising that many football fans over the years have wondered where the Buffalo Bills got their nickname.  What exactly is a Bill?  It’s actually exactly what you think it might be: a guy named Bill.  In 1946, the city of Buffalo received a professional football team to play in the All-American Football Conference, a league that was supposed to rival the NFL.  The original team name was the Buffalo Bisons.  The problem with that name, though, was that there were already three teams in the city of Buffalo that went by that name.  A minor league baseball team, professional basketball team, and an American Hockey League team were already named the Bisons.  So team owner James Breuil (who also owned Frontier Oil Company) decided to hold a naming contest.  The winning entry was the Buffalo Bills.

Wanting to embrace the frontier theme for his Buffalo team, the Bills name is directly associated with “Buffalo Bill” Cody, a legendary American figure who rode for the Pony Express, fought with the Union in the Civil War, as well as in the Plains Wars.  He ended up receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1872 for his contributions and went on to become a western folk hero due to novels portraying him as such.  “Buffalo Bill” Cody would even capitalize on this and starred in his own traveling show called Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

So, with a new team name in 1947, the Buffalo Bills pushed forward as a professional football team.  However, after the 1949 season, the All-American Football Conference folded and only three of its teams jumped to the NFL.  The Bills were not one of them.  After going through the 1950s without a professional football team, Buffalo was once again granted a team in 1960, with the inception of the American Football League.  Ralph Wilson, the new team owner, decided to bring back the Buffalo Bills name and it has stuck around ever since.

Garett