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Besides hanging out with Boom, Kelly, and Ed Kilgore, 
my coolest experience during this era came on November 20th, 1994, when I met Brett Favre in the players' tunnel about an hour after Buffalo won 29-20.  He was still fairly unknown at the time, and he let me snap a picture after we talked. We were the only two there, so we chatted for a couple of minutes. He reminded me of Chris Linn.
Click Pictures to ENLARGE:

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1994 Brett Favre and the Packers

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I met Brett Favre in the Bills' Tunnel

My first sideline game was the Nov. 8, 1992 Pittsburgh Steeler contest, won by the Bills 28-20. I was able to move all around the field, so I stood next to the players' areas as much as possible, both teams.  The scene was quite intense, as there were all sorts of people on the artificial turf - sound people, journalists, camera guys, photographers, writers, officials, security, cheerleaders, and the rest.

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During this time, Kelly used to hold an annual summer football camp at St. Bonaventure, and several of us were involved in one way or another here and there.  I bought my first videocam in 1992 and one of the first things I filmed was the camp scenes, when I hung out with Howard Ballard, the 350-lb. tackle.

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Jim Gray, Boomer Connell

Boom usually had to do some kind of work for NBC or Channel 2 before or during the game, and one time, we helped Jim Gray, the famous sideline reporter.  Boom ran the technical equipment/satellite connections, I held off the stupid drunks, and Gray did the on-camera, outside the stadium report. Wild stuff.

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Jim Kelly was a great guy in person, and all of his brothers (the family had 6 boys, no girls) were cool dudes who dealt well with the good and bad points of Jim's fame. In 2000, Jim and Dan came to the annual Cuba Lake party put on by our friend Wayne and attended by 300 of the local in-crowd.  For an hour, Jim sat with us (Moke, Swets, Boom, Wayne, Gibey, and me) at a table, and we watched the various drunks and chicks come up and visit with the famous guest. Unbelievable.

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Cornelius Bennett, Thurman Thomas

Big Boom taped and produced the Jim Kelly Show at the station studios for the first few years, but taping moved to Jim's big restaurant around 1995. There was a complete recording studio built behind the fine dining area and extraordinary sports memorabalia (and offices upstairs). I took my 2-yo son Jordan to one of the downtown tapings, and he played with Jim's new wife and oldest daughter. Jill was pregnant with Hunter at the time. 

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Kelly in 1994 win over Packers

I had three different encounters with Bruce Smith during the 1990s. After the 1992 Steelers game, I talked with Bruce at the post-game parking lot party. He was very intelligent and soft-spoken. In 1994, my friend Greg and I ran into him in Virginia Beach, on the main strip, as he drove around in his golden convertible. In 1996, when I was working as the ER physician at South Buffalo Mercy Hospital, I treated his child. Once again, he was very intelligent and gentle, contrary to his defensive aggressiveness on the playing field.

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Boom went to all the Bills' Super Bowls in 1991, 92, 93, and 94. Jim also took Boom to Hawaii for all the Pro Bowls during that time. Boom got to know all the all-stars and ESPN guys, including Chris "Boomer" Berman and Boomer Esiason.

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Over the years, Boom has been able to get Kelly, Berman, and other celebrities to record video spots involving Portville and the Class of 1979.  In 2003, Boom, Swets, and I hung out with Kelly at his hunting lodge to film stuff for our PCS Class of 1979 reunion videos, as well as do a project for a hunting company that Jim promoted.  Of course, we had Swets do his Big Jim Hawbaker character all day long.

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Brett Favre under center

Bills Connection Page 1

Bills Connection Page 3

Bills Connection Page 1

Bills Connection Page 3

Click Pix to ENLARGE
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Thurman Thomas

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Andre Reed

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James Lofton

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Thurman, Andre, Jim, and offense

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Shane Conlon from Frewsburg

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#20 Henry Jones, #56 Darryl Talley

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Pete Metzellars, Andre Reed

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Bruce Smith

FOOTBALL TEAM

Games

W-L

PCT.

PTS

OPP

DIFF

2004-2012

9 Years

1

Hornell

105

96-9

.914

35.9

10.2

25.7

2

Maple Grove

91

76-15

.835

32.1

10.2

21.9

3

Southwestern

99

82-17

.828

28.1

10.9

17.2

4

Randolph

100

78-22

.780

30.8

10.0

20.8

5

Coudersport

105

77-28

.733

25.1

14.6

10.5

6

Silver Creek

88

61-27

.693

23.9

13.7

10.2

7

Portville

82

54-28

.658

22.8

15.2

7.6

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The History of Portville