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Billy Shaw, a Natchez native who had a hall of fame pro career with the Buffalo Bills in the 1960s, died Oct. 4 after a brief illness. He was 85.

Shaw spent his entire pro football career with the Bills, playing offensive guard from 1961-69. He played in the American Football League and is the only player ever inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame without ever playing in the NFL. Shaw was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Shaw was a two-time AFL champion (1964 and 1965), an eight-time AFL All-Star, and earned All-AFL honors seven times. He was also selected to the 1960s All-Decade team.

“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 in a statement. “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 gentleman’ off the field to everyone he encountered.”

Shaw was born in Natchez, but his family moved to Vicksburg when he was a child. He first attended Jett High School in Warren County and transferred to Carr Central in 1956.

He quickly became a star lineman, and signed with Georgia Tech after a recruiting visit from its legendary head Bobby Dodd and former Carr Central player George Morris. Morris played for Dodd at Georgia Tech and was a boyhood idol to Shaw.

“They offered a scholarship, and coach (Bobby) Dodd was very impressive, and it was kind of a no brainer, following my idol from Vicksburg to Atlanta,” Shaw said in a 2018 interview with The Vicksburg Post. “It was a great opportunity.”

Shaw was an All-America two-way star at Georgia Tech, playing both offensive and defensive tackle from 1957-60. He was inducted into that school’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1979, and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

He was selected to play in the 1960 Senior Bowl, along with his high school teammate Richard Price and Johnny Brewer, who played at Redwood High School. Price and Brewer were both standout players at Ole Miss.

“To have three guys from Vicksburg, playing side by side by side, was one of the highlights of my football career,” Shaw said in 2018.

Shaw said working against Price in practice during their days at Carr Central was a big reason he went on to greater football success. The two became best friends.

“As I go back and think about all the good things that have happened to me personally in my career as an athlete, it has to start right there, and having the opportunity to practice against someone that would eventually become Mr. Football in the state of Mississippi,” Shaw said in 2018. “It had to have instilled some competitive spirit, and some athletic tone and my ability to learn the game. Mr. Football in the state, if you could eke out one good hit against him, you felt like you had accomplished something.”

Shaw also played in the 1960 College All-Star game against the NFL Champion Philadelphia Eagles. It was there that legendary Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham would change his career.

Shaw began practicing as the second team defensive tackle, but Graham, who was the head coach, decided to flip him to the starting offensive guard spot.

In 1961 Shaw was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL and the Buffalo Bills of the AFL. The Bills wanted him to play guard, and the Cowboys wanted him as a linebacker.

Dodd advised Shaw to go with the Bills. He thought the 6-foot-2, 258-pound Shaw would be a better fit on offense in the pros, especially for a running team like the Bills.

Shaw went on to star as a pulling guard for the Bills and helped them win back-to-back AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. He started all 14 games in his rookie season and 116 of the 119 he played with the Bills.

“I maybe would not have gotten to play on other teams that played different brands of ball,” Shaw said in 2018. “That was a blessing that coach Dodd led me to that team knowing what I brought to the table.”

Shaw moved to Toccoa, Georgia, after his playing career was over and lived there for nearly 50 years. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Patsy, and their three daughters, Cindy, Cathy and Cheryl.

During Shaw’s Pro Football Hall of Fame speech in 1999, he made headlines by forgetting to mention Patsy. He took most of the eight minutes he was allotted to speak about his faith and was given the cue to wrap it up as he was about to introduce his family.

The next inductee, Eric Dickerson, had Patsy stand up and pointed out the oversight. Shaw, who was on the stage, got on his knees to beg his wife’s forgiveness.

“It really did work out better like that,” Shaw said after the induction ceremony in 1999. “She got a lot more recognition because of it. NBC did an interview with me just about that. She got a lot more ink than I did. She was the hero.”

 

This article was written by Ernest Bowker and originally published on vicksburgpost.com.