squad. “The franchisewas very promising,

but when the players moved [to Phoenix], the

talent level in Chicago went way down,”

Levy said.

In that bizarre year, new Blitz owner Dr. Jim

Hoffman left the team. “He just walked

away during training camp,” Levy said

laughingly. “We had to run things on a

shoestring budget.”

The league was forced to run the

franchise during that lame-duck year.

“Things were so bad the players had to

bring their own toilet paper,” Levy said

with a laugh. “At Christmas time, I giftwrapped

a role of toilet paper for everyone

in the organization.”

Buffalo Bills’ fans should be grateful

Levy took the job for that one awful

year in Chicago, because the future of

the Bills was taking shape. “Two things

occurred that were monumental,” Levy

said. “First, we brought in Bill Polian

from the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers

as director of player personnel. Secondly,

we hired a kid named John Butler

as a scout.” Butler was a holdover from

Allen’s staff; he didn’t want to leave Chicago

for Phoenix.

After the Blitz folded, Polian got a job

as a scout with the Bills. Within a year,

Ralph Wilson [owner of Bills] saw so much

potential in Butler that he elevated him to

the position of general manager.

The Bills were coming off awful 2-14 records

in ’84 and ’85. On Nov. 3, 1986, Polian

turned to his old friend Levy to coach

the team. “When the job became available,

Bill jumped on me to take it,” Levy said.

Right off the bat the duo looked to

Butler to be the team’s player-personnel

director.

Three months earlier, the Bills signed

former Houston Gamblers quarterback

Jim Kelly. Levy recalls seeing Polian and

Wilson at a USFL game while he was a color

analyst for ESPN. “They asked me what

I thought and I just raved and raved about

Kelly. I had no idea at the time that I’d be

coaching him some day,” Levy said.

Four AFC Championships later, the

rest is history. Kelly, who initially didn’t

want to play for the Bills, said of Levy,

“He never wanted players that needed a

kick in the ass; he wanted self-motivated

people. He’d say, ‘If I have to get you ready

to play in the NFL, something is wrong.’

We took it to heart when something came

from his mouth.”

Butler became the general manger of

the Buffalo Bills after Polian was released

from his contract in 1993, and it was Butler

who brought Doug Flutie back to the

NFL in 1998. Flutie had spent the last

eight years playing in the CFL and during

that time he shattered the Canadian

league’s passing records.

Thus, from the ashes of the Chicago

Blitz rose the Bills franchise that went on

to appear in four consecutive Super Bowls

and clinch six first-place finishes in the

AFC East from 1988 through 1996. Buffalo

won 97 regular season games over that

nine-year period.

Marv Levy, the winningest coach in

Bills’ history, recorded a 112-70 regular

season record and was 11-8 in the playoffs

during his 11½ seasons with the Bills.

He was named NFL Coach of the Year in

1988 and AFC Coach of the Year in 1988,

1993, and 1995. Levy also won two Grey

Cup Championships in the CFL and was

inducted into the Pro Football Hall of

Fame in 2001.

Less than two months after this interview,

the retired coach, 80, was asked

to return to the Buffalo Bills and right

the ship again. Wilson looked to his old

friend once again to turn the beleaguered

franchise around, naming Levy general

manager of the Buffalo Bills. “They say

two things happen when you get older.

One is you begin to forget things,” Levy

said, before pausing. “And I can’t remember

what the other one is right now.”