The 1960 Buffalo Bills season was the club's first season in the American Football League (AFL) and their first overall season as a pro-football franchise. Home games were played at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, New York. Head Coach Buster Ramsey's Bills compiled a 5–8–1 record, placing them third in the AFL Eastern Division.

Unlike most of the offensive-minded AFL, the Bills focused on defense, allowing the third-fewest points in the league (303). Their defensive line boasted Laverne Torczon and Chuck McMurtry (both of whom were 1st Team All-AFL in 1960), as well as a mobile, hard-hitting middle linebacker in Archie Matsos, who was AFL All-Star in each of the three seasons he spent in Buffalo. The Bills' defense led the league in fewest passing yards allowed (2,130) and most passes intercepted (33), with NFL veterans Richie McCabe and Jim Wagstaff in their secondary.

The Bills' offense, however, was not as competent. The 1960 Bills had the worst passing attack in the AFL, throwing for 2,346 yards. Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Tommy O'Connell started the season 1–3 before being replaced by Johnny Green. Green would go 3–3 as a starter, despite only completing 39% of his passes. Richie Lucas, the Bills' first ever draft pick, was a bust, both at quarterback and at halfback,[Neft, David S.; Cohen, Richard M.; and Korch, Rich The Sports Encyclopedia: Pro Football, 12th Edition Martin's Press, August 1994, throwing only 49 passes all season.Lucas was not on the team after the following season

The Bills did show glimmers of hope on offense, however, by showcasing running back Wray Carlton and flanker Elbert Dubenion, who would later go on to be AFL All-Stars for the Bills in the mid-1960s.

Uniforms In their first season, the Bills wore silver helmets and royal blue home jerseys. Their road jerseys were white with royal blue letters. The team wore white pants both at home and on the road. The Bills' helmets displayed the player's number in royal blue on the side where the logo would normally be (much like the Alabama Crimson Tide's helmets).

The uniforms, not coincidentally, resembled those of the National Football League (NFL)'s Detroit Lions. Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. grew up in Detroit and had once been a minority owner in the Lions.

Offseason

When Lamar Hunt announced formation of the American Football League in the summer of 1959, Buffalo was one of the target cities Hunt sought, based on its previous success with the Bills in the AAFC. His first choice of owner, however, turned him down; Pat McGroder (then a liquor store owner and sports liaison with the city of Buffalo) was still hopeful that the threat of the AFL would prompt the NFL to come back to Buffalo to try and stop the AFL from gaining a foothold there (as the NFL would do with teams in Minnesota, Dallas, St. Louis and later Atlanta). McGroder's hopes never came to fruition, and in 1961, he took a position in the new Bills organization.

Harry Wismer, who was to own the Titans of New York franchise, reached out to insurance salesman and automobile heir Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. to see if he was interested in joining the upstart league. (Both Wismer and Wilson were minority owners of NFL franchises at the time: Wilson part-owned the Detroit Lions, while Wismer was a small partner in the Washington Redskins but had little power due to majority owner George Preston Marshall's near-iron fist over the team and the league). Wilson agreed to field a team in the new league, with the words "Count me in. I'll take a franchise anywhere you suggest." Hunt gave him the choice of six cities: Miami, Buffalo, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Atlanta, or Louisville, Kentucky; after being turned down in his effort to put a team in Miami, he consulted with Detroit media, who connected him with McGroder and The Buffalo News managing editor Paul Neville; their efforts to lobby Wilson to come to Buffalo were successful, and Wilson sent Hunt a telegram with the now-famous words, "Count me in with Buffalo."

The Buffalo Bills were a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. After a public contest, the team adopted the same name as the AAFC Buffalo Bills, the former All-America Football Conference team in Buffalo.

1960 AFL draft

Two Rounds of draft were held, the first round called "First Selections", the second round "Second Selections".

First Selections Charles Bevins, HB, Morris Brown Don Black, E, New Mexico Bill Burrell, G, Illinois Paul Choquette, FB, Brown Mike Connelly, C, Utah State Jim Conroy, FB, USC Bob Coogan, T/G, Utah Louis Cordileone, G, Clemson Ted Dean, FB, Wichita Willie Evans, HB, Buffalo Ross Fichtner, QB, Purdue Jon Gilliam, C, E. Texas State Al Goldstein, E, North Carolina James Houston, E, Ohio State Ray Jauch, HB, Iowa Robert Khayat, T, Mississippi Ken Kirk, C, Mississippi Jim Leo, E, Cincinnati Richie Lucas, QB, Penn State Charles McMurtry, T/G, Whittier Bubba Meyer, E, TCU Ron Miller, E, Vanderbilt Gale Oliver, T, Texas A&M Harold Olson, T, Clemson Ray Peterson, HB, West Virginia Vince Promuto, G, Holy Cross Rene Ramirez, HB, Texas Len Rohde, T, Utah State Joe Schaffer, T, Tennessee Wayne Schneider, HB, Colorado State Ivan Toncic, QB, Pittsburgh Larry Wilson, HB, Utah

Second Selections Dwight Baumgartner, E, Duke Tom Day, T/G, North Carolina A&T Babe Dreymala, T/G, Texas Joe Gomes, HB, South Carolina Mike Graney, E, Notre Dame Pete Hall, QB, Marquette Jim Hanna, E, USC Ernie Hanson, C, Arizona State John Littlejohn, HB, Kansas State Marvin Luster, E, UCLA Dwight Nichols, HB, Iowa State Merlin Priddy, HB, TCU Gary Ratkowski, HB, Citadel Dale Rems, T/G, Purdue Carl Robison, T/G, S. Carolina State Bob Sliva, T/G, Stephen F. Austin James Sorey, T/G, Texas Southern Jerry Thompson, T/G, Oklahoma Royce Whittington, T/G, Southwestern Darrell Harper, HB, Michigan

Personnel

Staff/Coaches

Roster

Season schedule

Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 July 30 Boston Patriots L 7–28 0–1 War Memorial Stadium 16,474 2 August 13 Denver Broncos W 31–14 1–1 Aquinas Stadium 6,200 3 August 21 at Boston Patriots L 7–21 1–2 Fitton Field 7,000 4 August 24 Oakland Raiders L 21–26 1–3 War Memorial Stadium 17,071 5 September 4 New York Titans L 31–52 1–4 War Memorial Stadium 6,821

Regular season Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Game Recap 1 September 11 at New York Titans L 3–27 0–1 Polo Grounds 10,200 Recap 2 September 18 Denver Broncos L 21–27 0–2 War Memorial Stadium 15,229 Recap 3 September 23 at Boston Patriots W 13–0 1–2 Boston University Field 20,732 Recap 4 October 2 Los Angeles Chargers L 10–24 1–3 War Memorial Stadium 15,821 Recap 5 Bye 6 October 16 New York Titans L 13–17 1–4 War Memorial Stadium 14,988 Recap 7 October 23 Oakland Raiders W 38–9 2–4 War Memorial Stadium 8,876 Recap 8 October 30 Houston Oilers W 25–24 3–4 War Memorial Stadium 23,001 Recap 9 November 6 Dallas Texans L 28–45 3–5 War Memorial Stadium 19,610 Recap 10 November 13 at Oakland Raiders L 7–20 3–6 Kezar Stadium 8,800 Recap 11 November 20 at Los Angeles Chargers W 32–3 4–6 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 16,161 Recap 12 November 27 at Denver Broncos T 38–38 4–6–1 Bears Stadium 7,785 Recap 13 December 4 Boston Patriots W 38–14 5–6–1 War Memorial Stadium 14,335 Recap 14 December 11 at Houston Oilers L 23–31 5–7–1 Jeppesen Stadium 25,243 Recap 15 December 18 at Dallas Texans L 7–24 5–8–1 Cotton Bowl 18,000 Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary Week 1: at New York Titans

Week 3

Buffalo's first win in franchise history.

Week 6: vs. New York Titans

Week 7: vs. Oakland Raiders

Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Apr-19.

Standings

References

Further reading Jeffrey J. Miller, Rockin' the Rockpile: The Buffalo Bills of the American Football League. Toronto, ON: ECW Press, 2007. Jeffrey J. Miller and Greg D. Tranter, Relics: The History of The Buffalo Bills in Objects and Memorabilia. Haworth, NJ: St. Johann Press, 2021. Sal Maiorana, Buffalo Bills: The Complete Illustrated History. Minneapolis, MN: MVP Books, 2010.