Warren RABB by Jeff Miller
THE COFFIN CORNER: Vol. 28, No. 7 (2006) Bonus Issue Warren RABB By Jeff Miller The Buffalo Bills were entering their second year of their existence in 1961. The Bills' inaugural season of 1960 had been plagued by inefficiency at quarterback, with veteran Tommy O'Connell alternating playing time along with Johnny Green and the team's first-ever number one draft choice, "Riverboat" Richie Lucas of Penn State. The result? A less-thanstellar 5-8-1 record and a third-place finish in the AFL's Eastern Division. When the Bills opened training camp '61, Green was penciled in as the starter. But mid-way through camp, Green sustained a shoulder injury that forced the recently retired O'Connell back into action. Feeling somewhat insecure about their quarterback situation, the Bills' brought in an NFL castoff named Warren Rabb to bolster the depth chart. Rabb was a two-year starter at Louisiana State, and led the Tigers to an 11-0 record and the Southwestern Conference Title in 1958. LSU faced Clemson in the Sugar Bowl on January 1, 1959, and, playing part of the game with a broken handed, Rabb led the Tigers to a 7 to 0 victory and the National Championship. "I was running down the sideline and had the ball," Rabb recalls of the play in which he was injured. "The guy put his helmet right on the football when he tackled me, and 1 broke my hand pretty bad. 1 came out of the game and told the coach. 1 said, 'Coach, 1 think my hand's broken.' He looked at it and said, 'Aw, it's alright.' So we got back in the game, and we had an opportunity to try a field goal-35 yards or something like that.
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