Chris Clark glances out the window overlooking Highmark Stadium, the historic and longtime home of the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, and can still imagine what the venue looked like before it opened in 1973.
The 73-year-old Clark’s memories go beyond the days of partying and crashing tables, of the close calls and crushing defeats, and of players such as Josh Allen, Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith and OJ Simpson who graced the artificial pitch.
In the 1960s, Bishop Leo McCarthy sent Clark and a group of his friends from south Buffalo to an abandoned farm field and former explosives testing site in Dupont, where they turned loose beagles to hunt rabbits.
The goal of the drill was to keep kids from getting into mischief, said Clark, now the Bills’ vice president of security.
“They were ready to do anything to save me from prison,” he says with a laugh.
It certainly worked for Clark. Upon becoming an Erie County sheriff’s deputy, he spent much of his life in and around the stadium, starting with managing car traffic on game days in the 1970s to his current position, which he has held since 2006.
It is therefore with a certain melancholy that Clark sees Sunday arriving, the day when the Bills will close their regular season by hosting the New York Jets in what could well be the last game played in this venue.
“I know there’s a wonderful gift across the street,” Clark said, referring to the Bills’ future $2.1 billion home, which is scheduled to open next season.
“But it’s like leaving the house where you got married,” he then compared. We are about to close the doors on my second home. »
Clark enjoyed a front-row seat to every event at the stadium, including a Rolling Stones concert, the inaugural NHL Winter Classic in 2008, and the arrest of country music stars Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney for stealing a sheriff’s department horse during a concert in 2000.
Clark saw three of his colleagues survive car accidents while directing traffic. He remembers watching in awe from the roof of the administration building as the Bills rallied from a 32-point deficit to eventually win 41-38 in overtime against the Houston Oilers in an American Association playoff game in 1992.
He has also provided security for various head coaches, general managers, a former president, Bill Clinton, and pop icon, Taylor Swift.
The bonds and memories created in a stadium affectionately nicknamed “The Ralph,” in honor of the team’s late founder and owner, Ralph Wilson, remain with players and coaches alike.
“To be honest, when I have to call it Highmark Stadium, I do. But I love The Ralph. I think it’s the perfect name,” said Kelly, the former Bills quarterback and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
His favorite memory during his 11-year career in Buffalo was his first game with the Bills in 1986, when he walked onto the field to greet his parents and five brothers in the stands.
Running back Thurman Thomas, another professional football immortal, called the stadium closing bittersweet.
“The only way we can leave this stadium and leave it as it should be, with all these memories, will be the best way of all: to go to the Super Bowl and win,” he summarized.
Such a feat would certainly turn the page on what Thomas and the Kelly-era Bills failed to do in losing four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s.
It was at this stadium that Mary Wilson discovered American football when she and Ralph began dating before marrying in 1999.
“All these years and all the people we have welcomed into our lodge; yes, Ralph did it right,” Mary Wilson said.
“They built a great stadium. Every seat was awesome. »
Although large at one time with a capacity of over 80,000 seats, the stadium’s three-tiered design still provided a sense of privacy, particularly in the lower portion where fans are only meters from the field.
Despite her ties to the past, Wilson looks forward to watching games across the street.
“It’s saying hello to the new,” she said.
For coach Sean McDermott, the future can wait.
“I’m moved,” he admitted. I look out the window and I see the stadium, and it’s almost, I don’t want to say sad, it’s not a sad day, but it’s a little sad. »
On Sunday, after a 13-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, McDermott was one of the last to leave the stadium, having spent a few more moments savoring the memories of his nine seasons in Buffalo.
“Life goes by quickly. And this place has been special to a lot of people,” McDermott said, before turning to Sunday.
“We owe it to the stadium and the memories attached to it to leave here in the right way. »
The clash against the Jets will mark a historic turning point. The Bills’ first regular season game at this stadium, on September 30, 1973, resulted in a 9-7 victory over the Jets, in which kicker John Leypoldt made three field goals.
