Former Georgia Tech legend Billy Shaw, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Tech Sports Hall of Fame, died Friday at his home in Toccoa, his family told the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The family cited hyponatremia as the cause of death.
Shaw, a guard who helped the Buffalo Bills win back-to-back championships in the American Football League in the mid-1960s, was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 1999. He was 85.
Born on Dec. 15, 1938, in Natchez, Mississippi, Shaw played high school football at Carr Central in Vicksburg, Mississippi. An admirer of an older Carr Central teammate who had gone on to Tech, Shaw also decided to attend the institute.
With the Yellow Jackets, Shaw was a two-way tackle who earned All-America honors as a senior. He was selected to play in the 1961 College All-Star Game where a teammate’s twisted ankle became a life-altering twist of fate for both men.
Shaw, who once said of his college career, “l thought I played defense much better than offense, and I still believe most of the honors I received were for my defensive play,” was assigned to the defensive squad for the all-star game. Teammate Houston Antwine, another two-way player out of Southern Illinois, was working out at guard.
Antwine hurt his ankle in practice and Otto Graham, a coach for the all-stars, determined he needed to fill the guard position more than he needed Shaw on the defensive line.
The all-star game also gave Shaw a glimpse into his future. Drafted by both the Bills in the AFL, presumably to play offense, and the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League, presumably to play defense, Shaw realized his days as a defensive tackle in the pros could be limited.
Inducted into the Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1979, Shaw also found encouragement for choosing Buffalo when he discussed his options with his college coach, Bobby Dodd. In his enshrinement speech, Shaw recounted their conversation.
“There is room for another league,” Shaw said Dodd told him. “And 10 to 12 years after the first season, the two leagues will merge. And you can say you were part of football history.”
For the Bills, Shaw entered the lineup as a rookie and started all 14 games, a feat he matched for the first six seasons of his career. From 1962 through 1966, he earned first-team All-Pro honors and was selected to play in the AFL All-Star Game.
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Equally adept at pass blocking and run blocking, Shaw’s ability to pull out in front of runners was a perfect fit for the Bills because Buffalo’s runners tended to be more durable than fast, he sometimes was able to stay in front of them to make blocks far downfield.
Shaw was elected to the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame in 1988, the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and to the Bills’ 50th Anniversary Team. He played in eight AFL All-Star Games and was named to the All-Time AFL 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,” Pro Football Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said. “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 gentlemen’ off the field to everyone he encountered.”
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