{"id":384068,"date":"2026-01-02T19:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T19:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/384068\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T19:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T19:24:08","slug":"many-memories-remain-as-bills-bid-farewell-to-their-longtime-home-dubbed-the-ralph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/384068\/","title":{"rendered":"Many memories remain as Bills bid farewell to their longtime home dubbed ‘The Ralph’"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Chris Clark glances out the window overlooking the Buffalo Bills’ longtime home, Highmark Stadium, and can still picture what the site resembled before it opened in 1973.<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old Clark\u2019s memories go beyond the days of tailgating and smashing of tables, comeback victories and miserable defeats, and before the likes of Josh Allen, Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith and O.J. Simpson ever stepped foot on the artificial field.<\/p>\n

In the 1960s, Monsignor Leo McCarthy would send Clark and a bunch of his South Buffalo friends to the abandoned farm field and former Dupont explosives storage and testing site, where they\u2019d let beagles loose to chase rabbits. The purpose of the exercise was to keep the kids out of mischief, said Clark, now the Bills vice president of security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they wouldn\u2019t do to keep me out of jail,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Clark, Buffalo Bills vice president of security, walks on the field at Highmark Stadium before an NFL football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo\/Gene J. Puskar)<\/p>\n

It certainly worked for Clark. In becoming an Erie County sheriff\u2019s deputy, he’s spent much of his life in and around the stadium, from directing traffic on game days in the 1970s to the current job he\u2019s held since 2006.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s with a sense of melancholy Clark approaches Sunday, when the Bills close the regular season by hosting the New York Jets in what could well be the final game at the facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s a big, beautiful prize across the street,\u201d Clark said, referring to the Bills’ new $2.1 billion stadium set to open next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s like walking out the door of the home you got married,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re almost ready to close the doors on my second home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark enjoyed a front-row seat to everything the stadium has had to offer \u2014 including hosting the Rolling Stones and the inaugural NHL Winter Classic in 2008. It’s where country music stars Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney were arrested for taking off on a sheriff\u2019s department horse during a concert in 2000.<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND: Bills fans reminisce as team opens final season at longtime stadium<\/a><\/p>\n

Clark has witnessed three colleagues survive getting hit by cars while directing traffic. He remembers watching in awe from the roof of the administration building as the Bills overcame a 32-point deficit for a 41-38 overtime win over the Houston Oilers in a 1992 wild-card playoff.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s handled security for various coaches, general managers, a former president, Bill Clinton, and a pop icon, Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n

The bonds and memories made at a stadium affectionately coined \u201cThe Ralph,\u201d in honor of the team\u2019s late founder and owner Ralph Wilson, hold true for players and coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, when I have to call it Highmark Stadium, I do. But I love The Ralph. I\u2019m like, that\u2019s the perfect name,\u201d Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly said.<\/p>\n

The fondest memory over his 11-year career in Buffalo was making his Bills debut in 1986 and taking the field to greet his parents and five brothers in the stands.<\/p>\n

Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas described the stadium’s closing as bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way that we can leave that stadium and leave it the way it should be with all those memories will be the best memory of all: going to the Super Bowl and winning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Such a feat would certainly bring closure to what Thomas and the Kelly-era Bills failed to do in losing four straight Super Bowl appearances in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s team has as good of a shot as any, having clinched its seventh straight playoff berth, but will open the postseason on the road. Buffalo currently is the AFC\u2019s No. 7-seeded team and can climb no higher than No. 5.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s at the stadium where Mary Wilson got her introduction to football when she and Ralph began dating before marrying in 1999.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those years and all the people we\u2019ve had in our box, yeah, Ralph did it right,\u201d Mary Wilson said. \u201cThey built a great stadium. Every seat was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though large in having at one time an 80,000-plus seating capacity, the stadium\u2019s three-level design still provides a sense of intimacy, especially in the lower bowl where fans are mere yards away from the field.<\/p>\n

Despite her ties to the past, Wilson looks forward to attending games across the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s saying hello to the new,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

MORE: Buffalo Bills call on fans to shovel snow ahead of stadium’s final regular season game<\/a><\/p>\n

For coach Sean McDermott, the future can wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m emotional about it,\u201d he said. \u201cI look across out my window and I see the stadium and it\u2019s almost, I don\u2019t want to say sad \u2014 it\u2019s not a sad day \u2014 but it is a little sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, following a 13-12 loss to Philadelphia, McDermott was among the last to leave the stadium after spending a few extra moments savoring the memories of his nine seasons in Buffalo.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife moves fast. And it\u2019s been a special place for a lot of people,\u201d McDermott said, before looking ahead to Sunday. \u201cWe owe it to the stadium and to the memories that exist in that stadium to go out the right way here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game provides a historical bookend. Buffalo’s first regular-season game at the facility was a 9-7 win over the Jets in which kicker John Leypoldt hit three field goals.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been many duds and breath-taking outings since.<\/p>\n

Fans flooded the field after a 1980 season-opening 17-7 win over Miami, ending Buffalo\u2019s 20-game losing streak to the Dolphins. There was Buffalo\u2019s 51-3 rout of the Raiders in the 1990 season AFC championship game. And what few fans were there in December 2017 witnessed a 13-7 overtime win against Indianapolis in a game played in near-whiteout conditions.<\/p>\n

Clark laughs at how a former explosives site became home to a stadium that’s electrified so many.<\/p>\n

Though so many of the faces have changed, the one thing that\u2019s remained the same to Clark is what the Bills and the stadium have meant to a Rust Belt community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an anchor. It\u2019s what brings people together,\u201d he said, noting how many former Buffalonians travel from far and wide to attend games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people spread out to Atlanta and Carolina and wherever, and they\u2019re still Bills fans. And their children are Bills fans,\u201d Clark said. \u201cTo know how many families, how many couples have met here. It’s like a Hallmark movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

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