2018 PFRA Convention- Additional Speaker and Hotel Extension

[George Bozeka]

2018 PFRA Convention

Two additional speakers have confirmed for the 2018 PFRA Convention in Buffalo: Tim Graham and Scott Berchtold.

Tim Graham is an insightful and provocative sports reporter that has covered the NFL since 2007 for the Buffalo News, ESPN and the Palm Beach Post. He returned to the Buffalo News in 2011 as an Enterprise Sports reporter. He spent three years with ESPN.com and prior to that covered the Miami Dolphins for the Palm Beach Post. Graham hosts a weekly radio show on 1270 The Fan. The Show provides the latest news and thoughtful perspectives about the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and other Buffalo sports.

Scott Berchtold is currently a Special Assistant in the Buffalo Bills Front Office. He was the Bills Senior Vice President of Communications from 2011 to 2016 and prior to that he was Vice President of Communications from 1999 to 2011. He joined the Bills in 1989 as the Manager of Media Relations and was promoted to Director of Media Relations in 1991. Prior to coming to the Bills, he served as the Assistant PR Director for the Green Bay Packers from 1985 to 1989. He has been in the NFL for 34 years.


The 2018 PFRA Convention (formerly Biennial Meeting) will be held in Buffalo, New York at the Buffalo History Museum during the weekend of July 13-15, 2018. As we have done in the past, the actual meeting will take place during the evening of Friday July 13 and all day Saturday July 14. No activities are planned for Thursday July 12. The Museum will be hosting a sports related exhibit in its Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Gallery during our Convention weekend called Icons: The Makers and Moments of Buffalo Sports, featuring items from Buffalo’s rich professional sports history and including selected items from PFRA member Greg Tranter’s massive Buffalo Bills memorabilia collection, recently donated to the Museum by Greg. The Museum is acting as a co-sponsor of our Convention. The cost for the Convention is $40 for PFRA members and member spouses and $90 for non PFRA members. The cost includes admission to the Museum and the exhibit and catered meals on both Friday and Saturday.

If you plan to attend the Convention, please make your reservations by using the Convention link on the PFRA website homepage.

Two special add on activities have recently been added to the Convention schedule: a Behind the Scenes Tour of Greg Tranter’s Bills memorabilia collection on Friday afternoon and a tour of New Era Field on Sunday morning.

Reservations for either add on tour can be made by using the Convention link on the PFRA website homepage.

The Behind the Scenes Tour will be held from 3:00pm to 5:00pm at the Buffalo History Museum Resource Center on Friday July 13. Parking is available at the Resource Center or Museum (the Resource Center is a 10 minute walk from the Museum). There is no additional charge for the Behind the Scenes Tour, which is open to all Convention attendees, but reservations are necessary. Please make your reservations no later than July 1 (a $1 reservation fee will be charged if you plan to attend the Behind the Scenes Tour only).

The New Era Field Tour will be held from 9:00am to 12:30pm on Sunday July 15. We will depart from the Downtown Buffalo Hampton Inn at 9am by car caravan and travel to New Era Field in Orchard Park for the tour. The tour is 90 minutes in length. After the tour, attendees will be able to shop at the Bills Team Store before returning to the Hampton Inn by 12:30pm. The cost for the tour is $15 and is open to all Convention attendees. Reservations are required. Please make your reservations no later than July 1.

Note: We cannot guarantee access to the Convention or add on activities without a reservation.

The host hotel for the Convention is the Downtown Buffalo Hampton Inn & Suites. Rooms with one king bed or two queen beds are now available under the group code PFR at a special group discount rate of $129 per night. To book reservations simply call the hotel at 716-855-2223 and tell the front desk the dates, the group name (2018 PFRA Conference/Convention), and group code (PFR) to book with the special group discount rate. The special group discount rate is a flat rate whether one person or four people stay in a room. Rooms with two beds can only accommodate up to four as there is no room for a cot due to fire code restrictions. As for cots, the hotel has a total of eight. They do not reserve cots ahead of time; they are first come first serve upon arrival. There is no additional charge for children age 17 and under when staying in the same room as their family. The room rate includes a complimentary breakfast each morning and complimentary parking for one car per room. There is a 72 hour cancellation policy. June 12, 2018 is the cut-off date for the special group discount rate.

Each convention attendee will receive a free Convention t-shirt. Shirts are available in small, medium, large, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL and 6XL. When you make your Convention reservations please indicate your shirt size in the space provided on the checkout page. Please place your t-shirt order no later than June 27.

The Convention itinerary will include our usual mix of speakers and tours, plus the scheduled release of the second book in PFRA’s series on Great Teams in Professional Football History which will cover the 1958 Baltimore Colts, and the viewing of Ralph, a recent WNED documentary on the late Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., the founder and former owner of the Buffalo Bills. Other speakers that have confirmed for the meeting include former Bills running back Thurman Thomas, former Bills defensive back Booker Edgerson, former Bills offensive lineman Bob Schmidt (health permitting), former Bills athletic trainer Ed Abramoski (health permitting), former Bills Director of Public and Community Relations Director Denny Lynch, former Bills player Joe Bock, and PFRA members Joe Ziemba and Brian Marshall.

Thurman Thomas had a 13 year NFL career with the Bills and Dolphins. Thurman was the AFC rushing leader in 1990, 1991, and 1993. He was voted to the All-Pro team in 1990 and 1991, was selected to 5 straight Pro Bowls from 1989-1993, and was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1991. Thomas currently holds the all-time Bills rushing record with 11,938 yards and the team record for yards from scrimmage with 16,279. Overall, Thomas finished his 13 seasons with 12,074 rushing yards, 472 receptions for 4,458 yards, and 88 touchdowns (65 rushing and 23 receiving).Thomas is the only player in NFL history to lead the league in total yards from scrimmage for four consecutive seasons. He is also the first player ever to score a touchdown in 4 consecutive Super Bowls. Thomas was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

Booker Edgerson had a 9-year NFL career playing defensive back with the Buffalo Bills (1962-1969) and Denver Broncos (1970). He was a member of the Bills AFL Championship teams in 1964 and 1965, and was selected to the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame in 2010.

Bob Schmidt played college football at the University of Minnesota and pro football with the NFL’s New York Giants(1959-1960), the AFL's Houston Oilers (1961-1963), the AFL’s Boston Patriots (1964), and the AFL's Buffalo Bills (1966-1967). He was a member of the Oilers' AFL Championship team in 1961, and was an AFL All Star in 1961, 1962, and 1963.

Ed Abramoski served as the Athletic Trainer for the Buffalo Bills for a total of 37 years from 1960-1997. He also served as a part time trainer with the Detroit Lions prior to coming to Buffalo. Abramoski was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and he was selected to the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame in 1999.

Denny Lynch has spent over 37 years in the Sports Administration field. He has worked in 5 different states at both the collegiate and professional level, and worked with the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots before coming to Buffalo to serve as the Director of Public and Community Relations for the Bills.
He continues to be a consultant for the Bills as the liaison person for the Monday QB Club, Buffalo Bills Booster Cub, Buffalo Bills Alumni Association, and the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

Joe Bock had an eight-team pro football career including time with the Buffalo Bills in 1981, brief stints in 1982 with the New York Jets and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League, replacement games with the St Louis Cardinals and Buffalo Bills in 1987, time with the Birmingham Stallions (1983 and 1985) and Houston Gamblers (1984) of the defunct United States Football League, and a season with the Chicago Bruisers of the Arena League in 1988. Joe appeared in Arena Bowl II with the Bruisers. In 2006, at the age of 46, he played briefly with the Rochester Raiders and New York/New Jersey Revolution in the old Great Lakes Indoor Football League, making him one of the few players to play in five professional leagues.

PFRA member Joe Ziemba is the author of When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL, winner of the PFRA’s Nelson Ross Award in 1999. Joe will speak on "The "Buffalo" Cardinals: The Forgotten History of the NFL's Oldest Team," highlighting the Cardinals' connection to Buffalo and stories about the formative years of pro football with the Cardinals.

Brian Marshall is the chair of PFRA’s Canadian Football League committee and the author of a number of articles that have appeared in the Coffin Corner. In 2013, he won the PFRA’s Bob Carroll Memorial Writing Award for his article “Rushing to Judgment: Recovering Jim Brown’s Lost Yardage in 1962” Brian will speak on “Cookie Gilchrist and How He Got to Buffalo,” outlining Cookie’s career before and after his time with the Bills.



Please stay tuned to The Coffin Corner and PFRA Forum for additional details and announcements. If you have any questions regarding the Convention, hotel reservations, add on activities, or t-shirts please contact Convention Organizer George Bozeka at 330-867-1950 or sundaygolfer48@aol.com.

[George Bozeka]

Just a reminder that the deadline for the special PFRA room rate at the Downtown Buffalo Hampton Inn is June 12. To take advantage of the PFRA discount please make your hotel reservations before the cut off date. For more information about making hotel reservations and to register for the 2018 Convention and Add on activities please visit the Convention link at http://profootballresearchers.org/PFRAMeeting2018.htm.

[George Bozeka]

An additional speaker has confirmed for the 2018 PFRA Convention in Buffalo: Ed Rutkowski, and the cutoff date for the special PFRA group discount rate at our host hotel, the Downtown Buffalo Hampton Inn & Suites has been extended until June 19.
Ed Rutkowski played a variety of positions for the Buffalo Bills from 1963 to 1968, including wide receiver and quarterback. Ed was an AFL All-Star in 1965 and a member of the Bills AFL Championship teams in 1964 and 1965. He ended his career in 1969 with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL. Ed later served as a color commentator on Bills radio broadcasts.
For more information about the Convention including how to register for the Convention please visit the PFRA Convention link at http://profootballresearchers.org/PFRAMeeting2018.htm