Jerry Collins

56 Christen Ct.

Lancaster, New York 14086

(716) 683-6199

Dear Friends, Neighbors and Relatives,

I have recently completed my book, On the Sidelines.100 Years of the best in Local Sports Reporting. I am e-mailing you a variety of items related to the book. Please excuse the delay in sending this material. Buffalo big storm and resulting power failure has kept me off the internet for more than a week. As you can tell the book is a compilation of the summary of thousands of articles from all of Buffalo’s many newspapers in the past 100 years. Most of the stories are of a human interest, nostalgic and trivia nature. More than fifteen sports are covered. The articles are equally divided between local and national as well as major events and some stories of much less importance. The articles cover everything from professional sports all the way down through college, high school and even Little League and sandlot sports.

If you are a sports fan I know you will enjoy it. It certainly will make a good Christmas gift. In fact if you have a busy schedule and you have teenagers and adults on your list, buy a book for everyone on that list. If you are not interested in the book, please pass this on to someone else. If you buy in quantity or refer customers to me I would certainly be willing to discount the price of $25.00. Even if you buy on line I can make arrangements for this.

Thanks in advance for you cooperation. I you wish more information on the book or wish to examine the book please e-mail, call or stop over at the house. I also have a limited number of copies of my previous book, When Boxing Was Big in Buffalo, 1881-1951. The price is $12.00 which includes shipping and handling or $9.00 if you come to the house. I will be doing an update (1952-2007) within the next two years

Enjoy Some Fun reading,

Jerry Collins

Join Me On The Sidelines for Thousands of Great Stories Like These

On October 22, 1948 Kensington High School defeated Bennett High School 26-8 before a crowd of 50,998 at Civic stadium.

The Washington Redskins lost the 1945 NFL championship game to The Cleveland Rams 15-14 on a safety when Sammy Baugh’s pass out of the end zone hit the goal post.

Lynn Houston played high school, college and pro football for only one coach, Paul Brown.

In a 20-year football career in high school, at Marshall and Auburn Universities and later with the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions Frank “Gunner” Gatski never missed a practice or game because of injury.

George Trafton was a 230 center for the Chicago Bears in the 1920’s and 1930’s and was a key member of the “Monsters of the Midway.” He was also a part-time heavyweight boxer. In April of 1931 he sued his wife for divorce. The grounds were “extreme cruelty.”

On June 14, 1957 Luke Easter hit a three-run homerun over the 60-foot high scoreboard at Offerman Stadium. It was the first home run hit over the centerfield scoreboard that was located 400-feet from home plate. It was estimated that the homerun traveled at least 500 feet.

In 1952 Virgil Trucks compiled a record of 5-19. Two of those victories were no-hitters.

Bob Feller pitched a no-hitter on opening day in 1940.

In 1942 both New York Yankee catchers, Bill Dickey and Buffalo’s Buddy Rosar made the American League All Star team

Early in his Major League Career Mickey Mantle hit a 562-foot homerun at Griffith Stadium. He hit it so hard that he knocked the cover off the ball.

Christy Mathewson pitched 3 shutouts in the 1905 World Series.

The 1971 Baltimore Orioles' pitching staff had four 20-game winners, including Pat Dobson from Lancaster, New York.

The 1947 Notre Dame football team was so strong that 14 members of the team were selected for the 1948 College All Star football game.

In 1938 Ray Kubera established a local high school punting record with a kick of 107 yards.

The legendary softball pitcher Lefty Gears of Buffalo and later Rochester had a career record of 886-115 with 61 no-hitters, 373 shutouts and 13,244 strikeouts.

In late November of 1950 Michigan upset Ohio State 9-3 in a blizzard. It guaranteed Michigan a trip to the Rose Bowl. They did it without a first down.

Jim Konstanty was born in Buffalo and graduated from Arcade High School. He was the first relief pitcher to win a league MVP award.

Bobo Holloman pitched one complete game in his only season in the Major Leagues. Unbelievably it was a no-hitter.

Johnny Vander Meer pitched consecutive no-hitters for the Cincinnati Reds in 1938, but was returned to the minors in 1940 because of control problems.

On February 27, 1958, the Boston Celtics defeated the Minneapolis Lakers 173-139. They did it without the services of Bill Russell who was injured.

Alex “Boo” Ellis from Niagara University led the nation in rebounding in the 1957-58 season with 526 rebounds for an average of 20.2 rebounds a game.

Syd Howe scored 12 goals in the 1943-44 season, 6 of them in a 12-2 victory over the New York Rangers,

George “Big Boy” Brackey, local boxer, was knocked down 96 times during his career.

In five consecutive nights in 1935 Ed “Strangler” wrestled in Miami, New Orleans, Houston, St. Louis and New York City.

Wrestling was so popular on television in 1948 that while Walter Adamczak and his 25 patrons watched the matches at his Red Goose Tavern, robbers hauled away an 800-pound safe containing $10,000.

Enjoy these stories and many others about Pee Wee Reese, Luke Appling, Pete Reiser, Warren Spahn, Gayle Sayers, George Ratterman, Leon Hart, George Connors, Doak Walker, Ernie Nevers, Johnny Lujack, Pete Vann, Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Cookie Gilchrist, Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch, Len Macalusso, Walter Koppisch , Luke Urban, Sherwood Bleb, Harvey and Sam Austin, Jim Horne, Bob Kurland, George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bevo Francis, John McCarthy, Hank Nowak, Larry Costello, Al Cervi, Oscar Robertson, Bob Lanier, Calvin Murphy, Hank O’Keefe, Zeke Sinicola, Leroy Chollet, Nat “Sweet Water” Clifton, Yvette Angel, Sister Maria Pares, Paul Arizin, Ed Malanowicz, Tom Stith, Tommy Ryan, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Jimmy Slattery, John Landy, Roger Bannister, Paavo Nurmi, Gil Dodd, “The Flying Parson” and many more.

On the Sidelines, 100 Years of the Best in Local Sports Reporting is now available on the Bates Jackson website. Type Bates Jackson.com,, click Welcome to Bates Jackson, click Bookstore, click Catalog, click Non-Fiction to see description of book, click Log-In to begin making purchase. You may also click title on previous page to see a picture of cover. You may phone (716) 854-3000 or e-mail customerservice@batesjackson.com

You may also call me at (716) 683-6199 or e-mail me at Collinsjf@yahoo.com.

I Know You Will Enjoy The Book, a Great Christmas Gift.

Jerry Collins has been a major sports fan since watching the 1949 World Series, the 1950 Notre Dame – Purdue football game, the Friday Night Fights of the 1950’s, those tight NFL battles between the Lions, Giants, Brown and Rams and the band-box basketball battles involving Rochester, Syracuse, Minneapolis and Fort Wayne.

As the years went by his collection of sports books grew at a rapid rate, as did his collection of newspaper and magazine articles. Those great heroes and rivalries of the era from 1940 – 1980 dominated our imagination. Where have they all gone; the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Luke Easter, Warren “Buddy” Rosar, Warren Spahn, the Boston Celtics, Bob Cousy, Larry Costello, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Lanier, the Montreal Canadians, Detroit Red Wings, Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe, Otto Graham, George Ratterman, Jim Brown, Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Leon Hart, Bob Waterfield, Elroy Hirsch, John Unitas, Alan “The Horse” Ameche, Y. A. Tittle, Frank Gifford and Vince Lombardi and the Packer Dynasty.

Retirement has afforded Collins the additional time to extend his research back to the beginning of the 20^th century. His collections have expanded to include additional Yankees dynasties, John McGraw and the New York Giants, Christ Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove, George Sisler, Ollie Carnegie, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Jimmy Slattery, Rocky Kansas, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Walter Koppisch, Sammy Baugh as well as Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski and the Monsters of the Midway.

Thousands of these articles have now been combined together to form the latest book by Jerry Collins, On the Sidelines, More than 100 Years of the Best in Local Sports Reporting. We will now benefit from those great heroes, teams, rivalries and the equally great sports writers; Grantland Rice, Paul Gallico, Damon Runyan, Billy Kelly, Frank Wakefield, Joe Alli, Red Smith, Jack Laing, Cy Kritzer, Charley Young, Bob Stedler and Larry Felser who put those stories to print.

On the Sidelines, 100 Years of the Best in Sports Reporting

Jerome F. Collins

The book includes thousands of human interest and very unique sports stories from seven different local newspapers. The articles, covering most of the 20^th century are almost equally divided between local and national events. The articles detail the accomplishments of such legends as Ted Williams, Maurice Richard and Luke Easter as well as Little League and high school athletes and many athletes and events in between. All articles are summarized, organized by category and properly foot noted.