The Bills lost a member of their two-time AFL title teams in 1964 and 1965 this past week. The starting left tackle on those teams and many others during Buffalo’s American Football League days, Stew Barber, passed away on June 11th, just three days shy of his 87th birthday.
Barber, who earned All-American honors at Penn State as a two-way tackle, was a fourth-round pick of the Bills in 1961 AFL draft. However, he was also selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the NFL draft. A Bradford, PA native, Barber chose to stay close to home and signed with Buffalo.
After a rookie season at outside linebacker, where he posted three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown, Barber was moved to offensive tackle. It would be a role he would man for the Bills for the remainder of the decade.