When I was a kid one of my heroes was Cookie Gilchrist. He played fullback for the Buffalo Bills in the early to mid 1960s. He was a bruising runner with speed and attitude and went 250 lbs. He has a very interesting history and was always at odds with the powers that controlled football.
About 10 years ago I was thinking about Cookie and I did a web search. I found a magazine articles about him and on the bottom of the article was an email address for Cookie. I mailed Cookie and asked how he was doing, how he was a hero when I was young etc. That was that and forgotten about.
One day I'm at my office and the phone rings. "Hello" says I, and identify myself. "This is Cookie Gilchrist." So I say, "Yeah right, who is this." Same response so I hang up. The phone rings 5 minutes later and the caller says, "This is Cookie Gilchrist." So I say how is Golden Wheels doing?" He says he has heard from Dubenion in years. Dubenion played at the same time now I knew it was actually him. We had a great talk. Spent probably a good half hour chatting. Real nice guy that was nearing the end of his life. How many people get to chat with their heros from youth? He died in 07. Hall of fame fullback for the old AFL. He was a social activist as well for black athletes and other causes. RIP Cookie.
Cookie Gilchrist - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia