Bill Polian, architect of Bills, Colts, enters Hall of Fame

“It’s great to have a Hall of Famer step on that podium and know that that way-back-when, when I hired him in ’98…he did so many great things for this franchise and that era was such a special era and to see him go in the Hall of Fame is really, really exciting”.

Bill Polian, who served as the Carolina Panthers’ first general manager, has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Not surprisingly, he closed a powerful speech packed with Bills references, with an iconic line from a member of his beloved Yankees, Lou Gerhig: “Today, I am the luckiest man on the face of the Earth”.

Polian has also influenced the Panthers by giving current general manager Dave Gettleman his first NFL job as a scout for the Buffalo Bills in 1987.

“The amusing thing about Peyton was that Jim was probably inclined to go that direction anyway”. There was a part of me that didn’t want to let him down because I knew how much of a gamble he took on me. If we take Ryan Leaf, the worst case is that he’s going to be a complete bust.

When you think of the Indianapolis Colts of the 2000s, you think of Peyton Manning.

‘Polian’s track record turned out pretty well, too. Together, Polian and Manning helped guide the Colts to one world championship, two Super Bowl appearances and eight division titles. By 1988, when the Bills advanced to the first of what would be many AFC title games, the team’s football department was in the hands of Polian, Bob Ferguson, John Butler and A.J. Smith.

But the short, fiery New Yorker with the strong Irish heritage and the penchant for making all the right moves never bowed to conventional wisdom. He’s the guy in the rain coat, crumpled up paper in his hand at the race track, talking to himself saying that horse will be good.

“He’s a tremendous talent evaluator”.

None of what happened in Indianapolis or Carolina could have happened had he not brilliantly built those Bills teams earlier in his career.

Initially, Polian didn’t plan on going into the front office.

He started off his pro career as a scout for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1978. He eventually wound up working for the late George Paterno, Joe Paterno’s brother, at the Merchant Marine Academy, where he was asked to do advance scouting. Levy and Polian worked together in Chicago for the Blitz. He stayed there for a few years then had a quick stint in the USFL with the Chicago Blitz. He was the Pro Personnel Director for the Bills in 1984, but took over as GM the following year.

On Saturday night, Polian started by paraphrasing Winston Churchill. You just want to be surrounded by good football players and great people. He got his franchise quarterback when Jim Kelly returned from the USFL in 1986. The nucleus Polian formed pushed Buffalo to the Super Bowl every year from 1991 to 1994.

“And then, of course, we were a subway ride away from Madison Square Garden, so we followed the Rangers and Knicks and college basketball”, Polian recalled. He found his franchise quarterback, Kerry Collins, in the 1995 draft, and spent wildly in free agency to bring in veteran help. The Panthers hosted their first postseason game, defeating Dallas in the NFC Divisional Playoffs, before falling to eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay in the NFC Championship.

“It would have been incredible to win two”, Polian said. Polian immediately drafted Manning ahead of Leaf in ’98, and Edgerrin James ahead of Ricky Williams in ’99, confounding the so-called experts yet again.

In 2009, Polian became the only administrator ever to be named the NFL’s Executive of the Year by The Sporting News six times. “I just couldn’t be happier for him”.