It seems more and more sports personalities from my youth are passing away, and they remind me of each of our mortalities, especially when it’s somebody I know.
Nine days ago, Mike Kadish passed away, at age 72, in Longboat Key, Fla.
The passing of the former Bills defensive tackle wasn’t unexpected as he’d battled Parkinson’s disease for 28 years.
Still, his passing took me back to my first season covering the team 51 years ago. I was at my initial Bills training camp and met Kadish who had just joined the Buffalo roster, the product of a bizarre trade with Miami.
Kadish had been the Dolphins’ first-round draft pick in 1972, but didn’t make the active roster and spent Miami’s entire 17-0 Super Bowl season on the taxi squad.
The next year, needing depth on the offensive line, the Dolphins shipped Kadish to Buffalo for 32-year-old guard Irv Goode, a trade acquisition from St. Louis.
But here’s what made the deal so odd. Neither of them had played a snap for their respective teams in ’72. Kadish wasn’t active and Goode, who played all three offensive line positions and could also be a long-snapper, missed the entire season with a knee injury after being acquired from the Cardinals.
Kadish, an All-America from Notre Dame, played nine solid seasons for the Bills, being tabbed team MVP in ’77 and serving as Buffalo’s rep to the NFL Players Association. He retired after the ’81 season at the age of 32.
And though his cause of death was Parkinson’s, he decreed his brain be donated so that researchers could study it for the possible impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), of which pro football has an increasing concern.
REMEMBER the excitement over the possibility of the Bills trading with Tennessee for Derrick Henry, the NFL’s elite power back?
That turned out to be little more than a rumor and the reality was, for the Bills, even if the trade was a possibility, they couldn’t afford him given their salary cap woes.
So, instead, they did the next best thing, and signed Derrick Henry Lite, Patriots free agent Damien Harris. At 5-11, 213 pounds the former Alabama star is hoped to be the short-yardage power back Buffalo expected Zack Moss to be.
Actually, Moss turned out to be the second flame-out running back taken in third rounds of consecutive seasons. First it was Devin Singletary who left in free agency for Houston earlier this month, after not being offered a contract. And, in the middle of the ’22 campaign, Moss was dealt to Indianapolis for the multi-skilled Nyheim Hines.
Harris’ upside is that he’s only 26 years old and scored 20 rushing touchdowns for New England the past three seasons, 15 in ‘21.
The oddity is, the Bills took Singletary with the 74th pick, the Patriots tabbing Harris 87th in 2019’s third round.
IF YOU’RE keeping track of the Bills in free agency, here’s where things stand.
Buffalo has acquired guard Connor McGovern (Dallas), quarterback Kyle Allen (Carolina), wide receivers Deonte Harty (New Orleans) and Trent Sherfield (Miami) and Harris plus restricted free agents, guard David Edwards (Rams) safety Taylor Rapp (Rams).
The Bills have also signed seven of their own free agents: safety Jordan Poyer, punter Sam Martin, cornerback Dane Jackson, defensive back Cam Lewis, tackle David Quessenberry and linebackers Tyrel Dodson and Tyler Matakevich.
Buffalo has also lost eight players to free agency: Singletary, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (Chicago), quarterback Case Keenum (Houston), tight end Tommy Sweeney and wide receiver Jamison Crowder (both to the Giants), wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie (Indianapolis) and safety Jaquan Johnson and tackle Justin Murray (both to the Raiders).
Finally the Bills have 10 unsigned free agents: guard Rodger Saffold, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips, offensive linemen Greg Van Roten and Bobby Hart, safety Dean Marlowe, running back/special teamer Taiwan Jones, defensive end Shaq Lawson, wide receivers Jake Kumerow and Cole Beasley and linebacker AJ. Klein.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
