CHARLEY FERGUSON’S name may not register in the minds of most pro football fans, but in the storied history of Galveston County and its contribution to the National Football League, Ferguson is a trailblazer who set the stage for the likes of Charles Alexander, Eric Hill, Patrick Bates and Mike Evans to shine on Sundays.
Ferguson is the first African-American from Galveston County to reach the NFL, playing six seasons with the Browns (1961), Vikings (1962) and Bills (1963, 1964-66, 1969). The former Galveston Central star was also the owner of the county’s first championship ring as he was a member of Buffalo’s back-to-back American Football League championships in both 1964 and 1965.
The 6’5, 220-pound Ferguson was a big target who played both receiver and tight end at Tennessee State University before receiving (no pun intended) a contract offer from the Browns. “I had a contract for $7,500 in the mail,” Ferguson said in a 2005 interview. “I was just elated to have an opportunity.”
A stint in the National Guard cost Ferguson a spot on the Browns, leading him to the Vikings. Despite catching only 14 passes in 1962, Ferguson scored six touchdowns and averaged 26 yards per catch, including an 89-yard reception from Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton that was the league’s longest pass play that season.
After being denied a pay raise, Ferguson landed with the Bills, where he came close to making history, but Buffalo lost to Kansas City in the 1966 AFL title game, denying them the chance to play against the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I.
“That was a very bad defeat,” he said. “We thought we were the much better team.”
Following the end of his career in 1969, Ferguson stayed in the Buffalo area, where he began work at GM-Delphi-Harrison. He spent 32 years with the company, working his way up the ladder before calling it a career in 2003.
Ferguson, who will turn 80 this November, remained part of the Bills family, where he served as treasurer for the Bills Alumni. His wife, Janice, was the Dean of Admissions at Bryant and Stratton while his daughter, Victoria, received a post-graduate theological degree at Morehouse College.
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