Keep Kemp in mind as he fights illness

By Anthony Bialy  |   Thursday, January 08, 2009  |  Comments( 97 )

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One of the best ambassadors ever for Buffalo was born in Los Angeles, but Jack Kemp has never pursued the usual course. An intellectual footballer who’s spent his time after sports as a prototypical financial conservative known for semi-occasionally rolling to his left when it comes to social issues, he’s a fascinating individual who now faces a much more important personal battle.

The announcement by his office that Kemp has been diagnosed with cancer is obviously shocking, and Bills fans should take a moment to both hope for and expect the best for someone whose iconic status only starts behind center.

It’s a boast remarkably few Buffalo-based athletes can make: Kemp led his team to two championships, with the word “two” of course being qualified by the phrase “and only.” Periodically sharing snaps with Daryle Lamonica, Kemp helped the Bills nab American Football League championships after the 1964 and ’65 seasons and played admirably for most of the non-title years, too.

Excepting the ’68 season which he missed with a busted knee, the Occidental College product served as an on-field fixture in Buffalo from the time he arrived in the midst of the 1962 season off waivers from the San Diego Chargers all the way through '69. He finished as a seven-time AFL All-Star and full-time welcome presence for a franchise in a league that craved respectability.

For his career, Kemp completed 46.7 percent of his throws but gained a decent 6.9 yards per attempt, a reflection of a league where the most common pass route was a straight line. He ran for 1,150 yards in his career, too, yet another symbolic reminder of his renaissance nature.

He simultaneously competed off the field, too, emerging as a leader who equipped himself with ideas even when he was still throwing footballs. As the co-founder and five-time president of the league’s Player Association, he helped initiate the process that turned the interaction between owners and players from the dictation of terms into negotiations. That experience prefaced his nine terms representing a chunk of Western New York in the House of Representatives.

After most notably putting the Kemp in the Kemp-Roth Tax Cut during his congressional service, he went on to become Housing and Urban Development Secretary under Bush Senior, the 1996 Republican Vice Presidential candidate to Bob Dole, and finally an advising and consulting kingpin. The 73-year-old has done more in each phase of his life than most people do, period, and that willingness to take on whatever he faces is a great virtue for him to possess during this severely trying time.

If anyone is suited to fight his disease, it’s a man who made himself into an AFL all-time great after struggling his way up following being drafted 203rd overall in 1957 by the Detroit Lions, someone who has taken on foes between the sidelines, under the Congressional dome, and in the political arena.

The statement did not announce what kind of cancer Kemp faces or what treatment will be pursued, and it goes without saying that it’s certainly at his discretion when or whether he’ll reveal those details. In the meantime, Bills fans should keep him in their thoughts, while those affiliated with a religion should keep him in their prayers, too. Kemp is a decent man who has done so much more with his life than play football, although he was fine at that job, too.
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