The New York Yankees, defending champions of the All-America
Football Conference’s Eastern Division, opened their second season on August
31, 1947 at Buffalo .
New York ,
running a single-wing offense under Head Coach Ray Flaherty, had gone 10-3-1
before losing a close-fought title game to the Cleveland Browns to cap the
AAFC’s first year. The Yankees lost veteran tailback Ace Parker to retirement
but still had the league’s best running tailback in Spec Sanders. They also had
plenty of talent across the board and had also added a talented rookie in the
diminutive (5’5”, 170) but fast HB Buddy Young out of Illinois.
There were 32,385 fans at War Memorial Stadium in what was
at the time the largest pro football crowd in Buffalo history. A Sanders pass to FB Eddie
Prokop reached the Buffalo four yard line to set
up New York ’s
first touchdown of the game as Prokop then carried for the remaining four
yards. However, later in the first quarter Buffalo LB Vic Kulbitski intercepted
a Sanders pass to set up the home team’s first TD. Ratterman passed to Mutryn
for 19 yards and finished the series with a one-yard quarterback sneak.
The teams traded touchdowns again in the second quarter,
this time with Buffalo
scoring first when Ratterman connected with King on a 39-yard pass play.
Sanders ran for a 17-yard TD and, with all extra points successfully added, the
halftime tally was even at 14-14.
In the third quarter, Buddy Young showed off his speed in
the open field as he took a pass from Sanders for a 50-yard touchdown. Following
the long scoring play, the Bills responded with a scoring drive. End Alton
Coppage made two outstanding catches of Ratterman passes, the second moving the
ball to the New York
one from where HB George Koch powered in for the TD.
With the score tied at 21-21 heading into the fourth
quarter, tailback Frank Sinkwich passed the Yankees into scoring territory and
Harvey Johnson kicked a 15-yard field goal to put New York ahead.
Ratterman led the Bills back on a drive that concluded with
a fourth down scoring pass of eight yards to Mutryn in the corner of the end
zone with six minutes remaining. The touchdown proved to be decisive, but the
finish was dramatic as the Yankees again drove into Buffalo territory with time running down. A
pass from Sanders moved them to the 10 yard line but a throw intended for FB
Lloyd Cheatham at the three fell incomplete as time ran out. The Bills pulled
off the upset by a score of 28-24.
George Ratterman had a successful debut, completing 9 of 13
passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. For the Yankees, Buddy Young (pictured at left) rushed
for 81 yards on 13 carries and added the 50-yard pass receiving TD.
The Bills continued to both play and draw well and were in
contention until losing badly to the Yankees in New York by a score of 35-13 in the
next-to-last week of the season. They finished second with a record of 8-4-2. New York was 11-2-1 to
again top the East – and again fell to the powerful Browns.
Ratterman went on to have a solid rookie season, throwing
for 1840 yards with 22 touchdowns. Chet Mutryn rushed for 868 yards while
averaging 6.2 yards per carry and leading the AAFC in kickoff returns (32.9 avg).
Spec Sanders had a spectacular season, rushing for 1432
yards and scoring 19 touchdowns while generating 2265 all-purpose yards. Buddy
Young put together a fine first year, running for 712 yards on 116 carries (6.1
avg.) and catching 27 passes for 303 more yards. His rushing total placed fifth
in the league, behind the fourth-ranked Mutryn who also finished second to
Sanders in total yards with 1933.
