Edward John Anthony Rutkowski (born March 21, 1941) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and politician. He played for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL), earning AFL All-Star honors. Rutkowski played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He was an AFL All-Star in 1965, playing for Buffalo as a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

, punt and kickoff return man and backup

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

from 1963 to 1968. In a famous Topps football card mix-up, Rutkowski was shown on two Buffalo Bills' football cards, his own, and mistakenly on the card for Ray Abruzzese. Rutkowski finished his playing career with seven games as a backup quarterback with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

in 1969. From 1972-78 and again in 1990, Rutkowski served as a color commentator on the Bills' radio broadcasts. In 1979, he became the County Executive of Erie County, New York, succeeding Edward Regan, who stepped down to become New York State Comptroller. Rutkowski was elected to full terms in 1979 and 1983, following his one-year unexpired term, for a total of nine years in office. In 1987, Rutkowski was defeated for reelection by Assemblyman Dennis Gorski. In 1995, Rutkowski was appointed by Governor George Pataki as deputy commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. In this post, he was charge of all state parks and recreations operations in Western New York, including

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

. He held the post for 12 years, until Pataki left office. He was the fourth quarterback from a Buffalo professional football team to enter politics, following his teammate

Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician, professional Gridiron football, football player, and U.S. Army veteran. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party from New York, he served a ...

, George Ratterman and Tommy Hughitt. Incidentally, both Kemp and Rutkowski were Republicans. He is of Polish origin.Polish Americans / Helena Znaniecka Lopata, Mary Patrice Erdmans, p 140.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutkowski, Ed 1941 births Living people American athlete-politicians American Football League All-Star players American football wide receivers Buffalo Bills announcers Buffalo Bills players Erie County executives New York (state) Republicans NFL announcers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players American politicians of Polish descent Players of American football from Buffalo, New York People from Kingston, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania American Football League players

See also

References