Ernest "Ernie" "Big Hoss" Warlick (July 21, 1932 – November 24, 2012) was a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

from

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds fro ...

who played American collegiate and

Professional Football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

as well as Canadian Professional Football. Warlick was born in

Hickory, North Carolina Hickory is a city located primarily in Catawba County, with formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. The city lies in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the time of the 2020 census, Hickory's population was 43,490. Hickor ...

. After starring at Ridgeview High School and then North Carolina Central, he played 4 seasons with the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

. He then joined 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, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

in 1962. He had an average of 17.2 yds/catch with the Bills, while the team earned three straight Eastern Division titles and two American Football League championships, and a 20.8 yds/catch average in 1964. In

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, he helped the Bills win their first

AFL championship For its first nine seasons, 1960 through 1968, the American Football League determined its champion via a single playoff game between the winners of its two divisions (although ties in the standings in 1963 (Eastern) and 1968 (Western) necessitat ...

game against the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, 20-7, when he caught two passes for 41 yards. In the 1965

game, when offensive linemen

Billy Shaw William Lewis Shaw (born December 15, 1938) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive guard for the Buffalo Bills in the American Football League (AFL). After playing college football with the Georgia Tech Yellow J ...

and

Dave Behrman David Wesley Behrman (November 9, 1941 – December 9, 2014) was an American football offensive lineman who played in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos. He was the fourth overall pick in the 1963 AFL Draft by ...

were injured, Warlick helped bolster the Bills' offensive blocking in a double tight end offense. In that game, he also scored the first touchdown in the Bills' 23-0 victory over the Chargers, on an 18-yard pass from quarterback

Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. B ...

. He was selected to the American Football League All-Star Team every year he was in the league, in 1962, '63, '64, and '65. He was the first African-American sportscaster on Buffalo television, was elected to the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in 1998, and received the

Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Ralph Cookerly Wilson Jr. (October 17, 1918 – March 25, 2014) was an American businessman and sports executive. He was best known as the founder and owner of the Buffalo Bills, a team in the National Football League (NFL). He was one of the fo ...

Distinguished Service Award in 2000. In 2005, Warlick was inducted to North Carolina's ''Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hall of Fame'', honoring his basketball and football accomplishments at ''North Carolina Central''.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warlick, Ernie 1932 births 2012 deaths American football tight ends Calgary Stampeders players Buffalo Bills players American Football League All-Star players North Carolina Central Eagles football players People from Washington, D.C. African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football American Football League players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people

See also

References

External links